out with the old in with the new

[westyss]

Are you guys allowed to use heaters in a camper, not legal in Oz unless it's properly flued to the outside like the diesel heaters are.

We used a gas heater in Wothahellizat Mk1 but it was such a large vehicle and not well sealed so I wasn't worried about it (but still never left it on overnight), but a small vehicle would be a problem unless you leave windows open and as you say "vicious circle".

Yeah we dont have the rules that you are subjected to, or not as much, for a home built camper there is not an inspection process for it and I think there is a standard to follow for the manufacturers, CRVA would be the Canadian body that would maintain the required safety standards for them and I suppose for home built units also.
The diesel unit I have is the coolant heater and it is outside already so no venting required, the Cat units need an air supply and for sure caution using it overnight, for me I have a vent in the door of the camper which is open all the time, and if the Cat stays on overnight a window is opened up right by our pillows for fresh air supply.
On my camper I used the principle that hot air rises and cool air descends so with that the sides do not form an airtight seal with the roof and a certain amount of fresh air enters that way without losing heat or having cold air enter unless a strong wind blows it in.

There are vented Catalytic heaters made that have a fan to vent it and if the camper was very airtight they sure would be a good idea but for our application was not needed, I was going to only use the diesel coolant heater for heat but we really like the little cat heater for its efficiency and quiet operation and that it feels like a little fireplace to us.
I installed a Propex propane heater in my last vehicle which works like a house furnace bringing in combustion air and recirculating heated air and of course venting combustion air to the great outdoors, it was a great little unit but required electric power for the fan and had a limit if the voltage dropped too low=no heat unless I started the van(

I thought all you needed to do to heat your rigs in Oz is to open a window??

 

[graynomad]

I thought all you needed to do to heat your rigs in Oz is to open a window??

No it gets cold here as well, why just last winter it got down to 25C one night.

 

[Ford Prefect]

HAHA 25C! wow, yeah this summer in Afghanistan we got over 50C several weeks in a row, talk about fun! SO while 25C sounds nice, I am looking forward to the next country I am headed to. They typically get down near -1C over night there. Should be a nice change, and prep me for going to America where we get down to -18C regularly, some often colder than that! Looking forward to a nice cold snowy winter! Interestingly where I like to go camping it gets much colder than that, so that is why I am curious about the winter ability more so than the summer. I figure anything I do to keep it warm in the winter will aid in keeping it cool in the summer, but the area I like to camp in rarely ever gets OVER 25C on the hottest summer days. When I lived there it got over 27C twice. (Lived there for a little over a year)

On the laws and such. It seems like OZ has some areas where they are super strict for no apparent reason, like the very minimal overhang you are allowed beyond the rear axle. For us, as long as it is still drivable, you can overhang as much as you like. (Some lawn care companies nearly half the vehicle is behind the rear axle) On the other hand Whatthehellisthat 1 or 2 would likely never be allowed on the streets in the USA or Canada. Too big, too tall, too heavy for what the truck would be rated at here in the USA. SO we have really stupid crazy laws as well, just not the same ones. Search me why I can't import a truck from another country until it is at least 25 years old, even if their emissions requirements are stricter than ours.

 

[graynomad]

very minimal overhang you are allowed beyond the rear axle. For us, as long as it is still drivable, you can overhang as much as you like.

You must have much less camber on your roads because the overhangs I see on US vehicles (well RVs anyway) would not really be drivable over here, you would not be able to get into most service stations for example.

We have the 60% of wheel base rule (or 12 feet, whichever is the shorter) for overhangs, that's still pretty long.

I don't know how Wot 1 and 2 would go, but I thought your size allowances were larger than ours. Wot 2 is only 14 tonnes GVM on 3 axles, well under the max for 3 axles here.

In general temps in Oz are much more benign than northern hemisphere countries, of course well below freezing is possible but not common unless you are up in the high country and as a traveller you make sure you're not in those places in the winter. I tend to gravitate to the northern parts and have to explain what frost and a fire place is to people (only half joking).

I remember a great line from someone in the US who was sick of the cold. She said she was going to strap a snow shovel to the back of her RV and drive south until someone asked her what it was

this summer in Afghanistan we got over 50C several weeks

I like the heat but that's extreme, how do you function?

 

[Ford Prefect]

You must have much less camber on your roads because the overhangs I see on US vehicles (well RVs anyway) would not really be drivable over here, you would not be able to get into most service stations for example.

We have the 60% of wheel base rule (or 12 feet, whichever is the shorter) for overhangs, that's still pretty long.


I like the heat but that's extreme, how do you function?

Yeah, the overhang is not that bad in most places. Some folks put some big caster wheels on the back of the RV to protect from scrapes, but obviously that make the angle even worse for exit.

I was under the impression that the over hang was much more restrictive than that. I thought it was closer to 15% - 20% of the wheel base.

And yes, the heat is remarkable. It was not very fun, and you most certainly did what you could to stay indoors. Many of our jobs, however, keeps us outside all the time, so you just drink a lot of water. The worst is that we can not modify our uniforms in the heat. IE that jacket we wear with the t-shirt under it, yeah, can NOT strip down to just the T-shirt. yuck.

My last 3 axle truck (A Mac Dump-truck) could hold 56,000 lbs total weight (including the truck itself) but the issue I think you would have is the overall size. If I recall that two trucks are very tall, wide, etc. Just big. I do not know how hard it would be to register it.

 

[theburtseoni]

If registered as an RV here in the states, your vehicle has to be under 14 feet high, no wider then 8 foot six inches, and no longer then about 46 feet overall. And in most of the US states, an RV is something that has at least a permanent sleeping area, a permanent kitchen area with a sink and stove, and that's mostly all that is required for the basics. So- Rob's MKI truck would have been allowed over here if it met those basic parameters. (Other then having the steering wheel on the wrong side :sombrero: and even that is not ruled out here in the states- just hard for us Yanks to figure out!) Reference some of the old 'hippie motorhomes' of the '60's and '70's for some rather odd and even larger vehicles that passed as RV's and our rules over here for RVs are easy to live with for the most part.

 

[graynomad]

under 14 feet high, no wider then 8 foot six inches, and no longer then about 46 feet overall.

The height is the same as our limit, length and width are longer, so yes Mk1 would have been ok. In Oz though you have to swap the steering wheel unless the vehicle is X years old (can't remember what X is) although I think there's still one state that doesn't require the swap.

Reference some of the old 'hippie motorhomes' of the '60's and '70's for some rather odd and even larger vehicles

The "house trucks" that were common in the North West I think, and in New Zealand. Amazing vehicles in their way.

 

[Ford Prefect]

Well Cool, thanks for the info Burt. I had no idea it was that easily done. SO really the only big deal now would be ensuring that the vehicle met USA standards, which I believe we use the same truck, or something very similar here in the states for fire fighting etc at airports.

 

[westyss]

We have rented out our house for a while and are on a little trip, but before leaving I had the privilege of getting the truck ready to go with no more garage and that minus 15 C weather we had, it really sucked but got it done by taking over the mother inlaws shed and setting up a temporary shop.









The main project was to repair and beef up the roof set up from the damage it sustained in an accident a while back and to somehow integrate some foam into the seal to dampen the sound transfer from outside noises and improve overall seal.
This is a profile view of what was done, 1/4" foam strip wedged into a U alluminum extrusion along with the brush seal.




The roof does not sit perfectly aligned so I needed to do something that maintained pressure to keep the foam against the roof sides, that has been something that eluded me for a long time until I had new windows installed at home and was taking off the screen and noticed the stainless springy things that help hold the screen in place, perfect! I headed to my window manufacturer and bought a pile of them, cut a strip in the U extrusion and slipped it into place, then installed an adjustable aluminum angle to hold it all in place.




Just prior to installing the seal set up I installed all new sliders with a few heavy duty ones, all stainless of course to keep things straight.

Works great, seals really well and sound transfer have been improved dramatically, along with a much more solid feel in general.





I am also experimenting with the roof mounts to give them some flexibility incase something gets between the two roof halves, simple spring action and just in time too as I was lowering the roof the electrical conduit was now too close to the side wall and hit the aluminum angle and prevented the roof from going down all the way but the actuators kept going down.... success.



Last thing for the roof was the actuators, the ones I had worked well but after a while of use they still raise the roof easy but when the temperature is warm will not hold it up but will slowly wind down which had us sticking wood supports to prop it up, so I ordered up some 1000 lb ones and had them sent to Eugene, Oregon, our first stop where Steve (sarconcepts) helped me install them, good to go now and after two weeks on the road it appears to be working out.

 

[VanIsle_Greg]

Have a great trip!! Renting out the house...must mean it is a long one this time? Safe travels and all the best on the road.

PS Nice fixes and tweaks.

 

[Ford Prefect]

Sounds great! Really like the idea with the springs from the window screens, that's a swell idea. Wish you safe travels and best of luck. Where you headed? Will we also be able to expect some lovely photos in this thread or link in this thread to another thread showing your trip report?

 

[westyss]

Sounds great! Really like the idea with the springs from the window screens, that's a swell idea. Wish you safe travels and best of luck. Where you headed? Will we also be able to expect some lovely photos in this thread or link in this thread to another thread showing your trip report?

We are headed down Baja for a few months then over to the mainland for March to hang out with my folks.
I have a few pics here: http://www.overlandcanada.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2776

 

[Overland Hadley]

Safe travels my friend. Enjoy, and soak up some sun for me.

 

[LowTech]

If you want any space to park up near Joshua Tree on your way down you're welcome here.


. . . sent without me knowing . . .

 

[garybo]

With your chipped engine and towing nothing, ie, just the camper load and known weight, can you say at what speed you can go up an about 6% grade keeping the rpms at about 2100-2400 with the chip "off"? I posted this as a generic request at http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/121021-Power-Up-Hill . Maybe you also know this answer also with the chip "on". Please give your loaded camper weight. thanks