Camper buildout

[Veganpotter]

Starting to rip my Foz to bits. I'm going to insulate the roof better, and gain about an inch of headroom in the process of doing so. I also pulled all the foam out and sprayed it with Boom Mat sound insulation. I don't want to give up that storage space. I was surprised to see these wood shims between the roof and cross supports. When I hit bumps hard, the roof makes a decent amount of noise. I'm guessing some popped out of place.

 

[Ben Up North]

Ooh.Lots of pictures please!

 

[Veganpotter]

@Ben Up North
Will do as they come. The 1" lift, Rallitek springs(rear only) and plasti-dipped 17" daily wheels are mounted!!! The car will not stay white. It'll be a total eyesore to most once I'm done with it

 

[Ben Up North]

I'm intrigued about the roof height you'll gain, an inch makes a bit of difference if you're sleeping in it.

 

[Veganpotter]

It really is huge, especially since I'm fairly tall. I gained a little over an inch when I did this with my Sienna. With the handholds, the supports that they screw into, and the roof liner, I'm guessing that's 10-12lbs. I'll probably only add 5 back, and I'll have better insulation. The bigger supports will be getting spray foamed too.

 

[Veganpotter]

My bed supports are definitely laying out differently than I planned. Not really sure if I'm going to stick with the bed frame I've already built or not.
As for the roof, there's definitely better insulation out there than Reflectix. But this is all about weight, and keeping things thin. Thin, pink polystyrene works better, but I don't want to deal with the slow off gassing in extreme heat. I may do another layer that's fitted loosely to protect my head from the edges of the beams. If I velcro it onto the beams, it'll leave a small air gap which is how Reflectix works best. I was going to do a layer of very thin venier but this will weigh far less than half of that. And it'll give me some extra lumination from the shiny stuff

 

[El_Freddo]

Those wooden “shims” must be a hidden factory optional extra!

All the best with the build.

Cheers

Bennie

 

[Veganpotter]

@El_Freddo ha, only for N. American cars. Aussies get dual-range. We get wooden shims

 

[Veganpotter]

Putting in some D rings for tie downs. The silver one has a 300lb capacity(I'll never have that much on it) and is reusing an M8 hole/bolt and I put in an m8 rivnut for the other bolt. The little black rings are on with m5 rivnuts. The plan is to have some kind of webbing there to hold things in place in the window well. I'm going to have more on the upper supports to hold other things to the roof. Right now, I'm thinking skis so they're inside the car and not killing my fuel efficiency. I may also make some sort of a elevated dog hammock that hooks on with these too. I'm thinking each can easily hold 30lbs indefinitely(the black ones have no advertised rating). And I'd be using multiple for the dog hammock. My dogs are 46 and 55lbs and wouldn't both be in one at the same time. I'll probably make it with canvas, and the two seatbelts I ripped out of the back. I'm keeping one of the rear belts in for the rare third passenger.

 

[Veganpotter]

I did a thing!!! I was going to mount it near my battery, but this is further back so I figured it's a better place.
It's probably going to stay like this for a bit since I hate wiring things
*I know we're a much smaller market, but part of me wishes this were smaller than it is. It can easily handle 33-35" tires. A smaller, and lighter one geared to people running 27-31" tires would be nice. Maybe they'll make one eventually with the popularity of the Renegade and new Bronco Sport. I have a Slime compressor I carry in my work van for plugging and refilling. It's smaller and lighter than this, but it overheats easily and takes forever for just adding 10psi in a 29" tire. Something that size, but not a piece of junk would be nice!!!

 

[Kevin]

That's a nice "thing"

 

[Veganpotter]

@Kevin I definitely wish it were cheaper, but I'm happy to have it!!!

 

[Kevin]

All set for air lockers now

 

[Veganpotter]

@Kevin solid axle and locker is going in tomorrow

 

[Veganpotter]

Pretty happy with these cheapo, flush lights. I paid some $17 for them on eBay and $20 for the switch, relay and fused harness. They aim too high to use on the road...almost as high as my high beams even though the bumper is angled down where I mounted them. But they're also brighter down low where my fogs are. So they'll be good on our extremely low vis snowstorms, and foggy days when nobody is in front of me. And they'll definitely be great offroading lights.

*I'm happy they work and I didn't start a fire I HATE wiring things

 

[Ben Up North]

The mod you've done at the front seems to have given you a heap more potential storage space too!

 

[Veganpotter]

@Ben Up North Ha, where? The foam I cut out to make space for the lights?

 

[Ben Up North]

That nice big hole where you put the mesh..Think of the things you could stuff in there

 

[Moribus]

Can you link me those LED's you bought on ebay?

 

[Bill_P]

Geat work veganpotter.! Wondering if you could supply a link for your black d ring tie down fittings please. Also, fyi, I made some zippered rear window bags for my Outback, which fit the deep window frames nicely. Great for stuff requiring fast access eg 1st aid, recovery gear etc.