thebigblue
Adventurer
Yes, it's a nice program indeed. That aurora looks nice. What year is your Mog, and why a double-cap?
Mjolnir "Das Maultier" Our Unimog U1550L Expedition Camper
- Thread starter Mjolnir
- Start date
Yes, it's a nice program indeed. That aurora looks nice. What year is your Mog, and why a double-cap?
The Mog was built in 1994. Dogs are the reason for the half doka. We travel with our pets when we can. We decided that an extended cab was needed for this reason alone. Some people think it is a waste of space, but it really is not. If you put the right bench seat in you can keep tools and spare parts in the bench. Removable storage lockers can be attached to the ceiling of the cab for items that are not getting used too often such as rock climbing, camping and spearfishing gear. Also if you put the right Bench seat in you can use this area as a spare bed. A friend of ours who is 6'5" has slept back there a few times now and he loves it. I definitely think that the camper layout is made harder by the fact that we have the extended cab. It would be nice if it were about 1/3 smaller.
Something to consider for your replacement camper build is a water recycling system. It could save 500 pounds or so. You basically have two small tanks, one about 4-6 gallons (holding tank for water to be filtered) and one about 10-15 gallons (fresh water waiting to be used). Multiple levels of filtration, down to sub-micron level, if desired, take gray water and re-condition it back to potable water standards. This is assisted by using non-toxic cleaners, soaps, shampoos, etc. You can also incorporate UV light, reverse osmosis and the like, if desired, but realise that you are only removing what you put it. So, if you start with clean water from the tap or a known good source and take a shower, there is no need to design a system to filter out polio, giardia, heavy metals and pesticides, as those cannot exist in your closed loop system.
It allows you to carry much less water on the truck and to wash as many dishes and take as many showers as you need. Both, a huge advantage, especially when boon docking or in a remote area, where services may not be readily available.
It allows you to carry much less water on the truck and to wash as many dishes and take as many showers as you need. Both, a huge advantage, especially when boon docking or in a remote area, where services may not be readily available.
Iain_U1250
Explorer
That sounds like a good idea, has anyone put this into practise?
Bliss Mobil has a system that does it
http://www.blissmobil.com/en/produc.../water/167-re-use-and-recycling-of-water.html
I've seen a couple of versions where grey water is used for toilet water, and I'm using a recirculating shower arrangement in our truck to extend water life (should be 2-3 weeks for 400l) but haven't chatted with anyone who's recycled grey water before
http://www.blissmobil.com/en/produc.../water/167-re-use-and-recycling-of-water.html
I've seen a couple of versions where grey water is used for toilet water, and I'm using a recirculating shower arrangement in our truck to extend water life (should be 2-3 weeks for 400l) but haven't chatted with anyone who's recycled grey water before
Iain_U1250
Explorer
Probably best to move this to other thread.
loonwheeler
Adventurer
David (SpudBoy) incorporated a "recycling" shower arrangement in his MAN truck camper as well. Similar to Maninga - not grey water filtration but a simple way to save water when showering. A few details in David's blog here:
http://daviddeere.net.au/dnnd2/en-us/Blog/Post/1322/Shower-pump-and-shower-rose
Expo build thread here:
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/118415-MAN-4x4-Truck-camper-build
http://daviddeere.net.au/dnnd2/en-us/Blog/Post/1322/Shower-pump-and-shower-rose
Expo build thread here:
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/118415-MAN-4x4-Truck-camper-build
Some good information here. I am not sure about a water recycling system. So far I have just been considering rainwater collection from the roof and awning with the addition of a reverse Osmosis filter system that has UV sanitizing incorporated into it. In order to reduce water consumption we will be using an Airhead composting toilet. I am going to do a little more research into the recirculating shower as that would also greatly decrease water consumption. I have been using gravity feed filters for a couple years now to top up the drinking water can. The gravity feed filters will probably get used for the rainwater collection. it would be nice to set up the RO system so that any time water is pumped in from an outside source it would have to go through the RO filter prior to going into the tank, then through the RO filter again when being pumped from the tank through the domestic water system. Just a matter of valving. The biggest problem I see with the RO filter system is the length of time it takes to process water.
Thanks for your comments on this. Its forcing me to consider a few things that I have not thought about yet.
Another good shot of our Mog during our trip "Up North". The second photo is of the terrain around Kemess Mine in Northern British Columbia.
We use an outdoor kitchen a lot. I find it easier and my wife and I can do double duty. One keeps up with dishes while the other cooks. The awning makes it easy in the rain. The only time it is inconvenient is when it is cold. When I build the new camper I will mount a slide out table somewhere near the location of the table in the photo in order to accommodate our outdoor stove and prep area.... I have been having a look at some of the jeep trailer and suv set-ups....has anybody integrated these systems into their fullsize campers.
The big white cooler is just there as we were packing a weeks supply of food for three adults.....turned out to be closer to two weeks supply of food. The truck was absolutely packed as far as the external storage was concerned.
We use an outdoor kitchen a lot. I find it easier and my wife and I can do double duty. One keeps up with dishes while the other cooks. The awning makes it easy in the rain. The only time it is inconvenient is when it is cold. When I build the new camper I will mount a slide out table somewhere near the location of the table in the photo in order to accommodate our outdoor stove and prep area.... I have been having a look at some of the jeep trailer and suv set-ups....has anybody integrated these systems into their fullsize campers.
The big white cooler is just there as we were packing a weeks supply of food for three adults.....turned out to be closer to two weeks supply of food. The truck was absolutely packed as far as the external storage was concerned.
Attachments
So all this talk about cooking brings up another point......
I have decided to go with a diesel fired cooktop inside the camper. Outside I will be using a two burner liquid fuel stove as well as a grill, now I was thinking of going with charcoal, but ran across this today:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzyXye7rir8
There could be something to this as I will really only want to cook outside on nice days anyway.....
Another question for anyone who wants to chime in - Does a Slow Cooker seem like a reasonable way to make meals while overlanding? They draw between 90 and 200 watts depending on power setting, so I was thinking cooking on low (100W) for 7 hours on my 24 Volt system would use a total of 30amps of my battery power. Does this seem reasonable if I was to do it on days where we knew we had a long drive? Or does that seem excessive for cooking a meal?
I have decided to go with a diesel fired cooktop inside the camper. Outside I will be using a two burner liquid fuel stove as well as a grill, now I was thinking of going with charcoal, but ran across this today:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzyXye7rir8
There could be something to this as I will really only want to cook outside on nice days anyway.....
Another question for anyone who wants to chime in - Does a Slow Cooker seem like a reasonable way to make meals while overlanding? They draw between 90 and 200 watts depending on power setting, so I was thinking cooking on low (100W) for 7 hours on my 24 Volt system would use a total of 30amps of my battery power. Does this seem reasonable if I was to do it on days where we knew we had a long drive? Or does that seem excessive for cooking a meal?
If you have an easy/efficient way to boil water or heat the inner pot, these will serve you well:
https://usa.tiger-corporation.com/03cookingwares/06-nfh-g-thermal-magic-cooker.html
https://usa.tiger-corporation.com/03cookingwares/06-nfh-g-thermal-magic-cooker.html
Iain_U1250
Explorer
Your set-up sounds similar to ours, we have the Webasto X100 diesel cooktop inside, and a gas cooktop outside. We have a great slow cooker, which we regularly use - Ecopot . We have the 24/7 version with a 12v heating element, keeps it hot all day. We use it for stews, chicken, corned beef, and even to make cakes. Cook a stew on the bottom, and a cake on the top.
( By "We' I really mean my fantastic camp cook
)
We make enough for two meals, freezing what's left for some time in the future.
The other we have is an electric bread maker, it takes about four hours for the bread, but the machine only draws about 800W for about 40 minutes, so we only use it when we are driving. It's great to pull into a camp site and have stew and bread ready to go
One more thing to consider, is a gas barbeque, we have a little Weber which works great, but takes up a fair bit of space and uses a lot of gas.
( By "We' I really mean my fantastic camp cook
)
We make enough for two meals, freezing what's left for some time in the future.
The other we have is an electric bread maker, it takes about four hours for the bread, but the machine only draws about 800W for about 40 minutes, so we only use it when we are driving. It's great to pull into a camp site and have stew and bread ready to go
One more thing to consider, is a gas barbeque, we have a little Weber which works great, but takes up a fair bit of space and uses a lot of gas.