New shop.... Next project!!

[hobietony]

Gluing the skin to the ribs with this, mechanically fasten with finish staples. Sez concrete, but far exceeds the needs for bonding wood as well

Cut a small starter hole where the window will go, make sure I can find the edges of the opening when I start cutting

Initial rounding of the edges

Flipped, ready to start the install of the steel mounting/stiffening flange

Test piece of the short piece on the long side, this flange gets bedded in epoxy, screwed through the wood and steel with 4" self-tapping hexes, 4" OC, each side. Plywood skin inside and out, epoxied to the ribs, transfers load up through the rest of the topper

Grind off the heads where they are not flush, ready for interior skinning

 

[vanderpooch]

Things have been quiet here in the van section, so I'll go ahead & spill the beans on what I've been busy with.

I've been back in NC for a week, and I'm wide open catching up on orders and moving into my new shop!!!

I'll be able to complete conversions quicker, store more inventory, and Vanaconda will finally have a nice parking spot indoors I'll post more pics of the interior asap.

Awesome dude! Best of luck!!! :victory:

 

[ersatzknarf]

hobietony,
Very nice work ! ! !

 

[TroySmith80]

Sweet! That was IMHO the one fatal flaw of Naterry's build, standing height. Everything else was/is fantastic. Your sketches look rad, i can see exactly what you're going for. Can't wait to see the finished product!

At first i was thinking steel or aluminum would be much better, but i can see that the way you're building that high top, if that's all glued, it will be very, very strong even though it's wood.

 

[getout]

That top is awesome. Can't tell you how many times I've thought about doing something like that. I've spent way too much time looking at teardrop trailer construction trying to figure out how'd I'd convert it to top design on something. Yours is awesome. Nicely done!

 

[jagular7]

I have saved several pics of an ambulance conversion to 4x4 expo rig.

Edit: I've found the posting.

 

[TroySmith80]

Oh, did Naterry's rig start as a duallie wheel? That's one of the things i didn't like about the ambulances i've seen, i don't want a duallie rig. Never occurred to me that you could run a duallie rig with single wheels, but i see looking at those pictures that he did that.

...good to know.

 

[hobietony]

I definitely want to keep the dually for the stability and track width (My ambo box is probably a foot wider than Nates). If I find during the first 30k miles that the dually is significantly impacting my off-roadability, I can go to SRW with the next set of tires

 

[naterry]

Cheers guys! Glad the concept is living on. :victory:

Agreed that the head room was a drawback to my rig, I have many memories of standing by the stove cooking with my head angled at 45deg. Your experience may vary depending on how tall/short you are. The girlfriend thought it was fine...

Excellent work on your custom raised roof!

 

[Equipt]

Hey Chris,

Great shop! And I look forward to seeing great creations come from it. It was a pleasure meeting you at SEMA. Good luck, sir. Hope to hear from you soon.

Cheers,

 

[hobietony]

Topper continued

Spray foam insulation in the corners and tight spots

White foam 1.5" insulation

Bulk of the inside skinned

Ends insulated, backing pieces for the interior plywood skin on the end panels, spray foam again to insulate the cracks and crevices

All skinned. The interior will get some sort of felt/carpet, so my plan will be put a bit of bondo/fairing compound in any small gaps in the interior skin to smooth it out, fabric will cover the rest. Should also allow the roof space to breath so any condensation/moisture doesn't get trapped in the roof space

Bondo over the bolt holes in the exterior, getting ready for the first bit of glass on the exterior - Plan to make the wrap from the bottom up the sides with some 4" strips, then flip it back over to glass the rest

Pictures almost caught up with the work, need to download the most recent pics off of the camera

 

[ujoint]

Hey Chris,

Great shop! And I look forward to seeing great creations come from it. It was a pleasure meeting you at SEMA. Good luck, sir. Hope to hear from you soon.

Cheers,

Thanks!! And same here, it was great to meet & spend some time with you guys.

 

[Toolman]

Saw the conversion and thought of this.... sweet deal.

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/cto/2063690081.html

http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/9/5/8/6/4/9/webimg/343915235_tp.jpg

 

[sarconcepts]

the new roof is a brilliant solution to the inherent problem in all ambulance conversions, & i'm glad to see you aren't afraid of curves

 

[hobietony]

Got these pics in the mail this week

Looking good :bike_rider: - Edit: This right here is where the brilliance is!