2022 Ford F550 - DIY - Adventure Expedition Vehicle Build Thread

[Vance Vanz]

Rear Bumper

 

[Vance Vanz]

Rear Bumper - Continued......

The fitment came out good .

 

[Vance Vanz]

Tail Light Cages - For Bumper & Camper

I'm sure Erin and I will back into something at some point (hopefully not ). If so, a little protection around the tail lights will be nice.

The lower cage in the picture (x 4) is for the bumper and the upper cage (x 2) is for the camper. I will have a set of stop/turn/tail lights up high on the camper as well, to increase visibility on the highway/open road.


Bumper Cages


Camper Cages


The nice thing about these tail lights is the color of them (when they are on) match all of the other red marker lights on the back of the camper. All of my interior and exterior lighting on the camper match/are the same shade of color. I can't stand it when the stop/turn lights don't match the marker lights on the back of a rig. Shmearth Shmoamer has this issue.

 

[Vance Vanz]

Scissor Steps - Rear Bumper

Here is my setup for getting on and off of the rear bumper (into the gear locker and onto the roof ladder).

 

[ITTOG]

Lighting (Interior & Exterior) & Misc. Items

Testing out lights and dimmers for the build. The interior will have recessed track lighting.
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The exterior will have combo white and amber lights on a dimmer.
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Along with all of the interior/exterior lighting, all of the 120V AC/12V DC push button (on/off/open/close) switches were purchased, as well as all of the combo 120V electrical/USB/C outlets. It took a bit of time to find decent dimmer switches.

Bamboo arrived
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Plumbing
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I finished designing and sizing everything left on the plumbing system(s) and ordered all of the remaining parts . It took a bit of time, but I think every single plumbing item on the fresh water side is not only potable water rated, but also NSF 61 Certified. Trust me, this was a process to ensure every single fitting, hose, gasket, part, etc. was NSF 61 Certified. I will be using PEX A on the hot/cold water.

More expensive composite materials. This is the no joking around super duty epoxy adhesive/hardener for setting/bonding threaded inserts in the composite walls. This applies mostly to inserts needed for mounting L-Track
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Interior Shower Walls
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I needed to build out the shower walls about 5/8", to overlap the shower pan. I had some 3/4" Divinycell Core Foam left over, so I decided to have it plained down to 5/8" (Upper left in the above pic). Pretty expensive material to use for building out a shower wall, but it was cheaper to plain down what I had vs. buying some other material. In addition, it will be super light weight, add to the R value in the bathroom (exterior walls) and it's a marine grade material where you need it most.

I'm also going to use left over 1/2" CF composite panels for the floor in the gear locker. I need to build the floor up because I will have recessed L-Track in it. Another opportunity to keep things light and use marine grade material anywhere I can.

The inside, just as much work as the outside but many more systems. I plan to do the inside of my home build this summer. But it is more of a functional don't care if I damage it build.

Can you post a link to the outdoor white/amber light? I might look at it for my build.

Look forward to seeing you use the super duty epoxy for inserts. Since I am using foam insulation, curious if this is something I can use to build anchor points.

 

[Vance Vanz]

Just saw this ITTOG, didn't get an email when you posted your question .

Here is the link for the light

https://www.amazon.com/Exterior-Trailer-Lighting-700lumens-7-8inch/dp/B09WTYMVH3/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8&th=1

Was going to go with Baja or Rigids for the exterior, but when I found these, they solved the problem of not needing two separate light fixtures to get a white and amber light. I will also use a dimmer on each light within the single fixture.

Almost forgot. The only thing that sucks related to these lights is they don't come with a foamed-backed gasket. I bought some foam gasket sheet material and will be making my own.

Not sure how much load you will have on each of your anchor points. For my application (threaded insert for mounting L-Track), I will handle it the same way the boating/yachting world does. After drilling a hole in the composite skin (hole size needed for the associated threaded insert), I will ream out the core foam about a 1/2"-5/8" larger in diameter than the drilled hole (using an allen wrench in the end of a drill). Clean out the reamed hole, squirt some toughened epoxy in, thread the insert in, clean up excess pooky and let it cure.

I'm also going to use this same toughened epoxy for bonding a few of my vertical bamboo cabinet pieces to the carbon fiber floor/walls of the camper.