Thread: Spudboy's super-sized camper replacement for a 130 - and no it's not a Unimog!

A little more progress this week, this time sorting out one of the rear storage compartments with the gas bottles.

Had to TIG up some custom brackets to hold the cylinders against the rear wall of the box:


The angled area right at the back is a funny shape to store things, so I think it is going to end up as a dry firewood hole, or maybe a rubbish and recycling area. The area in front of the cylinders will store 4 wheel leveling wedges - they fit perfectly!


A few other areas have progressed, such as fitting a master 12v switch and a few meters inside the cabin to monitor the state of the battery:


More details and pictures in this blog post: Driver's side rear storage cabinet

I am not allowed to connect up all the gas stuff, so the copper lines between the regulator and the appliances (water heater and cook top) have to be done by a licensed gas fitter. After much searching I have finally found someone down in Adelaide who will do this job for me.

The "Water System" is the thing being worked on now. I've got the main 425 liter tank plumbed in and the Jabsco pump all hooked up, but I needed to make a bracket to hold a water filter/purifier, and got completely distracted with manufacturing this with my new PlasmaCam cutter.

It took about 3 weeks to build the thing, then another couple of weeks to work out how the software all worked. So this is probably the most expensive bracket ever produced!

I know I could have made it by hand with a Tig welder (I wanted it made from stainless steel) and a drill and a grinder, but I can see the potential for using the PlasmaCam machine for a lot of things on the build.

I made a YouTube video of the cutter working so you can see how quickly it cuts things. It is super accurate too. I wanted a hole for the filter of 111mm, and when cut it measured 111.08 mm, which is SO much better than I'd ever get doing it by hand.

Anyway, here's the video, and below that a link to the blog page with some more photos:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEpgcDP1TUc&feature=player_detailpage"]Water Filter Bracket Prototype using PlasmaCam/DesignEdge - YouTube[/ame]


Blog: Plasma cutter in action

What file format are you using to take jobs

Is there an envy smilie?, not exactly but close.

Haha - .DXF format will be fine! I've learnt a lot about CAD in the last 4 or 5 weeks, more than I ever expected to need to know at this late stage of my life!!

I thought I might learn how to use AutoCad, but actually Sketchup is pretty good for 2D drawing (even though it is meant for 3D modelling) and I already know how to use it pretty well.

The cutter came fitted with a heavy duty cutting head, which cuts up to 25mm thick mild steel. However, it has a wide kerf.

Today or tomorrow I am going to fit the thin sheet nozzle which works for sheets up to 3mm thick and is a much finer kerf (cut) width and uses less air.

Now when the super sized camper is finished and people ask which bit you are most proud of, you can point to the water filter bracket. Kudos.

i have asked a lot of travellers the question about the military like paint colours they have chosen, and by far most of them chose the colour to blend into the background when free camping. Some have said they have been be questioned about the "military" looking trucks, especially if there are four or five of them in convoy in to a small African country, but most say they have never had a problem.

I went with white on my Unimog because of the heat, but will be having a vinyl wrap on the side to protect the sides and will probably add some graphics to help us blend in a bit better than just plain white.

As far as standing out leading to " rape murder and rob", in my experience, travellers and tourist are more likely to be left alone than the locals in most countries, as the local bad guys don't want the type of problem an international incident causes. If you were traveling through Somalia or any other place with jihad radicals around looking for westerners to kidnap, then you need a lot more than a camo coloured truck to protect you.

Originally Posted by dobbo

When overland touring why do people colour their vehicles in typical military camouflage colours? Is it to scare off potential threats? Seems a tad silly if traveling through turbulent countries. Could the same be said for white? Saying that if you have a hot pink truck would it just scream travellers with money to rape, murder and rob live inside this vehicle.


Love the thread and the vehicle. Hope to do this in years to come.

You have some nice toys to play with

Truck is looking great, all these extra systems take a lot of time and effort to fit don't they.

Originally Posted by spudboy

The "Water System" is the thing being worked on now. I've got the main 425 liter tank plumbed in and the Jabsco pump all hooked up, but I needed to make a bracket to hold a water filter/purifier, and got completely distracted with manufacturing this with my new PlasmaCam cutter.

Blog: Plasma cutter in action

A few more jobs are now done. I am actually further ahead than the blog indicates because I don't get enough time to keep it up to date, but I've just put up 3 small posts about:

1) Depth gauge in my water tank, to show how much water is remaining from inside the cabin. It works by capacitance, and there are no moving parts, which is clever. It was hard to find a gauge that measured such a deep tank, but I tracked this one down from Germany (Votronic brand).




2) Cover for the cooktop, to stop the burners and the griddle bits bouncing off on corrugations, and to give more bench space when the cooktop is not in use.




3) Installed a TV/DVD player. Not so imperative at all, but it was a small job for the couple of free hours I had this afternoon. It is on a swing arm, so we can watch it from the main cabin seating area (when it gets built) or the bed.




More details in the blog posts:

Votronic Water level meter

A cover for the cooktop

TV/DVD installed