Composite Camper Design for 3/4 Ton Dodge
- Thread starter Nitromethane43
- Start date
Nitromethane43
Observer
Went browsing around at an rvs today, it's sad what the rv industry deems acceptable or even the stuff some the salesmen are claiming excellence at.
One observation is that out of the seven Hehr insulated window units I opened three glass units were already separating from the spacers. Is this a common occurrence with the insulated glazing units, all the rvs were still new and not ant older than five months.
Does anyone have a suggestion for good entry doors, I was interested in the Dexter 6555 series entry doors but none of distributors in the area can order them.
Seeing what the rv market delivers to their customers is just really disappointing.
One observation is that out of the seven Hehr insulated window units I opened three glass units were already separating from the spacers. Is this a common occurrence with the insulated glazing units, all the rvs were still new and not ant older than five months.
Does anyone have a suggestion for good entry doors, I was interested in the Dexter 6555 series entry doors but none of distributors in the area can order them.
Seeing what the rv market delivers to their customers is just really disappointing.
Nitromethane43
Observer
Thanks , Challenger seems to have quite a variety of doors, will get in touch with them tomorrow.
h
I did get some quotes on the marine doors and they ran from $2100 to $5600, it was a little outside of what I am willing to spend on a door.
That came up too, but it seems that there were some decent doors around, or that may be one of the only things that is acceptable on a commercial product. If you are making your own composite door, that is not too off from making your own windows too. It would be nice to see the finished product when you are done.
h
I did get some quotes on the marine doors and they ran from $2100 to $5600, it was a little outside of what I am willing to spend on a door.
That came up too, but it seems that there were some decent doors around, or that may be one of the only things that is acceptable on a commercial product. If you are making your own composite door, that is not too off from making your own windows too. It would be nice to see the finished product when you are done.
bahndo
Supporting Sponsor: Bahn Camper Works
I went with Poly vision dual pane acrylic windows that are top hinged and open to just shy of 90*. They are very high quality and reasonably priced when purchased in volume. That said I have a few spares if you are interested PM me and I'll send you the sizes, prices and some pic's. I am also building an all Composite camper but I went the molded route and vacuum infused the whole thing. Maybe just maybe I'll post a pic here soon....
Nitromethane43
Observer
Thanks Jeep, you do bring up a good point, there is a lot of mass in the front and back, but the center is pretty light, doing some calcs would not hurt once the final design is confirmed.
Just curious for those who own or have installed a cassette toilet in a wet shower, were there any issues with moisture getting inside the controls causing malfunctions, and sealing water out of the floor and sides where it attaches to the camper.
Looking at the one I have the Flushing controls look pretty vulnerable to water intrusion from the sides and moisture buildup on the back side of the PCB. As shown in the picture below it's just a raw board with no coating or potting compounds. Being that these units are not widely available in the Americas parts is definitely a concern, over a common unit. Coating it is an option, but not too sure how warranty will work it it's even valid.
On keeping water out, looking at some of the pre-made shower pans it looks as if there is flange that meets up to the stepped are outlined in red, there is not much of a flange to keep water out. I was thinking of just mounting the unit on top of a flat surface instead of recessing it in the shower pan, but the back wall area still does not seem to be a very good seal. The toilet comes with a bulb gasket for the back wall, that seems more for as a cosmetic item to hide any gaps. Has anyone had water get through their cassette toilet, or is that is something not to think too much of.
Pre-made Shower Pan
Bottom area of toilet
Water Intrusion Areas
wATER
Just curious for those who own or have installed a cassette toilet in a wet shower, were there any issues with moisture getting inside the controls causing malfunctions, and sealing water out of the floor and sides where it attaches to the camper.
Looking at the one I have the Flushing controls look pretty vulnerable to water intrusion from the sides and moisture buildup on the back side of the PCB. As shown in the picture below it's just a raw board with no coating or potting compounds. Being that these units are not widely available in the Americas parts is definitely a concern, over a common unit. Coating it is an option, but not too sure how warranty will work it it's even valid.
On keeping water out, looking at some of the pre-made shower pans it looks as if there is flange that meets up to the stepped are outlined in red, there is not much of a flange to keep water out. I was thinking of just mounting the unit on top of a flat surface instead of recessing it in the shower pan, but the back wall area still does not seem to be a very good seal. The toilet comes with a bulb gasket for the back wall, that seems more for as a cosmetic item to hide any gaps. Has anyone had water get through their cassette toilet, or is that is something not to think too much of.
Pre-made Shower Pan
Bottom area of toilet
Water Intrusion Areas
wATER
Nitromethane43
Observer
Using a Separett toilet did come into consideration, only $900 seemed quite high for a fancy poo bucket and funnel drain.
Maybe it's just some personal bias against the Natures Head after some unpleasant experiences of cleaning those after some overflows and incorrectly used units in remote homes. The poo got pretty sticky all over the place, and with limited water availability it was not good. Just never wanted to have something like that happen again, the urine overflow was not that bad.
Maybe it's just some personal bias against the Natures Head after some unpleasant experiences of cleaning those after some overflows and incorrectly used units in remote homes. The poo got pretty sticky all over the place, and with limited water availability it was not good. Just never wanted to have something like that happen again, the urine overflow was not that bad.
Nitromethane43
Observer
I have been running some numbers for a little bit, just curious are there any preferred mounts that people have been using on a 3-point setup on the rear two I was planning on using some Barry Controls 22003 Series mounts, after getting finished with the numbers it seems that the capacity will be exceeded during invasive maneuvers or panic situations. Even going up to the 22004 series the loads are grater than what they suggest. And the 22005 ones are very large, the only reason for going with these is they are fairly simple pieces, and with a washer on the back they can fail but still hold things intact.
I have been looking at maybe going with bonded mounts but have some fears of them failing. I think it was posted that White Acorn has a bonded mount fail on their vehicle, while not the same ones it's still similar.
Does anyone have some suggestions on some low profile mounts to handle 2500LB Axial Load and 2100LB Radial Load?
For the pivot, it seems that polyurthane bushings are hard to find in a 3/4" or 7/8" size with sleeves. Anyone have any suggestions, they would need to handle 2500LB Radial Load and 2250LB Axial Loads
Any suggestions or inputs would be helpful.
I have been looking at maybe going with bonded mounts but have some fears of them failing. I think it was posted that White Acorn has a bonded mount fail on their vehicle, while not the same ones it's still similar.
Does anyone have some suggestions on some low profile mounts to handle 2500LB Axial Load and 2100LB Radial Load?
For the pivot, it seems that polyurthane bushings are hard to find in a 3/4" or 7/8" size with sleeves. Anyone have any suggestions, they would need to handle 2500LB Radial Load and 2250LB Axial Loads
Any suggestions or inputs would be helpful.
Barry Controls is an awesome company, if you give them a call they will most likely put you in contact with an application engineer. I worked with them on a couple of high vibration jobs and used similar mounts with great success. You will probably have to go fairly big for the application but they are bulletproof and double redundant as far as failure/pull apart resistant. I wouldn't go with bonded mounts for that reason alone.
Nitromethane43
Observer
Jeep that's good information, would you happen to know what information Barry Controls would need, or what they asked for to assist in the product selection?
I currently have the loads at each point, weight, acceleration, and some other information, but they seem to involve a lot of frequency and oscillation, which I'm not too familiar with.
Below is a sample animation of the worse case scenario of slowing down and veering off to one side.
[video]https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwEYf2ioYCyQbGxMbmdMS3lsNm8/view?usp=sharing[/video]
I currently have the loads at each point, weight, acceleration, and some other information, but they seem to involve a lot of frequency and oscillation, which I'm not too familiar with.
Below is a sample animation of the worse case scenario of slowing down and veering off to one side.
[video]https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwEYf2ioYCyQbGxMbmdMS3lsNm8/view?usp=sharing[/video]
LukeH
Adventurer
Worst case isn't going to be anything your brakes or chassis steering can exert on the mounts.
It's going to be one rear wheel hitting a curb at 10 mph. Or driving on rocky piste
One side of the chassis goes up suddenly, pushing the whole box up. The mount on the impact side is completely squashed and the one on the other side is pulled up violently because the box will go up before it starts tipping.
The Barry mounts have been proven in all positions under WOT 1 and when he dismantled it to make WOT 2 he found them in perfect condition. Check out Rob Gray's build threads, he's on ExPo somewhere. WOT 1 was so heavily overbuilt you won't get a better endorsement.
White Acorn's bonded mount failed due to poor weight distribution. The rear was overloaded causing the front to pull upwards on a forward mount that was designed to support a downward load. Atrocious design not to have any sort of fail safe plate.
I went another route.
The suspension bushes for the trailing arms of articulated trucks are amazing bits of rubber technology. The inner diameter is bonded and the outer is pushed into the sleeve as necessary. They are designed to take a ferocious pounding under a full 40 tonne Truck on the worst of roads. They pivot without sliding and dampen without crushing. I had a guy make up some housings and press the bushes in. They inspire confidence.
For scale, the bolt is 30 mm
It's going to be one rear wheel hitting a curb at 10 mph. Or driving on rocky piste
One side of the chassis goes up suddenly, pushing the whole box up. The mount on the impact side is completely squashed and the one on the other side is pulled up violently because the box will go up before it starts tipping.
The Barry mounts have been proven in all positions under WOT 1 and when he dismantled it to make WOT 2 he found them in perfect condition. Check out Rob Gray's build threads, he's on ExPo somewhere. WOT 1 was so heavily overbuilt you won't get a better endorsement.
White Acorn's bonded mount failed due to poor weight distribution. The rear was overloaded causing the front to pull upwards on a forward mount that was designed to support a downward load. Atrocious design not to have any sort of fail safe plate.
I went another route.
The suspension bushes for the trailing arms of articulated trucks are amazing bits of rubber technology. The inner diameter is bonded and the outer is pushed into the sleeve as necessary. They are designed to take a ferocious pounding under a full 40 tonne Truck on the worst of roads. They pivot without sliding and dampen without crushing. I had a guy make up some housings and press the bushes in. They inspire confidence.
For scale, the bolt is 30 mm