My offroad Camper

[bve]

Looks good Steve.
Is that step ladder in the first picture going to be travelling with you so you can see into the back of those upper cabinets?

[Steve F]

Looks good Steve.
Is that step ladder in the first picture going to be travelling with you so you can see into the back of those upper cabinets?

I might have to, as it is I think I'll need a little rope pull down for my wife and kids to be able to reach the hatch to close it

Bearing in mind the hatch is flat it does sit a little high, I'm glad its not curved or the end would be way up there.



Cheers
Steve

[phlyfish]

I can't wait to see it done. Why is it nobody ever works as fast as you want them to.

it is looking great...it would look even better behind my FJ-40

[Steve F]

I can't wait to see it done. Why is it nobody ever works as fast as you want them to.

it is looking great...it would look even better behind my FJ-40

And I wish I could oblige with the time thing I've been home for 9 days out of the last month now so It's a real pain. I only have about 4 more weeks to get it on the road if I'm going to use it at Easter so when I do get home again (this weekend) I'll be pushing hard to get it ready for paint. I even have the wife and kids commited to some time in the garage this weekend, should be funny having my wife working the sander (normally sanding is restricted to nails )

Cheers
Steve

[Steve F]

Been doing lots of filling and sanding, hopping that I'll be ready to put on the epoxy wood preserver on Saturday and then give it a good few days to dry and put the colour on the weekend after Anyway, pictures of that aren't very interesting so here's a couple of the safety chains I added along with the cut link used a two hooks to get them out of the way when I'm just wheelin' it around.





As you can see I welded the chains on but I don't ever expect to use them as my coupling is a bolt together style with pins etc and should never come off unless I dont pin it together. Anyway, the chains will cross underneath and craddle the a frame in the case of an accident.

Cheers
Steve

[Steve F]

Finally out of the garage and being epoxied, I used a wood preservation two part epoxy. Thinner than normal epoxy as it is designed to soak in and protect the wood from rot etc. After a couple of coats it has a nice smooth finish. This pic was early on before the hatch was done and only had one coat on the rest.



Cheers
Steve

[Gerdo]

When is your first trip?

[Steve F]

When is your first trip?

It was going to be Easter but it's early this year (end of March instead of April) so I'm not sure. I guess I can get some more detail stuff done at my leisure now I've resigned my self to not making it for Easter.

Anyway, made a door. My first door wasn't flush with the sides and just looked too heavy and bulky so I made a flush one. It was more of a hassle than I thought due to the sides not being perfectly flat and having a slight bow. See this thread for details on what I did.

http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?t=21815

This shot shows how flush it fits



And some more





Now to do the other side

Cheers
Steve

[Steve F]

Door number two done, this time with some shots of the construction.

Ply on the outside.



Some framing (obviously more went in along with polystyrene to fill the gaps), this way I know the door will be perfect



Window hole cut out



Door finished, it was skinned on the inside as well before I pulled it off the wall and used the router to cut it out.





Finally so close to lock up

Cheers
Steve

[Steve F]

Mounted a door and trimmed the opening down from a 8mm gap to 4mm (1/6th of an inch) with some nice Tasmanian Oak. You can see a small section not trimmed yet, that will be done in aluminium as the door lock will slide across there so I want it a bit tougher.



Need to add the inner trim that will extend into the door area and provide one seal, the other seal will be a rubber one on the edge of the door which will seal in the door frame area.





I used square drive screws on the hinges and put some epoxy on them before screwing them. I haven't epoxied the ones on the door yet as it will come off for it's coats of epoxy first. The square drive screws are for a little extra security

Anyway, tomorrow the second door will go on and I'll mount up the locks.

Cheers
Steve

[Miriam C.]

Hey STeve, thanks for a great documentation on the door build. I know they spook a lot of people.

[Steve F]

Doors aren't so bad once you get a method that works. The key with mine was to make the whole door before pulling it off the side of the TD. This way it is extremely rigid and wont loose it's shape. I also let the glue dry for a week before putting the inner skin on the door so I couldn't distort it. I'm really happy with them and now I have a process doors are easy

Anyway, added some framing for the inner seal. First I glued a 4mm thick strip to the inner wall around the door opening. This is wide enough to hide the screws in the skin and also acts as a spacer. On top of this I glued an 8mm thick section that sticks out into the door opening, this will be the door jamb and will have a rubber seal on it. The seal is 6mm thick so with the initial 4mm spacer it will compress 2mm which is what was recommended on the packaging.

I haven't done all the way around yet, I like to do a little bit at a time to make sure it works first

You can just see the edge of the 4mm spacer piece in this shot and the door jamb section for the seal.


From the inside with the door closed


Spacer and one section of door jamb (down the hinge area)


Anyway, I hope to have both doors on and done by the end of the weekend.

Cheers
Steve

[Kankujoe]

Steve,

You build's looking mighty fine! I look forward to seeing the rest.

[andyr354]

After seeing this thread.... I realize I will never get one built

To many other projects taking up my time for something this in depth.

[img][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v323/andyr354/trailkrawlin/toylet/IMG_0301.jpg[/img]

Andy

[phlyfish]

Whoa...Buggy, that will be a nice looking toy pulled were the teardrop should be....Keep us, at least me, posted on the buggy build.