biv box

[404]

Well, the exoskeleton is here at home now for paint and prepping before the flashing set up. Yesterday it was another afternoon of "final touches" at the welder yard ....with threatening weather and pretty cool winter air the whole time. Not having cab windows as yet (parts lost in transit?) i had visions of getting soaked or frozen by sleet. I drove home at last light, after helping pack up gear and lock up, wearing gloves and a parka.
I have lived here 14yrs and seen snow on the hilltops most winters but never in the streets. Could happen if we get Antartic systems work themselves any further north. I don't think painting in these cold temps is practical so it will just sit there a while. But I will trial fit the Reico legs tomorrow. Also i will hit the weighbridge next week to get a figure on the exoskeleton.

More news, yesterday the aluminium extrusions for the pop top were ordered...
https://www.aussietraveller.com.au/bran ... sion-kit-1
The freight charge will vary after the source is selected... the question is whether the item dispatches from the Brisbane factory (1200km to north) or the company's Melbourne depot (660km south)(most of Australia's caravan manufacturers are in the Melbourne zone).

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Well, the bad news is that it has taken a few weeks for this Samsung tablet to be repaired. In a lockdown aka lockup...

...but the good news is that the password cookie is surprisingly alive and well and i can post.

I have collected more hardware for the build.
A carton of adhesive sealant, Tereson. Expensive. Via $ interstate freight.
The poptop frames top and bottom, from Aussie traveller. The longest section of the extrusions was 4m. Via $ interstate freight.
A shipping container rented as stash space.
A deal on new milwaukee 18v cordless noisemakers.
All parts to make a portable water filtering and pumping pack using a milwaukee cordless transfer pump. This lets me access creeks, dams, billabongs etc for cooking and drinking without getting infections. Giardia.

Main expense is still in transit via $ interstate freight. The gst aka VAT was over $600... not available locally...
...and that would be a pallet of fibreglass sheeting, all usa origin, imperial measurements 4 x 8, 2.4m x 1.2m half inch thick. So, yes, due to virus economy compromise, i swung to complete fibreglass panels, the ones that weigh 5.5kg per sq m.

In about a month i should be able to take a few weeks long service. The weather will be much warmer as well.

Anyway, jigsaw, table saw, routing bits and wearing dust masks as intended are things looming in my future late next month.

ps The wife has moved desks from long casual hours at a governmentvaccination clinic, the sheep dip, to fulltime 9to5 in the Department that administers the lockdowns. We will wait for the monoclonal regeneron vax to be approved here. The leaky mRNA vax is not ethical medical science. IMHO. This plandemic is ruining my favorite small businesses all over. My son trying to learn welding is being delayed because of it too. My grandkids interstate have been in lockdown over 200days this year (melbourne).
.

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Also, here is a link to a top looking camper, inspiring and probably v pricey, but not demountable...

https://www.howerbuilt.com/base-camp-electric-camper

[zildjian]

Look so much more at home in your country

Interesting to hear how Covid is affecting life in another part of the world, the BBC (or Pravda) if you prefer
tend to focus only on the optimistic aspects and seldom mention other countries approach unless of course they are doing
significantly worse than UK....

[404]

It definitely has something going on. The rear barn doors... hmmm.

The panel supplier sent a pic of the shipment.
There are double or more than what one bivbox would need.. but at the current way things are going with inflation i'd rather have them up here. I may end up making a box out of a trailer as well.

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I tested the legs out to their max lift. What i discovered is that the shelter ceiling is too low. I will use the spot to cut, rout, glue, screw and paint the build. After its built I will have to roll the bivbox out from under the ceiling to lift it up and fit it in the Landy.
To be able to roll it at all i will have to come up with castor wheels under the legs or somesuch.

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Strange days this month, but this week we have shook off winter here in the highlands - reached 20deg on a few days.
This last week i got home and my good friend WT assessed the bivbox frame and drawings etc and offerred to assist in a big way - finally, a payoff to living in a 8wk lockdown (in reality a lockup).

WT saw a stress point in the mid uprights, stress from the Luton weight, and that it could let go when in sand track "moguls". So some thicker reinforcement in order there.

Also, we ran through a trial and error with the sheet panelling and discovered the hassles of fitting/sealing 3 way corners inside a framework.. short version is that to speed up the build we will clad the outside of the frame (from above the waistline), after some extra steel verticals are fitted. These verticals can hold track (or anchor bolts) for interior cargo and exterior cargo. We plan on using nutserts aka rivnuts.

I purchased a makita track saw that combines with a vacuum cleaner for cutting the panels. It cost over $1700 but that cost will be half refunded when i sell it after the job. And some n95 masks.

[zildjian]

Nice to see build is back on, must have been galling not able to press on with it
and then not be able to source materials

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Yes, supplies of many things that were in plentiful supply before Wuhan effects are getting problematic and -prediction- the situation will get worse. First things to have gone in short supply are basic Human Rights and common sense government. The problem here is that for the time being there is only one supplier of government - I wish there was a competitor to improve productivity and average IQ.

Metal activity on the BBox slowed after roughing in the rear door supports, the door is a off the shelve quality factory item.
We slowed down for a re-think and chose an alternative idea that is a do it yourself and more virtuous design... a rear hatch with struts, a rear hatch both wider and taller and easier/faster to install.
The factory doorway i purchased will be sold unused.

This Saturday the tac welds will be turned into proper welds while also attempting to keep everything as square and true as we can. Sparks will fly and perhaps some colourful expressions..

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One week to 28th, last day of employment because apparently the silly suits in government think i am a lab rat and they will only let lab rats earn wages and pay them tax. How is it legal or logical? Other factories' staff are excluded from mandate altogether. The bivbox build will have to be more quick n dirty i suppose. I may have to move aboard sooner than planned - in a few months - because my co-pilot is also being subjected to a mandate despite her isolated job location.

Some interior finishing touches will have to simply wait a year or two.

The interior ideas have been thrashed around more and i think some sensible ideas have come of it.

Also after some supervision I am doing basic mig welds myself, after some lessons and practice from WT. This is a positive outcome from being locked up for 8 weeks and being in a single location "bubble" at work, albeit with loss of some shifts/ loss of income..

The extra steel frame work so far weighs 27.3kg according to the spreadsheet. I intend adding another floor bearer 25mm x 25mm to help prevent hollows or dips developing in the floor panel due to the possible cargo carried. The fridge is to be on that floor, its portable, but relatively heavy, living inside on the floor but also being taken outside at some camps. The extra width of the rear hatch design/do-over will aid that convenience.

Yesterday the framework of the rear hatch was sized up and fitted using a few taped on keys (could not find enough coins) 3mm thick (and magnets) to get the frame positioned correctly before tack welding. The result was pleasing. A door seal is ordered and the backplate that functions to hold the seal and struts in place under compression be a door stop (whatever its called) and the strut mounts, is also in our minds too. That part will be a total trial and error using 50mm width stainless plate cut to length.

Steel primer. I was in a queue at a hardware outlet after its re-opening. The line was long. Some items are in short supply. So far fuel and money are not. Anyway, I struck up a convo with a random 35yo in the line about L-ion cordless powertools as we inched along in during the wait, and he was a boilermaker and I got good advice about how to get hard wearing primer for the frame. He said to use marine 2-pack Norshield. Lo and behold I found some in stock at a local paintshop. Expensive. Brush-on. But in stock -- no waiting on trucks and drivers which are also being subjected to mandate upheaval (unless they deliver mail because the silly suits have listed them exempt from the clotshots as well). Police and medicos, even chiropracters etc, are not exempt. FGS.

Signing off from a land described as a movie set, and its a low budget re-make of Mad Max.