GOVE Global Overland Vehicle Economical build.

[pods8]

Just wandered through your thread, didn't read all the solar discussion in depth but I just wanted to note that I think you're thinking panels cost more than they do these days. Can get 100+watt panels for about $1.45 a watt right now. That said if you have a geny there isn't a huge motivation to have one.

I'm not running a generator so I just grabbed a 100watt'r for mine and will just use a a gen 3 sunsaver morning start PWM controller, for under $200 it'll be nice to have some amps being replenished since I'll be running an ARB fridge.

Mounted rear winch. Winch bolted to mount which is bolted to truck frame. Winch will tuck up into the bed (but not connected to it). Also, truck to bed hinge point shown and bushings on fuel tank:
View attachment 142862

Bottom view of winch / hitch mount and 4/0 (-) cable run from Truck Aux battery to end of frame:
View attachment 142863

NICE!

 

[heimbig]

Articulation test

Drove the right front up a steep berm today at the bed builders shop. The distance between the high corner of the cab and the bed was a full 2" higher than when the truck was on flat ground. Bed stayed reasonably flat (un-twisted) on this no-load test. There will be 800 lbs of water across the front of the bed so very much greater torsional forces on the bed when loaded. Therefore we'll stiffen the bed's longitudinal frame members with 3 or 4 cross members (currently there are none) to reduce twisting of the bed - Camper will be mounted next week and will have the unit back to Pullman WA in a couple weeks and test again fully loaded:


About 4 or 5 inches of lift on the bed to truck frame. (Which correlates to the 2" displacement of the cab - on each side.) You can see I removed the bed springs for this test. A lot more lift than the bed builder expected so we'll acquire less stiff springs and provide for 6" of travel:


As a side note, my inability to drive up and over the berm tells me I for sure need lockers on the front diff. The left front tire was nearly off the ground and I wasn't going anywhere.

 

[heimbig]

Name change (sort of) for GOVE: Now is Livingstone

As we are about to combine the various 'pieces' of the GOVE puzzle we need a name for our adventure (Also, so Phoenix Popup can have a label made to be attached to the rig.)

GOVE is a good name for the build so I'll leave the portal blog unchanged. But for our travels the name will be Livingstone and blog of our travels will be http://LivingStoneJournal.com/ in honor of David Livingstone as our goals are similar: exploration, scientific inquisitiveness, and missional outreach.

 

[Overland Hadley]

Looking good.

I am sure you are excited to get the camper mounted. Please post as many specs as you can.

 

[Overland Hadley]

Any updates? Did you get the camper mounted this week? If so, it would be great to see some photos.

 

[docdave]

Me too.

 

[heimbig]

I delivered truck to Denver last weekend, flew home, fly back in a few hours to pick up truck with camper. I took some shots of the camper but really I had a bunch of changes and a few things weren't quite done. We'll be taking the long road back to Washington the next few days so hopefully we'll get a good some shots, snow, wild camp, and update here. Still many things to complete when we get back like fuel tanks, air compressor, air lift, storage boxes for below the bed, headache rack and the garage isn't started yet. so I've got a long list. Still no rickson wheels and the duallys make a mess in the snow/slush since they stick out 4" on each side.

 

[sg1]

Just a few comments on the power supply:
If you travel in Europe you will probably stay most of the time on campgrounds or on motorhome parkings. They usually have power and they will never allow you to run a generator. In Southern Africa and Eastern Africa we always stayed on campgrounds because boondocking is unsafe (crime) and prohibited inside parks. There are plenty of excellent campgrounds. Most of the campgrounds had power none allowed you to run a generator. The only places in Africa were we stayed outside campgrounds was in the Sahara (we crossed it twice in the 80´s), but this is impossible at the moment because of terrorism. We have 160w solar 160Ah batteries and a compressor fridge but no air conditioner. We always had enough power and I never used the generator. I therefore sold it in the meantime.
Regards Stefan

 

[heimbig]

Baptism by snow

My wife and I picked up Livingston in Colorado and went looking for adventure on our way home to Washington. Along the way we couldn't find a rest area and pulled up a mountain road in Montana. We didn't plan on this much adventure.

I set up the front winch in Colorado thinking I might use it to pull people out of the ditch. I also had a 25 foot chain or 20 foot tow strap, I didn't pull anyone but myself out of trouble.

For sure had the rear winch been set up we would have pulled it out backwards in 30 minutes.

The winch worked fantastically.
First pull:


Second pull:


About to slide off 'road' and realized my extraction gear was not going to the job, I went walking, looking for a friendly neighbor with more chain or cable or come-a-long, I lucked out and got them all.


Third pull, the borrowed come-a-long kept us out of the ditch and the heavyduty winch mount gave us a great attachment point:


Fourth pull:


Mess of tracks in the snow:


Back on the road:


So our rest stop turned into 3 hour educational ordeal. But one thing is certain: my wife will be very supportive when it comes time to purchase additional extraction gear.

More pictures and a summary of the Phoenix buying experience to come....

-Bruce

 

[pods8]

Is that truck only rear wheel? If 4x4 from the pictures its surprising it kept getting stuck. But we all know how pictures never tell the story either.

 

[heimbig]

It is a 4x4. There was a thick 3 inch layer of ice from rain which froze, (notice I'm walking on top of it) on top of 1+ foot of soft snow underneath. Without the ice it probably would not have been a problem.

 

[pods8]

Yup that'll get ya.

 

[heimbig]

Photos of Phoenix popup camper

Parked in my yard - dwarfing my 15 passenger van


Side entry door. Foxwing awning above.


Nerf bar extension that protects Foxwing awning. The bar stops for the door.


View from the door:

We really like the way the cabinetry worked out.

The front of the fridge was black and we had it covered with birch to match everything else, looks nice. This was one of MANY MANY special features that Rob at Phoenix popup did as little or no cost upgrades.

The 100 Gal water tank is under the forward dinette seat and under the step, stops before the fridge, under the fridge is some of the electronics and (outside accessible) storage box for batteries.


Another View from the door:

The front 'cab over' windows completely zips open, note also the overhead roof access hatch/vent. The air conditioner is mounted in the front camper wall just forward of the refrigerator.

In this shot and above you can see full length very deep storage bins on either side of bed with one large door/lid. We've decided to split these into 2 or 3 opening doors/lids for each side to make better use of the large space. Just one many things you just couldn't predict until you use the camper.


Looking back from the cabover:

Head walls in up position

Commercial grade gas stove - this isn't a camper stove, so more output, looks nice, but we have to either remove the grill and removable burner parts or place cushions on top to keep it in place when traveling, this was a choice we made. Convection microwave below sink.


Dry toilet, wet head:

The head is also the shower.

But the toilet is dry and uses no water, a composting type.

Grey water is in a tank under the head.

There are 2 fantastic fan vents, one shown below and one centerline mounted between 'kitchen' and dinette.

To the left in this shot (the very rear drivers side of camper) is an outside accessible box with room for 2 large Propane tanks.



Storage area at back wall:
Top accessable bins with door/lids on top - can only open these with pop-up up.


Closet and storage.


Storage behind head. We'll make better use of this area with movable storage bins and we'll split the door/lid so a middle section opens and the drivers side opens but has removable bins on top.

 

[docdave]

Very cool, thanks for the photos.

 

[johnnieev]

WOW!!

A LOT of thought went into this!

Very impressive.......:clapsmile