Mazda T3500 (Bluey) Fitout

Ondabeach · Senior Member

RE: Mazda T3500 (Bluey) Fitout

Dougwe · Chief one feather

Bet ya she wants the shoes mate biggrin

What did you use to cut the foam with Steve?

Ondabeach · Senior Member

No doubt mate, might have to tow a trailer yet ;)

I just used a snap knife with a new blade to cut the foam... like a hot knife through butter :)

Radar · Guru

Hi Ondabeach

From experience of driving trucks and the need to sleep in them in cold places, put a head and toe board in place so your bedding will not get damp from condensation off the sides or windows, you both will be more comfortable. With your talent it would be easy.

I like to be have a go at what you are doing, great work. Ralph.

Ondabeach · Senior Member

Cheers Ralph, I never would have thought of that... until we woke up with wet toes and noggins biggrin

I will be putting PVC roller blinds on all the windows, which will be down at night, so I'll see how we go but they should keep us dry.

Cheers, Steve.

the rocket · Guru

Radar wrote:
Hi Ondabeach
From experience of driving trucks and the need to sleep in them in cold places, put a head and toe board in place so your bedding will not get damp from condensation off the sides or windows, you both will be more comfortable. With your talent it would be easy.
I like to be have a go at what you are doing, great work. Ralph.

that's a good idea

Ondabeach · Senior Member

Ok, got to spend a couple of hours on the bus today, putting the new stereo, door speakers and remote central locking in.

Here are some pics of the broken eggs... hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to show you the omelette smile

Dougwe · Chief one feather

Shut the front gate!

Messy bugga aren't ya Steve.

Ondabeach · Senior Member

Hehe... organised chaos Doug... the only way to fly :)

Dougwe · Chief one feather

I think Ondabeach must down on da beach as he doesn't seem to be doing much work on his T35 lately. Come on mate, where's all the pics of the latest work confuse

Ondabeach · Senior Member

No beach time Doug, had a mate stay for a few days unexpectedly... we've just been bending the elbow and speaking $%& biggrin

Ondabeach · Senior Member

Here ya Go Doug, all tidied up smile

Note the hands free microphone for the new Bluetooth stereo. It's set into the top right corner of the speedo surround.

The original unit was an old double height job, so I just need to cut a piece of black ABS sheet to fill in the gap above and below the new one.

The remote central locking works a treat... I'm really stoked with that. The kit I installed has a boot release function as well, I've decided to use that to open and close the powered centre door... now that's gonna be sweet biggrin

Here's a link to a vid of the central locking in action.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK0no78mcQ4

Mattt · Veteran Member

Hey Onda,

Just a quick suggestion... You could instead fill that DIN hole with a storage pocket - definitely available from Repco (two types, one's a universal fitment), maybe also from SuperCheap or others.

Nice work

Ondabeach · Senior Member

Thanks Matt, I had thought of doing that. I vacuum form ABS sheet in my garage, so I could even make a custom one, but things rattling around in the dash is one of my pet hates. Easy to change it down the track if I change my mind... as I'm wont to do wink

Dougwe · Chief one feather

Well done OB, that's much betterra. Good to see you actually getting some work done too instead of sitting around mate biggrin

Ondabeach · Senior Member

It's been a while, but I'm back working on 'Bluey' at last. smile

Fitted a 4.0m Fiamma 45S awning yesterday... and love it already.

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I just ordered 4 x 200w solar panels, a 60amp MPPT charge controller and 2 x 130Ah AGM batteries... should be here next week

Mattt · Veteran Member

Wow. That's nice

Ondabeach · Senior Member

Thanks Matt, you can't tell because of the glare, but the colour match is fantastic. I love the how sleek the Fiamma awnings are... no daggy arms down the side of the bus.

It just dawned on me that the solar panels are blue as well, but they're going to be fixed on the roof... I'll have to put some mirrors up there to show them off biggrin .

I was originally only going to put 2 panels on the roof and have the brackets set up so I could angle them to the sun to get the maximum power.. but then I remembered how lazy I am and decided to get 4 and just leave them flat smile

phum · Veteran Member

top job, I am following with interest

Ondabeach · Senior Member

Thanks Phum, making the brackets for the solar panels today, and if the weather gods are kind I'll be putting them on the roof and installing the batts and charge controllers over the next few days.

Woody n Sue · Guru

Good work OB haven't checked on ya progress for awhile looks like it's coming along well keep it up .

Ondabeach · Senior Member

Thanks Woody, it's been a while since I updated, but as you can see... I've been a busy boy biggrin

Rear camera with 3D printed shroud.

3 x 200 watt Solar Panels.

Access door for batteries.

Battery shelf... out with the old...

and in with the new.

220Ah crank batt on right, 2 x 130Ah AGM house batts with a spot ready for a third if needed.

40amp MPPT solar controller with remote control panel.

20amp DC to DC charger.

The ply is where the old battery access panel was.

8kW pure sine wave LF inverter, it's also a 120amp charger(probably good for 40). They're WAY overated, it's really only good for 3kW which is why I bought this one. I've tested it on a big quick boil kettle and it dished up 2400W without making a sound. It's early days, but for $399 delivered it's looking damn fine so far. I'll be using a 12v kettle but the Aldi coffee machine is 240 as is the microwave, induction cooktop, TV etc... all the comforts of home smile

The solar controller, DC to DC charger and inverter will be mounted on the side wall of a kitchen cabinet to be installed over the old battery panel.

Bottom step replaced with aluminium treadplate.

220L Waeco/Dometic 12v fridge freezer.

Perfectly positioned for beer access while slavin' over the BBQ wink

-- Edited by Ondabeach on Thursday 24th of September 2015 07:37:23 AM

Dougwe · Chief one feather

......and here I was thinking you were in hibernation mate. All look'n good there. Well done.

Ondabeach · Senior Member

Not hibernating Doug... but the rain did slow me down for a while there. Also had a bit of work to do but I've finally put all that on hold until I get the bus on the road. There's no choice now really... my workshop looks like a bombsite, so I couldn't make boats for anyone if I wanted to. I've got everything scattered about in there now... including the kitchen sink smile

Ondabeach · Senior Member

Exciting news!!!!!! Got the mod plate done yesterday for the reduction in seats... and tomorrow the roadworthy certificate, so with any luck we'll be off for our inaugural 3 day trip next week... destination Wuruma Dam biggrin

A few more additions, most importantly, the beer fridge is secured in place, as is the microwave aka pie warmer atop smile

In the background is the wall mounted TV, it's on a swiveling mount so it can be pulled out and turned forward for seated viewing.

Of course I had to test the fridge temperature by having a beer while I cleaned off the tape gum marks on the side and door... now she's all shiny new, and more importantly, the beer was nice and frosty smile

Above the awing are Camec tear drop venturi vents fitted, there are 2 on each side of the bus. On the inside of each vent I installed PC cooling fans which are hooked up to a light activated switch so they come on at sunrise at switch off at night, now I don't have to keep opening and closing the widows when parked up. There's a manual 3 position switch for each as well, so they can be on, off or automatic. The vent covers will be installed once I put the ABS rood lining in.

Below the awning are 4 x 50cm LED light strips.

4 x 50cm LED strips inside... the fourth is above my noggin. They draw about 0.4 amp each and light the place up like it's Christmas smile

On the left is the first roller blind installed.

The beginnings of the control center, just above the side entry door. All the lights and fans are individually switched. The black box below the panel is the box containing the light activated switch circuit I built for the vent fans.

-- Edited by Ondabeach on Wednesday 7th of October 2015 09:35:31 AM

-- Edited by Ondabeach on Wednesday 7th of October 2015 09:37:46 AM