Shachagra- Family of 5 traveles Europe and Turkey, International 7500

[Steamboater]

Wow!! What an awesome build! Just a lurker here that loves to watch some of these builds come together. Hope you don't mind but I just had to post your video's for you :coffeedrink:








:Wow1::smiley_drive::wings:

 

[shachagra]

Building the RV "Hull"

Thanks for posting the videos Steamboat, I didn't know you could post youtube in here. Here are some pictures of the lower four feet of Shachagra, we called it the hull, built upside down, like a boat hull, fiberglassed and then turned over. You can see the structural connections with the marine grade plywood. It is a fillet compound with two layers of biaxial matt glass and one layer of finish cloth, the stuff most folks work with. The plywood will break before the joint does, just not too pretty until its finished. The hull is a sturdy box beam foundation bolted to the chassis that the rest was built up from. We spent 3 weeks getting it done.

 

[rblackwell]

Impressive build - congratulations. However I am even more interested in your route and experience in Europe. We plan on traveling from Vladivostok to Europe (entering through Turkey) in 2013 then spending a year or to in Europe. Our vehicle is 25' long and 8' wide. We have been warned by many people that its "too big for Europe".
You vehicle is even bigger than ours and seems to have worked.

Have you used many campgrounds and how did the bug vehicle work in those?

I am particularly keen to hear about your Turkey experience. I noted that the map on one of the videos had a few red lines that looked like they were heading off into Georgia.

What are you plans east of Turkey?

Anyway interested to see/hear more on the trip

Rob
www.whiteacorn.com

 

[HumphreyBear]

Thanks for the effort you are putting in to posting this build and answering our questions, Doug.

 

[Overland Hadley]

The ''hull'' has some beautiful lines.

What is the thickness of the marine plywood used in the hull? It looks thick, I am guessing one or one and an eighth.

 

[nick disjunkt]

Impressive build - congratulations. However I am even more interested in your route and experience in Europe. We plan on traveling from Vladivostok to Europe (entering through Turkey) in 2013 then spending a year or to in Europe. Our vehicle is 25' long and 8' wide. We have been warned by many people that its "too big for Europe".
You vehicle is even bigger than ours and seems to have worked.

Have you used many campgrounds and how did the bug vehicle work in those?
www.whiteacorn.com

That size of vehicle is no problem in Europe. It is about the same size as a 7.5t truck which is the standard delivery truck size for cities thoughout Europe. In tiny villages there may be roads where the width will be an issue but there are no roads you are likely to pass through where the length will be a problem. LWB vans (mercedes sprinter, ford transit, iveco daily, etc) are used throughout Europe by couriers and tradesmen and are about 22 - 23ft; they get absolutely everywhere and I can't remember ever having been somewehere where they would not fit. The width is only likely to be an issue in residential roads with cars parked on either side. 45ft long, 8ft wide articulated trucks are commonly used to collect and deliver to farms all over Europe and have no problems with the small country lanes.

In older cities there may be low bridges to worry about, but you do not state your height. In London there are many low bridges but there are always ways to circumnavigate them and double-decker buses at over 14ft get everywhere. If you try to stay under 12 foot you are unlikely to encounter any problems at all.

You don't state your weight but the most common restriction on vehicles in rural areas of Europe are old bridges with weight limits. 17t is common in the UK but there are almost always wasy to get around the weak bridges.

 

[Entropy]

Doug,

So it looks like the joints were glued/screwed then reinforced with the fiberglass, then you covered the whole thing in a layer of fiberglass, correct? What kind of reinforcement did you add to the attachment points for the frame u-bolts?

Very nice work - you're not kidding when you said you built it like a boat!

 

[nick disjunkt]

Thanks for posting the videos Steamboat, I didn't know you could post youtube in here. Here are some pictures of the lower four feet of Shachagra, we called it the hull, built upside down, like a boat hull, fiberglassed and then turned over. You can see the structural connections with the marine grade plywood. It is a fillet compound with two layers of biaxial matt glass and one layer of finish cloth, the stuff most folks work with. The plywood will break before the joint does, just not too pretty until its finished. The hull is a sturdy box beam foundation bolted to the chassis that the rest was built up from. We spent 3 weeks getting it done.

Hi there,

It's interesting to see how you've done the curved sections of the wheel arches.

Birch plywood is often used here for similar projects to yours and it comes in a huge range of thicknesses. I have a friend who builds some unusual speakers and he does curves like those buy laminating a 5 or 6 layers of 3mm sheets. It is a laborious process but the resulting curves are obviously extremely long. You can also save weight because you can remove some or all of the formers after the layers have dried.

If you have have sections longer than 4ft you have to ensure that the grain is predominantly running along the 8ft axis of the sheet as it makes it much easier to bend without snapping.

Both methods work fine but I thought it worth mentioning anyway.

 

[shachagra]

Have you used many campgrounds and how did the bug vehicle work in those?

I am particularly keen to hear about your Turkey experience. I noted that the map on one of the videos had a few red lines that looked like they were heading off into Georgia.

What are you plans east of Turkey?

Anyway interested to see/hear more on the trip

Rob
www.whiteacorn.com

Here is a google Earth map of all the places we spent the night on the trip. Vlad to Europe and Turkey is a huge expedition, that will be amazing. Do you speak Russian? Turkey was the highlight of our trip, huge open roads, beaches, friendly people and cheap. We didn't get to Georgia because of time, we loved every spot so much that we would linger. The roads in Eastern Turkey started to get worst, and the Military Attaché in Georgia told me they were horrible there. We weren't afraid of getting stuck, but its a brutal ride over long distances. We didn't go to Russia because frankly I don't think they abide by the rule of law that everyone else does. Bold statement, but I did my last Navy tour traveling Europe and have worked with the Russians, and they recommended I not travel there with the family- not to dampen your enthusiasm, but speaking Russian would really help.
Let me know if I missed something.
-- Campgrounds, we didn't stay at many, but were only told once they couldn't handle a big rig. The RV parks pride themselves on being able to handle "American" RVs.

I have to go through your website. Great trip! Looks like a perfect rig for Europe. We are planning to head south and I'll have to pick your brain.

 

[shachagra]

Curves

Hi there,

It's interesting to see how you've done the curved sections of the wheel arches.

Birch plywood is often used here for similar projects to yours and it comes in a huge range of thicknesses. I have a friend who builds some unusual speakers and he does curves like those buy laminating a 5 or 6 layers of 3mm sheets. It is a laborious process but the resulting curves are obviously extremely long. You can also save weight because you can remove some or all of the formers after the layers have dried.

If you have have sections longer than 4ft you have to ensure that the grain is predominantly running along the 8ft axis of the sheet as it makes it much easier to bend without snapping.

Both methods work fine but I thought it worth mentioning anyway.

Very cool speaker. I have a set of Sonus Fabers that I love. The wheel wells were laminated with 1/8 marine plywood after the pictures that I posted. The curve in the front of the truck is pure lamination of 3 1/4 marine plys. I have made a few bathtubs, one for the RV and one for home and they are made not much different then the wheel wells.

 

[shachagra]

The ''hull'' has some beautiful lines.

What is the thickness of the marine plywood used in the hull? It looks thick, I am guessing one or one and an eighth.

It is 3/4 in the hull and everything above is 1/4" ply-2 inches insulation -1/4" ply.

 

[shachagra]

Amazing website- living the good life Acorn

Have you used many campgrounds and how did the bug vehicle work in those?

I am particularly keen to hear about your Turkey experience. I noted that the map on one of the videos had a few red lines that looked like they were heading off into Georgia.

What are you plans east of Turkey?

Anyway interested to see/hear more on the trip

Rob
www.whiteacorn.com

I love your website! There is so much info there. I tried one for our trip but it didn't last long before I somehow killed it, then we just started to update family and friends on Facebook. We met some Belgians that were doing something similar to your plan, they were in year 3 when we met them. I will forward you their E-mail address.

 

[shachagra]

Doug,

So it looks like the joints were glued/screwed then reinforced with the fiberglass, then you covered the whole thing in a layer of fiberglass, correct? What kind of reinforcement did you add to the attachment points for the frame u-bolts?

Very nice work - you're not kidding when you said you built it like a boat!

Yes, screwed with large washers that are later removed once the epoxy sets and then the entire thing is covered in a layer of 10 Oz glass. The entire structure sits on high density rubber (between floor and body, with the U-bolts run up through the floor, reinforced with another laminate of plywood (1.5")

 

[lblampman]

Capt. Cuthbert,

I know I'm likely missing something simple here, which frustrates me to no end since I'm a boat manufacturer and design a fair amount myself, but in looking at your drawings and the model I can't quite figure out where you and your wife Stef sleep, and where your clothing and personal item storage is.

I love the design and it validates (totally) a design concept I had for my own truck conversion.

Thanks so very much for taking the time to post photos and explanations for those of us that are keenly interested in your build and your trip.

All the best,

Les

 

[lblampman]

I know I'm likely missing something simple here, which frustrates me to no end since I'm a boat manufacturer and design a fair amount myself, but in looking at your drawings and the model I can't quite figure out where you and your wife Stef sleep, and where your clothing and personal item storage is.

Ah, I got the answer by watching your You Tube videos (I didn't have a good enough Internet connection earlier for that).

Given the scale of your rig I wondered earlier if the cabover portion was large enough to act as a sleeper (it looks small compared to the overall size) and thought "no", which turned out to be wrong!

Kind of an off-the-wall question here...do you all use the VacuFlush toilet at night? I'm asking because the only one I ever used was loud; loud enough to wake up everyone else on the boat. And your's is right over Grace's head (when she's in her berth) so I wondered if that's an issue at all?

Thanks again!

Les