1120 AF Build in Norway

[Geo.Lander]

getting off the original poster's questions, but this is as good a point to volunteer the information as any. You can buy composite gas cylinders in Europe that can be filled at auto gas stations and use brass screw on adapters to the different country-specific systems (which are still different to the pre-filled bottles). works out much cheaper than the swappable bottles, and you can see the level of liquid remaining so can plan when to refill more easily. I bought mine from Safefill in the UK, and i believe their offering was originally manufactured in Norway....

I'm familiar with these, I actually use a 20 litre bottle on my BBQ. They are a standard here and cost around 100 euro and then 15 euro for a swap refill. I was more than a little shocked to discover the price of these composite bottles outside of Norway. North of 200€

 

[Neil]

I have an 80 litre gas tank for cooking only.

However, my experience in South America is that getting nearly any type of gas bottle refilled is easily achieved. The continent lives on bottled gas and they will fill your bottles up in most major towns and cities.

You might not want to watch them do it but they will get it done

Neil

 

[VerMonsterRV]

I have an 80 litre gas tank for cooking only.

However, my experience in South America is that getting nearly any type of gas bottle refilled is easily achieved. The continent lives on bottled gas and they will fill your bottles up in most major towns and cities.

You might not want to watch them do it but they will get it done

Neil

We have very similar experience sailing around the world (had one guy jam a rubber plug with a small hole thru the middle into our tank, then held it in as the propane flowed, at least he was not smoking at the time). Hardest place to get our propane bottles filled was Europe. We ended up buying a local bottle from a marina (they were not really supposed to do that) and a local regulator to get by. Ended up finding a gas distribution place that filled our bottles for us right before we headed across the Atlantic. We have a 12.2 gallon fixed tank in the RV that we use for cooking (3 burner range/oven), if we use gas like we used it on the sailboat it should last us upwards of 9 months.

 

[Sitec]

For gas, we are using two 15kg aluminium forklift cylinders. I've chosen these for several reasons. Firstly, being industrial, they are over engineered so pretty safe. Secondly they have a service station fill point that is also safe to use. Lastly, they are removable, giving me a decent adaptable locker space for other styles of cylinders in other countries if I can't ship with the cylinders we have. We have purchased two new vapour gas cylinder fittings, and replaced the original liquid outlets. We've been using this system on our house now for the last few years, and it works well.

 

[Geo.Lander]

Update! The lights and sirens are off and the battery changed, ready for its trip from the west coast of Norway to close to our Oslo workshop! The Ålesund fire department were very kind enough to change the battery for us as well!

 

[Geo.Lander]

For gas, we are using two 15kg aluminium forklift cylinders. I've chosen these for several reasons. Firstly, being industrial, they are over engineered so pretty safe. Secondly they have a service station fill point that is also safe to use. Lastly, they are removable, giving me a decent adaptable locker space for other styles of cylinders in other countries if I can't ship with the cylinders we have. We have purchased two new vapour gas cylinder fittings, and replaced the original liquid outlets. We've been using this system on our house now for the last few years, and it works well.

View attachment 623880

cool gas storage setup! I was thinking of 2 composite 20l bottles to keep things simple and a smeg household 4 burner stove

 

[Joe917]

If you want to keep things simple go electric. No propane.

 

[Geo.Lander]

If you want to keep things simple go electric. No propane.

I have some nagging concerns with the thought of induction, battery bank size, inverter size, charging it in the winter months up north when we stay put for 3-4 days. Plus i like cooking with gas.. I am still a little on the fence thou..

 

[Joe917]

You will need to go to a lithium battery bank, and you will need generator back up. The generator can be relatively small and run at full load when needed (most efficient).

 

[grizzlyj]

On some charging controllers you can pick how many amps you want to charge a lithium bank with. So if your campsite only guarantees 5amps, or you go with a 1000W genny etc you dial down or up how much of what's available you use.

 

[Geo.Lander]

You will need to go to a lithium battery bank, and you will need generator back up. The generator can be relatively small and run at full load when needed (most efficient).

I already have some plans for the power. Yes, Lithium is never a question but capacity, building from raw cells (they are really hard to source in Norway and you cannot import without a licence), charge controllers and inverters is still up in the air. Thanks to DiploStrat's great advice I think I have found a charge controller from RedArc that handles B2B (24v too) and solar combined, ill get some type of simple battery monitor, prob Victron. I wouldn't mind having one of those 220 inverters that also have a "shore power" inlet but i never wanted to include AC in the first place... My build ideas are a bit simpler than the Bavarian style overlanding community, probably more inline with the vanlife crowd ?. The battery will be 200-300Ah based on calculation of our needs (unless i go induction), Diesel heating based on lightweight 4kw Truma, lightweight poplar plywood with veneer (i think teak with that 3M PSA backing) inside with maybe a few 2020 aluminum extrusion structures for the bed, cabinets, kitchen etc.

 

[Geo.Lander]

We have very similar experience sailing around the world (had one guy jam a rubber plug with a small hole thru the middle into our tank, then held it in as the propane flowed, at least he was not smoking at the time). Hardest place to get our propane bottles filled was Europe. We ended up buying a local bottle from a marina (they were not really supposed to do that) and a local regulator to get by. Ended up finding a gas distribution place that filled our bottles for us right before we headed across the Atlantic. We have a 12.2 gallon fixed tank in the RV that we use for cooking (3 burner range/oven), if we use gas like we used it on the sailboat it should last us upwards of 9 months.

I was curious about one thing, I am busy at the moment finding someone with a crane etc to remove the fire cab, did you cab have a water pump installed like mine has? there seems to be a engine runoff to power the thing and was wondering the proper way to "disconnect" that?

I am so clueless it is a bit scary

 

[Geo.Lander]

Initially, just remove the pump propellershaft from the Power TakeOff. If you want to remove the PTO that can be considerable work.
Sandwich type PTO probably the most difficult.

Right! Thanks for the advice! I want to strip as much weight as possible from the chassis so I'll have a garage take a look at removing it (PTO)?

At least now I know what it's called ?

 

[VerMonsterRV]

I was curious about one thing, I am busy at the moment finding someone with a crane etc to remove the fire cab, did you cab have a water pump installed like mine has? there seems to be a engine runoff to power the thing and was wondering the proper way to "disconnect" that?

I am so clueless it is a bit scary

We ended up using wood blocks with bottle jacks to lift the firebox up enough to drive the truck out from under it (we did it in a boatyard and unfortunately the crane was out of order that day). The PTO is connected via a "prop" shaft to the fire pump. We disconnected it at the PTO by unbolting the prop shaft flange. We still have the PTO, though are not using it. I am pretty sure you would need some sort of blanking plate and know how to disconnect it. I did not know and did not have the blanking plate so left it in place.

 

[Joe917]

Keep the PTO. You will be able to run hydraulic winch, rams , etc.