Pre birth of a camper - No laughing!

[docka]

Martin- just wanted to thank you for putting the website back up (good man Ian) it's great for us wannabes to plan ahead and steal inspiration and ideas, so, thanks!
Good luck with the sale, someone will get a cracking van.
I'm still not understanding the exact nature of the box's flexible connection to the chassis, if anyone has any further pics please could you post them, ta.

 

[mmmartin]

Docka, on ours the box is bolted and glued with Sika to a skeleton frame made from 50mm box and 100mm x 50mm box (along the length of the chassis) as per picture below. The frame is then mounted to the chassis with standard body mounting springs with extended bolts allowing, during chassis twist, the frame to leave the chassis by up to 75mm front and back of the vehicle. The crawl through door has a flexible coupling from cab to body. This arrangement has worked well with no problems even when travelling down tracks that sometimes you ask yourself if you should really be going down them


This picture shows the standard mounting bracket before we lengthened the spring and bolt for our needs

 

[docka]

Ah, I see now, thank you for the clear explanation. It all looks very achievable...
So Ian your box is fixed to the cab at the front whereas Martin's isn't?

 

[ianc]

My frame is almost the same as Martin's. The differences are
- The 50mm box sections are made into the floor structure of my box
- I have "hard" mounted my box to the front of the chassis and to the cab. It's not 100% hard mounted - there is some flex allowed between the chassis and box.
- And flex is accommodated in the same manner as Martin's along the rest of the length and with up to 125mm at the rear (to be tested).

 

[docka]

Thanks chaps, makes perfect sense. How's the rest of the build coming on Ian?

 

[Anton2k3]

Ian,

Progress looks great. Had a chance to test those valves yet? I ended up looping my second calorifier coil in series with the first in the end, so going to go with those change over valves on the engine instead.

 

[ianc]

Ian,

Progress looks great. Had a chance to test those valves yet? I ended up looping my second calorifier coil in series with the first in the end, so going to go with those change over valves on the engine instead.

I tested the valve on the bench only. It opens and closes and doesn't leak!

The new job is inevitably taking more time and I've been travelling pretty well every week since I've started. So progress has slowed.

Here's where I am

The plumbing is now done excepting for the sinks and radiators being fitted (can't do these until the cabinetry is progressed). You can see here where the 2L pressure vessel has been to fitted to keep pressure in the diesel heating circuit along with the filler circuit, pressure gauge and pressure relief valve.
In essence the system is:
- 2 fresh water tanks of ~250L each
- Grey water tank of 180l
- Black water tank of 220l. All inboard
- Currently no filtration on the water intake – but room for it in the future.
- Pressurised hot water circuit off a 5KW Eberspacher Diesel heater going to the calorifier (22L) and one blower radiator with Ts and room for a second
- Second hot water circuit from the engine (shown earlier) connecting to the second coil in the calorifier.
- 220V 1KW heater element for hot water when “Shore” power is available.
- I'm considering also including a small drinking fresh water tank. I saw a number of vans in Central America with this.



The Diesel heater has been fitted into an external metal locker which I had made up from galvanised steel. This also has an air line reel and will be used to carry the jack and heavy tools down low.










I also had a box for the batteries made. This will be bolted up under the floor and the batteries will be accessed from inside the storage area in the van.

I also fitted the roof hatch and a window. Both needed some adaptation to deal with the 55mm wall/roof thickness.
Roof and hatch










You can see the filler slip I made for the window here




I had a worrisome discovery when I got up on the roof. Quite a lot of the trim was lifting. I'll have to get the guys out to fix this.




The carpenter started this week and he's fabricating the kitchen units, beds, bathroom and seating area. Here's how we're doing the construction to save weight:




This is a sandwich of 4mm Birch Ply screwed and glued to a 12mm x 80mm BP frame.
The press fronts will be 12mm white laminated BP with the ply edges showing.

 

[ianc]

I was also asked about how I was wiring the thing offline. Here’s the wiring diagram and the cable weight chart. I calculated the cable weights to limit voltage drop to a max 3% on all sensitive equipment (Alternator to batteries, fridge, heater, inverter, macerator pump etc). This means you end with some very heavy and expensive cable.

I had this lot in the top box on my Bike and nearly went over backwards at a roundabout




That's about €500 worth of copper!

Here's the wiring diagram



And the calculations for run lengths, acceptable v drop and resultant cable weights



This is where I got the cable thickness calculator http://www.solar-wind.co.uk/cable-sizing-DC-cables.html

 

[mmmartin]

Ian
Like many others we have had times whilst wild camping when things are going on outside that you cannot see and stepping out into the dark is not always the best option, making the decision whether to drive off or not a difficult one. I have often thought that had I built in a master 'panic switch' connected to four large LED light strips fitted to each external side of the van, I could get the van to light up like a Christmas tree and see what was going on. It came to mind when I was looking at the wiring diagram and thought you may wish to think about it

 

[ianc]

Hmm v good idea. Where would source such LED strips I wonder.

 

[docka]

These guys are really good for LED stuff. They do the 19.6W per m strips plus ali profiles to clip it into. Most of the strip stuff on ebay is around 4W per m.
http://www.mgc-lighting.com/led/flexi/

These are pretty robust dimmers too
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DIY-LED-L...al_Electrical_Fittings_MJ&hash=item5af0428e35

 

[Anton2k3]

Good find docka, and good idea mmmartin. I'm considering swapping my LED awning light now for 4m of that extra bright stuff down the side.

Sounds like good progress ian, look forward to the next update.

 

[Anton2k3]

Its gone awfully quiet on the forum lately, any more progress Ian?

 

[ianc]

Some progress.

I've had a Cabinet Maker friend helping with the presses etc. But he hurt his back and has not been able to do the final fitting and I'd been waiting for that. Here's what some of the carcases look like.



No the toilet will not be located there...

I also made the frameworks for the two bunks at the rear





Bathroom floor done today. First a sh%t load of tapered laths screws and sikaflex'd



The 6mm Birch ply glued an screwed plus plat for toilet mounting.



Test positioning of bog.



This will now get "tanked" with fiberglass and the walls will be lined with PVC wall cladding http://goldstarplastics.ie/PVC-Wall-Cladding/

I also made the latch for the steps. Constructed from a Bonnet/Hood catch, there's a hidden remote catch plus the safety release. Here's the catch and mount. My welding has improved dramatically. That's not to say it's good, but rather it was particularly crap when I started out!



And with the steps in the stowed position




I'm having a lot of trouble with the Diesel water heater. It will only run for a couple of minutes and then shuts down. I thought it was because it was getting hot water back to it too quickly, but I've put some balancer valves in and it's still doing it. It's also "fluffing" a bit when it is running. I bought it second hand from eBay and did bench test it when I got it. It's an Eberspächer HYDRONIC D 5 W Z. Anyone have any experiences of these?

 

[Anton2k3]

Hey Ian,

Pretty certain the problem with hot water heater will be air in the system, i.e water not circulating fully. I have this problem every time I do work on ours, i end up parking the van on an incline with heater at the highest point to let it bleed.

Failing that, maybe check voltage at the controller. And sounds like there is air getting into the fuel with the 'fluffing'. Do you have a clear fuel line going into the heater which you can monitor?

I feel your pain, diesel water heater are a PITA, but well worth the trouble.

Just to note, I changed the pump on ours for a bigger bosch unit. It has no problem moving the water around the system, where as I think the old one (before it burnt out), did.