C5500 TopKick 4x4 Crew Cab Build

[NeverEnough]

Ditto

I think that the cab over, and the steps are an excellent design.

I noticed on the top rear of the cab over roof there is a lot of light seeping in. Is there a way to seal that off? Do you expect wind to come in, IE cold wind and snow in the winter months?

Looks like a great room, and I think that your choice of the steps is a wonderful way to work it, perhaps the best I have seen as they can also add to the ability to seal the back of the truck off from the cab when you ship the truck, or even just have it into the shop for work.

That bath is amazing! I love the shower ideas, no one really uses that thing unless they are gone for a while anyhow. Plus the drawer under, wow, why doesn't everyone do that!!! It was a stroke of genius. People on here always talk about budgeting space and that you can never have enough. That is great.

Did you put in floor accessed cubbyholes? I have seen lots of those on trucks, between the frame rails, to have a few six inch deep boxes all along the truck to store more stuff and I do not recall if you did that or not.

Anyhow, brilliant work, and thanks again for sharing.

Thanks for the compliments, gents. Glad you like it. And it is big- way too big for international travel, narrow tracks, or low bridges, but that wasn't the design spec. I'll save that for when the boys are out of the house!

As I mentioned above, I've yet to install a nylon fabric "baffle" on top of the continous hinge of the cabover's fold-down wall. However, it doesn't allow water or even much air to enter even without the baffle, because of the overhang on the outside. The roof of the camper is white, as is the inside of the overhang where the wall is mounted, so there's not nearly as much gap as the photo's light bleed would suggest. The room is not drafty at all, and that has been field tested in some pretty crazy micro-burst situations this summer. But the baffle will make it even better.

I am very happy with the fold-up stairs. I messed around with several prototypes before going this route. And it takes seconds to unfasten it for removal, if needed. Most important, it is super-strong (tested by a friend that pushes 280lbs, zero flex, creaks, etc.).

I wish that I could've purchased a prefab shower insert with integrated removable shelves, because it seems like a no-brainer, but they don't exist. Having a separate shower space occupies a huge volume, which almost always goes to waste, but we didn't want a "toilet in the middle of the shower floor" setup for this rig. Personally, I like that approach, but the architectural revue committee (guess who) insisted on a different direction. So building the enclosure from scratch was a pain, but worth the final result.

All "under floor" storage is accessed from outside. I thought about inside access early in the design phase, but that would've made radiant floor heat much more difficult, if not impossible. The space between the chassis rails forward of the axle is mostly eaten up by the batteries, and the space behind will end up holding extra propane bottles, if I ever get around to it. So far, the inside storage capacity has been more than sufficient. There are six roll-a-board sized cubbies in the hall, as seen above, a closet that can accommodate hangers with full-length slacks, the two cargo shelves in the shower, all of the floor space of the cabover, the cabover's closet, and the eight large "tote" sized storage bays under the side-slide beds. When you combine that with the built-in cabinets, there's a lot of room for luggage, food, bedding, guitars, fishing gear, climbing gear, etc. For the first time in years of RV'ing, we leave home with everything stowed securely and out of sight, with plenty of left over storage sitting empty. In hind sight, I should've put in a washer/dryer stack in place of some of the hall cubbies, but that would be an easy mod if I ever need to do it.

In conclusion, after having used the rig on several occassions, I know I could've made it a bit smaller and not given up much, if any comfort or convenience. I think I could've trimmed 8" off the height, and 12" to 18" off the length. I don't think I could've made it skinnier without impacting the functional design, however. And once you're much over 90" wide, you may as well go full-width.

 

[Ford Prefect]

Thank you very much for your thoughts and response.

I still need to head up your way and see if I can't grab a look in person. Love the truck, truly well done, and it is great to hear your family is enjoying it as well!

 

[Ozarker]

Neverenough, that is fantastic! Something tells me this is no homemade DIYer project, very professional, alot of due diligence and attention to detail! I don't know what you do, but I'd say you're a professional engineer and fabricator! If you don't build these as a business you should! LOL :Wow1:

 

[NeverEnough]

Thanks, Ozarker. My engineer friends are laughing, however! I've had another extremely busy stretch, so no fun in the rig these past two months. Hoping to get out next week, however. If so, I'll try to get some "action" pics!

 

[NeverEnough]

Quick trip to the SR SWELL

We were able to squeeze in a quick trip to the Swell after Thanksgiving. It was the first cold weather trip for the rig, as well as the first field test of the new slide out/motorcycle lift mechanism. Happy to say that both worked great. We camped in a secluded spot north of Goblin Valley on the front of the reef. It's great to have 4WD, high clearance, and a relatively light rig. It was on a trip to this spot in 2009 with my Funmover that I decided to build something better (after doing some $$$ damage and spending 4 hours digging out of a wash) .This was also the first test of how well I could level the rig on signifant sloping site. Having 8 jacks instead of 4 makes a huge difference! I use blocks instead of "feet" for the cab jacks, otherwise they would rub on the wheels on tight turns. And they've only got 14" of travel, so blocks are an easy solution for both issues.

Everybody stayed toasty warm at night, and we were able to haul down 8 dirt bikes in the trailer, which also served as sleeping quarters for our friends. We had 11 people, 9 of them adult-sized, inside watching a movie Saturday night without being squished, since it was 28 degrees by 10PM. Here's a shot looking back at Temple Mountain up high behind the reef.

Since my boys are old enough to have girl "friends", having the comfy camping rig (and nice bathrooms) makes it easy to convince them to join in the fun. The dirt bikes also make it possible to get to tons of great hikes along the reef very quickly. Fun in Farnsworth:

Every trip reveals a new list of things I'd like to tweak, of course. Sometimes I hate that, but I'm content to put mods aside in order to get out have fun with the family and friends.

 

[Ford Prefect]

GREAT TRIP! So nice to hear it has been enjoyable to take the truck out!

 

[Overland Hadley]

GREAT TRIP! So nice to hear it has been enjoyable to take the truck out!

x2!

 

[NeverEnough]

Feedback on 120VAC electric radiant heat, for those who want to know

If you've been following this thread, you know that I installed WarmUp carbon-print "film" in the floors. The film is the latest generation of electric radiant heat elements. To the best of my knowledge, it was the first use of this product in a mobile environment, and something of an experiment. So I thought you'd like to know how its working.

I did some heat-loss calcuations in the design phase, and based on WarmUp's specs and those of the various structural, insulation, and sealing components, I was hoping I could count on the system to keep the interior 30-40 degrees warmer than the outside temp. The electric radiant film products' output is determined by surface area, which draw a contant .1 amps/sqft. I was able to configure 167 square feet of film in my floors, wired in two zones on dedicated 20amp branch circuits. Keep in mind that my inverter is rated for 3000 watts, so if I'd installed more product in the walls, I'd start pulling more amps than I really want to for the 30amp main service in the rig.

So with 167 sqft., rated at about 12 watts/sqft, I'm getting about 2000 watts of heat output, or just under 7,000 btu/hr. To put that in context, most of the RV rooftop AC units have "heat strip" options rated for around 7,000btu/hr. Try keeping your typical RV or trailer warm in sub 40 degree temps with that and you'll know it's not enough. Of course, the R and U values of the rig are the other side of the equation, and I tried to come up with a structure that had very good thermal properties without getting too thick or heavy. It's also why I installed a ducted 30,000 btu/hr propane furnace!

During the last to weeks, I've been tracking the inside and outside temps, and I'm getting a consitent delta T of 34 degrees (F) in the main body and 26 degrees (F) in the cabover (much thinner walls, no basement, lots of lineal seals, etc.).

Bottom line: If you want to use products like WarmUp's carbon film as the principal heating element in subfreezing temps, you'll need it in all available surfaces and you'll need excellent thermal properties in the shell (i.e. 4-6" iso sandwich panel). Most of the campers on this site are much smaller than mine, so 7,000-9,000 watts might do the trick with enough insulation, minimized thermal bridging (my big culprits are windows), and at least a 3,0000 watt inverter. Of course, you also need a huge battery bank, and even bigger in very cold temps as the batts' performance degrades. I have 880 AH, which is a lot. For me, if I have to run the generator to keep the radiant going, I'd prefer a hydronic system.

Overall, I'm getting the results that the math predicted, even though I was hoping for better. Funny how you can't beat simple physics! I'll also mention that humans milling around in a well-insulated rig like mine make a big difference, so on the trip I just posted, the inside temps were low 70s using just the radiant heat, even though the outside temps were below 25 each night.

Hope this is useful to somebody. I hate being cold!

 

[IdaSHO]

Obviously volume of said camper plays a huge role.

But my little 6k BTU furnace can maintain 70+ degrees in sub freezing temps even in my old bell camper.

Windows that dont seal, non-existent insulation, etc...

 

[seanpistol]

This is great, I'm surprised I haven't seen you driving around PC.

 

[Rbertalotto]

Fantastic! Just spent a couple hours reading from the beginning..........As past president of the Yankee Beemers Motorcycle Club up here in New England.......Nice Bike! (And I see you mentioned CES, I'm there every year with my digital modulator company)

One question, do you need a CDL license to drive this thing with the trailer? Would a Cab Over type truck chassis make it more compact? Lastly, need to see the motorcycle lift thingy in action!

THANKS for the ride!

 

[NeverEnough]

But my little 6k BTU furnace can maintain 70+ degrees in sub freezing temps even in my old bell camper.

It would be interesting to know the volume. The "great" room of my rig is a wopping 1300 cubic feet with all the slide fully deployed. It makes for an incredibly comfortable space, but, like all voluminous spaces, it takes a lot of energy to keep it comfy. And radiant heat works best when it heats up mass, and I have very little of that unless people are in the rig. Radiant heating systems "feel" warm within a few minutes. I went to the trouble of installing reflective insulation on all interior surfaces to maximize the radiant transfer. My only point with my un-scientific study is that anyone interested in using radiant film products will probably want to use significantly more surface area and more insulation than I did if they're going to be in very cold climates.

This is great, I'm surprised I haven't seen you driving around PC.

Thanks. Park City HOAs don't like things like this parked in driveways, so it's only at home immediately before and after a trip. Occasionally I'll buy diesel over at Silver Summit, so you might see it there. It lives in Salt Lake either at my office building or in an enclosed storage unit. PM with your contact info if you want to come by and check it out.

One question, do you need a CDL license to drive this thing with the trailer? Would a Cab Over type truck chassis make it more compact? Lastly, need to see the motorcycle lift thingy in action!

No CDL required for RVs, which is actually kind of crazy. My last rig was much longer and more than twice as heavy, and a lot of Class A's are even bigger, but if it's an RV you can just jump in a drive away.

I test drove a number of cabover's during the design phase for precisely that reason. It's a little harder to have the "over cab" room with that type of truck, but not impossible. If there would've been a decent 4x4 crew cab cabover available in the US, I probably would've gone that route, but none are available. And the cabovers I drove would not be very comfortable over the highway. In my situation, we spend 2-6 hours driving on a highway, then burn up 5-20 miles on a dirt road to camp. And even with a Link airbag system under the cab, it's still bumpier than I'd like.

I'll post some pics or video of the lift after the holidays. Initial testing revealed some flaws, so I'm reworking a few parts. It's a simple derrick crane, nothing more. And you should see my 95GS! The new 1200 is cool, but my 95 has a soul!

 

[IdaSHO]

It would be interesting to know the volume. The "great" room of my rig is a wopping 1300 cubic feet with all the slide fully deployed.

Rough estimates put it at just about 500CF

The custom camper I am just about ready to start building is roughly 20% bigger. But will be insulated and MUCH better and as air-tight as possible. Im hoping to take even more strain off the little furnace as possible.

Even so, as it sits right now in the old ugly Bell camper, one 20lb cylinder of propane lasts us 7+ days for heat and cooking. Remarkably efficient.

 

[familyvan]

NeverEnough,
Man, probably the third time I have read t this thread and am always impressed. Every time I am at the San Rafeal Swell I always keepp an eye out for your rig.
I was wondering how your truck and overheating issues are going. I saw you said if you do not push it it does fine. Another thought regarding that issue could it be something as simple as the bumper blocking airflow? The reason I mention is because I budding of mine with a road armor bumper and a chevy 2500 hundred put an air dam in to help funnel air and his overheating issues went away.
THanks again

 

[java]

Amazing build! Hope the Topkick ends up working out for you.