Jim the Truck - a mercedes 1823

[AeroNautiCal]

May I ask where you sourced your Laguna Cockpit Table?

 

[nick disjunkt]

from KJ Howells. I've been getting some teak mouldings from them and they do a good price on the Lagun. Nice people to deal with.

 

[Redd]

your truck is seriously genius

 

[AeroNautiCal]

from KJ Howells. I've been getting some teak mouldings from them and they do a good price on the Lagun. Nice people to deal with.

Thanks Nick, that is by far the best UK price I've seen!

 

[nick disjunkt]

your truck is seriously genius

thanks, although I'm not inclined to agree. It is a completely ridiculous truck to convert into a motorhome and has made even the simplest jobs painfully slow!

I had a little time to build a table top for the Lagun table. Hvaing a few problems with the hinges but nothing unsurmountable.

And here's the blog post:

http://jimthetruck.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/table-top-1.html#more

 

[Overland Hadley]

your truck is seriously genius

I would have to agree, even if you say parts of it are "completely ridiculous."

 

[nick disjunkt]

I've had a bit of time to start installing the solar panels.

http://www.jimthetruck.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/solar-install.html

I've got 5 of the 8 100w panels installed, although only 4 are wired into the regulator as I am doing 2 parallel strings.

The is more info on the blog post. I'll let you know what sort of output I'm getting when we finally get some sun. The sun is pretty low in the sky at this time of year but the cold temperatures should help get a reasonable charge.

Nick

 

[whatcharterboat]

I had a little time to build a table top for the Lagun table. Hvaing a few problems with the hinges but nothing unsurmountable.

And here's the blog post:

http://jimthetruck.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/table-top-1.html#more

Hi Nick, very cool build. Just a thought...plenty of our customers buy an extra Lagun base bracket so they can use the table and Lagun arm in an alternate location.

Do you think you have enough solar? Haha.

Kind regards ..John

 

[nick disjunkt]

Looks good !
I done a similar clamping job using the same but flathead security screws, Then filled the recess with epoxy, smoothed then painted over, one cant see at all what the fastener is, But its still reasonably enough easy to pick out the epoxy to fit the torx driver if needed

Thats a good idea, if you do it carefully they'll look like coach bolts and someone fidelling with them will get confused when there's no nut on the back.

Hi Nick, very cool build. Just a thought...plenty of our customers buy an extra Lagun base bracket so they can use the table and Lagun arm in an alternate location.

Do you think you have enough solar? Haha.

Kind regards ..John

Thanks John! I may buy an extra base so that I can put the table outside, but the door for the generator is hinged at the top so if I put some stays in, I'll have a 60cmx60xm table out there regardless. At the moment I'm having the truck tested as a heavy commercial vehicle, and any protrusion on the side guards is a fail. When the inside is completed I can test it as a motorhome and there are less restrictions on the sideguards and rear underrun. I failed the annual test a few years ago for having hex head bolts instead of button head holding the side guards on! I can't envisage any scenario where the type of bolts could limit injury if you could hit a pedestrian with an 18t truck.

Where the table is now, I can swing it towards the back of the truck and if I raise the post a few cm it'll but up against the kitchen worktop to give me an 85cm extension.

The UK gets a little less sun than Queensland! The batteries are on their last legs and I'm hoping the solar will allow me to get a little extra life out of them. But you're right it is an unnecessary amount of solar.

 

[whatcharterboat]

Hi Nick,

I was only kidding.....the solar array looks great and with the price of panels now why not cover the roof.

I work on 5.5 Peak Sun Hours where I live but parts of our country are nearly 7 which is like the Sahara I guess!!!!!

So anyway on the whole truck looks really cool....congratulations.

Kind regards
John.

 

[nick disjunkt]

I can't believe how long it's been since I updated this thread.

I didn't do much work on the truck between Christmas and May, but I am now working full-time on it, and so progress is faster. Among a few other things,

I completed the solar array and roof rack decking, and fitted a console above the bench seat I made.

 

[nick disjunkt]

I'm still working hard on finishing the truck. I'm ready to book my US Visa interview and when I have the visa in my hand I intend to book the ferry to Brunswick GA straight away.

I have been doing a lot of furniture details up until a couple of weeks ago, but I've now completed the Webasto water heater install and have finished installing the gas locker.

Here's some blog posts about some of the work I've been doing, I'll post about the gas locker later today:


Side door cladding and insulation:
http://jimthetruck.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/door-cladding.html

Speaker and fan installation:
http://jimthetruck.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/getting-my-priorities-straight.html

Bench seat completion:
http://jimthetruck.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/offside-bench-seat.html

Lighting cabling and cladding:
http://jimthetruck.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/cables-and-cladding.html

Webasto water heater installation:
http://jimthetruck.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/webasto-water-heater-installation.html

 

[ColinTheCop]

Looking good. Have you got a route planned or are you just going to go with the flow...?

 

[Anton2k3]

Nick, I very much enjoy reading your updates, especially the little bit of humour you've injected along the way.....please keep the updates coming!

Ps the truck is looking fantastic!

Thanks

 

[nick disjunkt]

Looking good. Have you got a route planned or are you just going to go with the flow...?

Thanks! We have a rough route planned, but I have no idea how long we can make our budget stretch so I do not know whether it is achievable. The route I have planned should take us about a year, averaging about 50 miles a day, but I can shorten it or lengthen it as we go along.

I can only add a limited number of waypoints on Google maps but below is the rough plan, starting in Brunswick, GA in November and finishing at about the same time, the following year, in Halifax:

If we start running out of time or money, we can shorten our jaunt into Central America, and possibly even take Route 66 from start to finish and miss out the West Coast and Canada.

Nick, I very much enjoy reading your updates, especially the little bit of humour you've injected along the way.....please keep the updates coming!

Ps the truck is looking fantastic!

Thanks

Thanks very much! I don't get many page hits so it's nice to see the people that read it are enjoying it.