Meertruck 1124AF
- Thread starter palebluewanders
- Start date
palebluewanders
Active member
I've seen estimates from Germany around 10k €; ours was more I guess in part due to wanting it cut in the middle of a section rather than at the beginning or end of the middle section like most people do. And they did a really nice job preserving the rounded corners instead of just welding a flat sheet onto the back.
palebluewanders
Active member
Good luck either way! You're lucky to have the DIY option at least.
palebluewanders
Active member
I know. Massive shared workshop/tools would be a dream.
Geo.Lander
Well-known member
I have to hand it to AV, their bodywork is amazing, we had some smaller jobs on the cab and their finish is top notch!
Geo.Lander
Well-known member
Yea, this would be a dream! We have so few people here doing truck projects, I think there are only about 2-3 ongoing projects now in Norway in the 4x4 truck category, you do however see regular trucks being converted by older "pros" as well as quite a few buses and horse boxes, some of those are really impressive actually.
palebluewanders
Active member
I don't know of anyone else doing 4x4 truck conversions in Spain other than Zocama in Barcelona, but they're a company so it's not quite the same. So far our most promising lead on a workshop here in Mallorca is a guy who runs a campervan building business and has some extra space for us.
palebluewanders
Active member
Yesterday was our truckversary! It's been 2 years since we adopted our dear WDB6771841K402079 (still far from its Meertruck form) and we decided to celebrate by manifesting its final from via pizza : )
DiploStrat
Expedition Leader
Seems like we need to start an Atkinson Vos users group!
FWIW, we live in the soggy south of the US and travel in the west. Heat is an issue. We started with a 12v air conditioner for all the usual reasons. Thought we could just plug in the inverter/charger when we did have shore power.
As Nick noted, the inverter/charger zooms up to over 150F when pushing a big load. It has now been relocated to one of the aluminum boxes outside of the camper. Never bothered to actually boost the air flow, we simply leave the door open.
Inverting loads, e.g,. the induction cooktop or microwave, never seem to generate any appreciable heat, probably because they are not on hour after hour.
There are lots of ways to tackle the 110/220v issue. We simply added a Victon battery charger. The model sold in the US is 110/220v so we can even used it as a back up in the US. Granted, this spring was very sunny in the UK and thus we only used shore power twice, mostly as a precaution, in three months, but the 50A Victron worked perfectly. It too is in the lower box, next to the inverter/charger. In fact, it is simply wired to the terminals of the inverter charger and piggy backs on the rest of the wiring.
So all of our internal 110v loads are always fed off of the inverter. Again, FWIW, with good sun, we are leaving the inverter on most of the time to keep a bit of load on the batteries.
Back to Atkinson Vos next week to chase a fuel leak near the lift pump. Grrr!
FWIW, we live in the soggy south of the US and travel in the west. Heat is an issue. We started with a 12v air conditioner for all the usual reasons. Thought we could just plug in the inverter/charger when we did have shore power.
As Nick noted, the inverter/charger zooms up to over 150F when pushing a big load. It has now been relocated to one of the aluminum boxes outside of the camper. Never bothered to actually boost the air flow, we simply leave the door open.
Inverting loads, e.g,. the induction cooktop or microwave, never seem to generate any appreciable heat, probably because they are not on hour after hour.
There are lots of ways to tackle the 110/220v issue. We simply added a Victon battery charger. The model sold in the US is 110/220v so we can even used it as a back up in the US. Granted, this spring was very sunny in the UK and thus we only used shore power twice, mostly as a precaution, in three months, but the 50A Victron worked perfectly. It too is in the lower box, next to the inverter/charger. In fact, it is simply wired to the terminals of the inverter charger and piggy backs on the rest of the wiring.
So all of our internal 110v loads are always fed off of the inverter. Again, FWIW, with good sun, we are leaving the inverter on most of the time to keep a bit of load on the batteries.
Back to Atkinson Vos next week to chase a fuel leak near the lift pump. Grrr!
joeblack5
Active member
Hi blue, looks fancy.
We have used our diy recirculating shower now for a couple of years .
We have it in both of our buses and it will also be part of our 404 unimog build.
It uses a sump pump that is recessed in the lower section of the shower tub and a heated shower head with an additional coolant heatexchanger. In reality it is easier to run the electric shower head. There are no filters except a course dirt / hair filter to protect the pump. In the large bus we have a big uv filter but sofar never used it.
Procedure is. Allow 3/4 gallon of hot water in the shower tub, turn on pump, turn on electric to shower head, wait 30 seconds to allow water to circulate and get to correct temperature.
Shower with soap . Because the soapy water gets recirculated as well you will end up very clean. If you feel you are done then stop the pump. Pull sump pump up..this opens the drain below the pump and allow water out of the tub to be drained, also the shower head and pump backflushes because of the height difference..
Use another 3/4 gallon and repeat with clean water to rinse off or hang as long as you want.
Normally when we are boondocking with our two kids then the next person uses the rinse water to soap up the next person.
Electric use about 2kw to keep the water hot. We have plenty of solar to support that.
Good luck with your build.
Johan
palebluewanders
Active member
An AV group would be interesting, especially since we've been waiting for so long we can only live vicariously through other people's updates about their trucks progressing at AV.
Since we posted the electrical diagram we've been waffling on whether to have a charger at all since we'll have plenty of solar and don't anticipate spending much if any time at campsites. If we do have one it'll likely just be for backup. Sadly we are pretty low on external toolbox space but our electrical box will have fans and will vent to the outside via the kitchen, so hopefully everything can stay cool enough in there. We're not into very hot places to begin with.
Good luck with your fuel leak issue! We may visit AV again in a couple of months as well.
palebluewanders
Active member
Hi Johan, thanks for sharing! What electric shower head model do you use? 2kw isn't bad and we should also have enough solar to support it in most situations. Though that will depend on location and weather of course, and we plan to cover wide ranges of both.
Great to know you've never used your UV filter; we have been debating whether to have one for the "semi-clean" shower water.
DiploStrat
Expedition Leader
You want a shore power option - 110/220v if for international travel.An AV group would be interesting, especially since we've been waiting for so long we can only live vicariously through other people's updates about their trucks progressing at AV.
Since we posted the electrical diagram we've been waffling on whether to have a charger at all since we'll have plenty of solar and don't anticipate spending much if any time at campsites. If we do have one it'll likely just be for backup. Sadly we are pretty low on external toolbox space but our electrical box will have fans and will vent to the outside via the kitchen, so hopefully everything can stay cool enough in there. We're not into very hot places to begin with.
Good luck with your fuel leak issue! We may visit AV again in a couple of months as well.
Our battery to battery charger(s) are misbehaving and it has been pouring with rain, so we are now at a campground doing a nice restorative charge on shore power.
I will find the gremlins and banish them, eventually, but for now, it is nice to have shore power.
And, as noted, as the second charger is 110/220v, I can use it as a backup in the US as well.
FWIW - Atkinson Vos found and fixed the leak. Along with the steering repair, the truck is running better than it ever has. Wonderful service. (N.B. They are terribly short staffed. If you know anyone who is interested, they are hiring and offering internships.)
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