Pre birth of a camper - No laughing!

[ianc]

Folks,
I'm about to send the chassis to the guys who are going to build the box but I have a dilemma which I have to deal with first. Wife versus Russian bridge building...

The boss wants about 1000mm headroom in the bed above the cab - a reasonable request, however, because the cab roof is 2530mm high - this will make the van about 3570mm high not counting skylights, solar panels etc.
I understand that many bridges in the Ex Soviet Union region are 3500mm high. You see the problem.....

Here's a drawing to give a sense of the challenge:


I do intend to "integrate" the overcab more tightly to the roof of the cab than is shown in the picture - but this still leaves me with 3570mm height. I can probably negotiate the internal space down to 900mm but I still have to deal with the skylights, panels etc.

I don't want to put a drop in the roof behind the overcab because I think it will look crap. A thought is to leave the side panels at constant height for the length of the van but sink the roof behind them by 100-150mm. The roof clutter would be in this sunk section. It would be visible from behind and would also need one or two drain holes in the side panels.

Questions:
- Does this make sense or would it weaken the structure too much (GRP/foam/GRP 50mm sandwich)? - I will be asking the construction company also
- Any other suggestions for dealing with the problem?


Thanks

Ian

 

[grizzlyj]

Hiya

Won't there be some movement between the camper and the cab, so they can't be too closely positioned?

When you talk about bed clearance, you've already decided on bed mattress and springs?

When we bought ours it had a thin mattress. After several tries at more comfort we now have wooden springs, 2" of insulation (aiding the condensation problem) and a comfy normal mattress both eating into the clearance. Don't make it too tight perhaps?

Sounds like you're between a rock and a hard place



Edit Not meaning to be rude or anything, but are you sure of the cab height??

 

[ianc]

Grizzlyi
There will be tight integration between the cab and the box as per these pics of a Woelcke camper.



So the box will be "fixed" to the chassis at the cab end and spring mounted back from that point.

 

[grizzlyj]

Cool!

So could you have a drop down bed as on some Euro (Hymer?) campers? Tight up out of the way above the cab seats when driving, but loads of headroom in bed when down?

I only wondered about cab height because my mog with portal axles, big tyres, flexing clearance from cab roof to bed, and including extractor fans poking out of the roof etc is only 400mm taller than your pic

 

[ianc]

I think I understand the Hymer set-up but I'm not sure its workable in my situation because the chassis cab is probably too narrow for the bed to drop down into (about 1,850mm) and it would also mean cutting most of the cab roof out thus seriously weakening the structure (I think!). I'll do the measurements again though to be sure.

I

 

[Ullie]

Do I see some similarity's?

 

[Nigel Evans]

Have you seen this http://vps.paymentgroup.de/uli/vario/dieterj/ ? I suppose it depends on the build but he seems to be getting a lot of flex.

I know Stephen Stewart talks about 3.5 meter bridge clearance in Russia but his party included a Mog which was much higher!

 

[ianc]

Nigel I'll get the same amount of flex it's just that I'll hard fix at the cab end whereas Dieter hard fixed at the tail end and so the flex is very visible on his at the cab/box meeting point. Tail end hard mount is the default recommended approach but Woelcke, Ormocar and other commercial overland builders make the front end fixed approach work. I hope........

Re the bridge height -yep it was from Stephens blog that I picked up the 3.5m height. I contacted him and he told me his Mog was just under 3.6m. Mine will be the same or more unless I make some changes.

 

[ianc]

Do I see some similarity's?

Ehhh yea!
I only wish I had your workshop (from the pic) and that welding father in law

 

[Nigel Evans]

I'm amazed that Mog is only 3.6 metres it looks much higher in the pictures.

My wheels arrive next week from Gabo, I'll post pictures if I need to alter anything.

 

[Ullie]

Ehhh yea!
I only wish I had your workshop (from the pic) and that welding father in law

That workshop in the pic is at the importer of Palfinger in the Netherlands. They bought the plateau from us for parts.

Aparrently its still for sale at their site.
http://www.colle-sittard.nl/colle_verkoop_gebruikt.html?page=product&h=800&did={22CDDE27-8C59-4D2A-8E54-8EDCDC0EF13B}&ctl=construction&prodid={3085edab-8f31-4141-98d7-d9dbd34bf9bc}&ctgn=truckplatforms

 

[ianc]

I drove the van/truck/lorry to the "box maker" this morning. 2-3 hours of detailed discussions gave me a warm feeling that they know what they're doing and know what I'm looking for. Fingers crossed.

They'll come back with a schedule next week, but I'm looking at 8-12 weeks minimum.

 

[Redd]

Ian hey, I bought an esb iveco with the same type of box on the back. I gotta take the box off next week... any tips? how did you raise it, car jacks?
theres a load of pneumatic air lines running off a pto on the iveco

actually i can see the trolley jack now in that photo

 

[ianc]

Two trolley jacks and a lot of blocks. It's a lot heavier than it looks. I took the PTO pump off.

 

[Redd]

cheers. probably the iveco bed will be smaller than the vario, but still an awkward yoke. I'll prob leave the pump as its driving a pretty large winch, and I do like to get stuck.