Building the upper rear wall of my Total Composites Expedition Camper 

Thank you, it took a lot of work and analysis to find the right rig for me. I bought a brand new Fuso and had a 4x4 conversion done. The adhesives I've mostly used to build the composite box and also attach the aluminum cabinets to the interior and other items are Korapop 225, Sikiflex 252 and 292 and other poly-urethane based adhesive sealants. There are many out there and I've found they are work pretty similarly, some are more taffy like and messy but these three listed work great. Reach out if I can help more,

@@vantripping Thank you and keep up the good work! Love the builds!

I agree that dry fitting is an essential step to ensure fit, placement and practice once adhesive is applied. Exciting once it all goes together and just sticks in place!

Thank you so much 😀

Thank you. And You are welcome!

It's a great question and I don't know the answer. I weighed the empty chassis right after picking up new, and it weighed about 7,800 pounds, which is about 1,000 pounds more than EarthCruiser says it weighs--granted, that did have a nearly full tank of fuel, but I would think EarthCruiser's spec would be weight with all fluids. I never got a weight of all of the extrusions and panels, but I will weigh the truck again once I get to a scale and report in a future video. I think all of the panels, extrusions and adhesive-sealant likely add up to about 2,000 pounds.

Yes, it absolutely adds the stress of speed once the adhesive sealant tubes are opened up and being applied. It's difficult to even adjust a piece slightly after about 30 mins of adhesive being applied.

I looked into #Styromax and like their product, but they are in Australia and I'm in the US, so I didn't have an opportunity to see the product before buying, and shipping was costly. I do really like their installation support videos and their product looks very nice. #TotalComposites was able to provide the panels and extrusions pre-cut and pretty quickly not-withstanding some shipping delays, and the product is nice.

@@vantripping if there was a way to get shipping cheaper,would you say styromax is cheaper and better quality just based on what you’ve seen

@@1991pjc The shipping cost went from an initial estimate in 2020/early 2021 of about $2500 to almost 10 times that in mid-2022 during the peak of many global logistics demand and challenges. I went in with @HunterRMV and a friend on several boxes being shipping together to reduce our per unit shipping cost. Same could be done with combining many things into one container from Australia to reduce shipping cost. Having not seen the #Styromax in person, I can't speak to any quality differences, but it looks like a quality product from their website, videos and photos, and seems to be well-liked by their customers. I'd love to take a trip to Australia to see it in person. It would be awesome if there was North America manufacturing of composite camper panels, boxes and other parts.

Well, we don't know the weight nor the center of gravity (although I will once complete), and the purpose is an expedition camper/mobile home capable of traveling rough dirt roads, not a rock crawler. What until it's complete and give me some credit for building what I have and as planned. City van's with improved suspension and tires are a great balance between off road capable and camper and this should fall in that same category.

@@vantripping The COG is way to high and the truck is a very very capable offroader. Chop the top off and 2 feet of the sidewalls and make it a westfalia style pop up. Better make a Dakar truck and mount a large roof tent directly on flatbed. 35 or larger tires lock really good on this truck. Mount 2 spares comfortably low. Both sides, behind the cab. If you mount on rear...your frame will oscillate.

@@808bigisland We don't know what the COG is but I look forward to calculating or measuring once built. The roof and walls are light, and the electrical and water system at floor level will be much heavier than the top one-foot of the walls--heck, probably one lithium battery will be equal to the highest foot of wall weight, so the COG will likely be better than you're thinking. Another RU-vidr tilted a Sprinter camper to a measured 45 degrees (controlled with straps) before bringing it back to level, and yet it is also "tall". There is a lot more weight under this truck due to the beefy axles and frame, and low drivetrain. With the cab tilted up, I look down at the engine much more so than in a full-size pick up. A rack and roof top tent would likely add more top weight than the top foot of these walls. In a future video I'll go over my camper design. I considered a lifting roof, but did not for the added complications with internal walls & cabinets, tracks and the added weight and challenges with air sealing (I would only consider solid walls after owning a soft-walled pop top van--watch my video on that), although a lower roof would had been my preference and I struggled to find the perfect balance of all needs. Most important is the comfort and utilization of the cabin, as it is to be a full time home on wheels for any climate than an off-roader. In my review of chassis's I considered, a pick up truck and other medium trucks able to support this same weight with single-rear wheels would have had a higher COG due to higher frame, camper and taller 42" to 46" tires. A F550 on 42"s is 5" taller height of the heavy frame, plus camper above that, so I think you'll see as I build this out and when following my design and considerations, that this chassis and camper design will provide an excellent balance of living and gear space and living accommodations as well as on-road and trail capabilities. When I'm ready for the Rubicon, I'll get out my mountain bike and ride it and be back for a shower, cold beer and warm dinner in this camper. It's a lifestyle-support vehicle and not a trophy-truck. A pass thru from cab to cabin was a requirement, so mounting tires behind the cab will not support that, and I searched for an ability to mount a spare under the truck (nope) or on the cab roof (added weight up high would move the cab around more), but concluded that on the rear bumper is a great space for spare tire(s) as this truck badly needs more weight behind the rear axle to balance each axle's payload capabilities with the payload, so the spare tire(s) will help add more weight to the rear which is needed, as my calculations show that the rear axle will still be under-loaded after build out. I try to weight just about everything, and have in my previous builds, and I calculate built-out weights by side, longitudinal and vertical position to balance ride, payload and performance--my last build was within .1% of calculated weight per tire (within ~25 pounds per corner), so like you I take the weight and position of it seriously. Following along and we'll learn together.

@@vantripping no worry - like your build - just pointing out that a low COG is going to make the Canter as good or better than an Unimog. I currently drive an almost stock 54 2WD Chevy truck everywhere on Big Island, in Kau'u desert, deep sand, rock crawling, lava tracks and jungle. It's nimble and 2wd is fine. I also drove North-Africa, Sahara, Namibia, SA many times in my Land Rover, Santana PS10 and Hi-Lux. The Canter is popular there as Pick up. The 5l Diesel is bulletproof. They call them Bakki. I built 4x4 and more recently hill climb race cars and am partially responsible for the design of 2 of Europe's worst cars ever :-). Bring that COG down. Travelling light is way more fun...my 4x4 never have a rack or a roofload.

@@808bigisland Thanks for your input. I certainly am focused on keeping the weight down, and also as low as possible on this expedition camper. You've owned some cool vehicles.