Just found your build, so great to see your progress!!! Looking forward to watching this rig come together. My wife and I are moving to the PNW from New Zealand and looking at building something similar, I’ll be taking a lot of lessons from your build.
Glad you found my channel and will be following my build. There are a lot of previously posted videos on the chassis selection and modifications that might be useful to you as well as what's to come. Welcome to the US and PNW from New Zealand. Reach out if I can help in any way and good luck with your build.
Keep a bucket of water near you. Drill for 10-20 seconds and then dip the drill into the water to cool it down. The drill will last far longer if you keep it cool.
Yep, great question. We considered it, yet would need a large flat and smooth section to drill onto which we didn't have. Doing that on the subframe would be unbalanced without additional supports, and the floor is very heavy, so to flip it over would likely not be all that safe and certainly a challenge even with our 8 people.
Anyone is this situation , trust me when I say if you buy Cobalt drill bits, it will change your life. They way they drill through steel is like a regular high speed steel drill bit through aluminium. YEs they are 3-4 times the price, but worth every cent IMO
Yes indeed to high-quality bits. Thanks for sharing. I’ve also found that titanium coated bits work well. I’m getting ready to invest in a new bit set as mine are getting worn.
Great video! came across it while researching how I'm gonna build my camper box. I was wondering - what is the purpose of the empty channel in the metal extrusion that you glued to the composite? also, is the extrusion a stronger solution then to build a steel frame and fit the composite into it? ( That's how our local builders do it)
Thanks. The composite panels have several benefits over a steel frame with panels: completely thermally broken, incredibly strong and uniformly strong, as well as very quick to build and assemble. Also likely much lighter weight, but I think the key benefit it being completely thermally broken for a camper that is much better insulated. Not sure I understand your first question, but the floors have a steel bar inserted inside the composite panel for as strong and tap-able mounting points to the floor and thus entire camper to the subframe. These steel bars can also be inserted into walls panels for also mounting awnings, spare tires, storage boxes, etc. The steel bars are installed within a fiberglass tube which is then filled with additional insulation to keep a thermally broken integration that allows the steel bar to expand since it does while the fiberglass doesn't, and a joint that can be all glued together within the panel for an integrated connection. I hope that helps.
How thick is the steel in the floor? Is it a full sheet of steel inside the entire floor panel? Is this the order of materials from the top to the bottom of the floor panel sandwich: GRP inner skin, foam core for insulation, plywood, steel, plywood, and finally GRP outer skin?
The steel is 6mm (1/4" thick). It is about 50mm (2") wide and inside of a GRP (fiberglass) structural tube, and then the tube is filled with foam. The entire floor is layered in a sheet of ~3/4" plywood on top and a thin ~1/4" on the bottom, all inside of the fiberglass skin, and the sandwhich fully filled with foam. It's a very strong assembly. I'll try to post a photo on www.vantripping.com.
@@vantripping If you could post a picture of the structure in the floor that would be fantastic, maybe you could post it under the community tab for your channel with a link from this video. Thank you
@@chrisdaniel1339 good suggestion. I just posted some photos of them, although all not that great as I wasn't focused on taking pictures of the subframe and rear wall mounts which are nearly the same, each with a 6mm steel bar within a GRP tube. The GRP tube's are filled with foam, although sometimes that was removed while shortening the steel bar and then replaced.
@@vantripping Thank you so much for posting the pictures of the steel attachment bars embedded in the floor and rear wall, the pictures make the description much clearer. Thanks
Yes, it can, and this is essentially what Bliss and other production builders do. But, shipping would likely cost a good portion of what the box costs to ship if fully built compared to when in panels, and have to be extra careful to not have it damaged during shipping and the lift. But I've seen it done, it's possible. We could have also flipped the floor over to drill facing downward, but it's a lot of work and challenging to flip it over without a crane and the panels are pretty fragile at the edges until glued up and with no attachment points.
@@vantripping makes sense! These are Earth Cruiser chassis mounts correct? The zero torsion frame by Globe Trekker vehicles looks interesting too. Thanks for sharing all your knowledge on this!
@@woolengrappler Yes, I am using EarthCruiser's subframe, which is excellent in that it only adds just over 3" of height above the chassis frame--a really great advantage compared with one that adds double that. I go over some of the subframe in this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-WjxMOx38bGU.html Be sure your subframe system can accommodate the chassis and it's flex.
The composite camper floor has imbedded fiberglass tubes with a steel flat bar inside of them, and these are placed at designated intervals, usually about every two to three feet. The subframe mount holes and camper floor mounting tubes are planned in advance to align with each other. Once the floor is in place on the subframe, the subframe holes are marked onto the floor and the floor drilled into the tubes and flat bar but not entirely thru the floor--only about an inch into the 3+" thick floor as the top of the flat bar it only about 3/4" above the bottom of the floor panel. This hole is then tapped with threads, and bolts are guided up thru the subframe holes and threaded into the camper floor and tightened to spec with thread locker, so the bolts sandwich the subframe and composite floor together, and hence the camper. This is the way all composite campers are bolted to the subframe/chassis. The bolts are plenty large enough and enough of them to more than securely hold camper and truck together. Subframe mounts & bolts to camper range from six (EarthCruiser) to 12 as I've seen for larger campers--I have five bolts down each side of the subframe for 10 total. The subframe has short outriggers for these mounts.
@@vantripping Thanks! Very interesting. The steel bars must be very thick; enough to grab enough thread to apply enough torque. I’ve rewatched and have found the outriggers. They are very short. I’ve also found the subsequent video with the sandwich plate modification. This is quite an impressive project! I’m a big proponent of avoiding the employment of wood! Looking forward to the next cabinetry videos.
@@mavallarino Yes, they are about 6mm/.25" thick, more than enough to get a few threads and thus full strength of the connection. I wish the outriggers were nearly out to the edges of the camper so I could connect my storage boxes to them and provide a slightly stronger connection with the camper, but it's more than enough and what EarthCruiser has been using for over a decade and I had them add two more pairs of outriggers for 10 bolted connections from their typical six, and I increased the bolt size from the recommended minimum of 3/8" to 1/2", so my connections are more than twice as strong as what the pro-builders are using. Definitely best to avoid wood on the outside as it'll expand and contract enough to cause weakening over time in addition to weather damage and deterioration.
Is there a reason the floor panel was not just placed on the ground upside down to drill and tapping the holes with ease? Then the panel could be flipped over and attached to the chassis.
Good question. We could've lifted the panel off the subframe and placed it flipped over over onto some stands or the ground to drill the holes, and then replaced onto the subframe--and we did think about doing this--but the panel is heavy which took about 8-10 people to lift it and move it around, and flipping it over is risky due to being so heavy and needing to rotate the large panel--risking injury of a person or the panel, so we decided to drill the holes in place thru the subframe and from below the panel even though not as easy as it would've been drilling from above. Extra effort when drilling but less effort and risk than flipping the panel over twice--once to drill and then again to replace on the subframe--so we avoided that risky extra effort. The floor panel is heavy due to the steel bars for subframe attachment and plywood reinforcement.
@@vantripping I wonder if a electromagnet base drill press would have worked as it would have been tightly attracted to the steel bars inside the floor panel.
@@chrisdaniel1339 Good question. I suppose it could've helped to maintain positioning if the magnet could penetrate the GRP panel and then the fiberglass tube that the steel bar is located in, but doubtful that a magnetic base would hold thru over a 1/4" of non-magnetic material. Do you have experience with using a magnetic base upside down and think it would hold thru that thickness of material before the steel bars?
Minute 10:17 - Those extruded grp profiles for the floor were built wrong by the manufacture. You shouldn't accept them if you had any ideea about forces involved on an expedition vehicle. It's common sense. The walls should rest on top of the floor, not hanged on its side by some glue and 2x 1" of grp lap. Your entire box weight (walls + roof) is now suported only by those 2 grp stripes, prone to crack ( bcs are pulltruded). These days, I think they changed it... they realised that after I pointed this mistake several times on their page, but they deleted it. This company makes tests on their clients money. They are not as professional as they claim or as you think, even they are germans. Wood should not be inside of any sandwich panel, even if it's "so claimed" marine grade. You'll convince yourself with the first water intrusion. Because, even if you don't belive me, it will happen at some point. Then, the moisture trapped inside will create mold and will expand in the freezing days. Delamination will occur. Pulltruded profiles are weaker than laminated ones, because they don't have multi oriented fibers. At shocks, they crack sooner on the corners. Hope you used 2 components adhesive (2k), it cures entirely due to both components chimical reaction. 1k adhesive cures partially, only where it gets humidity, not so good if trapped inside of an hermetic chamber. If you think I am right about my points, you should sell your box while it's still in good shape.
Thanks for the info and I do understand and appreciate your points, but Total Composites has many boxes in use for well over a decade with this design and the adhesives, without any known failures or problems, and pretty much the same design as with other manufacturers. The loads are very small per square inch--well below the adhesive and material strength ratings. Now that it's all built, it all seems fine.
