MAN LE180C double cab for a long family trip

[Itinerrant]

I am liking the floor plan, walk through the shower is very clever.

Thank you !

How are you planning to raise and lower the bed?

Well this point is still to be decided. There are several alternatives : belts, chains, wires, rails, winch, jacks, etc. There is also this product. I will discuss this with the builder to find the best solution. If someone has any thoughts / advice, it would be welcome !

[Lynn]

Well this point is still to be decided. There are several alternatives : belts, chains, wires, rails, winch, jacks, etc. There is also this product. I will discuss this with the builder to find the best solution. If someone has any thoughts / advice, it would be welcome !

I have no experience with the Happijac lifter, but have read that they get jammed pretty easily. Especially if the camper isn't level.

Personally, I'd look at SarConcepts' mayline concept, described about two-thirds of the way down his blog. He used light cables to keep hydraulic cylinders equal, but the basic cable concept could be used for your bed elevator without hydraulics.

[sherwood]

I am sure you could arrange a pull down bed on gas struts.



Here is a hydraulic solution;

[Itinerrant]

Hello,

Thank you so much for taking the time to give your insight !

Love the choice of truck, REALLY wish we could get those in the USA... sigh.

Well I guess you have some pretty nice trucks out there too !

First will you not have any light into the children's bed areas? The lack may be good for feeling secure, but they are going to want to have light in there. It helps to not feel so claustrophobic. Also you will want to be able to be certain air flow can go through there. We had bunk beds when I was growing up, and they got HOT if you did not open the windows in them.

I still hesitate to put windows along the children's beds. Of course they will have light out of LED lamps but it's not the same as sunlight and I think you're probably right about getting claustrophobic. I'll think about it. Maybe we won't put the windows at first and then check during our first year of short trips whether it is ok or not. I think it wouldn't be impossible to put the windows after (even if it would surely be harder).

Regarding the air flow, you're probably right too and it's another point in favor of windows. But we are also thinking of air conditioning the truck, so this could balance the lack of windows in this area.

Second. The beds, you are thinking about shortening the mattress for the girls because they are not tall yet. You plan to put in storage. I would caution you that once the girls get bigger you are going to have a very hard time removing that storage. You will, rather suddenly (in my humble opinion) have a LOT of stuff that no longer has a place in your camper. That is hard when girls get older they will want more space, not less.

Yes, you're right. However, we've taken these points into account :

1. Our girls are currently 0.95 (3yo), 1.05 (5yo) and 1.15 (6yo) meters tall, and they sleep in 0.7 x 1.60 meters beds. So in the truck they will have the same space.
2. They are growing up, of course, but we plan to complete our big trip in the next 4-5 years, and this is when we will need more space (I probably shouldn't say this, but as my wife is *not* very tall (indeed she would fit onto one of the girl's bed ), there is a chance we can complete the big trip without changing the girls beds configuration !).
3. Thereafter, we will still use the truck to travel, but probably for shorter trips, then perhaps we won't need that much storage space.
4. We already traveled (not to such an extent though) in far less roamy vehicles without too much problems. But I guess the more room you have, the more stuff you want to fill...

Lastly, If you take the bathroom area and encroach upon the current shower by about 15-20cm or so I think you will find that you have enough room to simply put the shower in there with everything in the bathroom. Then the current shower space can become a lot more storage for you.

That could be possible (if I understand well). However :

1. The shower also serves as a passage towards the walk-through the driver's cabin, so it can't be narrowed too much (I think 60cm would be the minimum) and has to be more or less in the middle.
2. We wanted to be able to use the shower and the toilet/sink spaces independently.

Just a thought.

You're most welcome !

I really love your plans, and your floor plans look very wise. What is the large object at the very front of the cabin, near the dinette? Is that a large seating area? Perhaps something that folds down into a pare bed? Personally I would want a pass through to the cabin, you could do one like the Unicats that has the "back rest" section of the seat being removable (in both the couch and the inside rear seat) and thus allow for that pass-through easy enough.

Hmmm... maybe I wasn't too clear about this (or maybe I understand wrongly), but on the floorplan's picture, the front of the truck is on the left, and it is the shower that serves as a passage towards the driver's cabin. So we have the dinettes at the rear of the truck and I think the large object you are referring to is the rear bench that stretches across the whole width against the rear wall of the cell. Upon this is the double bed that can be lowered and raised. As you can see on the 3D views, there is also a double floor under the tables and the rear-facing benches. Tables can be lowered and then, with the benches, can serve as an additional three persons sleeping space (for when we have guests !).

THANKS for sharing! Really cool ideas, looking forward to this one!

Many thanks to you for giving your suggestions ! We still are in the phase of challenging the design, so it is very interesting to have other people's view.

[Itinerrant]

Hello,

I have no experience with the Happijac lifter, but have read that they get jammed pretty easily. Especially if the camper isn't level.

Thank you for the warning. Indeed it is important that the system works well as it will be used every day and probably some times on rough surfaces too.

Personally, I'd look at SarConcepts' mayline concept, described about two-thirds of the way down his blog. He used light cables to keep hydraulic cylinders equal, but the basic cable concept could be used for your bed elevator without hydraulics.

This seems very clever. Thank you for pointing me to it. I will discuss it with the builder.

[Jago]

Hi Itinerrant

I have just seen your post and your blog site (great site by the way!) and couldn't believe how similar your requirements, truck and designs are to ours!

We also have three small kids (girl of 3, boy 5 and a girl 6) and we plan to go travelling for a year or two next summer/autumn starting in South America (then possibly Europe/Asia Australia). We also hope to have our truck built by the summer (or preferably Easter) and do a mini expedition for a month (maybe Morocco?) before our big trip. We will also home school the kids and we are now looking to get our class C licence too!

We've also looked at MANs and several Actionmobil and Unicat designs (we even visited their factories -very impressive! But I think they are ultimately out of our price range even if the designs are good!).

We have very similar requirements and have also decided on a crew (or at least an extended) cab for the kids. We also realise that with 5 of us we will need space and have a design very similar to yours! (so it's reassuring our designs are virtually the same! -Hopefully we both have it right! ) These layouts are 7.3m long but could easily be shortened down by 1 to 1.5m if required and then they would be very similar to yours!

See our favourite (option 2 below) with the shower in the passage way as well (wonder where that's from....)

[IMG] Truck layout 1 7m Options 2 by Jago2007, on Flickr[/IMG]


We also thought of putting storage at the end of each bunk until the kids are bigger (but still want full size bunks so they don't out grow them or we can use them for adult friends if required or to re-sell). We have an alternative layout with double bunks (and one bed at 90 degrees to the lower bunk probably just below the cabin door) and the shower room in the entrance passage (not such a bad idea for hosing down mucky urchins! )

[IMG] Truck layout 1 7m Options 1b by Jago2007, on Flickr[/IMG]

We have a U shaped lounge/table (that you climb over to reach the raised bed) to maximise seating area but I like your split lounge/table arrangement as this can be handy to have a separate table when preparing meals etc.

We went for the longer design as we thought we would need as much storage (and living) as possible, therefore to do a 7m+ design we would need a 6X6 instead of a 4X4 as although possible I think the extended wheelbase and overhang would be too long for a 4X4 when combined with an extended cab and definitely a crew cab?

Or have others seen this done OK?

Therefore we have been looking at 6x6 vehicles (you also get that 'Dakar' look !) but have found second hand 6X6 extended cab vehicles very rare!

We have found a site that can import used low mileage Tatras to the UK though! (http://www.russianmilitary.co.uk/for...p?headers=land)

Since then we have been looking at these 6X6s even been considering an 8x8 Tatra T815!


[IMG] Tatra Dakar Assistance Truck by Jago2007, on Flickr[/IMG]

Although this one looks lovely -it would do as it's brand new!

[IMG] 815 8x8 New extended cab by Jago2007, on Flickr[/IMG]

So any advice would be helpful !
Is 8x8 too much?
Tatra - off road capable and endurable but comfortable and international enough?

Sorry Itinerrant - I don't want to hijack your thread (and for the long post!) but I would be interested in your views (or from anyone else) as you have considered similar things! I have emailed you separately if you want to discuss in more detail away from your build thread....

Good luck with the build and keep us informed!
Cheers
Jago

[Victorian]

Very interested in following you build!

I live in a Victoria,BC Canada. A "must" see for many travelers doing the North to South America trip. One thing I always noticed, was the difficulty of finding parking and places to stop with such big trucks. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing these type of vehicles, after all I have helped building them for some time. But I think that overall size would be a HUGE consideration for me. An 8x8 may be amazing in the dessert and on some really rough roads in Russia. But I believe that most days you will hate have to deal with it.

On my travels, I have met families on around the worlds trips on bicycles, with family vans or "just" a 4x4 Unimog.

I guess, it all depends how you envision your trip to be. Not that there is anything wrong with it, but if you wish to have lots of living space, washing machine and big seating area, then you may go with an 8x8. Otherwise, I would really try to go as small as possible.

Got luck and please keep us posted!

Andreas

[Jago]

Andreas

You are right! - It's the constant compromise/trade off between space/storage/luxery and mobility/impact and accessibility!

This is the dilemma I struggle with the most - one minute I am thinking keep it as small as possible to be able to get into villages, towns and park.

The next minute I realise (once you've decided on a truck rather than 4wd & tents) we couldn't feasibly long term (1-2 years) with a family of 5 in anything less than a 5.6m cabin so the truck will be at least 7-9m overall (depending on truck crew cab or not).

Therefore does an extra metre or two make much difference if you are already that big? (as it would make a big difference internally- and possibly making it easier to long term in it?)

(Width and height are fairly costant and therefore not such a dilemma/consideration)

Help!
A nice dilemma to have anyway (and a great armchair problem as there's nver any right answer!)

[Victorian]

Unicat, Action Mobil and other have used "for sale" vehicles on their lot. Maybe they would be willing to let you stay in one of them for a couple of days (without going anywhere). I know of a couple of people that did that! That would be a low risk (and if your kids don't scratch anything) fairly cheap experiment!

[Lynn]

...This is the dilemma I struggle with the most - one minute I am thinking keep it as small as possible to be able to get into villages, towns and park.

The next minute I realise (once you've decided on a truck rather than 4wd & tents) we couldn't feasibly long term (1-2 years) with a family of 5 in anything less than a 5.6m cabin so the truck will be at least 7-9m overall (depending on truck crew cab or not).

I'm no expert, but I plan on copying something I saw on a build thread (sorry, not on this forum, and I didn't save the link, so can't give credit).

Anyway, the folks couldn't get the 'feel' of it from looking at 3D drawings, so they mocked up the entire cabin in their garage using cardboard and stuff. Then they spent lots of time pretending.

Seemed like a good idea to me.

Actually, I think someone on this forum did something similar with styrofoam, maybe?