EarthRoamer XV-JP "Northwest Edition"

[PaulJensen]

12 - Cabin Re-Set...

Last week was another busy one... Remodeling a waterfront residence, helping a "start-up" trailer company with design and process, back to remodeling and some surfboard work with my mentoree... Throw in our garage door opener replacement on multiple evenings, and my progress on the Jeep was in only clarity of design... But yesterday, it was shop time again...

(above) Wood reinforcement were added to the points of contact for the rear roof rack, the fan, and the solar panel... Later they were all fiberglassed...

(above) The steel crossbar behind the seats has bugged me since day one... I always seem to be bumping into it, and it extends into an already small space, visually and physically...

(above) ...as it is, it is too low at the pass through, considering the space available above...

(above) Two cut-off wheels later it looked like this... I has the 3" square steel tubing in the stack of stuff forever... I still need to bolt and weld it in place, but the difference that simple change made in the way you move in the cabin is huge...!!!... Worth every spark into my scalp...

You can also see the battery box and power control box behind the driver seat and the rough location of where the air heater will be... Over on the other side, behind the passenger seat, is the water heater zone with the water pump just forward of that...

(above) At the top of things to get accomplished, and it is a big one, is to re-set the cabin on the truck... It came from Iowa with minimal bolting and improper adhesives, applied badly... Unsafe to drive without a big strap holding it on...

The cabin needed to be lifted a bit and this is how I did it...

(above) Just enough to be able to scrape out the bad caulk job and realign the cabin to the body...

(above) Plenty of room to clean things out...

(above) Before, the loose panel would not fit... The cabin dipped forward there and no forcing could get it in...

(above) The bulk of the bad caulking was on the vertical connections... To my knowledge, there never has been any mechanical bond between the vertical cabin and the body, only adhesives...Less than solid...

(above) Caulking scrapings...Some of this was still moist...

(above) Bolts, washers and nuts were replaced and new ones were added...

(above) On the verticals, self tapping screws with big washers were installed, pulling the body to the cabin and setting the height of the cabin to the body... Without those, the cabin would continue to dip forward, keeping the propane locker panel from fitting...

(above) Another look at the battery and air heater locations...

(above) ... and behind the passenger seat, the water pump and water heater...

Today felt like a huge accomplishment finally getting the cabin re-set onto the body... Almost safe to drive...

Next up, finishing the roof and installing it...

 

[GeoScum]

.................... and I paid an unfair tax.............

I know our sales tax is regressive, but exactly why is it unfair? Everybody should be aware of the fact that when a sale is made (including zero sum transfers and trades), a tax is paid. So what is your point here? You've lived in Washington a long time, and know how the budget is funded.

 

[PhilipE]

(above) The steel crossbar behind the seats has bugged me since day one... I always seem to be bumping into it, and it extends into an already small space, visually and physically...

(above) ...as it is, it is too low at the pass through, considering the space available above...

Lets talk a little on your plans on that 3" tube. I think that is a little over kill and very bulky. My suggestion would be to have a piece of 10 gage metal bent in a L shape. Trim both of the steel tubes to the same length. Cap both tubes with the 10 gage with the L section going on the outside of the outer tube. Then run a section of 1.5" .125 wall DOM between the new installed cap plates. I would also think about dropping some more 1.5" tube down to the flow pan tucked up close to the B pillar.

That smaller tube would also give you a way to tie the fiberglass floor piece in for more support. Just add a couple of weld tabs on the top of the tube. Add some wood blocking to the fiberglass for a place to use screws.

If I had a cad program and knew how to use it. I would have posted up to explain better. Sorry

 

[PaulJensen]

...but I already have the steel tube, it's cut, it fits... I plan to extend the fiberglass over-cab, to the edge of the steel tube...

...and regarding taxes: I'm not interested in getting politically philosophical... Sorry to take this build thread that direction...

 

[fog cutter]

it is interesting how a dimension as small as 1/2" (12+ mm) can impact a small space.

[that's seems like a non-controversial statement]

 

[PaulJensen]

End of week update...

The propane locker is now fully fiberglassed, vapor proof and painted gloss white on the inside...

The water tank had more fiberglassing done and is about half way done... More progress this weekend...

The roof got two more coats of epoxy rolled on and glass for the 45 degree angle side walls was ordered on e-bay... A pair of round corner 12" X 40" tempered, light gray glass... One on each side centered just below the roof rack...They should be here next week...

The day job was very physically demanding and most of my Jeep focus was very early in the morning... It is coming together just fine...

More later...

 

[Haf-E]

I think the roof windows will be a very nice addition - I know I enjoyed them on my old 65 VW 21 window bus when camping - nice to sit/lay down and be able to see trees and sky...

 

[PaulJensen]

13 - Bench Seat - Bed

(above) Time to define the driver side cabinet... 3/4" plywood is the subfloor... Cut-outs were made for the water tank, the medium size storage zone mid-floor and the inside the casework area near the batteries...

(above) The fridge will be under the bench seat / bed at the rear of the cabin... A tight fitting plywood box was built to fit inside the overall casework... Cut-outs for ventilation and electrical supply were made...Access to the fridge will be from the top... The previous version had it on drawer slides and to my mind was a little bit wobbly, even with two sets of 150# drawer guides...

(above) The cabinet end panel is temporarily put in place... I still need to add venting back there...

(above) Looking down into the cavernous space inside the rear case... Still figuring out how to best use all that space...

(above) The old leather bench seat is in place... It will need modifying for the future lift-up access the fridge...

(above) I saved the old sink from the Fuso... Nice and compact and it a hard to find size... But it still is more sink than needed...

(above) So the cut-off wheel made it the right size...

(above) Back in the cabin, very rough ideas are still getting worked out...

 

[kjp1969]

This is my favorite part of a PJ build- I can almost hear the wheels turning.

 

[loonwheeler]

(above) The cabinet end panel is temporarily put in place... I still need to add venting back there...

I have seen other builds that make nice use of a circular cutout with a hole saw, edges rounded using a router, and backed with some mesh to keep the particulate out of the fridge's fan. Looked great. Maybe you could pull off something similar?

Nice work so far. Fun to watch the progress. Love the leather bench seat.

 

[PaulJensen]

14 - Sink and Stove Layout

(above) Layout lines for the sink and stove are highlighted in red on the plywood... Making the faucet fit in the corner was a priority... There will be a step in the countertop to allow a cutting board/stove cover, become flush with the sink countertop...

(above) Preliminary plywood cuts done... I decided to move the vertical plywood wall under the sink/stove, tight to the wheel well... The loss of small stuff storage is minor compared to having the biggest floor space possible given how small it is back there...Going with a simple hot and separate hot-cold faucet levers... I am planning on having separate valve (from the original ER) to serve an outside water access point, for showering, setting up an outside sink, etc...

This week the glass for the roof windows (12"x40") came in and the glass was removed from the RV window frames... I made a cut-out jig for the glass to fit into the plywood roof, now I just need to do it...

Also decided to have the space over the front cabin be available, as an option, to be a fold out queen bed, similar to what I did in the Howe Fuso, a pair of piano hinges and sidewall support... With that up there, the bench seat, and now the expanded floor space, the sleeping capacity can easily be four if needed...

The auxiliary pull-down rear step that eases access to the rear cabin, was moved to the right, to allow safer access to the cabin, as it will now be configured...

Things are happening and it feels good to have clarity of vision...!!!...

More later...

 

[Adventurous]

What type of plywood are you/do you use? I'm not sure I've seen it mentioned. My default at this point is Baltic Birch as I keep hearing bad stories about less quality stuff delaminating. I'd hate to put in all of that hard work only to lose the piece over an additional $40 per sheet...

 

[IdaSHO]

Even some of the baltic birch I've been using lately has had some void/delam issues

Hopefully just a bad batch. Normally it is very nice stuff.

 

[Victorian]

Even some of the baltic birch I've been using lately has had some void/delam issues

Hopefully just a bad batch. Normally it is very nice stuff.

Try Europly. Made by Purebond and top notch quality.

 

[IdaSHO]

Ill have to see if any of my local distributors can get it, thanks for the tip.

Anything structural Ive been forced to go Hydrotek (BS-1088), simply out of fear that the BB might have issues.

Super good stuff, but considerably more expensive than BB. And many times for structural components the 5x5 actually works out better than 4x8