The Quigley Buildup

Scott Brady

Founder
Just an idea for the floor: Get the tub Rhino lined and then use simple, roll up carpet runner.

nice find on the water tank gauge; I am going to look into it.

The 285/75 is an ok tire for your application, but don't shy from the 255/85 for the reasons stated above. Stability is only gained by an increase in track width, not tire width as is commonly mentioned. I.E. the 255/85 with a wheel with less off-set will provide the same stability as a 285. On my Tacoma, I decreased the off-set from stock by .75, which gained me 20mm of additional track width per side and nearly the same overall track width as 285's on stock wheels. Then you would have the increased efficiency (reduced rotating and reciprocating mass and less frontal resistance) of a narrow tire and the same stability. If you cant find a 255 replacement tire in the middle of nowhere, a 285 will work to get you back on the road.
 

jeff@work

Adventurer
Well I started working on the floor last week...but got interrupted by a quick trip to san felipe, mx....a worthy distraction :sombrero:

The first step was removing the plywood floor that it came with...since the screws had all been covered up with wood filler this was a bit of a challenge! Once i got all the plywood cleaned up I went in and filled all the holes with silicone...maybe i should have used something like bondo...we'll see.
After everything had dried i went in and laid down the insulation and taped it up with aluminum tape. I can't tell yet how effective the insulation will be but as noise reduction it has made a noticeable difference.

Now onto finishing the floor and insulating the sides!
 

18seeds

Explorer
jeff@work said:
18seeds -
So did you just have the honda generator running all night for the heater?
Do you think the insulation you had on the walls was enough?
Did you try laying any insulation down on the floors other than the carpet?

Thanks guys! I really appreciate the time everyone took to read this and give well thoughtout opinions.

Yes the generator ran all night but needed to be filled up once a night. I think you can tune it better it will run all night long. It was my friends and he was lazy and never got it tuned for high altitudes.

The insulation in the walls was plenty. I see yours is a window van so that can make it harder. I cut a piece of blue insulation to go over the windows. worked pretty good.

The floor is a MAJOR problem area. From what I have learned there is no really good way to insulate the floor. I've heard of some people doing some pretty crazy things.

There is a 4x4 van group on yahoo that can be a great resource.
 

gjackson

FRGS
Jeff,

The fridge is a Coolmatic Waeco MDC-65. Brand new, only ever switched on, but never used. Is a front loader with a small freezer compartment. Outside dimensions are: 24" high x 19.5" wide x 19.5" deep. With the door catch the height at the front is 25.5". It comes with the manual and a Land Rover made tie down hoop that is pretty stout!

The door is hinged at the front, so it doesn't get any wider with the door open. According to the manual, the voltage requirements are 4amps @ 12vDC or 2amps @ 24vDC. Has a 70w power rating.

Nice little unit, and we would have used it except the front loading didn't really fit with our packing system. I have attched some pics.

cheers

Graham
 

jeff@work

Adventurer
That sounds great Graham looks like i have a fridge now :luxhello: Thank you!
I'm down in AZ using the warm weather to work on the van but i'll let you know when i'm back up in Colorado...should be around the end of the month.
 

gjackson

FRGS
No worries. It's been sitting in my garage for 3 years. A few more months won't hurt! Just let me know when you want it.

cheers
 

Clutch

<---Pass
jeff@work said:
Mark,



7) I've actually been thinking about using some expanding foam i saw at home depot, .
Becareful with that stuff...I am pretty sure it is HIGHLY flamable and TOXIC when it burns. My uncle used to work for an electrical company, and they thought it would be a good, easy idea to use some of that faoming spray insulation. They covered the whole inside of the van with that foam..well, one of the guys used to smoke...you can guess what happening next.

Maybe they changed the formula...??
 

G35Vortec454

Adventurer
Another perspective on Inverter, etc.

I run a 5KW inverter in my 21-ft RV powered by 4 Golf car batteries and dual alternators. I know, I know they add up weight. But they can power my electric split-unit A/C cold/heat pump (9000BTU), my 6- gal electric water heater, and my microwave oven. I've run the a/c and watched two movies all night one night with the engine idling using only 5 gallons, compare that to any generator at full load.

On insulation, I used duct-wrap fiberglass batts on the walls and roof instead of polyurethane fills. I've also installed solar films on all windows except the front ones. I use propane bottles to cook, since I removed the propane trank underneath the RV.

For tires/wheels, I put 14-ply load-G tires on 19.5 wheels under the 7-inch lifted RV.

 
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jeff@work

Adventurer
Well I haven't updated this because i have been making somewhat slow progress on it.

I pretty much finished the insulation at least for now, I used the foil-foam-foil for most of the van along with some reflectix. The foil used in the foil foam foil is pretty wimpy and can tear very easily while the relectix is much more durable. While it was providing some insulation I decided it wasn't providing enough so I added some foam board to the walls and floor. The stuff i used for the floor was pretty tough and i could walk around on it without it compressing at all...how it holds up in the long run obviously remains to be seen....i'll have to go back and check the name of it. The next step was to put down some laminate flooring from costco, i'm very happy with how it looks and so far it seems sturdy but like the insulation long term durability remains to be seen!

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These pictures are before i attached the floor to the bottom of the van, it now has about 20 screws in it with nice big washers on them.

My next step was I wanted to get the electricity going in the van. I want to be able to use this van as a remote office very simliar to how they do over at badgertrek.com so I figured i'd need some decent power. Originally I planned on 2 group 31 AGM's and I would put them where the factory auxillary battery was on the passenger side frame rail...well after playing around with it a bit i realized a 3rd would fit in there just perfectly! Off to ebay i went and found a local place selling Group 31 AGM's for $96 and they allowed local pickup! :Wow1: So i picked up my 3rd battery from them...it's a rebadged version of my original 2 batteries so they're all the same.

Now it's really nice that i've got these three batteries sitting next to my van but i need to somehow get them mounted up under the beast. I thought about having someone fabricate something for me but I've always wanted to learn to weld myself so after a bit of searching around I picked up a lincoln mig welder from craigslist.

Great now i've got a welder but i have no clue where to get steel! Off to yellow pages i go and i find a couple steel stores that do not require minimum orders. I have to admit i was a bit intimidated I've never done any metal work what so ever and figured i'd walk into this shop and not even know how to order steel...i had in my mind what i wanted but now i needed to explain that to them.

I went to metals supermarket in tempe and browsed through a little book they had describing the different metal types. This helped a lot and the people there were really nice and helpful. They even let me walk around in the back to look at all the different metal. I gave them the exact sizes of the metal i wanted and they cut it to order right then and there...cool! I also grabbed some little pieces of metal they had so i could practice the welding a little bit.

Good thing i had the practice metal cause my first welds were awful :xxrotflma After a little bit of practice I decided to tackle building the battery box...the welds aren't pretty but they have good penetration and look to be pretty strong welds. The box attaches to the frame via 4 brackets and then 3 brackets in the front attach it to the body. It only hangs down a little less than an inch below the body of the van which is actually less than the factory auxillary box hung down.

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These pictures don't show the 3 brackets i put on that go in front of the batteries to hold them in place and attach the box to the body of the van.

continued...
 

jeff@work

Adventurer
Everyone suggested going with a smaller inverter and that was the plan...i realize i could easily get by with one under 1000 watts however on ebay there is someone selling refurbished xantrex freedom inverters for VERY cheap. I picked up a freedom 1500 water inverter/charger for ~$300. This is a really nice inverter and includes a 3 stage temperature sensitive battery charger.

A problem with going with the larger inverter was the need to use a larger fuse and thicker battery cables. I ordered these from a solar store as you won't find anything this size at an rv or auto parts store. It's a 200 amp fuse and the cables are 2/0 gauge.

Here's the finished product...i'll have to take some pictures of the wiring when i take the box back out to paint it.

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I also wanted to add that i really appreciate the advice and ideas everyone has posted so far.

I already have the electric water pump so i'll probably use it and treat myself to some luxury of running water but i'm definitely going to bring with me a manual pump in case the electric one fails and i might switch between the two so i can see how much water i save using the manual one, i'm sure it will be a noticeable amount.

I will be adding a swivel bracket to the passenger side seat, i agree that should really open up the interior space and provide more seating when camped.

I'm 6"1 so sleeping width wise is out for me, I'm doing a self made lengthwise couch that will convert into a bed for sleeping with the top down, I agree this is a must have for the cold weather as i already spend a few nights in the penthouse bed when it was 32 degrees out....and surprise surprise it was also 32 in the van! Underneath the bed will be the water pump and fresh water tank.

I'll post some more details of future plans and progress as i go! :rally_guys:
 

Roverholic

Observer
Jeff,
Super stoked on your build up. The family and I just drove out to Aspen to check out a SMB that's for sale out there. Looking at the interior build it seems as though there is tons of room for improvement (lighter, more robust etc.). I'm in Conifer so when you get back to CO get in touch and I'll lend a hand.
Cheers,
Paul
 

etbadger

Adventurer
Looks very nice. When we get settled down again we will be gutting the interior and re-insulating from scratch.

We did add about 1/2" of foam insulation mat to our floor for this winter (all we could fit with the cabinetry), and it has made a world of difference in comfort from the prior winter with just a bit of carpet. We have been comfy in temperatures down to 0 outside with the top up, while last winter we dropped the top at around 10.

One thing you may wish to consider is insulation and a way of piping heat to the batteries. One of our biggest issues this winter has been the temperature of the house batteries dropping down to around 5-10 deg. (nights at about -5 to -10, days to 15 or so for a week). When charging, a cold battery requires a much higher voltage, which can mess with your electronics, and when drawing down the battery voltage will drop very fast which causes problems in the other direction. Also most of our temperature compensated stuff (inverter, charge controller, monitor) doesn't even calculate compensation below freezing.

Of course it all depends on when and where you will be using it...
 
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jeff@work

Adventurer
Thanks Paul! I'll let you know when i head back up to Colorado...i'd say i'd be going up for the snow but it just snowed here in Scottsdale yesterday! I agree the sportsmobiles leave some room for improvement and i'm sure even after i'm "finished" building my van I'll still be finding areas to make it better.

Eric,

Any idea how fast the temperature of the battery drops? Have you come up with any ideas for heating the batteries? I would guess you're thinking of using the espar furnace to pipe heat down to it...
The only things i could think of other than that are heat tape/pad....which would wind up using electricity anyways or some way of piping some of the exhaust to hit the batteries and warm them up. Obviously both those ideas would only really work for while you're driving the van around or at least running the engine.
I would imagine with all the lead in the batteries it would take them a little while to drop in temp but on the other hand i wonder if repeatedly heating and cooling them could damage them.
 

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