Luton camper coffin

[purplebargeken]

Abroad height limits in car parks are 2m, the bog standard T4 just about squeaks under.

[cobblers]

Took the back frame parts to a local place for welding, expecting them to suck their teeth and make me wait 9 weeks.

"Are you waiting around while we do it?"

Hell yes!

£50 cash. Thankyou please!

 

 

I got the bed sides off now which was a bit of a mare, actually. The first seized fasteners I've had on this van!! the hinge pins have a circlip on one end and should just push out, but I had to heat 4 of them up and air hammer them out!

The door turned up from China, It's pretty good! better than I expected. During shipping it copped for some damage on a corner - I could straighten it out but I asked the seller if they could just send me another outer frame bit. I got no response, and if they don't respond in another 90 minutes I get my money back for the whole thing. I feel bad, really.

 

[mat_the_cat]

2 hours ago, cobblers said:

Took the back frame parts to a local place for welding, expecting them to suck their teeth and make me wait 9 weeks.

"

This is not their first rodeo...nicely done!

[Matty]

28 minutes ago, mat_the_cat said:

This is not their first rodeo...nicely done!

I'd love to be able to weld ally. I've tried in the past but never achieved anything like that.

[yes oui si]

Good job there, local welders seem like good folk to know. 

[cobblers]

Been a while since an update.

The fancy welding? Well - I fucked up. My mitre saw cut all the 45 angles very very slightly off. But since I cut all the mitres in the saw the same way round (because the extrusion was so deep it fouled the saw motor, all the 0.5-1 degree inaccuracies stacked up, and they stacked up opposite, leaveing one side of the back end 15mm high, and the other 15mm low.

You can just make out the issue here, but it was way worse in person - the upper rear panel would need to be 30mm taller on the right hand side!!

I was a bit gutted really. I procrastinated for a while, then bit the bullet and cut through all the welds and properly clamped all the frame together on pieces of OSB and took them back to get re-welded (with my tail between my legs!!)

Again, they did it while I waited and didn't even give me that much grief about it. Frame is now 100% cock on, perfect to within a couple of millimeters, so I could finally make a start panelling it up.

And finally, a proper productive day! Got all the panels dry fitted, windows and door dry fitted too. Very pleased. Just need to sort out the floor, then it's all coming apart again to paint the frame and panels - They're a 26mm XPS foam core between 1.3mm aluminium sheets. Very well insulated and quite strong too. The sides and roof are matt grey, and the roof and rear are gloss white. They're offcuts from another job.
Part of me wants to paint them all VW Medium blue to match the van (best t25 colour by far) but I might just paint the back grey to match the sides. The frame will be black in any case.

Still undecided on what I'll do with the interior walls - I was going to cover them in a thin, light coloured plywood/veneer, but I'm considering just painting them or even a good quality vinyl wrap. I want to keep it light and avoid the feeling that I'm stuck in a freezer van!

Unsure on the exact weight, I calculated it to be about 150kg in what you see here, I'd probably believe that - I'm able to stand it up on end and turn it over unaided, and (sans floor!) I can crouch inside and move the thing about pretty easily. Planned floor (18mm water resistant OSB) is 25kg, plus trimmings / wiring/ solar panel. It'll be double the roof tent, but not suspended 10" above my head.
 

[meshking]

This is all kinds of awesome, inspiring work as ever. 

[Mally]

Slightly* above my capabilities.

[High Jetter]

Top fabrication, superb.

[rusty_vw_man]

This is awesome, I love the idea. I also love the fact that you have the skills just to knock it up and it look like something you’d buy off a top end converter rather than a wild lash up. 

[mercedade]

8 minutes ago, rusty_vw_man said:

This is awesome, I love the idea. I also love the fact that you have the skills just to knock it up and it look like something you’d buy off a top end converter rather than a wild lash up. 

Agreed - can't believe how slick that looks to my hillbilly eyes

[cobblers]

Thanks for the positive comments! to be honest, I don't think the real skill is in the fabrication - I've just cut some extrusions and panels out, it's quite forgiving  but I did spend a hell of a long time researching the type of construction that would most flatter my abilities  😅

I've seen people make similar things with just plain 90degree aly angles for the corners, or even a timber frame underneath - It would have been a lot quicker, easier (and cheaper!) to do it that way, but in my eyes it would always have looked a bit home made, I'm glad I stuck to my guns and sourced the hex shaped extrusion to get it to look like I wanted - I think the "design language" will match the van itself pretty well.

 

 

 

[Dave_Q]

I think when you're out and about in this you're going to have to get leaflets or business cards printed out with an FAQ for all the people that ask you about it:

• Yes, I made it myself
• Aluminium struts and ally/insulation sandwich panels
• No, I will not make one for you, your friend or your dog

etc, etc

[warninglight]

I'm quietly glad that even a chap of your abilities still measures once and cuts twice now and again.

Reminds me of when I was fitting overdrive into my Amazon, I got the propshaft shortened and balanced. Then got it shortened and balanced again when I realised it was still 20mm too long.

Inspired stuff!

Out of interest, what size is the flatbed on that?

[cobblers]

3 minutes ago, warninglight said:

Out of interest, what size is the flatbed on that?

It's 1680mm wide, 1850mm long, a lot bigger than the bed on any modern double cab!