EarthRoamer XV-JP "Northwest Edition"

[PaulJensen]

Forty-Five...


(above) One thing that's been bugging me is that there isn't a single, simple shut-off for the rear cabin electrical...The pilot lights on the gauges and switches now stay on all the time and wear on the system (albeit a burly one) slowly...Also, I'm not of the opinion that all that electrical stuff is failsafe, and having the option of shutting it down when not needed is a good thing...It just makes sense...So this is where that switch will go...


(above) A simple, less than $6.00 battery disconnect switch...


(above) As always, modification is needed to get things to fit...


(above) ...and it does...Not an easy install, but again, what has been...

Note on the quick connect LPG: It is in a great place if you want to hook up a Zodi portable outside shower or to connect a gas fired BBQ...Nice to have options...


(above) Good location + easy to use = worth the hassle of installation...

[PaulJensen]

Forty-Six...


(above) The ceiling...The existing one had bolts for the roof rack extending in, and the adhesive from the previous ceiling was dried hard and un-removable without grinding...The clearance I have with the fold-out bed is pretty tight, so to work over the existing surface I added the silver foam and added plywood furring strips around the perimeter and one across the center...


(above) Into the plywood are Tee-nuts to add attachment points to hang things...


(above) The roof is a fiberglass/foam/fiberglass sandwich, that has good enough insulating values...The foam and plywood are there primarily for adhering the 1/8" plywood to...


(above) I need to open up the plywood for access to the tee-nuts so I made a "story board" to lay-out their locations...Keep the measuring to a minimum...


(above) Another plywood story board for the lengthwise...


(above) Ready to drill and cut out the notches for the roof lifters...


(above) Over the cheap plywood will be veneer and veneer thin copper...Helping with the ceiling is my good friend and artist, Mike Cummins...


(above) Mike lays out a "rising sun" pattern on the ply...


(above) ...and then the horizon...

More on this later...

[PaulJensen]

Forty-Seven...


(above) "Sand Ladders" ...There's a pair that need to come along for the ride...The options for where to store them were focused on the roof rack area...The best place for these seldom used, but nice to have when you do need them, is a place that will not limit storage of other things so I decided to locate them under the roof rack...


(above) But the racks were an inch too low...So I made some vertical spacers...I cut a few on the tablesaw until the windstorm we had yesterday knocked out the power...So I made a simple, nail together, jig for cutting the electrical conduit connectors to length...


(above) Ready to install...The washers keep the spacers centered on the bolts...I unbolted the rack and slipped these between the rack and the rubber mounting studs...


(above) Ready to go up...The industrial strength 36" nylon ties will hold the tracks tight to the bottom of the rack and off the roof...



(above) Track #1 slipped in place...


(above) #2 in place and both tied to the rack bottom...


(above) Perfect fit in the most unused space on the roof...


(above) And how it looks from on top...

I left the roof lifted while doing this work and was up and down on it for a couple hours...I climbed onto the rack and worked from there with the roof up and I can say I was surprised that the pneumatic rams that lift/hold the roof up, never moved...Close to bombproof I'm sayin'...

You can also see on the far side that the shovel / ax holder is now bolted directly to the rack...It used to be "clamshell clamped" to the rack...


(above) Test fit for carrying a paddle for the paddleboard... Succeed...


(above) I'm going to add tie-down bolts up here, onto the oval bracket up front...


(above) Like these but with longer threads to get through the roof to the ceiling...


(above) Next, I installed the mount for the touchscreen mobile computer...


(above) To get the power base to fit the mount, I cut and modified it...


(above) From the driver's seat...


(above) It's all very tight in there and this location offers safe visibility of the road and easy to use positioning...It swings out of the way and disconnects in seconds, nice features when you don't want it there...

[1leglance]

oh that roof panel is going to really be cool!
Please have another project lined up Paul because I don't think coming to Expo without a Jensen build will be near as fun

[PaulJensen]

Forty-Eight...


(above) With hot coffee in hand, I survey the working conditions for the day...


(above) Maybe not the day to work on the rack...


(above) I probably won't go paddle after work today either...


(above) So it's up front in the toasty warm cabin...I removed the tablet computer mount and re-evaluated it's positioning...


(above) After testing out several placement options, this is the best place for the mount...That swing arm thing moved way too much...Too long, too much plastic...So I cut away and discarded everything except for the ball-joint mount...It's similar to a camera tripod head...I cut it to fit around the round bar, then reinforced it with epoxy filling between the plastic molding cavities..."Reduce the flex" is my mantra...


(above) There was a lot of in and out, fit and test, to optimize the purposefulness of the bar...There needs to be an electrical power junction box up there and this is the starting point...


(above) From that, it went to this...The plastic trays that were in the original configuration fit the bar perfectly, but flex a lot (remember my mantra) so it was reinforced underneath like this...Later it was fiberglassed and epoxied...


(above) One of the hard things on my 'To Do' list just got easier...I found power and ground leads for the mirror electrical connection...Whew...I was envisioning having to pull the radio to get to these...


(above) With the heater making the interior comfortably warm, I prepped the ceiling for installing the 1/8" plywood that will be the underlayment for the rear cabin ceiling...


(above) Plywood fitted and pin nailed in place...Layout lines for the fir / copper / zebrawood ceiling Sharpie'd onto the plywood, then covered with a thin coat of epoxy...Gonna be cool...


(above) The teak floor is subjected to real world conditions...Snow and ice, rain and mud...This isn't just a show pony, it's a work horse...Just wanted to be clear on that...


(above) Behind the driver seat, I installed the fuse panel for the Ham and CB radios, the tablet computer, the rear view camera, the two sets of interior lights (low vision and bright white) and the 12 volt accessory outlet...In the front panel there will also be a single 120 volt outlet fed from the big inverter in back...That's all...

More tomorrow...

[SRUPike]

Just when you think it can't get better... Then Paul comes with another post... That rising sun on the headliner is going to be epic...

Well done Paul...

So with the paddle, are you hinting at a custom hollow paddle board is also in the works for the Earthroamer XVJP by Paul Jensen?

[PaulJensen]

Just when you think it can't get better... Then Paul comes with another post... That rising sun on the headliner is going to be epic...

Well done Paul...

So with the paddle, are you hinting at a custom hollow paddle board is also in the works for the Earthroamer XVJP by Paul Jensen?

You mean something like this...???...


It could be commissioned, I guess...

[PaulJensen]

Forty-Nine...


(above) As I mentioned in the previous post, the new work and the plastic tray got fiberglassed to make the whole unit solid...



(above) The driver side tray did too...By glassing that bottom edge, it locked the tray to the bar and removed the flex that is common to molded plastic...These two glassed units got sanded smooth and were painted black...



(above) Another test fit...The tablet computer is set just low/high enough to not obscure any of the view...



(above) I removed the mirror with the intent of installing the ham radio to it...I found a better place instead...



(above) On the bar between the driver side tray and the center console...



(above) The ceiling in the rear cabin was covered with some vertical grain douglas fir veneer...Pressure sensitive, peel and stick adhesive was used between the existing plywood and the veneer...



(above) Thin copper roof flashing was PSA'd and cut to tapered wedges and a disc...



(above) Then with the help of Mike Cummins installed over the fir veneer...Tomorrow the area below the sun will get a rolling hills pattern made of zebrawood veneer...



(above) The sketch we worked off of...



(above) I did some mixing of parts to make a flexible neck reading light...The head is an LED light I found at Lowes as a clip on lamp...it was wired for 120VAC, but the plug in convert changed the voltage to 12VDC...So I cut the adapter off and wired it to the base/dimmer of another flex light that was in the pile of stuff...It will be installed up near the pull-out bed and can be moved to be used as a reading light there, and also for when you are reading on the bench seat...It's extremely bright, so the dimmer will be useful to control the intensity...



(above) Rear view cameras and a ScanGuage...



(above) The seat backs need a strap to join them solidly to each other...There is a lot of design and refine...



(above) The floor got another coat of tung oil...



(above) The retrieval gear needs to find a home...Probably on the roof rack...



(above) Fittings for ceiling tie downs...



(above) And there is more leather left for use up front...


More later...

[Overland Hadley]

The other stuff looks pretty cool, though, doesn't it?

Yes, it does indeed.

[Ford Prefect]

An enigma, wrapped in a mystery...

I believe it was Sir Winston S. Churchill,
"A Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery Inside an Enigma"


but close enough . . .

Of course that quote can formulate the answer to many of the questions that arise from this build and its corresponding thread.