Box Van/Truck/Uhaul Shell - questions?

[PNWDad]

Hey everyone! I have been a lurker for awhile and finally have a few questions for all you experts on here. I have been searching and havent found what I want to build yet and have a few questions.

I use my truck, well, as a truck. I haul, tow, for 4-wheeling in the snow, bring home Home Depot supply's on Sundays, move friends couches, take dump runs, buy mom and dad a new bbq, etc. So I need to have the functionality of a truck bed. I also need enclosed storage for quads, dirt bikes, etc when I am out in the bush. I cant find a truck shell that I could load a quad into the back after it was installed. So then I started using trailers. Now I have grown tired of my open trailers and looked into a toy hauler/enclosed trailer. At 15,000 bucks and 8000 pounds a toy-hauler would be nice, but not a good option for me right now. And after all that looking I decided I don't want to tow a trailer with me anymore. There are allot of really cool off-road trailer builds on here that are up my alley, and i might go that route eventually.

What I am looking for is a box truck aluminum shell, cab-over to fit in place of my bed, with at least 8 feet of flat space out back to fix to the frame rails of my Dodge. 14" long or so would be perfect.

I would install a toy hauler flip down rear door for loading 2 quads, dirt bikes, etc. As for water, seats, batterys, sink etc I would have pre-made modular cabinets that I would slide into the open box and bolt down when I go out 6 times a year.

I have looked into Uhaul conversions and I would have to modify the front portion of the Uhaul attic to make room for a bed. Other then that, a 14 foot Uhaul box would work with some modifications. If I wanted to have a custom box like this built, who would I go to? I have been searching for box truck body builders and it seems like they are few and far between. Any Ideas? Or does someone already make a full size truck box with an attic?

Ill leave you with a picture from one of my Alaska trips, Thanks!
-Brandon

 

[bajajoaquin]

What part of the country are you in? That will help define some of your options. If you're anywhere near So Cal, there's always the Callen option. Yes, it's a hassle dealing with them, but you can get a custom set-up any way you want.

Although you said a custom box, would you be willing to consider a custom shell on your bed? I've got double doors that open full width, and I have 6'6" of headroom. I can still haul dirt bikes, gravel, and other truck-stuff:

 

[PNWDad]

Callen is EXACTLY what I was looking for, Thanks! I live in Oregon most of the time. I work in Louisiana for 28 days, then fly back to Oregon for 14 days of vacation.

Your camper sounds like what I need. Did you have Callen build it for you?

Here are some quick sketch ups of an idea in my head. The rear door would go to the ground as a ramp. After watching "Race To Dakar", I really like the side panel idea. All of the Dakar support trucks have these multi purpose panels. It not only opens up the camper, but is an extra sleeping pad for the guys, table to work on stuff, cook on, dance a jig, well you get the picture. You could even have a bug-screen made with boat cover snaps that would attach top and bottom panels and enclose the side wings.

Thanks for the info!

 

[PNWDad]

Here is what I have been working on for the last few hours at work. I really dont need both sides to open up, but it would be nice. I think it would make the camper weaker and leak more in the winter. With only one side folding down I could store more and worry about the weather less. The rear ramp sounded nice in my head, but in reality it might not be the best idea. It still looks way to tall to me after I shortened it down 8", but the measurements work out for being able to sit up in bed in the morning. I could look into a shorter height mattress then the one I already have.

 

[lblampman]

Looking good!

You can bring the roof down 6". In (most) commercial Class C or truck campers there isn't full sitting headroom in the bunk area (I'm not where my Class C is at the moment or I could measure it). I think 30" rather than 36" will do it.

Les

 

[LowTech]

Here's one we built w/ kind of the same thought.
Work Truck

We framed the rear door diff ( didn't plan to load quads), and it was designed to get a "cab-over" wedge built and added later. Third stage would have been to change the bottom to a slide-out style.
It never felt top heavy.

I prob would have beefed the suspension some over time . . . but I do that anyway.

 

[PNWDad]

Thank you everyone for the info so far. The truck in the model isnt quite accurate scale with with the camper, plus my truck is an extended cab. So bear with me on that. The tire size is accurate though. I do need to look into tire up-travel in relation to my frame. Currently the truck is sitting on 40" tires with a large lift. I am going to lower the tire size to 35" tires, and lower the suspension 4-5".

I am still hung up on the side doors as you all can see. I have decided to use Rhinokore instead of Nida-Core. Alas, I am have a HUGE problem getting information on ordering! Calling the company during business hours hasn't worked so far. My three emails are not getting a response ether. This morning I just emailed a company called Bigfoot RV that is/was the same people that make Rhinokore, but we will see if they email me back. I might be able to give them a call later today when I get off of work.

Does anyone have ANY ideas who to talk to about ordering Rhinokore?

From my estimates of other posts online, and not getting ahold of the actual pricing structure, I am looking at $5500 for just materials! Plus building a flatbed, and all the stuff that needs to go inside of this camper I am looking at a large investment. No new snowmobile for me this year.

I have been playing around with ideas, and this is the latest sketch. Does anyone think the roof slope is enough for snow loads out here in the northwest? We get 3 feet of wet snow, and from the looks of it I might need to engineer a tepee style attachment for the top to sluff of those falling snowflakes. I have another sketch with the roof dropped from 6' 4" to 6', and I might drop it more. It all depends when I start to mock the camper up with plywood to get an idea on height/width/etc. All ideas are welcomed and appreciated!
Cheers:coffeedrink:

 

[HMR]

Did you ever get in touch with Rhinokore? Are they still in business?

 

[BaseCamp]

I don't know if you've read this post, but this is what one guy did to keep his living space and dirt bikes seperate.

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2229&highlight=dhackney

 

[PNWDad]

No, I have not had success with Rhinokore. After half a dozen emails, I got an email back saying they would provide my information to a sales rep and I have not heard back from them since. I also emailed the camper company they used to be in the same building with, that a fellow expo member purchased his rhinokore with. Again, no emails or phone calls.

I also went so far as have a Canadian friend call them and leave a message about a large order and wanting pricing info, guess if they called him back? Not as of yet.

I am finally back on dry land and I will start with the phone calls Monday morning first thing until I get through. I find this level of customer service unacceptable, and I probably will not use their product because of this. If I ever would need a replacement product in the middle of the bush, I might never get it! Absolutely unacceptable business practices.

Thanks for the link, I have been studying that Idea for my setup as my rhinokore isnt panning through.

 

[PNWDad]

Also trying to contact these people who are more or less local: http://www.superhoneycomb.com/index.htm

They already make houses, furniture, beams, roofs, doors, etc. I will be in their area on friday, so maybe I'll stop on by.

 

[PNWDad]

I stopped and talked to Sing Homes on Friday. They were very helpful, and have a great product. They can make panels to any spec, with pretty much any skin. They were showing me some cool projects with their panels that had aluminum skin. But they can do anything, like fiberglass for the outerskin and wood for the inner skin, or whatever you want.

Long story short 2" R-13 fiberglassed skinned material would be 15-20/square foot. My estimated need is 494 square feet of panel, which puts just the panels at $9880! Add in 1 inch panel for interior cabinets, fiberglass resin, doors, hinges, etc and this build would be in the $15000 range easy!! Ouch.

Now I am looking for alternatives to my plan. Maybe a 2wd E350 van and converting it. For 15k I can buy a pretty sweet E350 van already ready to go.

 

[NeverEnough]

Panels, panels, panels

Hey LiftedLimo,

In preparation for my build I'm pretty sure I talked to everybody in the composite panel game, including Peter Sing.

At the end of it all, which included quite a bit of testing with the various products, I've decided to go with a product from Plascore. It's a polypropylene (PP) honeycomb core with thermally fused PP skins that also have a thermally fused polyester (PE) veil, which serves as a bondable surface.

I decided to go with a thermally fused product because our testing demonstrated that foam cores can fail, causing delamination or deformation. Granted, it took a lot to make that happen in most cases, especially with extruded polystyrene (EPS) cores. The foam provides superior insulation, and you definitely have better skin options.

However, honeycomb panels are far stronger in any given thickness, which means saving even more weight. RhinoCore and Sing combine the foam and honeycomb concept, but tough to get what you want, either price or dimensionality.

The exterior side of my panels will be coated with either Pitthane 35 (first choice for weight and cost reasons) or a truckbed liner material (more expensive, heavier, and hard to get a smooth finish). Still doing testing, but both will get the job done.

The inside wall has a 3/8 fiberglass furring strip with a 3/16 decorative plastic panels (snap tongue and groove). A radiant insulation is applied in the air space between the furring stips and the plastic panel. That makes the final dimension just over 2" and an R-value of 16.

If you're interested, I can get you in touch with the right people at Plascore.

 

[NeverEnough]

So, reading my post made me realize I shouldn't try to do that from my phone!

Here's a cross-section of the sidewall, which is actually about 2 5/16", that should make it a little clearer:

The same panel is used for the roof and floor, however, the final make-up is a little different for each. The roof has 2" composite joists on 12" centers to:1) make the roof stronger for foot traffic; 2) create a deeper insulation cavity; 3) also serve as the fastener surface for the 3/8" decorative ceiling plastic ceiling planks.

The living space floor uses Aerogel insulation (r10 in 1/4"), CarbonicHeat radiant film (1/32"), a vapor barrier film, and vinyl plank flooring (3/16").

If you follow my Topkick build over the next 30 days, you should be able to see these various combos come together "full scale", to borrow MythBuster terminology!

 

[PNWDad]

After lots of planning, scouting, 15k in materials estimates, and lots of looking I decided to go Low-Budget! $350 for the camper, $21 for bolts, $70 for new windows from the Manufacture, $100 for an insulated floor and seats, $20 for painting the interior, and the fun is just starting! I can load my quad or motorcycles in the back with my ramp. Perfect.

The local manufacture builds custom campers fyi. They do steel, aluminum, or wood frames for any vehicle in any style. They have been in business for 30 years or so. He is a "good old boy" type of shop, lots of stuff piled high with one camper being worked on at a time. Lots of used stuff around. Great guys there to talk to. Very helpful and very knowledgeable about campers in general. A new steel frame camper similar style made to my Dodge was around, giving lots of wiggle room for options, $3700. I will have my custom steel framed camper built for me next winter here.

Anderson's Canopies
8975 Southeast 76th Avenue
Portland, OR 97206-9307
(503) 771-3256