2022 Ford F550 - DIY - Adventure Expedition Vehicle Build Thread

[Vance Vanz]

YES, I cannot agree more about CF manufacturing. I spent six months working in a shop building everything from trike seats and turbine scoops to a 40' power boat and a 50' sailboat. It is an incredibly inefficient process and we had teams of people with enough knowledge to offset my inexperience (as well as much inexperience on the crew). To do this build solo is an incredible undertaking and I appreciate that you are sharing it with us. Its hard and a ton of work when it goes well! (I left the job because I found it to be exhausting and I don't regret it at all.)

Hey TheRizz,

Thanks for taking the time to read the post and for sharing your journey with CF. I'm glad you were able to discover that CF was not for you and transition into something else professionally.

Yes, a team would be nice on this one. I'm trying to get into a rhythm with the remaining panels I need to infuse, but each of them have a lot of layout details and final decisions that need to be made prior to the layup.

I'm getting there and I'll keep sharing the journey . Hopefully I'll have a side panel complete by the end of the week.

 

[charlieaarons]

A dumb question:
10 215w solar panels is at least 12.5 sq m. AFAIK solar panel efficiency is still around 19% (perovskite is still a lab thing).
How long is your camper roof going to be? Wouldn’t several 2 way fan/vents be nice?
Perhaps if you have a crew cab and a really long cab-over you’ll squeeze them on but not with a bathroom vent plus 2 for the rest of the camper; you need at least one to vent cooking.

 

[Vance Vanz]

Hey charlieaarons,

Never a dumb question, as long as you ask nicely !

My usable roof space will be 16'-2" long and 7'-6" wide. I have a lot up there, but it will all fit snuggly with a little room left over for a few small sitting/relaxing areas.

There will be a 3 solar panel bank and a two solar panel bank and each will have a slide out underneath them to house the remaining five solar panels and save on roof space.

Only one vent fan in the bathroom, rear driver's side of the camper. I have plenty of windows throughout the camper, cab over bed area included, so I can crack any of them and get a draft/airflow moving across the camper and into the bathroom/back of the camper. The induction stove is close to the bathroom, so the fan in the bathroom will be able to pull any cooking smells out and towards the back of the camper-away from the dinette booth, sleeping area and cab of the truck.

Thanks for checking in!

 

[Vance Vanz]

Humanness Check In:

I'll keep this one short. It has been a long three weeks since my last post. To put it simply, I'm tired. These long days are wearing me down a bit.

Although I'm finding more of a rhythm with the carbon fiber work and resin infusion layups, the amount of final lay out decisions and material/consumable prep for these larger panels has created a lot more work.

Now for an update on the recent build progress........

 

[Vance Vanz]

Resin Infusion – Driver’s Sidewall Panel– Lay Out

The devil is in the details.

Now that I am laying out and laying up my largest panels, there is a ton of lay out work and final decision making. I’m having to dot every i and cross every t to ensure I don’t miss something. This means pulling every item out of the box to measure it, see exactly how it mounts and operates, how/where it is wired, how it may need to be serviced/replaced, etc. I also had to go back over and finalize/double check all of the angles I'm putting on the front wall of the camper and front of the cab over/nose section.

Making templates for the side windows and wheel well:

One larger window will be centered in the dinette booth and one smaller window will sit centered off the foot of the bed in the cab over section.​

Getting everything laid out onto the foam core:

Before I could decide on the exact placement of the windows, I had to make sure all of my interior layout decisions were final and triple check that I hadn't missed something that would put the window(s) off center with any part of the interior layout. This is why most people wait to cut out their windows until later in the build process, after they have almost completed the interior. Given that I want to wrap the windows cut outs in CF during the infusion process for structural reasons and to seal the foam, I can't wait. I'm glad I pulled my fridge/freezer out of the box and went through every detail including how I would be mounting/attaching one side of it to an internal CF finished/structural wall. This required me to slide an internal wall over an inch and therefore the window over as well. Hopefully ? I've accounted for everything, because the windows aren't moving after my infusion layup ?.​

Getting everything cut out and shaped on the foam core:

The radiused window cut outs will be wrapped with carbon fiber from both sides. The last photo is the back outside corner of the camper. I decided to give it an angled finish to match other angles/aspects on the camper's finish.​

 

[Vance Vanz]

Resin Infusion – Driver’s Sidewall Panel– Lay Out (Continued......)

Here is what the finished back corners of the camper will look like after being tabbed.


The not so fun work of restocking full 100 yard rolls of C.F. on the rack with no amigos or amigas to help . I'm getting too old for this , !


First, second and third layers of C.F. being cut and dry fitted:


A little trick that helped me keep the C.F. cloth sliding smoothly across the layup and from sagging/distorting into the cut outs:


What is this mess?


Layup Schedule for the Exterior Walls:

Some of you may remember from previous discussions in the thread, that my original plan was to have three layers of CF cloth for the skins on the exterior walls/panels. I was going to set back the second/middle and third/top layers of CF cloth, from the edge of the panel, the distance of the associated tabbing that would wrap all of the corner joints on the camper. This would have allowed an almost perfectly level surface on the outside/inside walls after the tabbing was complete.

After sitting with the "mess" above, but joints and overlaps, I decided that the tabbing would be a little too thin in one particular area of the tab. It probably would have worked just fine considering both the inside and outside joints are being tabbed, but I am always overbuilding a bit rather than under building. Anytime my gut says this could be a problem, I trust it and go with the more conservative/structurally sound option.

There will be no steps/set backs in the cloth/skins of my panels now. My tabs will simply wrap the corners of the joints and I will attempt to fair everything out as best as I can so there is not a distinct raised/visible tab on the corners. This stinks a little because I could have saved some $ and lay out time by only using two separate layers of CF cloth, as opposed to three separate layers, for the same overall desired weight/thickness of CF cloth for the skins. Some benefits with the third layer is my skins will technically be stronger as there are three separate layers as opposed to only two. My three layers also step down in weight/thickness, and will be used for the tabbing of the corners as well, so this will make fairing the corner tabs out a little easier.

The layup schedule for the skins on the exterior walls is:

• First/base layer - 9.5oz plain weave
• Second/middle layer - 8.85oz biaxial stitched
• Third/top layer - 5.7oz 2x2 twill weave

 

[Vance Vanz]

Resin Infusion – Driver’s Sidewall Panel– Layup

Sticky tape down:



The tedious work of placing three layers of CF cloth on the layup table perfectly:


Foam core, final three layers of CF cloth and spray tack/wrap the window cut outs with CF cloth:


Peel Ply:

 

[Vance Vanz]

Resin Infusion – Driver’s Sidewall Panel– Layup (Continued......)

Flow Mesh:


Vacuum/Resin Feed Spiral Tubing & Hubs:


Vacuum Bag & Vacuum/Resin Feed Lines:


Cured & Time to Strip:

 

[Vance Vanz]

Resin Infusion – Driver’s Sidewall Panel– Layup (Continued......)

The Final Product - 18'-2 5/8" L x 7'-1" H Sidewall Panel

Peel Ply Side:

Note: The last picture is where all three of the CF 2" overlaps in each layer of cloth occur in the panel-under the larger side window. I placed the overlaps lower on the wall so they will be out of eye sight when standing in the camper and only exposed/possibly visible in the dinette booth area and under the table. I also staggered the overlaps in each layer perfectly, so no overlap in one layer sits on top of/under another and as one overlap ends, the other begins right next to it. I don't even think I'm going to have to fair this area for final paint. These are all the little details I'm trying to account for ahead of time so they can possibly save me work/time on the back end.​

Layup Table Side:

Sorry I couldn't get better pictures. I only had a 10 minute window of someone helping me get this beast off the layup table and against the wall. Once it was against the wall, I could only slide it a foot or two by myself on the cardboard to try and snap some cramped photos.​

​

Window Cut Out/CF Wrap:


Everything came out well and I was surprised how smooth the peel ply side was.

Technical info from the layup for those that are interested:

• 7.75 gallons of epoxy was used for the layup.
• As for the amount of resin feed hubs, I could have eliminated some to save on consumables (tubing) and resin. For the spiral tubing down the center of the layup, I could have just used two or three hubs instead of four. For the top spiral feed line, I could have used two hubs instead of four and for the bottom, two instead of three. I didn't even open the two supply lines in the center of the top line and the center supply line in the bottom spiral feed line during my layup.
• Infusion time was about 1 hour and 35 minutes.

 

[Vance Vanz]

Resin Infusion – Passenger Sidewall Panel– Lay Out

Well lucky for me my windows are symmetrical/the same size (sometimes they are not), so I was able to use the same templates from the Driver's side windows. I made a separate wheel well template for this side. I also pulled out my entry door to make a template for it and finalize how I wanted to reinforce where it would be screwed into the wall.

I know some people with a composite box/panel just use sealant on their entry door, but I wanted to ensure that I was able to securely screw and seal mine. I decided to stack up/spray tack layers of CF cloth (Alternating 24oz stitched biaxial 45/45 & 24oz stitched plain 0/90) to create an insert (2-1/4" L x 1" W x 5/16" H) that will be resin infused into the door jamb/layup of the panel.

Marking where screws will go in the door & creating a template:


Door Template & Layout:


Side Panel Laid Out:


Door Jamb Inserts:

Note: The notches in these pics are only an 1/8" deep. The final depth/height was a little under 5/16". I also stepped the CF cloth inserts to match the radiused corners on the door jamb. The door jamb and inserts will also be wrapped with two additional layers of 5.7oz CF from the top layer of cloth on each side of the panel to get a full 5/16" on the inserts.​

Foam Core Cut Out & Shaped:


CF Cloth Cut Out and Dry Fitted


All of the consumables are also cut/prepped for this panel, but I had to pause working on it because I'm waiting on more resin to arrive. I moved onto laying out the roof panel until the resin arrives. The next post/set of pics will be the roof layout process or the finished passenger side panel, depending on how long it takes the resin to arrive.

 

[wfv56]

Well this is next level work at home!

 

[highwest]

The amazing work continues! Sorry if I missed it, how are you cutting the carbon cloth?

 

[ExpoMike]

Wow.... just wow!

 

[Alloy]

Resin Infusion – Passenger Sidewall Panel– Lay Out

Well lucky for me my windows are symmetrical/the same size (sometimes they are not), so I was able to use the same templates from the Driver's side windows. I made a separate wheel well template for this side. I also pulled out my entry door to make a template for it and finalize how I wanted to reinforce where it would be screwed into the wall.

I know some people with a composite box/panel just use sealant on their entry door, but I wanted to ensure that I was able to securely screw and seal mine. I decided to stack up/spray tack layers of CF cloth (Alternating 24oz stitched biaxial 45/45 & 24oz stitched plain 0/90) to create an insert (2-1/4" L x 1" W x 5/16" H) that will be resin infused into the door jamb/layup of the panel.

Marking where screws will go in the door & creating a template:
View attachment 748887

Door Template & Layout:
View attachment 748888

Side Panel Laid Out:
View attachment 748889

Door Jamb Inserts:
View attachment 748890View attachment 748891View attachment 748893

Note: The notches in these pics are only an 1/8" deep. The final depth/height was a little under 5/16". I also stepped the CF cloth inserts to match the radiused corners on the door jamb. The door jamb and inserts will also be wrapped with two additional layers of 5.7oz CF from the top layer of cloth on each side of the panel to get a full 5/16" on the inserts.​

Foam Core Cut Out & Shaped:
View attachment 748892

CF Cloth Cut Out and Dry Fitted
View attachment 748894

All of the consumables are also cut/prepped for this panel, but I had to pause working on it because I'm waiting on more resin to arrive. I moved onto laying out the roof panel until the resin arrives. The next post/set of pics will be the roof layout process or the finished passenger side panel, depending on how long it takes the resin to arrive.

All the little details that eat up time.

 

[Vance Vanz]

Well this is next level work at home!

! Thanks wfv56.

It is also next level kicking my butt sometimes.

Thanks for stopping by and commenting!