1120 AF Build in Norway

[VerMonsterRV]

Our chassis was in pretty good condition but we did have a guy with a "dustless blaster" come in to get the rusty spots. It was dustless but left an enormous amount of fine sand everywhere.

 

[Sitec]

Looking good. You'd be surprised how much crud a hot pressure wash will bring off. I washed our truck at work using the hot wash/steam cleaner and some 'truck wash' soap. I wish I'd spent a full day at this point with the pressure washer, because once the truck was home and disabled, I found a lot more crud that needed cleaning off by hand. If you can, get it stood on a wash bay, remove all 4 wheels and get it up on stands. Get the waterproofs and goggles on and be prepared to get wet and dirty. You will struggle with seeing stuff through the steam, so a windy day would be ideal!! Do a good clean, then clean the wash bay floor off and have a good look at the chassis. With yellow masking tape, tag the areas you have missed, and go again. You can't see the crud in amongst all the water and steam, but you can see the tape. Have an 'assistant' handy with a scraper, hammer, chisel and a wire brush for the hard to shift bits. Good luck!

 

[Geo.Lander]

Little update, we have been mostly spending the last 2 months working on a new studio for Thea's business (canemstudio.com) but there has also been a little progress on Gertrude. We have decided firmly on using Atkinson Voss (UK) for the box and subframe build and locked in our build slot with them this June, we have also bitten the bullet and ordered Outbound windows, doors, hatches etc for the entire build, that was not in the budget and will probably delay the entire project somewhat for financial reasons.
More design and build details coming on that later in March, but a short summary:

• We are mostly now working on the storage box design and location of fuel/air/spare - we are getting options for steel, alu and stainless for the storage boxes
• The 4-point torsion free subframe will incorporate freehanding entry steps
• Painting of drivers cab, box and chassis will also be done in the UK
• The basic design of the box is pretty much done, at least regarding the location of doors, windows, storage lockers and beds etc.
• We are getting the truck ready for transport to the UK, here she is just a few days ago, nothing major, but getting her a little more road legal

 

[Toby3]

Hi Geo.Lander, that's cool, should see your truck at Atkinson Vos late the year. They are now working on our truck so should be getting the Chassis extended this week which will be great. Had a similar experience with the Outbound windows stretching the budget, hadn't allowed that much but needs to be done.

 

[Geo.Lander]

Hi Geo.Lander, that's cool, should see your truck at Atkinson Vos late the year. They are now working on our truck so should be getting the Chassis extended this week which will be great. Had a similar experience with the Outbound windows stretching the budget, hadn't allowed that much but needs to be done.

Yea, it seems like one of us should start a expedition window company. Certainly room for undercutting the current offerings IMO. The issue with outbound is they are all made in house in NL. That is also the benefit unrelated to cost of labour of course..

 

[Vegard_S]

Yea, it seems like one of us should start a expedition window company. Certainly room for undercutting the current offerings IMO. The issue with outbound is they are all made in house in NL. That is also the benefit unrelated to cost of labour of course..

I 100% agree about that they are very costly... But the quality is also superb! Think you both will be happy about it in the long run!

We have 2 of the Outbound roof hatches, which we collected in person at their factory in Holland (after a very nice short tour of their factory) and installed the following day at a Dutch petrol station (to many peoples amusement?)

Super straight forward installation and awsome built quality. Thermal insulation is also very good. Our truck has been parked outside the whole winter with minimal heating on inside, with +10deg celsius on the inside and - 15 deg celsius on the outside we have yet not experienced any condensation on the windows. I find that quite impressive!

 

[Geo.Lander]

I 100% agree about that they are very costly... But the quality is also superb! Think you both weel be happyabout it in the long run!

We have 2 of the Outbound roof hatches, which we collected in person at their factory in Holland (after a very nice short tour of their factory) and installed the following day at a Dutch petrol station (to many peoples amusement?)

Super straight forward installation and awsome built quality. Thermal insulation is also very good. Our truck has been parked outside the whole winter with minimal heating on inside, with +10deg celsius on the inside and - 15 deg celsius on the outside we have yet not experienced any condensation on the windows. I find that quite impressive!

That is really good to hear! I mean dropping 10k for windows, doors and hatches is hard to stomach but we are building for the long haul and time saved down the road with extra maintenance will be appreciated.

 

[Geo.Lander]

So, no updates in a while, we are busy with other projects right now but will start stripping the drivers cab (as much as possible) before we ship off to the UK next month, the whole build slot has been delayed because of the lead time for the windows and doors, we ordered them last month but delivery will be September (best case July) now.

We have taken this time to design the water tank locations, bathroom and adjusting the interior design, looking into roof racks and bush guards and spare tire placement. Here is some of the progress on the interior design that will be built from aluminum and plywood apart from the bathroom, bed platform and one side of the wardrobe will be GRP panels (23mm). You can just see the shower tray in these screenshots..

A few details:

• In panel conduits planned for interior and exterior lighting, rear view camera and solar
• full length bush guards for the box and rack for the drivers cab, low profile, spare tire will be on drivers side with small crane
• Currently kitchen and wardrobe are 600mm deep, but we were thinking of changing this to 500-550
• GRP panel are 62mm wide
• stainless steel custom shower pan with 2 opposing drains
• 200L fresh water and 50L grey water

 

[Joe917]

Cab access? For me no cab camper access is a deal breaker.
Consider dropping at least two steps inside the box. This is enough to get in and out (with a little stretch) without deploying the steps. It also avoids the ridiculous long scissor steps that extend 5' out from the side of the truck.

 

[Geo.Lander]

Cab access? For me no cab camper access is a deal breaker.
Consider dropping at least two steps inside the box. This is enough to get in and out (with a little stretch) without deploying the steps. It also avoids the ridiculous long scissor steps that extend 5' out from the side of the truck.

Hi Joe! Driver's cab access is something we've looked a lot at. And the end result is really a legitimate legislation nightmare here in Norway as it would render the existing passenger legislation for 6 passengers (4 when converting to motorhome) invalid as we've compromised the cabin. We've left just enough room above the bed to add a emergency crawl through for the future. But as it stands now it will not be incorporated into the project.

Our steps will be built into the intermediate 4 point frame. We don't have CAD drawings or finished designs on the boxes or steps yet.

 

[Marmite]

Looking good!
Stop by for a Coffee if you find yourself on the West Coast some day.

 

[Geo.Lander]

Little help is possible, we are picking out our appliances and would appreciate some opinions, so far:

I have been looking at what large appliances we will be putting inside. Here they are for now:

• Fridge (only has 3mm tolerance for getting in the box based on the DE20 L measurement) - we love our Dometic CFX3 55, so decided to stay with the brand.
• Head
• Sink, tap, Induction top, combi/oven, shower (was thinking of the Nebia shower, but then Id need to build a shower box for the plumbing), etc: To be decided - appreciate some options and advice here. I am looking at a corrian top and stainless tap and sink., any routes i should go here?

 

[Geo.Lander]

Looking good!
Stop by for a Coffee if you find yourself on the West Coast some day.

Nice! Where are you based @Marmite ?

 

[Marmite]

Nice! Where are you based @Marmite ?

I am based just outside of Bergen.I spent all day in Oslo today kicking my heels waiting for the results of a Covid test so I could go to Sweden.Hit me up sometime when you are over here,plenty of space to park up overnight.

 

[terra-exp]

hello, as long as the truck is in europe, I could offer you a conversion at our facility in Germany, 4wheel24. Please find attached a similar 1120. We do expedition truck conversion. Contact me with any questions you have. We do this 10+ years and build 130+ trucks. Thanks Martin