Jfet wrote:
We are going to have a smooth roof with not even a single hole in it.
We are going to have a smooth roof with not even a single hole in it.
I like your smooth roof idea. That should keep things simple and cut down on maintenence. I wish my roof didn't have as much stuff, it's a lot to maintain with all the potential leak points. I do like having my sunroof and fantastic fan though but I could do fine without the AC, roof rack, TV antenna etc.
I see you are going to mount an AC in the wall, is that how you will vent your grey water tank as well, through the wall? What about some type of exhaust fan for showering, cooking, breathing, or using the toilet? You'll need some way to remove condensation and odor, especially if used during the winter for snowmobiling. I'm interested in seeing how you place your tank vent & exhaust fans when you get to that point. I suppose a Fantastic fan would still work high up on the wall.
Maybe I missed it but did you post a floorplan lay-out of how the interior is going to look somewhere? I'd like to see how you plan to place everything with the full width walls as opposed to a regular TC that has to take into account the pickups wheel wells and bed rails.
Jfet wrote:
It was quite a bit better than I thought! The front axle came in at 4540 and the rear axle came in at 4340, for a total of 8880 pounds.
It was quite a bit better than I thought! The front axle came in at 4540 and the rear axle came in at 4340, for a total of 8880 pounds.
Great balance, and still more than 10,000 lb cargo capacity -- you should be able to place the TC how you want.
Quote:
I love my 20 foot flatbed...
I love my 20 foot flatbed...
Hard to beat --
Cal
![[emoticon]](http://www.coastresorts.com/sharedcontent/cfb/images/smile.gif "smile")
We only wanted 6 feet of cabover because the Isuzu cab is fairly short. The platform for the queen bed sticks into the main cabin by some amount (I think around 14 inches?) and the area this creates under the foot of the bed down to the cabin floor will be storage shelves.
![[image]](http://i1051.photobucket.com/albums/s435/IGBT/crudefloorplan.jpg)
* This post was edited 02/20/13 02:09pm by Jfet *
Jfet wrote:
Ordered a Norcold N641.3R 3 way 6.3cuft fridge, Atwood Everest Star 7920 II furnace, Atwood 6 gallon gas/electric/DSI water heater, stainless steel range hood, and some hatches and vent covers for those. Will need this stuff to figure out how to frame the walls. Will need other stuff too obviously, but searching for good deals takes time.
Ordered a Norcold N641.3R 3 way 6.3cuft fridge, Atwood Everest Star 7920 II furnace, Atwood 6 gallon gas/electric/DSI water heater, stainless steel range hood, and some hatches and vent covers for those. Will need this stuff to figure out how to frame the walls. Will need other stuff too obviously, but searching for good deals takes time.
Have you thought about using a 12Vdc refrigerator instead of a 3-way?
2007 F-250 4x4 /6.0 PSD/ext cab/ 2020 Bunduvry
Lance 815/ 85 watts solar panel (sold)
2020 Bunduvry by BundutecUSA
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One thing that I'm curious about is what sort of basement (if any) you are building? I would love to someday do a build along these lines but who knows if I'll ever get the chance. But if it were me I would build as much of the "utilities" into the basement as possible. Lower center of gravity, keep all that stuff close together and in a shared/heated environment, and more sound isolation for noisy furnace, water pump etc. If I were keeping the roof clear, I'd seriously look into the "single room" AC's that are out there so you could install the main unit in the basement, and duct the cool air to various places in the camper and the hot air out. I'd want to locate the furnace down there, the water pump, the HWH. I'd probably also build a larger single propane tank underneath or perhaps in your garage area. Maybe even in the chassis itself rather than in the TC. We do a lot of winter camping and it would be really nice to have a single bigger tank with en emergancy backup of a 20#/30# tank hookup. It would add a lot of interior storage/closet etc. I would also be considering where to put a generator and if it would make any sense to have any additional diesel "accessories" (generator? heater system for engine + ?) mounted in with the chassis rather than the camper. How big is the diesel tank for the chassis?
I'm getting to the point where I am looking at my chassis as more of a "support" vehicle for the camper.....the battery bank will be under the bed (though I have gone back to having the inverter being located in the TC) and any other things that I can move there....maybe a big propane tank and certainly an extra diesel tank. If I wanted extra fresh water, it would be in the bed probably. I would love to redesign my Lance and skirt in the overhang to be a true flatbed and then take advantage of that space moving the appliances that I can down lower. It would allow the front jacks to be mounted the full height just like the rears as I assume you will be doing. Are you going to make cutouts in the bed itself somehow to be able to swing the front jacks "into" the flatbed or in front of the front edge of the flatbed? YOu could instead make them easily removable and slip them into a storage cubby in the bed. My jacks rub on the edge of my headache rack. My headache rack is half-height (to just below the rear widnow of the Kodiak. Would like to make stake pocket type holes in the top so I could slip in an upper half when the TC will be off for an extended period of time. Headache racks are really useful especially for shorter beds. You have a really long bed though! I could park my skidsteer behind the TC perhaps!
Loaded and ready for some work on my buddies property last weekend:
![[image]](http://i46.tinypic.com/o8ywqw.jpg)
Smooth bucket, tooth bucket, auger with three bits:
![[image]](http://i45.tinypic.com/2dig4yt.jpg)
Love having the big truck as I am sure you do too!
I like the use of the space under the interior end of the cabover. Slick idea there.
2006 LanceMax 1191 - loaded and well-used
2005 C4500/Kodiak 4x4, GVWR 17,500
1) Already ordered the 3 way fridge, done deal...always good to have options, and it can be powered off 12V too.
2) btggraphix, nice rig!
3) The floor will have 2 inches of R5/6 foam then a marine plywood layer. The walls and roof will have 2 inches of foam also. We want the headroom, so no basement per se.
4) Even though there is no defined basement, we are keeping all of the heavies very low. Fresh and gray water tanks on the floor in the back of the camper under the counters and sink, batteries down low, 6 gal water heater down low, furnace, etc.
5) Propane will be under the flatbed and connect to the camper through a hatch. Extra batteries and additional fresh water will also be under the flatbed. Idea is to keep CG very low, plus shift weight toward the rear 14,000 pound axle.
6) Generator will be yamaha or honda 2000 watt portable, stored in a LOCKED compartment under the flatbed. We will probably sometimes use the genny on our sailboat, so makes sense to get one of the $1000 portable ones....blue or red, red or blue...decisions decisions...
7) Diesel tank is 30 gallon and I am getting around 14mpg. Need more fuel...maybe jerry cans or add another tank...
8) I have ordered four of the Rieco Titan manual jacks with 36 inch lift ($614 shipped from Dyers). I didn't go with the electric version because I want to see how these work first (they are the same jack as the motorized *I think*). I may either stay manual or apply some of my electrical engineering/cnc background and add encoder based servos to them. If I do this, I plan to make them wireless, with each jack using a lithium ion cordless drill type battery. Charger will be in the garage pod. The reason here is because I will be taking these jacks off while traveling via some sort of quick connect mechanical coupler, and also I will use the same jacks to lift off the garage pod later when it is built. The four jacks will be stored under the flatbed in a dry compartment.
c.traveler2 wrote:
Have you thought about using a 12Vdc refrigerator instead of a 3-way?
Jfet wrote:
Ordered a Norcold N641.3R 3 way 6.3cuft fridge, Atwood Everest Star 7920 II furnace, Atwood 6 gallon gas/electric/DSI water heater, stainless steel range hood, and some hatches and vent covers for those. Will need this stuff to figure out how to frame the walls. Will need other stuff too obviously, but searching for good deals takes time.
Ordered a Norcold N641.3R 3 way 6.3cuft fridge, Atwood Everest Star 7920 II furnace, Atwood 6 gallon gas/electric/DSI water heater, stainless steel range hood, and some hatches and vent covers for those. Will need this stuff to figure out how to frame the walls. Will need other stuff too obviously, but searching for good deals takes time.
Have you thought about using a 12Vdc refrigerator instead of a 3-way?
Since all your stuff is on it's way, it's probably too late, but if you are really setting this up for Boondocking, Propane may be a limiting factor. I have been re-building/modifying my 1966 Avion to suit our families need. We bought it completely empty with a newly rebuilt heavy duty floor. Since we had the opposite problem, (trying to keep weight forward due to a 10ft TC on a 6 3/4 ft truck bed), we focused on moving weight forward, and going to as much 12Vdc as possible to allow Alternator and later solar to keep up the battery(ies).
We went a little different direction in that we moved battery(ies) up to the front wall, mounted a 40 gallon water tank against the front wall. went to a chest style Engle 12Vdc compressor style refrigerator/freezer mounted in the counter. With the touch of a button you can go from refrigerator to full freezer, even flash freeze, and only draw 2.6 amps! This is mounted as far forward as we could. The previous owner has built up the floor on 2x4 floor joists, so We hav so far welded up 1 grey water tank 3"x22"x48". It has a 14 gallon capacity, and is aluminum. We hope to add a second soon. The toilet is an Electra-Magic by Thetford. It has a 3 gallon flushing capacity that is recirculating, and an overall 7 gallon capacity. It will last our family of 6 almost a week, if we are in the boonies. Additionally we can use it in the winter by filling it with windshield washer fluid instead of water. For anyone thinking of using the Electra-Magic, ensure you utilize a formaldehyde based toilet chemical, or you will regret it...
If you have not done your walls yet, and have access to a tubing bender, you might reconsider your shape from a wind and fuel economy stand point. With my 2002 F350 CCSB 5.4 triton gas V-8 and 6 spd manual trans 4x4 with Avion Camper, 6 people and all the gear for us camping (ranging between 10,500 to 11,500 lbs) averaged 14 mpg around the terrain of Alaska, with a low of 9 and a high of 16. All hand calculated and filled to the same point every time. additionally in sever cross and head-winds ( the 9mpg) the truck and camper handled beautifully with minimal counter steering effort, while several other TC owners on the same trip were white-knuckling the wind due to a flatter profile that seemed to catch the wind vice allow the wind to slip-over. I know the the Isuzu's boxy front you won;t get alot of help for mileage, but with so much side surface area, you might want to consider a rounded side transition to the top similar to the one in your picture of the front, but on the side as well, like Avions and Airstreams.
Just a few thoughts... I congratulate you for stepping outside the "norm's". I did it with the Avion, and have recieved great reviews. Just wish I could "finish" it so it is more presentable. But the great thing for now is that it is very functional, not very "pretty" but works great with all the kids and my wife. The whole still laughs about using trash-bags for curtains, and the awful smell we got from the toilet, till we found the correct chems to use.
![[emoticon]](http://www.coastresorts.com/sharedcontent/cfb/images/rolleyes.gif "rolleyes")
Good Luck, and be open to change. I learned alot as I worked on the Avion from these guys here, and have incorporated many of their ideas into my "work in-progress" Avion.
Good Luck!
Garry in Kodiak, AK
Garry K
Wife + 4 kids
Retired Military Family.... Alway's on the move....
2002 F350 CCSB 5.4 6spd 4x4 in AK
1966 Avion C-10 Truck Camper
Jfet wrote:
Ok, I am going to collect random thoughts and progress pictures and put them here in a thread...
...Here is a picture of the truck with some important dimensions:
![[image]](http://i1051.photobucket.com/albums/s435/IGBT/IsuzuNNR1.jpg)
Ok, I am going to collect random thoughts and progress pictures and put them here in a thread...
...Here is a picture of the truck with some important dimensions:
The downside to a one-off build is no prototype. When manufacturers build an RV, they build the interior from the floor-up-only first, no walls, no roof. This staged method would allow some set-in-place re-arranging to seek the best balance before the entire shell is constructed. The shell will be heavier, but naturally more balanced when added later.
No offense, but since you will undoubtedly be adding several pictures, you should know that adding a space and "width=640" to the end of the picture IMG url will size any picture small enough (480x640) to keep viewers from having to side-scroll to read the entire page. Some pictures are pre-sized, or accidentally the right size, but not all. This "sizing" is also in keeping with the listed forum post requirements. You can see the smaller, resized, large picture above. Interested viewers can enlarge huge pictures on a new page if they wish.
The large detailed pictures are always nice but viewers can still see it full size by right clicking on the picture and choosing the url from "Properties" at the bottom of the pop-up box to paste and open on a separate new browser page. I even made it clickable below.
"http://i1051.photobucket.com/albums/s435/IGBT/IsuzuNNR1.jpg"
If you choose "Quote" from the upper right hand of my post here, the quoted-to-respond page will show you how I entered the modified picture url, and even allow you to go back and edit the first page to get a better, easier to read, computer screen fit for all readers.
Great project! Thanks for sharing.
Wes
...
Days spent camping are not subtracted from one's total.
- 2019 Leprechaun 311FS Class C
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