Grumman the Backcountry Box Van____1997 Ford E450 7.3l Power Stroke diesel

[RC413]

Huge rivets, huge panels. I'd have to replace half the wall. My busy with the TIG welder says it will probably just crack down the road if we weld it. I might be better off just putting a nicer patch on.

Go 3 rivets up and replace that much. I agree on the welding cracking. Mt thought with doing a new patch is it will be way easier to straighten the ribs without the panel in the way. It will be great either way, you have already made HUGE improvements in the box.

Heck, with no floor in there you may be able to hammer and dolly the crease mark out a little bit without too much fuss...?

 

[eporter]

It could look real good to rivet/glue on a 6"-8" strip of sheet metal, or diamond plate, the length of the lower box. That could hide the crease and help protect it from any woodland adventures...

 

[semihippie]

Thank you for the taking the time to update this build as it happens. I dig it.

 

[Petrolburner]

I agree that a strip the length of the van would look best. I was thinking of doing that on the top edge of the box, because that's where it will likely rub against most of the branches. Picture your average overgrown trail. They usually make a rounded tunnel. My box van is square. I'm going to be shoving a square peg in a round hole for a lot of trails. It would probably be worth putting an extra layer of sheet metal along the entire sides. That's a lot of hassle and a lot of weight. The biggest hassle is the rivet heads. If I wanted to put an extra layer on, I'd have to cut relief holes for all the rivet heads. Either that, or spread a thick layer of glue to compensate for the thickness of the rivet heads. Anyone have any better ideas for putting an extra layer of armor on? Slather the whole thing in bedliner?

 

[RC413]

Structurally, bedliner would probably be best. Look what it does to aluminum cans when applied, fairly impressive stuff... It would be good sound deadener as well. That is a great idea. Probably not too bad as far as weight either...

 

[Petrolburner]

I could use white bedliner too. That would look fine until I'm able to paint the whole thing next spring when it warms up.

So, I could pull that old patch off, fill the holes and straighten the metal as best as I could. Then put an adhesive metal patch like this on the inside.

http://www.easternmarine.com/vanfastic-trailer-body-patch-v1224w

Then, bedliner the whole outside panel.

 

[java]

Line X has a white Very UV resistant coating they use on many aluminum boat parts. That is what I would use.

Raptor liner comes white also I belive. That's what I would use as a diy product.

Do the roof and all seams if your doing it.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[eporter]

First drive in the woods with my ambo, I pulled over to make way for a sheriffs vehicle. It was night, and I didn't realize I'd slowly eased into a fairly large tree branch above the roof... Fortunately all it did was put a smudge on the rounded corner of the aluminum box. Good thing that stuff's thick and super-reinforced!

Maybe use some pan-head self-tapping sheetmetal screws to attach the metal strip? And then add some VHB tape or some of that Sikaflex I hear works amazing for bonding metal panels.

 

[Petrolburner]

My girlfriend works at Lowe's and this week was employee appreciation week so we get 20% off instead of the usual 10%. There were some extra discounts on top of that for certain items too, like our new Nest E thermostat. Sooooo, I bought all the supplies for my flooring project.

A layer of this on the bottom

Flooring by Petrolburner, on Flickr


I'll paint all the sides and edges with a gallon of Sherwin Williams Weather Shield paint.**

Untitled by Petrolburner, on Flickr

Then I have to go to Home Depot to get 4 sheets of Owen Corning Foamular rigid insulation. I'll do an inch of that stuff. It's got a pretty high density so it won't compress under the next layer...



Flooring by Petrolburner, on Flickr


Then on top, one big sheet of wood looking vinyl



Flooring by Petrolburner, on Flickr


Flooring by Petrolburner, on Flickr


That should be plenty stiff to compensate for the 2 foot spread between the beams. I can alternate where the seams are bewteen the 3 layers of 4x8 sheets since the box is 8' wide. This way there won't be seams lined up on seams. I'll use bedliner in the wheel wells to protect from gravel and stuff. It's not so thick that I can't drill through it and run bolts through if I need to. I'll use the flush mount wheel chocks for bikes, and then a bunch of flush mount L-track for tie downs. The top sheet of plywood will be fine for anchoring the cabinets and stuff into. I hope the vinyl flooring isn't too slippery when wet, it had the best texture of all the wood look vinyl.

 

[java]

Sweet! Box van hauling its own parts. I kinda miss being able to do that....

 

[RC413]

That should be a really sturdy floor. For the through floor supports if you "frame" them out internally with some 1" that would strengthen the heck out of the floor. Small amount of thermal bridging but a lot more strength for when the good suspension goes on and you are in Baja.

Have to let us know how the vinyl works out traction wise. I have not decided yet on a floor covering because they all seem like they will be too slick.

Thanka Ross

 

[Petrolburner]

I'll use some adhesive on each side of the foam. Should make one strong sandwich. I've been told that the plywood I picked is not very resistant to rot. I decided to pick up 4 sheets of pressure treated plywood after all. Last night was the deadline for the 20% off so I ordered online. I'm in Wichita right now for my annual recurrent flight training at FlightSafety. I'll swap out the wood when I get home. I still need to paint the frame.

 

[Treenail]

The floor on my Grumman has rot in three places. Two are repaired using burr oak. The difficult one is left

Have you thought forward to ceiling/wall insulation?

My plan is to insulate the ceiling first. There are two routes. One is to follow the curve of the ribs and fir out to equal the insulation. The other is to sister in arced 'rafters' to match the roof arc and leave a flat ceiling. This would be more work of course

Thanks

 

[java]

I would be less worried about rot, and more worried about keeping the water that makes the rot out....

 

[Petrolburner]

Water will always get in, there are holes for mounting the floor and for mounting things in the floor. Mitigation at all steps.

Tree nail, my box is flat so I don't have any curves to follow. In the corners of the box I'll make them square. I'll fur it the ribs like Java did with his box, then foam in between and then panel the walls. I'll use all surface mount wiring like they do in industrial buildings and ofof cubicles so I can add, modify and repair all the systems down the road.