1120 AF Build in Norway

[Geo.Lander]

Not having a crawl thru, once again a cost/complexity decision.

Agreed, on our side too. Also the main issue is budget and regulations, adding the crawl through adds a whole level of uncertainty and complexity to our vehicle certification.

oh boy the "old salts" really loved that and said it would be the bane of my sailing, "I better bring a bucket". I listened a bit and ended up buying a complete spare and stored it in the bilge. It ended up staying in the bilge and that toilet was by far the best least troubling head we ever owned. Am I sure I will be doing an Arduino controlling the heating system, nope. But since I would build it, program it and install it, it would not feel all that complex to me

I love this one, I much more comfortable at this end of the tech spectrum then diesel heaters or pneumatic systems. I used to build and spend a lot of time in data centers and have worked for software companies the past 15 years. Architecture on this level is much more to my liking and problem solving ability. Making a raspberry pi controller for a set of stepper motors or solenoid switches and simple logic board is much more appetizing than switching out my alternator.

Might make more sense structurally to have a window the size of the seating area and another one in the kitchen area. Then you could have a bit of a supporting wall between. Plus I think visually inside it would look better.

Yep, agreed. We made this adjustment above

I would also add to Sitec's comment about the bulkhead for splashes. I would say you should have something at each end of the counter to stop water. Given we camp a lot of nights not in formed campgrounds we are usually not perfectly level. So if a bit of water gets on the counter it can go forward or aft. For us the cabinet that is our pantry/refrigerator is on one end and we have a 12mm clear plexiglass partition for the other end (to allow light).

Totally agree, on the bedside counter we are adding a ceiling height closet of about 30cm breadth, not sure what type of splash guard we will fit on the sofa side. Might take another note out of your book and use plexi glass or simply a "boat lip" with a nicely tapered edge... Still not there on the details yet.

 

[Geo.Lander]

We wanted a solid table and are happy with the table and the pedestal we have.

Yep, I have been meaning to look through your build and bookmark you pedestal you have, it is exactly what we are looking for!

What are your plans of the rear of the truck? Are you planning on a lift?

Not exactly, yes and no, I was planning on a full size lift but we will instead try something a bit unusual. since we are not housing the spare on the back we will only use the rear for out mountain bikes and eventually a light motorcycle. All of which can be mounted on the american style 2 inch truck receiver (also a tow ball for towing boats). We are talking to our engineer about having this receiver mounted on a singlar arm that works through the underrun rear protection. More to come on this much later..

We shared the same thinking and is one of the reasons we included roof hatches in our truck. They really do let a lot of light in and with our mainly white interior walls it is very bright inside our habitat.

We are thinking about an Outbound hatch above the bed

Not sure what your feelings about entertainment are but we enjoy watching the occasional movie. We have a 21" monitor on a swing arm mounted just aft of our refrigerator. It is setup so we can watch is from the dinette or in bed if we choose. If you wanted something like this the thin wall could be a good mounting point for it (I am assuming the window in the bed area would be at your feet, ours is and it is nice to look out in the morning). Try and think about getting your wiring from the roof/lighting, fans etc to your distribution panels. There will need to be chase ways that you can access for installation and eventual repairs. For composite panels you can also have wiring chase ways built into them during the manufacture. We did this for our overhead hatches as they have lights in them. I ended up boring my own channels for the MaxxFan and rooftop AC as I had not planned ahead for these.

Yea, we love a good movie, have not really though much about this to be honest yet. Really good tip about wiring, i have not thought about running the cables at all! How did you make your own channels in the GRP?

Try and work in your overhead cabinets. Ours really do store a lot and are very important. The height and depth are important because they will dictate how large your windows can be. They are also great mounting points for lighting. The longer the runs of wire the large gauge they need to be for the same current draw. Our floor to ceiling pantry is the major channel for our wiring, but we also have the 2 front corners with 45 degree panels. These are also mounting points for reading lights.

We for sure plan on overhead panels, but have no idea on size, materials yet, and yea, i need to start building my knowledge on 12v draws etc. Pretty OK with using 2.5mm gauge for everything 220v ? Good tips on the reading lights, lots to think about, we really love the map reading light mounted on the passenger side and would love to source something similar for the bed.

I am looking at the systems we need to install, and they all require power, so our battery system and 12v breakers/fuse boxes will be installed first. I am thinking then heat and water last..

 

[tanuki.himself]

Yep, I have been meaning to look through your build and bookmark you pedestal you have, it is exactly what we are looking for!



Not exactly, yes and no, I was planning on a full size lift but we will instead try something a bit unusual. since we are not housing the spare on the back we will only use the rear for out mountain bikes and eventually a light motorcycle. All of which can be mounted on the american style 2 inch truck receiver (also a tow ball for towing boats). We are talking to our engineer about having this receiver mounted on a singlar arm that works through the underrun rear protection. More to come on this much later..



We are thinking about an Outbound hatch above the bed



Yea, we love a good movie, have not really though much about this to be honest yet. Really good tip about wiring, i have not thought about running the cables at all! How did you make your own channels in the GRP?



We for sure plan on overhead panels, but have no idea on size, materials yet, and yea, i need to start building my knowledge on 12v draws etc. Pretty OK with using 2.5mm gauge for everything 220v ? Good tips on the reading lights, lots to think about, we really love the map reading light mounted on the passenger side and would love to source something similar for the bed.

I am looking at the systems we need to install, and they all require power, so our battery system and 12v breakers/fuse boxes will be installed first. I am thinking then heat and water last..

if you go the custom panel route they can include wiring channels in to your specs. But obviously you need to have everything planned out 100%

I went the other route and surface ran my wiring and then hid it with cupboards and trim panels so I can still get to it to run extras and splice into runs if i want to afterwards - and i have already done so as i thought about things like propane detectors that i hadn't originally included in the wiring

where i have wires going to roof mounted fans i am planning to fit a false ceiling with old fashioned foam and car head lining fabric to cover it up for neatness, and also to act as sound deadening - the roof panel is quite noisy in the rain.

I would plan your water and heating first, and then wiring last - wire is a lot more flexible than pipe and doesn't have to take into account things like gravity for drainage and air locks

 

[Sitec]

Just seeing your comment on roof hatches... I got a shock at their cost... Look at Marine hatches... They (I think) offer a more cost effective solution. Great thread by the way. It's good to see all the different opinions coming in.

 

[Geo.Lander]

Just seeing your comment on roof hatches... I got a shock at their cost... Look at Marine hatches... They (I think) offer a more cost effective solution. Great thread by the way. It's good to see all the different opinions coming in.

Yep! This is definitely a crowd sourced build!

I am adding the costs now for all the outbound windows, hatches and doors and the total cost is just insane. Although still about half the price of the likes of KTC compared to residential windows outbound are about triple the price (we are building a cabin at the moment too and sourcing DRUTEX aluminium windows so have a good idea about costs).

What is stopping us using alu framed residential windows? weight?

Just to keep the ball rolling, the latest iteration includes the bedside closet, still missing:-

• Entrance door
• Overhead storage lockers
• Most joinery details
• water, power and heating systems

 

[VerMonsterRV]

Most of our wiring runs are inside the cabinetry, just try and visualize the wiring getting from point A to your panel. The only ones that run inside the composite panels are the ceiling ones for the lights, MaxxFan (plan on one of those,we have ours in the bathroom and is also our light) and AC (not sure it is really needed or even desired). The factory channels are just PVC tube bonded into the foam. The ones I did are just holes I bored thru the foam and are short runs, about 18" each. Same goes for the plumbing, make sure it flows downhill.

Sitec mentioned marine hatches and they are far more robust that anything in the RV business. The problems I had with going that route is I have never seen a double pane insulated hatch, and the frames are aluminum (condensation and thermal transfer). Plus shaded/screens are usually an add on. We lived aboard some winters in Boston MA with temps well below freezing. Condensation was part of our life (nothing like sleeping and having a cold drip of water hit you in the forehead) and I tried to build to avoid it as much as financially possible with this truck (I should have sprung for the Outbound hatches though). Condensation was one of the reasons I wanted full composite panels.

On a side note, can you share where you are sourcing your proposed entry steps from? Curious to cost and the needed depth for mounting them. Although our steps work ok, they could be a bit more robust and that design looks like it might work better.

For your bathroom window, think a little about a vertical style (taller than wider). We have that in our bathroom and allowed for more upper cabinet space as the overall space is pretty small.

As far as residential windows I am not sure, I have read (so take this with a grain of salt) that they lack the ability to respond to different pressures with changes in altitude. Not sure if this in internet lore or is a fact.

 

[Geo.Lander]

On a side note, can you share where you are sourcing your proposed entry steps from? Curious to cost and the needed depth for mounting them. Although our steps work ok, they could be a bit more robust and that design looks like it might work better.

Hi Jon, sure thing, the same place I plan to have our storage lockers made, find them here. Credit to CHR-INA Adventure blog for that find, a very worthwhile read!

For your bathroom window, think a little about a vertical style (taller than wider). We have that in our bathroom and allowed for more upper cabinet space as the overall space is pretty small.

Right, I see what you mean, I am going with the Outbound specs for sizes but ill take another look at their model lineup! Thanks!

As far as residential windows I am not sure, I have read (so take this with a grain of salt) that they lack the ability to respond to different pressures with changes in altitude. Not sure if this in internet lore or is a fact.

I suppose this will only really come into play in south America? the roads in europe and Africa from what i understand rarely exceed 2700m (I think there is one exception in Spain).. To be honest the windows we are ordering for our cabin look like much better quality and we can get them in most colour frames. I imagine weight being a penalty of course.. For now we are specing Outbound still, I have to try and convince Thea to lose a couple of windows and/or reduce their size if we are going to keep the box and sub-frame build under 30k€

Most of our wiring runs are inside the cabinetry, just try and visualize the wiring getting from point A to your panel

Yep, good advice, this is what I have been doing, I am not much of an advance planner. Once the contract is locked in with the box and intermediate frame builder and we know where all the main components are going to be I am going to fork the model and build the technical components into the 3D model including structures, this will hopefully give me foresight into material costs, wiring and plumbing.

 

[Joe917]

Our truck had a wiring chase built into the panels, one around the top of the truck with drops in 3 corners. Makes life a lot easier to run a wire at a later date.
We have a marine hatch over the bed. condensation is an issue easily fixed with a foam plug wrapped in plastic to insulate and stop warm vapour reaching the cold hatch.

Our step well. Two steps down internally and one sliding exterior step. The sliding step is pneumatic but poorly designed in that the slider constantly gets jammed with grit. I had planned to change it to a pivoting two step but have been too busy travelling. The cupboard to the left is for shoes, 5 pairs each side.

Consider eliminating the bathroom window and going with a ceiling fan. Then you can add a full size heated towel bar on the outside wall. Luxury!

Sometimes you get locked in to an idea, front or rear dinette. There is room in an 8' wide box to have a U shaped dinette on one side. Note the radiator by the door, no moving parts and nice even heat. Door to cab offset to left side.
Also like Jon says don't forget overhead storage.
You have only one window by the bed. I would add another on the opposite side so you can get a cross breeze.

 

[Geo.Lander]

Our truck had a wiring chase built into the panels, one around the top of the truck with drops in 3 corners. Makes life a lot easier to run a wire at a later date.
We have a marine hatch over the bed. condensation is an issue easily fixed with a foam plug wrapped in plastic to insulate and stop warm vapour reaching the cold hatch.

We have added the lighting channels now to the design and our (probably) manufacture says that is no problem. So many good tips rolling in helping us massively try and get this right first time.

We have decided on the advice on this forum and other sources to spec Outbound hatches, windows and doors, we will also spec their roof hatch too.

Our step well. Two steps down internally and one sliding exterior step. The sliding step is pneumatic but poorly designed in that the slider constantly gets jammed with grit. I had planned to change it to a pivoting two step but have been too busy travelling. The cupboard to the left is for shoes, 5 pairs each side.

Shoe storage something I have not thought about. Thanks! we are going to design a low cabinet on the bathroom wall to fit a few pairs at least, im a US 13 so maybe just one pair of mine ?

Consider eliminating the bathroom window and going with a ceiling fan. Then you can add a full size heated towel bar on the outside wall. Luxury!

Thanks for this, I have been trying to design our shower tray and toilet and the window was an issue with cabinets etc. I have removed the window and we will install a ceiling fan instead.

Sometimes you get locked in to an idea, front or rear dinette. There is room in an 8' wide box to have a U shaped dinette on one side. Note the radiator by the door, no moving parts and nice even heat. Door to cab offset to left side.
Also like Jon says don't forget overhead storage.
You have only one window by the bed. I would add another on the opposite side so you can get a cross breeze.

We have only just started the design process, but have played around with a large number of layouts including the Germanic side seating. One thing is clear, there is no perfect layout and one must prioritize based on needs and wants. We have implemented our own 3D designs of some classic bimobile layouts, bliss and a few others and they all have their advantages and not.

We are just getting the simple layout in place so we know where to have the windows and doors placed. The buildout will be up to us in the end although we are going to have the box builders create the bed platform and bathroom.

One thing that is important to us is the view from the seating area, we also want to keep an airy feel to the box and having the seating centrally located cannot achieve this in my mind. So I hope that assures you that we are not "stuck" on a certain layout but really just want to find what is right for us

 

[Joe917]

I think it is possible to get "airy views" from a central dinette , you just have to park in the right spot.
This is a bit like the center/aft cockpit discussion!

 

[Geo.Lander]

View attachment 635365View attachment 635367
I think it is possible to get "airy views" from a central dinette , you just have to park in the right spot.
This is a bit like the center/aft cockpit discussion!

Just WOW! Those look like Outbound windows? If so are you happy with them?

 

[Joe917]

Just WOW! Those look like Outbound windows? If so are you happy with them?

They are an Italian made RV window. I have lost the original paperwork. They are single pane glass with an aluminum frame. The view through them is perfect and they have stood up very well. The big issue is condensation in extreme cold, however it is not a big enough problem to make it worth changing them.

 

[Joe917]

The top pick is the Cordillera Blanca in Peru, on a very remote dirt track over 4800m (16 000 ft). The most spectacular road we found anywhere!

 

[Geo.Lander]

So last week we got some chassis plans for our truck, the importer did not have the exact ones matching out VIN but managed to construct one from other trucks. If anyone would like a copy please let me know (I have have some plans for the regular cab).

Now if anyone would like the job of converting these into 3D models let me know ?

 

[Toby3]

HI, what software are you using to do your 3d drawings for your cabin. I'm still drawing out on paper so figured it might help if I can get it into 3d.