Pulled the trigger

nathane

Active member
Are you going through the AV Options list?
It looks good to me.

:) not all of them but a good few! We are looking to get maximum utility from a small physical footprint so stuff like the exhaust not only looks nice but it does clear space up. The chassis will be carrying an extended fuel tank rhs, and lhs a 40l calorifier (hot water tank heated by engine coolant/webasto) a 60l lpg tank, little Hyundai generator. There is a grey water tank and storage bins going behind the rear axle. This frees up max space inside our 4.2m box.
 

nathane

Active member
So long time no post on this, although we have been getting stuff done. I've not been great at taking pictures all the way, but I'll put up what I have.

Box is now finished, windows installed and solar mounted:

20200511_141633.jpg

I still need to make bash rails to protect the panels. We also need to clean off some of the excess glue from the box.

Onto building the interior. This is also composite panel based to give optimum strength to weight. We are making the panels ourselves. This starts with prepping a moulding table - 1.25m x 2.5m aluminium sheet mounted onto nice rigid beams to ensure it's as flat as we can practically make it. First step is waxing down to ensure we can remove it once moulded!

20200322_154518.jpg

Next we set out a "frame" to mould into:

20200403_124953.jpg

Then, depending on the panel in question comes an optional gelcoat spray:

20200403_135124.jpg

The finished surface is the table side, so the stippling you see here doesn't bother me too much. This was the first one I did I think, I've got a bit better since. Then it's layout of fabric:

20200313_110835.jpg

And wet out, this one is a different panel, to be honest once we get going with the resin things get a bit time critical and sticky so there wasn't time to pick up the phone to take pictures, I also don't want to get it covered in epoxy!:

20200501_154809.jpg

Fabric layup depends on the purpose of the panel, a load bearing floor will have more layers than a drawer front, a panel that might be bashed gets a surface layer of Diolen as well as carbon, others get glass and carbon. Then we add a layer of foam:

20200313_111721.jpg

Before more fabric and resin to finish off. Then it's a case of sticking peel ply (if we need a surface texture), release film, breather fleece to soak up excess resin and create an air path to the vacuum pump, and vacuum bag before the big suck starts!

20200409_183702.jpg

Vacuum bagging ensures great consistent wet out, good layer to layer bonding and minimises excess resin maximising strength to weight ratio. At the end we get a panel out which might look like this if it;s going to be covered up and needs high strength (this is a suspended floor panel that will be in the main pass through area and therefore needs to be able to support 200kg in its centre, it is 2 layers of 300g diolen, 2 layers of 300g CF on the top 3 CF layers below with extra reinforcement on the cross beams integrated into the panel it's not pretty but it does the job and we are getting better with each one we do!:

20200425_093318.jpg
20200425_093334.jpg
 

nathane

Active member
If it will be more visible it might look like this which will be inside a cupboard, but visible when the door is open. This one is glass plus carbon:

20200509_072010.jpg

or this panel that will be inside a cupboard that will end up filled with drawers:

20200510_115413.jpg

Or when it will be fully exposed we try to make it look nice like this which has an old coffee shipping sack laminated into the surface and will be used as the galley wall:

signal-2020-05-08-091511.jpg

So far we have made 12 of these panels and are in the process of installing them in the box including the one on the right which incorporates a birdseye maple veneer layer (as does the middle one with the electrical stuff in it):

20200510_115645.jpg
 

nathane

Active member
crikey indeed, it is, to be honest a very time consuming process compared to cutting up plywood or MDF, but I hope it will result in a lighter, stronger, more resilient structure.
 

nathane

Active member
Hi Folks sorry for no updates! We plod along, making gradual progress at weekends. I'm away just now but will do a proper update when I'm back. On the calorifier, yes this is chassis mounted to make integration with the engine coolant circuit easier. I figured it was better this way from a space and connection integrity perspective than putting it in the box. It will be super insulated, I'll try to get pictures in a week or so.
 

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