biv box

[sandylandy]

Ceiling one piece.
The fglass panels from US were 2400mm long but not long enough or wide enough to use as a one piece ceiling.

A thicker foam sandwich type panel 3m long and 2m wide was ordered during covid and the factory was in Australia's most covidian draconian city "Danistan" (which it will never live down - totalitarian commy zone with embarrassing Police behaviours). After 12weeks we were able to pick it up from Maxicube truck pantec factory (1430km round trip) using a large tandem trailer borrowed from WT. Our pallet?? We used 3 new boards of 1.2m x 900mm formply as a support under the panel and cargo straps to keep it secure. Lucky it was dry week too.

We did this ourselves in the Landy because -at that Covidian zombie panic time- the freight and custom $600 pallet- was sky high, as much as the panel cost. The panel fitting was awkward as it had to be kept level to avoid gelcoat cracks and it was a case of about 6 people helping in the end off the trailer, onto the platform (Landy) about the right height then adhesive and sitting it straight down into the poptop lip. The ceiling sandwich was much heavier than I anticipated -its for truck pantecs- so we made up 3mm aluminium T section supports to go across (side to side) under the panel (rough thirds) to take rough road stress off the panel. The 25mm foam sandwich ceiling should offer better heat insulation. We'll see.

[sandylandy]

Next was a delay or two that ran to months. Handyman stuff in the home (Kitchen floor and painting do-over) and other distractions such as mother and F-I-L dementia.

I toyed with ideas or pallet jack hire etc to move the BivBox out on to the front lawn where it was flat to lift it up to get onto the Landy. We tried lowering air in the tyres etc. A close run thing using WT's tandem trailer again.

[sandylandy]

When I say close, the BivBox cleared the house carport ceiling by a few whiskers once on the trailer etc.
Fitting for the first time was all very exciting, let alone the first drive and weighing ticket. The lower BivBox (out of sight once loaded) main section had undercoat white only. That is another thing on the job list - matt black to replace the white.

[wonkywheel]

It's certainly looking the business now. Good work.
Did I notice some fancy legs under wrap in one picture?

[sandylandy]

The Rieco-Titan set of legs are up to the BivBox weight and more. But the main point of interest for us was the height of the lift and overall build strength. They cost. But they last.

The choice is electric adjustment ($$$ extra) or manual adjustment using a handle and a socket adapter.
We elected to go with "manual" and will deploy the two Milwaukee 18v drills for less $$$. We will be packing a charger and other Milwaukee 18v tools anyway, so there was little advantage in the auto adjusting setups. I wish Milwaukee made a handheld UHF. One day if I'm bored I'll tell you a Milwaukee trivia yarn regarding the Router unit or in American parlance, the "laminate trimmer."

Back to the legs; the home-made brackets we welded -and well welded believe me- to the four BivBox corners of the framework (50x23 RHS), we made up from 4 pieces of 3mm thick 25mm x 25mm angle, each 330mm long. We drilled the holes on the bench drill using the Rieco part as a template. We used hi-tensile M8 bolts for the mount to the Rieco powdercoated intermediate attachment-come-distance plates. The corner mount was made strong enough to take side stresses when off road (mainly creek crossings). I have seen these corner mounts on factory campers using allen head M6 size bolts and -in one case- Phillips metal thread screws, #2 size, I kid you not! (Some campers do not get off road perhaps). We had a Youtuber loose a demountable off the back of the vehicle due to mount failure when the truck lurched badly with a wheel going in a "hole" underwater during a creek crossing. The sudden weight shift put the 1 ton truck on its side. The camper was the first in the creek and the Landcruiser followed. It appeared to be mounted using over-center clamps down low.

Maybe I'm paranoid... I have been in quite a few rollovers etc in my time, on road, and I have a few heart stoppers off road too.

All the Rieco-Titan parts have impressed so far and been up to a few accidental moments of unintentional stress in the carport; eg, a 3 legged moment happened...

One thing we had to modify: the supplied intermediate attachment-come-distance plates are 2.5mm thick plate steel and we tried them out when moving and lifting and lowering during building - for instance to lift up the jobs down low in the BivBox to a comfy work height. The purpose of the distance piece plates is to sit between the leg's mount holes and the BivBox mount holes and in effect moves the leg out to the side as much as required to clear bodywork in a utility body, e.g., wheel arch flares. Well, they make them and they have their happy clients of course, but we found them inadequate thickness - we got flex and bending on a flat cement floor of the carport. As soon as I saw the flex I knew they had to go. They are the thinnest part of the build as supplied. So we spent about $60 each plate for 6mm thick steel in unequal angle, each 330mm long, 100mm x 75mm. We had a fabrication outfit set up a jig and drill the holes on the 4 plates exactly and that cost as much as the plates themselves. I could have tried it myself but ..they are too critical a function for an amateur. Cheap it saves some damage or other, just the once. Safety first, or at least, it gives confidence that they are one item in the stress chain overbuilt but never to give a flex problem. If the BivBox is at maximum lift one day being taken off or loaded on... or if the BivBox is sitting on its legs in a caravan park in the tropics and a cyclone storm comes through.. those legs will not give. Other BivBox components may rip or let go, but those Rieco-Titan legs will be fine!

The weight of BivBox: The Land-Rover was weighed with the new Truck Cab, full fuel tanks and Jerrycans, toolboxes, and the Rieco legs without the BivBox... and after the build it was all weighed again, same weighbridge. Result: 410kg

[sandylandy]

More trailer work today inbetween other jobs. I trust Easter was a good family break as it was here.

Need some alt-cable to be made up for the tailgate. Today I figured out how to do that without much complexity. I am replacing the four lower tailgate hinge bolts (M12 size) too.

Also spent what seemed like hours getting the exact spot for drilling pilot holes on the top of the trailer roof, and then drilling down the 6 x M8 holes for the Ensuite Tent L bracket mounts, 878mm apart. Had to be exact to go through the center of 20mm x 20mm RHS stringers running across the trailer as ceiling supports. I was chuffed that i hit the correct spot. I must have learnt something over the last 18mths.

A 5mm backing plate for the interior (ceiling) hexnuts makes the mounts stronger. The weakspot is the 25mm long M6 bolts in a aluminium slot on the back of the Ensuite assembly. We will have to see how long that bit lasts.
link to Ensuite Tent supplier: https://caosgear.com.au/collections/nomad-by-caos

[sandylandy]

A bit more experience with painting today. Brush painted the edges and tops of the trailer and rolled the big flat sides. Two coats of flat olive drab. But the second coat was slow to dry because of rain.

Worst thing is (again) fighting the weather, one hour sunny and blue, next windy and rainy. Then repeat. Wasted time covering up and uncovering. Aggravating. Next time I get a proper garage or shed to build a camper. I wouldn't recommend a carport after the last 2 yrs. So may times the weather has delayed me. We had another summer, thats two in a row now, that was wetter and cooler than I have experienced. For all my life the angst has been about bushfires and some weeks between 35 degrees C and 38 degrees. I think we had about 4 hot days, each with a thunderstorm to cool off in time for dinner.

[sandylandy]

I spent this afternoon out in the sunshine. A perfect blue day. Things went well extending the solar panel wires using MC4 connectors as far as the trailer to vehicle hookup. I tinned the wiring with my solder at every crimp on the MC4s. As the length of the cable increases the voltage will suffer so I am happy I was able to cut a hole in the steel body work (unseen from exterior view and in proper conduit for friction protection and degradation from road stones) under the trailer) to pass the wires to the front of the trailer very directly. The solar lines have to go the BivBox power box/batteries.

I came in for dinner -happy with the day in general- but now, having refreshed my memory of the spec details for my BCDC1250D battery charger... I have hit a snag. The BCDC will only deal with unregulated power less than 32V -specifically not "House Panel" voltage. I thought I would be able to regulate the panel output 10v down from its 250W / 37V / 7.8A max output.

Can I make up a box of resistors with a heat sink or something?

edit.
Beaut weather week. Went on a trip into the Aust. Alps (down the Monaro Hwy 200+km away). Cool air and crystal clear sky - forever views. The helping hand effort that was the purpose of the day was assisting with a new stockgate swing post (10inch diameter) on the small holding.

Also got the stashed Fireball welding assister for the trolley chassis job coming up.

Had a look at the stack of Solar Panels there (source of my used panel) and dbl checked the pos and neg leads. Day after the trip I dbl checked my panel install. 32.8V at noon on another crystal clear day. I had a look at a Victron MPPT but the cost is not economic hence the resister block idea.

[sandylandy]

Well i found i can cut the solar panel voltage by just covering a third of the panel on sunny days and on rainy days i can use the section again... I may get a circuit breaker for 24v. I will see.

******************
meanwhile... dust control snorkel (dust preventative measure) for the dirt tracks.

Here is the pro version:
https://carafan.com.au/sahara

Here is the cheap DIY version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNs2snJLmMg

My plan is to make one of the DIY snorkels for the trailer roof as a learning exercise. It will sit beside the solar panel up the front. When its done I can refine the technique perhaps and make a more polished version for the roof of the Bivbox.

Today I purchased some of the pvc bits, but some were out of stock so it becomes a parts chase after the weekend.

I got a mozzy aka bug screener for the air inlet.
http://rainharvesting.com.au/products/m ... ble-screen

After the front end a short and straight piece of pipe joining the 90 degree piece (makes the pipe entry thru the roof panel and air outlet into the interior). I have to use a drill to make drain holes and glue in some baffles in the straight section to stop rain entry.

I got a heavy duty 90degree section which has a built-in flange for the top of the roof; it is twice as thickly moulded as others in the store; I got the last one on the shelf.
http://rainharvesting.com.au/products/p ... gh-volume/

I did get the end cap and a threaded insert section to fit to the interior air outlet as a seal for when camped..

[sandylandy]

When the sun was out this week I updated the paintjob of the Bivbox. It was 14 mths ago when the first low-sheen green coats of exterior (solar) acrylic house paint was rolled on. The paintjobs of the Bivbox and the trailer now match.

The slab sides of the Bivbox make it simple. Hand sand the sides a bit with a speedi-file, clean with fluid, tape fiddly bits, then stir, pour, roll using a 230mm handroller. Fiddly detail sections were done with a 50mm roller (throwaway thing). Clean up in water after. Simple and it means repairs after scrub damage will be simple as well.