Our new home on wheels ... MAN 16.232 Expedition Truck Build

[smontic]

Insulating the container frame

With the frame finished and painted we start to mount the side panels.
The panels are build with Styrofoam and they have 65mm oh thickness.

With the help of a team of friends we start to mount the panels... it's an hard job but fortunately the panels are very well cutted.

There is the time of work and the time to eat..

We have six panels to mount, we took two complete of work

After two days we have the panels fitted on the frame...

 

[smontic]

Insulating the thermal bridges

With the frame made of steel there is a problem with thermal bridges.
We solve the problem with an insulation made of Aerogel.
To made the insulation we need to fit the Aerogel panels inside a PVC cover.

Cutting the PVC tubes is a long work but at the end the result is really fine and the insulation is perfect!

 

[smontic]

It's now the time to made a test of the frame torsion.
We build a ramp with some flooring wood and we start the ascension...

That's the frame from the bottom

Here a close picture of the three point linkage system of the military chassis

 

[piratexpress1369a]

Awesome work on the box

 

[nick disjunkt]

Great work, I think the combination of steel frame and composite panels is a good one.

It's strange that the truck frame has the second sister rail underneath the main rails. Do you think that was a simple modification to prepare a commercial truck for life as a military vehicle?

 

[smontic]

Great work, I think the combination of steel frame and composite panels is a good one.

It's strange that the truck frame has the second sister rail underneath the main rails. Do you think that was a simple modification to prepare a commercial truck for life as a military vehicle?

Hi Nick!

thanks...
I think that this modification is done by a request of the Danish Army.

 

[mvkkvm]

Any updates?

Ooooh, I see some updates on www.stepsover.com and your Instagram. Nice work.

 

[smontic]

Hi, we are trying to update this post soon, thanks for follow our build on Instagram

 

[smontic]

We have started to make the interiors of the truck after some months of work on the external cabin.

There is a lot of work to do in order to make the insulation free of thermal bridges.
For the interiors our choice was to use marine plywood covered with a good film of melamine.
Is simple to cut with a good saw and not difficult to finish using a plastic border.

Lucia is our official borderer, we have planned the cutting and the assembly in order to minimise free time

We work during the weekend so we start early in the morning...

 

[smontic]

We have also to work a lot on the plumbing. We start the project with the intention to have all the redundancy and all the necessary features:

700 L fresh water
200 L Gray water
100 L Black Water
Toilet with the choice to switch from cassette (chemical) to Black water tank
Black water tank flush with gray water recycle.
Double fresh water pump (parallel)
Macerator on the cassette
Macerator on black water thank
City water connection
Fresh water pre filter
Fresh water post filter (katadyn and seagull)
Gary water pump for discharge centralisation (double)
Pumps for charging fresh water from non pressurised wells

All the water plumbing are insulated and we use only professional pipes and fittings

All the system is redundant. We have installed a double water pressure regulator that protect the water filling pipes and pumps.

We have three fresh water tank. In the photo below you can see the rear tank with the black water tank installed on top

Here you can see the sanitary water manifold. All the pipes are bypassable

 

[smontic]

The bed is important, we decide to use a standard bed size in order to buy mattress and suspension from IKEA.

For us is also important to have the necessary space on the bed in order to stay comfortably in a sit position

 

[Iain_U1250]

Good choice for the bed, we find our truck bed is more comfortable than the one we have at home.

 

[ripperj]

Very nice work, very clean installation.

Sent from my Passport

 

[smontic]

Thanks Iain we also are experiencing the same ;-)

 

[smontic]

Thanks Ripperj we are trying to do our best. In the photos is not represented the electrical system that is a little bit less clean ;-)