The Big Lorry to Camper Conversion

Ok I’m in on this one might get nasty, ? ? ? ?
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hilldweller said:
Got to admit he has a good point. The massive weight of all that steelwork, all the walls and fittings mounted thereon, are bending the cross beams on a straight edge. They will fail there, eventually. Will it 5 ? 10 ? 100 ? years. There will be some sag now, maybe nothing to worry about.
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PhoeniX put steel beams across the chassis and then build the box on top where Morelo and Concorde etc build the floor straight onto the the chassis with outriggers as shown by OurMoreloLife I don’t know why the difference unless it’s to do with PhoeniX building a lot of Alkovens and if you wear the chassis out the body can be lifted off and re chassisi’d.
 
OurMoreloLife said:
Hi, Looks like a big job to me! Well done for trying.

I reckon you could do with some wedge-shaped bracing arms from the chassis members out to the outer edge of the floor bars. This will assist with roll stability/ rigidity and provide a route for under-floor wiring & water/waste hoses etc.

See below for an idea of what I mean

View attachment 323629
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OurMoreloLife said:
Hi, Looks like a big job to me! Well done for trying.

I reckon you could do with some wedge-shaped bracing arms from the chassis members out to the outer edge of the floor bars. This will assist with roll stability/ rigidity and provide a route for under-floor wiring & water/waste hoses etc.

See below for an idea of what I mean

View attachment 323629
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The subframe and body are very rigid, the chassis is designed to twist. I've cobbled together a spring based mounted system for the two to move independently. If the body was bolted directly to the chassis it would definitely snap. I like what your saying, but unsure if the braces would allow the movement. I'm certainly going to look into it!!! The subframe is made out of 120mm x 60mm x 3mm and 100 x 50mm 3mm... That ain't bending. The subframe also is all going to be nut and bolted together, but that's a job for another day. I appreciate the input!!
 
mitzimad said:
i would think about turning the window so the opening end is the trailing edge houses dont do fifty mph and i would worry about the seals
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But I'm sure houses experience 50mph winds. There will be a foldable tailgate that covers the window during transit and when parked for security anyways ??

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MANGOFORTH said:
I've cobbled together
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Possibly not the best phrase to use when considering 7.5 tonnes careering down the road.

Which raises interesting questions: Who says it is safe to be on the road, and how do they come to this conclusion when you won't be providing drawing with stress calculations. How do you convince someone to insure it ? I know this is very negative but does need asking right now.
 
hilldweller said:
Possibly not the best phrase to use when considering 7.5 tonnes careering down the road.

Which raises interesting questions: Who says it is safe to be on the road, and how do they come to this conclusion when you won't be providing drawing with stress calculations. How do you convince someone to insure it ? I know this is very negative but does need asking right now.
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I'm a professional fabricator/sheet metal worker for the automotive industry. This is the only part of the job I can safely say I know what I'm doing. ?. Believe me, lorry body's are made by the lowest bidder, with the cheapest materials.... This isn't.
 
MANGOFORTH said:
I'm a professional fabricator/sheet metal worker for the automotive industry.
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No offense intended.

But the question still stands. Is what you are doing outside of regulation ? You still have to insure it and FUN shows they can be quite demanding with a "normal" MH, so it will be up to you to convince them it's sound, structurally, electrically, gas. And if you mention "full time" it all racks up a notch. I don't know if you are thinking of fulltiming but it's one hell of a build for a holiday vehicle.
 
hilldweller said:
No offense intended.

But the question still stands. Is what you are doing outside of regulation ? You still have to insure it and FUN shows they can be quite demanding with a "normal" MH, so it will be up to you to convince them it's sound, structurally, electrically, gas. And if you mention "full time" it all racks up a notch. I don't know if you are thinking of fulltiming but it's one hell of a build for a holiday vehicle.
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There have been many many self builds & conversions - so surely insurance must be available, if only through a specialist broker.
 
First bit of cladding, its aluminium sheet 5251. Glued it on with PU sealant/adhesive to create barrier between steel and aluminium, and to make it water tight. It was then screwed together using self drilling metal screws. These screws are only a temporary fixture.
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Depending on where you are intending to take it I would suggest that rather than using spring fastenings it might be a thought to consider 3 point mounting , especially in view of the long wheelbase of that particular truck . Are you intending to put a crawl thru into the cab , as they can be very handy at times :)

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What do you anticipate your total investment in this project will be at completion?
Not sure of your thought processes, modern MH's including truck chassis versions like my 12 ton Morelo, gain their structural integrity from the aluminium sandwich side walls and roof. This also provides a high level of insulation and other obvious benefits. There is no need for vertical RSJ's. Also as has been mentioned the creation of a double floor provides external locker space, insulation and further structural integrity.
I do think that some weight projections should be considered for the final finished project.
 
I don't mean this as Anything other than a question not knocking your build at all, but would a container have got around most of your welding work and been up to all regs straight off
 
sallylillian said:
What do you anticipate your total investment in this project will be at completion?
Not sure of your thought processes, modern MH's including truck chassis versions like my 12 ton Morelo,
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What do you think it costs Morelo to make your van?
 
Jim said:
What do you think it costs Morelo to make your van?
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50% of the list price, maybe a tad more, the balance being dealer discount and their profit and tax however I do not understand the relevance of the question. This is a second hand chassis with a selfbuild structure, which will have comparators in the second hand market of 7.5 ton completed MH's.
 
Fellow fabricator welder checking in and following with interest as this is something I am thinking of doing as a stealth camper..
Intrigued to know the reason for welding the box section onto the top of the two already extra channel sections laid down on top of the original chassis.
If it was my build I would have made the top of your new main channels the floor laying level I think as that would clear the wheel arches from what I can see..
Great work anyway and I can see now from the other thread about inverters where the 620w of solar are going.
I'm definitely going massive solar and electric everything when I do mine.

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Response to Sally, aluminium sandwich panels cost lots of money, I don't have that. The aluminium will be glued to foil backed insulation, which is then glued to 9mm ply, so I'm making my own insulated composite panels. That is a strong panel at cheap cost. The whole body cost £3.5k. Including the aluminium, insulation and ply.

And Chaser, containers weight alot. This is super lightweight. Two people can lift one end of the body, its also got a low centre of gravity which will help with stability.

Thanks for all the input peeps.
 
thinking out loud for my future self really...
50x50x3 for the corner posts and then tiny 25 x25 for intermediate posts, that way you can insulate over the intermediate posts and prevent cold bridging (or fill the 50x50's fully with expanding foam :D
 
The truck is Lwb so, the chassis twists alot. If you made the body off the top of the truck chassis, your truck would be incredibly stiff or your body would rip apart. You need to make a separate subframe for the body and mount them using springs or the method Tacr2man mentioned. I used 50x50 and 25x50, 1.5mm wall to save weight. 1.5mm is more than strong enough for what this will see. And yes they are all sprayed with cavity insulation to prevent thermal bridging. Like any fabricator... If I did this again, I would make many changes ?... Oh well its done know, gotta piss with the dick you got n all that??
 
sallylillian said:
50% of the list price, maybe a tad more, the balance being dealer discount and their profit and tax however I do not understand the relevance of the question. This is a second hand chassis with a selfbuild structure, which will have comparators in the second hand market of 7.5 ton completed MH's.
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Why are you comparing the build to yours then? If they are incomparable ?‍♂️
 
MANGOFORTH said:
Why are you comparing the build to yours then? If they are incomparable ?‍♂️
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I am not, Jim was, hence my query of the relevance of his question.
My question was asking what you anticipated your finished build cost would be to assess a comparison with second hand MH's of the same ilk. Self build does not always mean lower cost.
On the construction side most A class motor homes are built with laminated, insulated aluminium or GRP side and roof panels as I described, not just mine but others such as Hymer, Pilote, Carthago, N+B and many more, going back many years. These are main stream mass produced vehicles achieving economical weight advantages and I am sure they follow this method for a reason. Intrigued by your process.

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Mass production = cheapest, fastest, most profitable way of doing something, I'm mearly a man with a garden. I can't compete with their economies of scale buying power, man power ect. My thought process was this is the best I can do with the money and skills I got . Also £15k all in. And the home part isn't second hand. Only the motor. The body can be moved onto a different truck.
 
MANGOFORTH thank you for such a interesting thread I'm sure there will be a lot following it and getting quite involved, got it on one of my watched threads now.
Good Luck with your Halloween completion but if it takes longer I'm sure it will be worth it.
Don't know if you know or not if you want to tag one particular person put a @before their name and an alert will come up for them, as yours will where I have tagged you. (y)
 
Just for information purposes 40mm thick ali ply foam ply ali sandwich composite 5mtr x 2mtr panel
£1280+vat !!
so rough estimate for the above box without the floor , and no joining sections or fasteners £10,000 :Eeek:
 
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And this is 6000x2500 a side.

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