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Had a good day- hot and sunny and took my brothers old TVR out for a spin to a hotrod show I'm gonna post up photos of that elsewhere.







And the truck- we made the pop out frames today! They ended up going together a lot better than thought. Just took it cruisy style and got into a groove. We made sure everything was nice and square by tacking the pop outs to the frame so they will fit nicely before welding them up. Next step will be to make the rollers. Plus add some bracing to the pop outs for floor support etc.

Finished - well almost finished- the bedroom floor today- but man its heavy! 70KG alone. It'll hinge at the back and with rope and pulleys will lift up at front to let the cab swing through. So i guess its only half that weight to lift. plus bed though.

the floor in progress....



I'm now thinking of adding a support from behind cab. I dont think it needs it but peace of mind when we have a lot of room to play with as far as adding load. I have mainly been against adding something due to losing quick access to back of cab and aesthetics. But I though why not have it bolt in place! And then add some curly wurly squiggly bits out of black steel making it look a bit more arty farty to go along with rest of truck... ( I knew the 3 months I spent in the blacksmith shop when I was an apprentice would one day come in handy..)

Anyway- heres a quick CAD drawing I whipped up on my Mac with my expensive pro cad program and rubber to show all where the support could go.... I got carried away...

Any ideas on how to make the support look pretty would be welcome

We had to piss about with the bedroom floor this morning. Its the one area getting insulated that is just a steel frame with out batons being added- and the steel being 38mm with the insulation being 40mm means the polystyrene sits proud. We thought it might squash down but it didn't- power of surface area eh!
So we decided to cut a sliver off the polystyrene. Which was gonna take ages till I made this...

'alex acme' polystyrene planing jig...



Now the floor was all done and the ply wasn't getting forced out by over thick poly we carefully (and awkwardly) lifted it up into place. Wow - with a floor down up there its amazing- so huge a bedroom. I tried taking photos to show the size but it was tricky with a small camera.



We laid down up there and checked out the view- cool having skylights.



Next problem was the bloody aerial- it hits the bedroom floor. So I drilled a hole and it can now extend up into the bedroom.....

Finished welding up popout frames and Hannah painted them. Meanwhile I fitted another skylight
- this one is above where my workbench will be.

The weather got a bit shitty today- didn't rain though...Blenheim so we retired to the shed after having started the woodwork for window frames/sashes. I'm not a carpenter and they are very basic simple frames but have come up lovely! Nice Rimu and what I think might be totara or black beech. We have quite a few window frames to make- a long process! Its getting easier each one and we'll keep building them over the next few days. Lots of varnish will be needed once they are built.
We have been collecting various stained glass windows off trade me. We still need a few more.

Then we can start cladding the framework knowing where and what size the window frames will be.

here's some goodies we got while down in Christchurch...

lots of polystyrene for the walls etc. 20m thick - we will double it up. Ok Sesame steet people, what does that make? That makes 40mm. Good job big bird- now go 'play' with Snufalufagas and his big 'trunk'.



here's some Rimu floorboards- less the 150 odd carpet tacks we removed...



I'm going to fill the base of each upright with posh cavity wax- I dont want them ever rusting through and the house falling off when caning it through the S bends on a track day.



We started putting up batons today. This is a big moment as it means we shall start cladding it very soon!!! I cant wait. Really windy and its meant to rain later. If it does we will retire to the shed and build window frames to the sound of good tunes whilst inhaling nature. Cosy.



And here are some photos a friend sent me of a bloody cool truck. Not my style- but it would be totally my style if I had lots of money! I think its 6 wheel drive too! heaven. I love the way everything has its place for proper offroading!

First bits of cladding are up!

We will have to get some more though as after a sort through there wont be enough. Off to plankville again on friday then..



Cladding away in the evening sun....

A late update. It been quite hectic and not much appears to have been done but it has. We had to go to Christchurch to pick up more stuff. in fact half the project time is going about picking up bargains, hunting for lowest prices, research etc. Thats building on a budget for you. Its a shame- I'd love to buy everything in one go and have it all here ready. But it is fun getting bargains.

We put the cladding up as far as the base windows but had to stop to finish building the frames. And back to Plankville in Richmond, Nelson where we cleaned out Brent of the rest of his slices of this wood. I think we will have just enough to do the popouts and up to the bedroom where it will be plywood from there. The ply will be be broken up with batons 'a la oldschool medieval style houses (but they didn't have ply.... )

The cladding thus far...





Then of course we had some busy body neighbour decide they dont like the noise- which we have kept down and been within normal acceptable times. So twice we have had embarrassed looking noise control blokes come out- but its not excessive so they leave. Anyway- to keep everyone happy we popped out to a friends farm and used a shed to plane loads of wood down in one go- whilst it was drizzling outside



The slide outs are being built up one at a time- I have made some rollers up and they roll out lovely. Luckily the Engineers I went to get the alloy from let me use the lathe when he found out he used to work at the same place I did my time at- so that saved some hassle and money!

I need to get some nyloc nuts, put bike inner tube over the last two and paint them then they are all done- they are over built but wont give us any grief!





We are trying to keep things as square as possible so everything fits neatly. When they are out they should seal perfectly.

Lots of time has been spent building window frames- takes ages but they will look great- deeply varnished Rimu wood. Some of the stained glass solder joints were broken but I have fixed them up and now I want to build some myself- later on when we are living in it!

I will have to get a photo of all the windows made so far lined up.

We are going to stain the cladding and then seal it with some wormal wood seal from the states- its wicked when on- water just beads instantly and runs off
The stain we have decided on as after so much effort going into putting up nice bits of cladding we don't want it to go all silver and lose the colours of the different woods.



And lastly I found our old pad in England on google earth - when zoomed in we can see our bedford TK, our totally hippy mates Bedford bus with his completely unhippy mint white FD RX7 next to it , our old bmw 525TDS estate, our old blue chevette 4 door and possibly my Rx3 next to shed. I love Google earth. And we do miss our old pad out in the country side 1 minutes walk form a quiet pub with free wireless!

A bit of an update.
Its set to rain for the next week or so off and on so hence we have been trying to get the outside cladding up.
But first we had to finish the pop outs- these have been tricky. I would build these a different way next time. I designed them with only 5mm clearance between the sides of pop outs and the frame opening. Not enough to allow for odd bits of wood or any warping. All sorted now after more planing.





Given how much they could be out with only a few mm wrong here or there they ended up fitting like a glove which makes me very happy! We have also fitted some of the windows in the popouts and they look great.

When they are both pushed inside there is just enough room to squeeze through between them. Lucky I'm skinny. Not that it matters as once parked up they will be pushed out anyway.



I have decided to make an opening window over the workbench- there is already a skylight above it but really good natural light over it is important so an extra window will work wonders. Opening because I'm bound to make a few smelly fumes - glue, welding, paint etc.

Every so often we have to stop and give these little buggers a cuddle and that eats into our valuable building time...but its worth it!



We have just enough of the wavey cladding to reach the base of where the batoned ply will start over the bedroom and 'entertainment room'. This too makes me very happy. I thought we might run out. We are looking forwards to getting to the ply stage as it will mean very quick coverage!!! Today we started putting up the first bits of wood on the front of the truck which is cool- covering up the green painted steel.



We cant wait till its all covered and cosy inside. First thing we will install will be a woodburner! ;D

Tonight Hannah finished the last bit of staining as its set to rain soon. Jobs we can do while it is raining will be building some more window frames and building the locking systems for the popouts. Plus there is my Viva to continue rotorising...

It did indeed rain today. But stopped by about 9 am. Coolio! How nice.

So we bought some flashing to cover the join along top of the roof. Now roof is finished.

While we were at the plumbers where we had also got a bargain deal on the Butynol roof membrane we had spotted a Rennai gas califont- exactly the same model I have fitted our 3 previous vehicles/homes.
And it was for sale. We ended up getting a near new califont made in Japan not China for a bargain $200. Sweet- thats a saving of $380. WE HAPPY!

some photos today- I always forget and then its dark.

Nice waterproof roof of slid in popout and wavey rafters in background....



popout, workshop bench window and skylight...



window above sofa area....

Bloody rain!

Not much done on outside. We went to Christchurch and picked up 22 sheets of 5.5mm marine grade ply plus some cedar for cappings. Oh and also a visit to Musgrove's to sift through all the reclaimed timber. Got some great Rimu and Miro for our door frame. The piece of Miro has the most amazing patterns I have ever seen in wood. Beautiful!

I will put up a picture.

So over the last few days we have been doing some work on the inside. As soon as the rain stops we'll start putting up the ply.

Finishing the bedroom floor- some insulation. Insulation everywhere - this is important!

So far 4 sheets of ply up in place- we now have covered the sides of front room. We will work our way down after doing the rear room. Then begin removing the pine and replacing it with ply.

I will put up photos later on once more is done as for now its doesn't look that pretty.. but the ply will look nice once we have battens up and windows in place.

Today it started to rain again so we have started walling the section behind the cab where the shower will go. This means finishing the 2nd floor out on to the roof. took a while to decide on design of opening- it has to be big enough to feed a bed into bedroom etc

Its freezing inside with a the cold wind coming past the cab so it will be great to have this covered!

I'm sitting here having a well deserved cup of coffee. I had a bit of a drama last night with the lift up bedroom floor system. I rigged up four of mitre tens finest cheap zenith pulleys to the brackets I had welded to the frame ages ago in the build and hoisted away- once floor was as high as it could go i secured the rope and jumped outside to tilt the cab. But it hit the floor bottom!!!

I was sure I had designed it with enough clearance so I took a look at the pulley system. The problem was that when they got near to the top they started to want to pull sideways instead of up. A new system was in order which I put in this morning. I have welded another bracket in the middle of the floor at the front and then made a bracket to hold the top pulley off the rafter. And I only need the two pulleys as its easy to lift. With this in place I can lift the floor right up with space to go. And now the cab tilts lovely!





The scuff marks from the cab roof...



So now its tilted we can put ply up behind the cab and stop cold drafts! woo hoo. I'm happy.
Plus I could make a little window so I could sit inside with a cup of tea and look at the engine...

This afternoon we finished behind the cab. Would have been done earlier but we decided to drain the cooling system, flush out the heater matrix and refill with new antifreeze. All bloody 23 litres of it! The heater was full of sludge- I guess being a nelson truck perhaps it wasn't used much? It was soooooo satisfying to back flush it and see all the crap come out! The heater works really well now!

Anyway- here's behind the cab- still some detaiing to go in place yet...



next job is ply the rear room sides. I hope the weather stays nice.

Today we finally started to remove the cladding. Boy was some of it wet on the back. we found some lovely patches of mould !

So as much as i was very upset about having to remove all our lovely wavy edged pine when it came to actually taking it off it was a real relief- especially when finding all the mould. And the marine plywood we are replacing it with goes up so quickly and easily plus the rain aint getting through! happiness.



some bits of the cladding are warping outwards- and breaking the screws to the process :-/
Also notice the one near the top of pop out- its done a funky double curve thing and has bowed out in the middle.



And heres some wet wood porn for ya'll...



With some sexy closeup mould shots. hmmmmmm.



Hopefully we will keep getting sunshine as the ply is going up quick.

righto. Heres some photos of the new 'skin'... ;D





We have put it up this time so that all edges will be covered/overlapped. The walls dont touch the steel at the bottom- there is a 5mm gap so water will run off and not get drawn up like with the pine. The corners will be covered by 50mm cedar angle cappings we are making on the tablesaw. I love the smell of the cedar when cut- its the same smell as a good pencil when sharpened.

I have yet to fully finish the remake/design around the popout openings but it will possibly be using more cedar. Previously the cladding had swelled up so much that the opening was squeezed inwards and the popout's jammed. Not anymore.

We have a load of treated pine batons stained a dark colour- these will go up over the joins between the sheets and at every 300mm to break it up. Saying that I am quite relieved because it doesn't look anywhere as slabby as I thought It might. (did you see the use of technical terms such as 'slabby'- I like to throw them in here and there to make myself appear all professional like).

These same batons we will surround the windows with. All joins between sheets, around windows, down the corners etc have been siliconed. But this wont be seen as they will becovered with said batons.

Alloy gutters will be added soon to stop water running down the side.

The sheets were first coated with Seasonite, then once up we coated them with Wolmans which is a rain repellent. Its great- water just beads and runs off.

And finally the whole truck will be driven into a 'Carcoon'.
Carcoon have received an order from me for the biggest Carcoon they have ever made. This will be hermetically sealed and when we want to enter the truck we will wear special space suits that I bought off ebay USA, apparently last used in ET.

Here is a view from the back- the sheet on the back near doorway has just had a coat of wolmans hence it looks wet- it dries clear.



And yesterday we also discovered that water had got in between the two sheets we had put down on the veranda floor. We had used two sheets for added strength. bad idea- I take the blame...my mistake and honest..I am learning fast! ::)



Anyway... its all gone now, the steel is being repainted in black hammerite then we have proper decking to go down- which we will have gaps between and water will just drop through. No walls will touch decking so the cant draw water up.

Looking forwards to the decking as the ply was bloody ugly!

We want to redo the ceiling above too- but not urgent.

Back to the truck- its sunny and its meant to be 17 degrees by the middle of the day!

alex

Time for some long overdue updates I think...

The veranda floor we made from two sheets of ply( we had got one free so thought why not) was wet between the sheets. That had to go. we had planned to get rid of it but nearer the end of the project. Down went the ecyluptos decking we got from plankville. Very strong and is NZ grown so we begin to offset our carbon footprint that is the Orang-utan blood covered hardwood ply. We have spaced it apart 2mm and it will now not act as a swimming pool.



We finished the last of the main outside ply work. We are very happy with it. It still needs the batons and window flashing fitting but its all weather proof now.
I've made corner cappings using the tablesaw out of cedar and these have come up great with danish oil.

Replacing the base of frame with treated pine.



First few sheets up on offside.



Cladding front..





We have made gutters on one side- the side that gets more rain. Will put up other side soon. They are 25mm x 1.6 alloy channel and work well. The copper piping connecting all the gutters eventually runs down to deck level where its filling buckets quickly!

Two more windows have gone in with about 6 more to go in - the extra light from each one fitted is great!

Next up was the pop out holding system. I welded in some tube through the steel work at bottom of frame. once pop out is ..out.. a 10mm bolt will be slide in place each bottom corner- this will stop it swinging in.
Then I started getting paranoid..what if while I am drinking my cup of eastern Mongolian scented grass root tea whilst pondering what dreams I may have caught in my dreamcatcher when the bolts break- hot tea all over lap and my monthly edition of 'Friends of the lesser spotted Tibetan weevil' magazine. So I built some extra stays that brace against the rope rails.





Then the fun bit begins- putting the floor down. The floor needed painting first. We have become used to the p/outs being in and now they are out the extra space is lovely.

Red primer.



Topcoat..



The Rimu wood flooring is very rustic. Full of holes but it sands up really well. My brother is over for the week so he has been helping. Yesterday we finished both p/out floors and now the batons are going down to lay the main floor down. 30mm of insulation under the rimu will get rid of that cold steel feel. Cant wait till it all down as this will transform the feeling inside.

A staged photo yesterday...shavings are real- imported from some famous carpentry place in the black forest, Germany. My grandads old plane.



The new floor begins.

Here's a taster of the floor going down....



And I almost forgot the sink hole. Mustn't forget the shower hole...




Here's it is after we finished last night...



So happy with it. Its just the look we want and we got the rimu bloody cheap too!

some updates. We have almost finished putting up all the batons and flashing around the windows. I have yet to make proper removable 'rain deflectors' over the windows. But for now it look great we think. Very happy with the look.

The last of the ply is up in place on the roof facing parts of the upstairs rooms. We've put in a door for access out onto the roof from the bedroom. So just some cappings to finish it all off up there.

We mounted the Cedar/Rimu door into the frame I built from Rimu and Miro. It looks great and fits well with the other wood and marine ply..

And we put in the little window we had restored. It was going to be fixed but we couldn't help but to make it an opening window. Its lovely and will be nice on a hot day...



Next on list after the batons are all done will be starting to line the inside out with the 500 metres of Rimu cladding we scored a great deal on.

I took some photos tonight at sunset - because the sky was pretty... but i missed the bloody sunset

Anyway..

slowly ticking along- its getting warmer feeling inside with the wood going up.

Outside almost all done too- just some more windows to fit - still 3 windows to make.
I was fitting the brand new locking door handle we had jus bought that morning. I hopped down the steps and one foot went too close to edge tipping step and I went down hard landing my dodgy knee onto a paving slab. New door knob smacked something too. bugger!..



Heres some shots- insulation going in on popouts- will be thicker on main walls and ceiling.



and the door frame- lovely colours...



so nice I took just a photo of the wood. very warm colours- wod is a mixture of Rimu, Miro and macrocarpa.