out with the old in with the new

[westyss]

I had to move the licence plate and licence plate lights out to the back of the deck, I mounted the lights just under the lip so they arent visible, and moved the indicator lights back too, along with that was a trailer hitch for my yacht.

I stuck some batteries into a box, note the switchy thing on the right I mentioned a while ago, that is the double throw, double pole set up for the roof lift.

bought some garage cabinets on sale and stuck them in

And I was pretty much ready to go.

Nice blue tarp for an awning and fish on.

A stop at my usual spot on the way, top down for driving

Up in around 15 seconds for hangen

And again my dog wanting some action

All in all the unit worked out well, I calculated from the day I started constructing the cabin, Feb 10 2010 to May 26 to this point, working after my day job and on weekends, you really have to commit to something like this.

 

[westyss]

My computer has gone into super slow mode so will continue later.

 

[sarconcepts]

crap,
you make me feel like i'm going so slow!
nice & clean design
i'm surprised at the 2000 lb box weight (not the 900 lb frame)
i figured the rhinocore weighed as much as a helium balloon, & you don't have much aluminum around the edges (simple structural design), what do you expect your total finish weight to be?
looking forward to the interior too

 

[westyss]

trip prep

I have had some people asking about the weight, so I did a little research.

cab and chassis; 5842 lb
with deck ; 6974 lb
= deck; =1132 lb

last scale weigh in front 2340 kg =5158 lb
rear 2380 kg = 5247 lb
total =10405 lb
loaded for a weekend with bike , spare tire fridge , 4 lawn chairs etc , so maybe 1000 lb's give or take so around 9400 lb unloaded which equals around
cabin approximate weight 2400 lb
update after weighing unit for re-registration and deducting all the items installed ie. under body box, viiar, hitch etc.
"Edit: On another topic, some folk were asking about the weight of the Rhinocore, while the interior was empty, I had to get the truck weighed for re-registration (now officially an RV) and with the aluminum 1/4" corners all around, I estimate around 300-450 lb's of aluminum on there, and the actuators, it comes in at 1503 pounds. So probably a little over 1000 pounds of rhinocore product, camper size is approximately 13' x 6.5' x 3" thick at 5' tall, this includes 2" thick floor and roof, with 1/8"th fiberglass inside and outside. "


prior to aluminum, all the composit weight was 1500 lb I am probably still close to the 2000 lb estimate.
I am shooting for an approximate total gross weight of no more than 11,500 pounds.
I had the same assumption of the rhinocore weight being fairly light but when you factor in that its all there, support, insulation, interior and exterior fiber glass finish its not too bad, again over built but not too bad. You can definately get lighter.
Sarconcepts, thanks for the nice remarks coming from someone with an incredible build like yours, but I was in a bit of a hurry so I pushed hard to get it to a stage where I could use it, I had a big trip to do, after getting it to this stage I will slow down and enjoy the build. keep up the good work.

So with all that said, I did need to get it a bit more user freindly and I really needed to bring my spare tire so here is the rest of what I did until now;

I started off with where to put the dish washer, I hate doing dishes.

My priority was to get a rack on the back for the spare tire, I really wanted to keep at least 30 degrees of departure angle so I had some measuring to do, I set up some wood on a garbage can and took a picture, then measured the angle off the picture. ( my driveway is on a slope) I got around 35 degrees so moving back a little further was OK.

I wanted to have it removeable so made a sort of bracket that is bolted to the frame and slid some 1/4" square tube into it for the main supports, I am not a good welder so dont expect much.

Main support brackets.

welded up a square shelf and made a wheel support post, painted it up to hide the welds. (painted my driveway and some bushes too)

And there you go, the shelf has another bolt further forward that you can remove , and the whole shelf swings back and down to get the spare down low, that spare is heavy!

Ready to go. I tried it out on some bad dirt roads loaded with the bike and the box full of heavy stuff before I left on my trip to see if my welds held up and surprisingly it did.

 

[westyss]

good enough

Ventilation was next, installed a fantastic fan, I had to cover it with cardboard while the sika dried, hot day!

These fans are powerful so i needed some makeup air, I found this vent at a marine store and installed it, but it wasnt enough.

So I found this storage door at my local RV dealer, $30 , installed it and actually left it open all the time when driving when it was hot.

I made a screen for it that slides out of the way when you need a lawn chair.

The seats in and plumbed.

I moved my battery box under the bed, added another two batteries, mounted this inverter and a sure power battery isolator.

Some where along the way installed an awning, temporarily remounted my fridge, raised the queen size bed for more storage. And put some wood onto my temporary cabinets for more space. And stuck a cheapie cooktop in there. Some lights were velcro'ed in place , I'm sure lots of stuff I missed. With all fiberglass finish inside I tape or velcro everything in place, even the cabinets, it holds extremely well, and if you dont like where some thing is, move it.


And that was all I got done before I left. Still need lots done but now its time to use it.
8,225 km was the total distance on my trip from the west coast to Lake superior and back.

Lake Diefenbaker campsite.

thanks for reading and hope it helps someone.
Yves

 

[westyss]

frame to deck mounts

I read on another thread about reworking your rear leaf spring packs - may I suggest talking to National Spring in Bby

Thanks for that, I will try them.
Here is my set up for the deck mount, very simple.

It is made up of six spring mounted brackets, three per side, with a main, forward - back preventer near the rear wheels, and side load preventers near the front.

This is the one I call the side load preventer, with two of the spring mounts, the deck frame is protected and isolated from the preventer be a piece of nylon. I guess I should mention the yellow stuff too. Its UHMW, two parts, top and bottom with a strip of half inch rubber set into the top piece, all these pics are old and have been re worked a bit, mostly just adjusting the spring loads and proper bolts and bolt lengths.

This one is the forward-back preventer, it has an up-down slot so that it can move up around 1 1/2", like the picture shows.

This pic is during some testing, looks like about 4" of gap or rise of the frame, I think I allowed for 6". this mounting system seems to be working well, it allows alot of travel vertically, unnoticeable side movement and lots of frame flexability. All screws used were stainless, and no direct aluminum to steel contact.

hope this helps.
Yves

 

[chris_the_wrench]

Windows?

What kind of windows are those(single or double pane)?

Looks awesome!
-Chris

 

[westyss]

windows

All the windows are double pane, a small company in BC made them up for about 1/3 the price of any one else, came with screen. Co. name SunView Ind.
The walls, as far I know are supposed to be R7 per inch thick, so I wanted to keep it well insulated all around, i do alot of winter camping. So far its very easy to heat but its also not very cold yet.
Yves.

 

[Mr. D]

great work

 

[Doin_It]

Yves -

Very nice work to date for sure. Just wondering what product you sheeted the walls with after you picked up the insulated portion of your walls? Thanks.

 

[PKDreamers]

WOW how great does your camper look , well done great build.
Would like to see sumore inside pics when you get the time.
:clapsmile

 

[westyss]

walls

Doin_It-

the walls are made of close to 1/8" fiberglass finished both sides with a gel coat of my colour choice, (light grey out, white inside) that is laminated to a fiber honeycomb that is filled with polyurathane foam. The walls as you can see in this pic are nicely finished, no need for any thing else, easy to clean and durable out side, clean and white inside, I will be building a small washroom/shower and plan on just sealing the corners of the walls, adding a few interior walls with a drain in the floor and its good to go. Walls, ceiling, floor are made of this stuff, I took the rig down an ATV path in the bush, and really smashed it into trees and branches, and it shows no sign's of any damage.

The interior is not complete, just temporary bed, cabinets velco'ed to the walls. Tape and velcro is used throughout to mount lightes, cabinets, pictures etc. If you dont like where something is, move it, if some tape residue is left behind, clean with acetone. I can take everything out of there in about 30 minutes minus the fridge which is semi permenant.

 

[Bob599]

Great idea!

Really interested in your build. I am now researching doing something similar. How do you like the trucks performance so far? Are you considering goin to single rear wheels? Thanks for sharing this.

 

[westyss]

It is single rear wheel, the only beef I have with the truck is the suspension, I am looking into options, but the ride needs more travel and a shock that works, stock shocks are doing nothing .I have found that the more rough terrain I travel on, the softer the ride gets, its just wearing in. The truck is turning out to be very reliable and fun to drive. We have been using it continuously since getting it usable, it is nowhere near finished inside,but cant stop just getting out there, and I guess thats its main purpose. We just spent our first winter, snow night in it and it is perfect for our needs. I have just turned over 20,000km, and that was almost all this summer and fall.
This is the temporary interior, but the layout will be used. Behind the fridge is a porta potty but will be a small cassette toilet/shower set up. The fridge is a 12 volt nova cool that is awesome, very efficient and did I say it was awesome?

I have recently removed the rear tire/storage/bike carrier so we can get on the BC ferries without paying for extra length, limit is twenty feet long, and we are nineteen foot eight inches with the rack off.

This system is working out well too, as everything is an experiment. I will be beefing up the support arms a little just to make me feel better, but the rack is showing no signs of strain, even with both bikes, tire, box full of stuff, and hauling lots of wood on it.

Driving off the beach after a great weekend

This was the beach camp.

Solo trip into the BC mountains and biking some Kettle Valley Railway.

 

[westyss]

Just a few more from the fall, it needs a lift also,around 3-4" would be good. It is not meant for hard wheeling, just for getting us to our favourite spots that I used to get stuck going to in our westy.