biv box

[wonkywheel]

Save 50 Kg
You might be glad of it later plus composite is quite rigid and I think suited to these type of builds.
I think if I do another one (fat chance) I would go smaller with composite walls.

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Thats probably good rational advice there, many thanks. I think I will follow it - I could paint the exterior sides of the composites with a tough plastic coating to achieve the advantages of the alternative board.

Meanwhile some parts arrived and the truck cab has made progress. The paint was done a week ago and now the seals are renewed. Today the truck cab panels were put on the Land Rover but not tightly - some adjustments are gonna be required beginning with door hinge alignment. Ran out of daylight and an hour later some rain came through.

Some photos.

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Big day Thursday sorting the truck cab meccano and butyl rubber job, sans window glass. Hassles. T

Test fit.

ook most of the day with a big assist from my wife. Finished in time for dinner.

Friday spent most of the day with welding and got stuff done. The leg mounts are done. They were simple pieces of angle about 250mm long drilled to match the plates supplied by Reico Titan.

I drove it onto a weigh bridge (at a firewood retailer) empty, 2280kg. Later with the frame it was 2440kg. I think the weights are suspect. That frame is not 160kg. I don't think so.... I do have the steel supplier's density figures and will check it manually after work. The 25x25 is 2mm thick wall and is 1.36kg per metre. The 50x25 by 2mm thick wall and is 2.15kg per metre.

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Next Friday we sort a rear hold-all mesh basket, a method to bolt the camper frame to the truck bed, top corner lash rings... and at least 2hours of flappy disk cleaning up welds etc.

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Big week. Drove 1100km round trip to Mum's, 4 days hard work empty out her house and cleanup ready for inspection/sale (only made it halfway), visits at the Nursing home, got back in my own bed 0300 friday morning, wife up at 0600 , got to welders at 0800, feeling a tad tired but helped with what i could.

Toyed with gusset angles and ended up with that one based on "She'll be right..." seat-of-pants principles.

Made a mistake (didn't have the proper drawings with me and went with memory neurons) with the rear holdall/basket thingy anti-luce mounts - I think I will revert to a simple bolt on. The anti-luces have a lot of play for a thicker item and they slop around on that 5mm flat bar. The mesh holdall/basket was a 2hr quickie last thing friday for the welder amongst other stuff - its all very busy. Mesh yet to be put on but we did see a mistake in the idea so i count the 2 hrs as development time. Firewood, maxtrax, empty jerrys, hi-lift, it can all be rachet strapped up there as required when its complete.

I came home and slept and now i have tested the rear hatch for clearance - it does fit but its a bit tight and I will mount the holdall about 25mm higher or change it completely so its just a left bit andcca right bit and no middle bit.

[wonkywheel]

KgFairly rushing on now. Going well.
Re the weight, I told you you might need that 50Kg
Also, I know you might be glad of the extra fuel cans on the back but they must represent about an extra 90Kg on the rear axle
A word to the wise. I used similar turnbuckles and found in use they unscrewed.
I found that putting a locknut on the right-hand thread (LH nuts are hard to find unless you are left-handed ) solved the problem.
Keep at it.

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Yes, a good feeling standing 'inside' the camper and getting familiar with the spaces for cooking and sleeping etc. So much better than a drawing for getting ideas.

Turnbuckles. The welder said something similar about the working loose aspect and said he would make the nut captive. Maybe he means a dab of weld on the thread? I don't know.

Exoskeleton weight (without the unfinished rear holdall mesh-shelf).
The density data maths for the rhs used so far gives a total of 55.64kg...

25x25 rhs 2mm wall
18.13metres @ 1.36kg/metre = 24.68kg

50x25 rhs 2mm wall
14.4metres @ 2.15kg/metre = 30.96kg

The trianglular gussets i guess weigh 3kg.
The 1tonne WLL 360deg top cnr lasheyes are 400g each x 4 = 1.6kg
The lower cnr bolts, discs and turnbuckles i guess weigh 2kg

I want to take a drive, fill the main tank and get a real weight. Then add the 4 legs' weight.

Without a weighbridge check a data only estimate of the exo weight as it stands would be 62.25kg
When i was standing 'inside' the camper i had a dangerous item, a tape measure, and i thought about extending the top 25x50 rhs railing right around the front, ie, protecting/strengthening the 'Luton' box. Then i thought about extending the Luton....
Means the bed would move more forward and open up living space inside. A big deal right there.
The pop top extrusion would be longer. The awning canvas and pop top canvas increases too... more weight but not much more.
Eg, 3.66m of extra 25x50 rhs which is 7.86kg

I think the payoff is worth the weight..

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Today i grabbed a tool big box store special deal on 1500kg WLL 35mm wide rachet straps, 6m of webbing to trim down. They are approved, they meet Australian design standards, but are made by china by CCP inmates.. i compared the rachet parts to a name brand on the shelves. Identical, but black webbing, not blue and yellow. Certainly a load simpler to use than cable and turnbuckles.I will use them and see how the straps at the back cope with mud and water.

I measured just how forward the Luton can go. Turns out the real limit is the fact that removing the bonnet (aka engine hood) means it must go vertical to exit the firewall hinges. Therefore the extension 'max' limit is 1350mm to be above the front of the firewall.

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Some photos - getting closer to the finish of the mounting design ver 2.0 using the ratchet straps onto collared eye bolts going thru steel discs each end of vertical pipe - pipe which is original to the vehicle (roll over bar feet) and (in my view) a properly engineered strongpoint.

The last job is to the weld the 4mm thick 80mm diameter discs to modded 3mm thick pipe flanges ("ears" cut off to be roughly circular like the discs). The purpose of the frankenstein flange is to keep the eyebolts located in the middle of the roll over bar sockets.

I don't think the "franken flanges" will be too weak for the load. But i am not trained or experienced in steelwork.. so.. any comments? Trial and error? What could go wrong?

[wonkywheel]

I have never heard of a "Frankenstein flange" but I did use similar ratchet straps on the rear of my demountable last weekend. I met up with a fellow demountable owner and asked what he thought about using ratchet straps? He said they are great. He drives a car transporter and uses them to hold the cars down. He said he hasn't lost one yet.