out with the old in with the new

[mgs]

Cheers.

 

[mgs]

Where did you find the cassette toilet?

 

[westyss]

Where did you find the cassette toilet?

purchased from Darrin Fink who used to make RUF campers, not sure if he still deals in them.

 

[westyss]

Trying out a new camera, Jones Lake, BC.

 

[dwh]

Wow! That picture is shiny!

Really shows off those dirty wheels on your truck.

Maybe time for some chrome!

 

[westyss]

Wow! That picture is shiny!

Really shows off those dirty wheels on your truck.

Maybe time for some chrome!

What? Those wheels were cleaned six months ago!

 

[westyss]

We did not copy anything. I have never seen this truck. Nor have we ever copied any latches. This is similar to a number of European designs but there are some significant design differences otherwise we would not have been successful in obtaining several patents in the USA and protection of those same patients in Europe and Australia. Our original design and prototype was about 6 years old now and eventually morphed into what you see now about 4 years ago and although covers the whole concept it is especially beneficial to the cab to cabin access concept which is under separate patients.

Quote Originally Posted by westyss View Post
You mean like this!

O man! I just saw this post from GXV owner Van Pelt and had to chuckle, no, laughed hard actually.:elkgrin:

I decided to make a response on this thread because he will never visit it, doesn't even know it exists apparently.:wavey:

So any way, the funny part is in his comment "We did not copy anything. I have never seen this truck" which may be true, I for one would never be lurking about on the portal if I was a manufacturer of expedition vehicles, but later he states " This is similar to a number of European designs"

What!? So he didn't copy this truck but copied the European designs?? Ahh! I see! Well that all makes complete sense, I can obviously see in all the vehicles they have manufactured that they do not copy anything. Not that there's anything wrong with copying, everyone does it, maybe just not denying it so vehemently might be a good idea.

The other funny part, and excuse me, I do have a bit of a warped sense of humor, was that my post was the first one he made a comment about even though the thread is about a lawsuit against him, you would think there would be more important issues to deal with than a post from me? LOL:coffeedrink:


Anyway, sorry if no one else finds this funny.

 

[Gatsma]

Don't apologize Westyss, I totally see the humor in the situation! The man is an example of the adage that, "Denial ain't just a river in Egypt", which obviously comes off better spoken aloud than read.
Cheers to you!

 

[Josh_G]

Awesome thread and build. Read from the start over the last week.

 

[dwh]

O man! I just saw this post from GXV owner Van Pelt and had to chuckle, no, laughed hard actually.:elkgrin:

I'm totally with you on this, because I distinctly remember THIS thread:

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/19150-Roof-design-examples-and-comment

As haven said in the first post, he started that thread due to a request from MVP.


And I also distinctly remember posting THIS in that thread:

http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...gn-examples-and-comment?p=1137464#post1137464


So um...yea. I was thinking something was a little fishy about MVP saying he'd never seen your truck.

As you say though, could be true. Benefit of the doubt. Great minds and all that.


Yea...sure.

 

[westyss]

I'm totally with you on this, because I distinctly remember THIS thread:

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/19150-Roof-design-examples-and-comment

As haven said in the first post, he started that thread due to a request from MVP.


And I also distinctly remember posting THIS in that thread:

http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...gn-examples-and-comment?p=1137464#post1137464


So um...yea. I was thinking something was a little fishy about MVP saying he'd never seen your truck.

As you say though, could be true. Benefit of the doubt. Great minds and all that.


Yea...sure.

Wow! This was written in 2012, so the plot thickens huh! I read that write up and now we know who to blame, you dwh:sombrero:
As I was reading your write up I was thinking about some responses to a few things...........maybe post them here instead of that older thread.

So, even with the top down, it's still a very usable space. Even the head can be used as long as you don't mind sitting down to use it. The shower...probably not with the top down, unless it's a full wet bath and again, you don't mind sitting to use it.

Yes it is usable with the top down, but not great, the table and seats that form into the bed were made high to accommodate the larger water tank underneath it and to increase the under bed storage, so as a result with the roof down one cannot sit upright at the table, more like slouched or crooked.
The kitchen area is usable although for me it is at a height that I find difficult to stand slouched and can only do that a limited time, although my wife has no problems mucking about. I will put something to sit on for extended times so its just me that cant tolerate it.(And I was the designer)
Yup, sit on the toilet is the only way, and we have not completed the inside shower yet as we were not sure if we were going to have an inside shower or not, but after living in it for seven months I feel that the inside shower will have to be completed, and for this a wet bath will be used, there is ample room for standing to shower with the roof up and sitting on the toilet is an option for showering with the roof up or down. The walls for the bathroom will be hard sided with a door, it is not too complicated, I will copy GXV's :hehe::hehe:

For stealth and security, I like that with the top down, the windows disappear. For security, what I don't like, is that with the top down, the windows disappear. If I were sleeping in a place where I'd want the top down for security, then that's probably exactly where I'd want the ability to see what's going on outside. Shouldn't be a big deal though to rig blind spot cameras. The truck almost certainly needs a backup cam anyway. Might as well just go whole hog and add a 4th cam to see what's going on in front (put it up high with a fisheye lens, and you might also be able to use it to see if you are going to make it under that low-hanging obstacle).

I love that the windows are protected with the roof down, not really for security but for all the bush whacking we tend to do,they would most certainly have been broken long ago as the evidence of big branches dragging across the outside walls where the windows are located, or while parking at trail heads or in towns. As for stealth camping, what I do is raise the roof a few inches so that we can see outside around us yet its not enough for passers by to notice the roof up or that there are windows, with this set up a lady was using my door window as a mirror to primp her hair while I watched from the inside a foot away, she did not know we were inside, funny!
I had a back up camera for a while but it died, the camera is still there but the monitor is gone, I do not miss it and will not be installing another one, I dont need it, so with that said having a bunch of cameras looking all around seems pointless to me, just something else to spend money on to fail. KISS!
Driving with one forward is also pointless as if the cab fits through the rest will follow.
When camping in remote unknown places where security might be an issue we lock the door, and have curtains on all windows so no one can see inside, if someone comes a knocking I open a window and talk through there, the windows are high up and I guess that is the main security, they cant see my 24" machete and bear spray I'm holding even though we have never had a situation yet.

With the top down, it doesn't really look like a camper, except for the hatches and that big entry door. I think those could be camouflaged to make the truck resemble a work truck. For weekending, probably not needed, but for long term, long distance use it might be a good idea.

It seems that most people are not aware that it is a camper and that was the plan for a long time but in my view it looks like a camper more now than ever, but police, toll booth attendees, customs people etc have to be convinced that it is a camper, my wife and I were talking about throwing some vinyl logos on it, like Bimbo bread, we saw many Bimbo trucks running around in Mexico that looked like us! Definitely will not put any murals or wrap on it, I will leave it bland and un-assuming. I like anonymity!

Crawl through...probably not. Looking at the first pic in this post, it appears that there *might* be enough space under the roof to make a crawl though without the boot interfering with the roof...but it would certainly be tight. One way around that would be a gangway/mudroom between the cab and cabin, with a drop-side stairway.

I always had the intention to make a pass through, it was going to be complicated, in the end I will not go that route, the reasons are: complexity, environmental, meaning heat and cold from the cab needs to be controlled, the single pane windows in the cab have no R value and if a pass through was used a foam block or door would have to be used to prevent the transfer of hot or cold air, that would be a pain to store, mount and generally not too functional. The bed is just behind the cab and that is where my wife sleeps and she is always cold. In my design the bed is positioned where the truck frame bends upward, so putting the entry door there is not feasible, the floor there rises six inches following the contour of the frame keeping the overall height of the camper as low as possible. Give and take.

The truck *might* fit in a container. If not, then the use of container wheels would probably be enough to get the job done. If not, then the camper box in the first pic is removable. It sits on a flatbed. I like the idea of a removable camper box. It doesn't have to sit on a flatbed, but I think taking remove-ability into the initial engineering is a good idea. I particularly like the way Darrin Fink does it, which I believe he does by incorporating 2" receivers into the frame of the camper box and using standard camper jacks:

Add some receivers in the frame pointing down, then lift the box, drive the truck out, stick wheels in the bottom receivers, drop it down on its wheels and pull the jacks out of the sides. Then use the truck to shove it into the container. Lash it down, then drive the truck in right after it, ala that 6x6 Unicat Mog.

As it is now the truck will fit in a hitop container, if the only thing available is a low top container the camper will need to come off like you stated, but..............originally in my design the intent was to have the camper be removable from the flat deck, it still is but now the work required to do that makes it impractical. The cost and work to continue to keep the camper a separate entity was just not worth it to me. Give and take.

I think the lifting mechanism is important as well. There are a lot of different ways to do it, from Alaskan's hydraulics to the 4 electric screws jacks used in the camper in the first pic (which, using a 4 switch controller, allows the owner to tilt the roof a bit this way and that to direct rain runoff where he wants it), to a recent post by whalecharterboat (All Terrain Warriors) describing a setup with 4 pneumatic power up/down rams and equalizing valves. The (gorgeous) Bullet XV uses hydraulics, with a system of cables and pulleys (maylines) to keep everything synced:

http://bulletxv.wordpress.com/2009/0...e-lift-system/

Personally, if I was building my own from scratch, I'd go with a screw jack system similar to this:


Though, of course, it would be much less heavy duty and I'd use "traveling nut" jacks rather than "traveling screw" jacks, but you see what I mean. The driveshafts and 90 degree transmissions could be incorporated into the camper frame, the roof attached to the traveling nuts, and, it could even have a hand crank for use in a pinch. (And of course the motor doesn't have to be in the center...I'd likely stick it on the end of one leg of the "U" and delete the center transmission.)

There are several advantages, such as the roof goes up square regardless of uneven loading, even thin light duty screw jacks can lift a lot (roof + stuff), it stays where it's put (you could even drive with the roof up if you had to), it isn't going to leak and need new seals, it doesn't require locking pins to prevent creeping and when the roof is down, it's down "and locked". [EDIT: And...it's quiet.]

Also, it's mechanically pretty simple and bulletproof (yea, that was a pun about the maylines ).

[EDIT AGAIN: Also, forgot to mention: Since it's a mechanically synced system, and the roof is always perfectly square to the bottom box - two-piece overlapping interior partition walls are not a problem. I.e., you can have a head with walls and a door instead of just a curtain.]

Simple answer to this is simplicity, 12 volt independent actuators is about the simplest way to get the roof up, anything else to me gets too complicated, I carry a spare actuator with me and they are easy to swap out. The roof goes up square or tilted, whatever I like.

 

[dwh]

Yup. All my fault.



I've done a lot of camping in vans over the years, and I didn't mind the limited height most of the time (as I told my son when he was a kid - just pretend you're an astronaut).

But I'm 6'4" and hunching over and reaching down into a normal sink in a house to do dishes gives me a cramp in the lower back. Cooking too. Counter tops and stoves in normal houses are just too short for me to be comfortable using them.

The camper van I have now has 6'2" of headroom, so I can stand up to cook. But I don't because I can sit on the couch and reach the stove. Now I'm spoiled - I LIKE sitting down to cook. No lower back cramps, yay!

So having a convertible space like yours with a lifting roof is to me, just about the ideal. The two things I don't like about Alaskans are that they have the door in the rear, and that the roof raising mechanism allows too much slop - so making a sliding two-piece wall isn't really practical.

But the way I see it - your roof must have some noticeable gap/slop as well, or you wouldn't be able to tilt it. So, I'll be interested to see how you do the shower walls.

 

[westyss]

The walls for the bathroom will be the same concept as the camper walls, one slides inside and the other out. I have around 1/2" of gap between the roof walls and the walls, I believe that could be reduced to 1/4" and still have no issues with binding etc.

I hear you about kitchen counters being to low, especially sinks, they make my back ache way too much, but on the good side I cant do dishes!

 

[dwh]

I hear you about kitchen counters being to low, especially sinks, they make my back ache way too much, but on the good side I cant do dishes!

I like doing dishes. It's one of the the best ways I've found to get my hands truly clean. Being an incorrigible machine head, I've tried everything.

 

[westyss]

Not sure if this is going to work but trying out a new way of posting pics through google, if it works the first pic is our camp site at Agua Verde and the next is some kind of montage that google made, it is climbing out of Agua Verde, looks neat.

looks like it works!