This post is more about caravan building than GNing. I am kinda thinking aloud rather than making a specific point and would welcome anyone's two bob's worth.
I am presently fitting out an old van to live/travel in. I envisage a 50k/day longstay freecamp lifestyle. I am solo and have a Cruiser / 24 foot van combo. I have to do this on a shoestring.
I have stripped out the original furniture in the van and am refitting it. I am claustrophobic and hate cupboards. I also want to be able to setup a workshop to do small carpentry and tinkering projects. Anything major I will swing by the local Men's Shed.
The approach I am taking is open plan with modular crate storage that can be lashed down when travelling. Everything is held together with tek screws - quick and dirty. Does NOT have a "woman's touch". I got rid of the oven and now have a two ring burner that can be unhooked and taken outside. The idea is that everything is reconfigurable depending on the circumstances.
When I got the van the wiring was dodgy so I ripped out all the 240v feed ins and reconfigured it to 12v for pumps and LEDs and a small inverter.
At the moment I am puzzling over setting up a shower / portapotti / kitchen sink all in one big alcove with a floor drain and a shower curtain to keep the water off the floor. As my ideas are proven in field trials I will document them on my blog.
Work in progress.
Spydermann said
07:10 PM Aug 6, 2015
Cupboards & fittings add rigidity to the van. Don't be too spartan there. If you've ever seen a caravan derby where the vans have been stripped out they basically fall over as they are towed along.
There is such a thing as a 12v microwave oven since you've ditched the 240v. No idea how good they are but I believe truckies are the biggest customers of these.
Muzzlehatch said
09:07 PM Aug 6, 2015
"Cupboards & fittings add rigidity to the van."
That had been bothering me. There is a heavy air cond. unit on the roof which will be removed, lessening the torsional loads some. The solar panels are not that heavy but mounted on the roof would have a fairly long arm. By strapping all the crates on the floor I hope to couple the loading as low to the CG as possible. I am going to put in some diagonal bulkhead / partitioning structure purely to give torsional strength. I will also make sure such cupboards / structure as I do build are soundly coupled to the frame of the van so they add to the twisting integrity of the shell. Gutted out, as it is, the only thing giving strength, is the fore and aft walls which are mostly windows. Even just leaning on the walls you can feel there is no rigidity the way they are now.
I have never seen a caravan derby but can imagine what would happen to this open structure under any kind of side load.....but I would prefer not to.
The solar panels could also be mounted on the LHS wall hinging to a vertical like an tiny awning fastened at the base for travellin and tilting up on the park. They are polycarbonate over the cells and not very heavy. I have never seen that done before but cant see why it wouldn't work. The LHS of the van has no windows at all only the door.
THX for the advice, much appreciated.
Muzzlehatch said
05:28 PM Sep 3, 2015
I have built two sturdy walls amidships and will be making sure they are securely couple to the frame. That has added considerable rigidity. A great amount of time goes into rationalising space usage and trying to fit as much as possible in logical places without making the place cluttered and claustrophobic.
Here is the galley (so far) ;
-- Edited by Muzzlehatch on Thursday 3rd of September 2015 05:37:02 PM
This post is more about caravan building than GNing. I am kinda thinking aloud rather than making a specific point and would welcome anyone's two bob's worth.
I am presently fitting out an old van to live/travel in. I envisage a 50k/day longstay freecamp lifestyle. I am solo and have a Cruiser / 24 foot van combo. I have to do this on a shoestring.
I have stripped out the original furniture in the van and am refitting it. I am claustrophobic and hate cupboards. I also want to be able to setup a workshop to do small carpentry and tinkering projects. Anything major I will swing by the local Men's Shed.
The approach I am taking is open plan with modular crate storage that can be lashed down when travelling. Everything is held together with tek screws - quick and dirty. Does NOT have a "woman's touch". I got rid of the oven and now have a two ring burner that can be unhooked and taken outside. The idea is that everything is reconfigurable depending on the circumstances.
When I got the van the wiring was dodgy so I ripped out all the 240v feed ins and reconfigured it to 12v for pumps and LEDs and a small inverter.
At the moment I am puzzling over setting up a shower / portapotti / kitchen sink all in one big alcove with a floor drain and a shower curtain to keep the water off the floor. As my ideas are proven in field trials I will document them on my blog.
Work in progress.
There is such a thing as a 12v microwave oven since you've ditched the 240v. No idea how good they are but I believe truckies are the biggest customers of these.
"Cupboards & fittings add rigidity to the van."
That had been bothering me. There is a heavy air cond. unit on the roof which will be removed, lessening the torsional loads some. The solar panels are not that heavy but mounted on the roof would have a fairly long arm. By strapping all the crates on the floor I hope to couple the loading as low to the CG as possible. I am going to put in some diagonal bulkhead / partitioning structure purely to give torsional strength. I will also make sure such cupboards / structure as I do build are soundly coupled to the frame of the van so they add to the twisting integrity of the shell. Gutted out, as it is, the only thing giving strength, is the fore and aft walls which are mostly windows. Even just leaning on the walls you can feel there is no rigidity the way they are now.
I have never seen a caravan derby but can imagine what would happen to this open structure under any kind of side load.....but I would prefer not to.
The solar panels could also be mounted on the LHS wall hinging to a vertical like an tiny awning fastened at the base for travellin and tilting up on the park. They are polycarbonate over the cells and not very heavy. I have never seen that done before but cant see why it wouldn't work. The LHS of the van has no windows at all only the door.
THX for the advice, much appreciated.
I have built two sturdy walls amidships and will be making sure they are securely couple to the frame. That has added considerable rigidity.
A great amount of time goes into rationalising space usage and trying to fit as much as possible in logical places without making the place cluttered and claustrophobic.
Here is the galley (so far) ;
-- Edited by Muzzlehatch on Thursday 3rd of September 2015 05:37:02 PM