Holden Colorado 2.8 half height Canopy build

02rangeredge

Adventurer
Little bit more work done and a lot of parts shopping completed to help fit out the canopy

This sort of thing takes a long time to build! I am both surprised and unsurprised at the length of time all the fiddly little details take. You do a few hero cuts in the plywood and look like you have made great progress then suddenly the 1000 other little details bog you down and you appear to go no where. Still things are getting done and I am so far happy with how the structure is coming along.

The aircompressor has been fitted to the air tank and some brackets made up to hold the connections. the connections sit on both sides of the truck in between the head board and the rear window of the cab.

Water lines are now purchased and will run from the tank to a manual hand pump. The tank will fill through a camec water inlet that will be fitted to the canopy side for ease of filling

I have purchased LED light strips for each compartment and the rear canopy door. The plan for the rear canopy door is that when it is in the open position the light strip will illuminate the kitchen area.

The plan for electrics is to house a 100 amp hour battery in the tray to power lights and my air compressor and possibly a fridge down the track. The battery will be charged by a solar panel (yet to be purchased) I am setting this up so that it has no connection with the vehicle battery or electrics. My reasoning is simply redundancy. If the car battery fails then it can be either slowly charged by the solar panel via leads or I can swap the battery in the tray with the one under the bonnet. Not sure that this is a normal way of doing it but makes sense to me at the moment.

False floor fitted above drawer and water tank mounts reinforced

View attachment 402714

This indicates how I will layout the front of the drawer. So that it is easy to access the kitchen for coffee stops etc the cooker/ sink etc will be at the front of the drawer. I will be covering the top of the cooker with a lid that can be folded out to increase bench space. Total bench space when folded out will be around 200 cm and about 40 cm deep. This area will also house a 1.25kg gas bottle for cooking.

View attachment 402717

And lastly started cutting out the hatches and seeing how the external shape will look when complete

View attachment 402719

View attachment 402720

Happy exploring all.

pretty cool little build, in aluminium it'd look sweet- but it'd have to be a one off job, I doubt enough people would pay for it to bring the price down, also if the drawer system were removable from the cap it'd be pretty slick
 

Hagar

Observer
Maybe a Dobinson lift for the truck as well?

Thanks for the comments

Nope definitely not a build for mass production.Aluminium would have been nice however I am operating within my own skill set so aluminium is out. Hopefully it will still look quite good once the fiber glass and paint is done. Would prefer not to have a hacked together look.

Anyway

On some of my previous pre canopy trips I have had a few belly scrapes getting in and out of certain places. Now that there will be a constant weight in the back of up to 300kg when loaded for a trip I am thinking of a suspension upgrade. I am looking at these Dobinson MRR shocks and springs

dobinson-mmr-px-ranger.jpg

They seem a decent price and have a reasonable reputation. However getting any meaningful feedback on ride quality is difficult.

I like them as they are a threaded body that allow for adjustment in lift from 0 - 3inches. I can start at around 2 inches before I do anything further with diff drops/ UCAs etc

The only thing I am not a fan of is the lack of dampening adjust ability. My two wheel back ground means I fiddle a lot with my suspension to get the ride quality I am after. This option does not seem readily available for trucks unless you spend serious $

Any feedback or comments on the above setup would be appreciated.

cheers Hagar
 

Hagar

Observer
Got some further detail on the tail gate sorted out. After this it is time to disassemble to parts and build again with paint glue threadlocker etc

IMG_20170520_152720.jpg

IMG_20170521_151322.jpg

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Hinges to be used for the hatches and tail gate

DSC_0005.jpg

Air compressor with tank ready to go

DSC_0004.jpg

Picked up a tail gate seal kit from Brown and Davis to reduce dust and water entry

DSC_0003.jpg

And finally all just a big pile of wood

DSC_0002.jpg
 
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Hagar

Observer
Paint and glue

Started reassembly of components painting as I went.

So it started like this

DSC_0009.jpg

And now is ready to get installed like this.

DSC_0019.jpg

Just need to sort out a time space where I wont need the truck for a few days. Once the box is in I will need to install, glass and seal the external canopy in one hit so will need around four days off the road to ensure drying and hardening of all items.
 

Hagar

Observer
Thanks Ryanmb21

Unfortunately work is busy and I am just not getting time to install it all. Hopefully soon! Then I can get away for a while and test it all out.

Hagar
 

Hagar

Observer
Hi plainjaneFJC

Been away for a few days so missed this question.

Well the wooden floor is not the most used construction, however it is not unusual either. The flooring is more to do with original purpose. The garage was originally a carport built on sloping land. The rear of the garage is about 6 feet off the ground and is supported on wooden piers. The structure as a carport originally had no walls. the idea of the slatted timber floor is to allow rain to seep through and of course to also be light weight (compared to concrete). The slatted timber floors are a right pain when it comes to dropping nuts and bolts but is fantastic for sweeping sawdust through the cracks!

On a positive note, I have locked my Colorado away to be worked on and have an alternative vehicle for running around day to day. So soon I should be able to get some progress on fitting and glassing the canopy. Very keen to get it in now as it has been a bit long in the making!
 

SouthHudsonIT

New member
Love the build man! Im going to be using some of the same design elements (drawers, water tank, air compressor) into my build. Any chance you could tell me where you got your water tank? and what you are using for a pump?
 

Hagar

Observer
Love the build man! Im going to be using some of the same design elements (drawers, water tank, air compressor) into my build. Any chance you could tell me where you got your water tank? and what you are using for a pump?

Hi SouthHusonIT

Thanks for the positive comment! What vehicle are you building up? Do you have a thread?

My tank is a Boab unit http://www.dolium.com.au/retail_catalogue/WTP48V_item.html?ref_cat_id=Water_Tanks___Accessories

Not sure if they are available in the US however Front Runner do a very similar unit:
https://www.frontrunneroutfitters.c...pright-water-tank-with-two-cut-outs-flat.html

As I am keeping my electrics to a minimum I am using a manual handpump like this:

$_58.JPG

If you want a 12V pump then most RV suppliers will stock one.

Cheers Hagar
 
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Hagar

Observer
Oh yeah

Just thought I would show the mounting points for the air accessories. They will sit between the cab and the canopy on both sides of the vehicle like this:

DSC_0023.jpg
 

Hagar

Observer
In for the last time

Hi All

Finally some time again to start getting the canopy reassembled in the bed of the truck. All going reasonably smoothly. I will let the photos do the describing.

In it went

DSC_0067.jpg

Compressor and airtank mounted in separate cabinet

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Manual pump tap mounted

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Drivers side cabinet installed with canopy side mounted

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And some shots from the end of the day

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All in all it is starting to take shape which quite exciting!
 

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