The journey to date

Please feel free to describe your motorhome, campervan or caravan. (make, model, length etc)
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Mrbolly
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Joined: Tue May 09, 2017 9:07 pm
Location: Bayswater Victoria

The journey to date

Post by Mrbolly »

My Denning is an ex McCafferty / Greyhound coach so lots of kilometres on the chassis but the engine had only 28,000 kms on a major engine rebuild.

I have Raised the roof by 400mm, installed a slide room behind the driver, the room is built to take a 3 seater coach which will also convert into a bed. I imported the two lounges etc from the USA and brought additional material to upholster my seats and dash etc.

I also moved the entry door back into the 1st bin and filled in the original door opening constructing an additional bin in the area vacated by the original stairs.

All of the house appliances, fridge, a/c, front loader washing machine and microwave are 240v and so generating power from a LifeP04 battery set was key to being independent on the road. I have installed cells at 24v with 800 amp hours of depth and these are fed by 8 x 200 watt solar panels on the roof. I also have a 9th panel which feeds a second 12v battery bank which supplies power for 12v LED lighting, awnings, various water pumps and other 12v things such as the alarm and stereo systems.

I installed a Victron Kva inverter/charger unit and made provision to add a smaller inverter in the future should that be necessary.

I have installed all of the downstairs infrastructure such as 1100 let's fresh water, 400ltrs of grey water and a little over 300 Ltrs of black water and a vacuum toilet. I have made provision to be able to dump grey water where appropriate of I have made provision to transfer grey water to flush the black water tank when at a dump point. I plan to have a slide out kitchen in the bin area for use while camping, this is an idea only at the moment as I have yet to work out the slide mechanism which will allow the whole thing to rotate through 90 degrees are it slides out? Any suggestions gratefully received.

I have not had to do much with the vehicle mechanically, although I have done away with the original engine fan which consumes more than 25 horsepower to spin at revs. I built a new fan shroud and have mounted 4 electric fans working off two thermostats. The top two will actuate when the water coming out of the engine reaches 75 degrees, the second pair of fans are on the bottom of the radiator, these are very high volume fans which will come on when the water at the bottom of the radiator reaches 75 degrees. I have installed an air baffle across the fan shroud which stops the air moving between the top pair of fans and those at the bottom. This and the close fit of the fans in the shroud mean that all of the air pushed by all the fans goes through the radiator for cooling. I have also added an override switch on the dash so that I can bring the fans on early if I am climbing or stuck in traffic etc.

The only other mechanical change to date has been to replace the steel wheels with a set of Alloy wheels. I was offered a set of wheels, wheel studs, nuts and nut covers that another guy had purchased but didn't use, all for a very cheap price. When I received the package though, I discovered the wheel studs were useless as they had been made of mild steel instead of grade 8 steel to take the tension (500 mn) required of wheel studs. The problem was easily resolved though by using readily available ISO studs and nuts. The whole thing looks even better than I had thought and was worth the effort.

I have now moved inside the coach and levelled up the floor over the aisle, removed the toilet and repaired the flooring around the toilet and drink fountain area where spillage over the years had caused the ply floor to rot.

I decided to update the drivers area and have now made a nice curved fibreglass dash. This allows me to tidy up the original dash controls and switches etc.

The current plan is work forward from the bedroom at the back working my way through the bathroom, kitchen and lounge areas.

I have already constructed a curved shower cubicle in fiberglass. The benefit of making a one-piece mould and then making the one piece cubicle is that there cannot be any leaks at joints etc.

So, that is where I am up to on the project to date, still lots of work to do though.

Cheers, Alan
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Who said it would never go?
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jon_d
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Location: bedford

Re: The journey to date

Post by jon_d »

great stufff... is that your shed? I'm sooo jealous if it is. :mrgreen:
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Dot
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Re: The journey to date

Post by Dot »

Looking forward to the next instalment Alan, so far looking great. :D
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BruceS
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Re: The journey to date

Post by BruceS »

A credit to you and others who take on such a big project & never lose sight of the target!!
There is one more step to complete the posting of a picture.
Once the upload is complete you need to place the cursor where you want the picture to display & then on that upload page click on "Place inline" then finally on submit.
In this case you can click on EDIT & then "attachment", "add files" & then "place inline". (or something like that! ... been a long day!!)
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BruceS
Mannum, SA

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Mrbolly
Posts: 148
Joined: Tue May 09, 2017 9:07 pm
Location: Bayswater Victoria

Re: The journey to date

Post by Mrbolly »

jon_d wrote: Mon May 15, 2017 6:53 pm great stufff... is that your shed? I'm sooo jealous if it is. :mrgreen:
I'd love to be able to say yes, but if I did I'd be lying, and why would I do that - we are not married!

The shed was where I got the paint done.

My shed is far more cosy
Who said it would never go?
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Mrbolly
Posts: 148
Joined: Tue May 09, 2017 9:07 pm
Location: Bayswater Victoria

Re: The journey to date

Post by Mrbolly »

BruceS wrote: Mon May 15, 2017 7:09 pm A credit to you and others who take on such a big project & never lose sight of the target!!
There is one more step to complete the posting of a picture.
Once the upload is complete you need to place the cursor where you want the picture to display & then on that upload page click on "Place inline" then finally on submit.
In this case you can click on EDIT & then "attachment", "add files" & then "place inline". (or something like that! ... been a long day!!)
Thanks Bruce,

I'll try the picture thing tomorrow. I did try posting several pics with the post but it was too large. I still need to save them as smaller files.

Alan
Who said it would never go?
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Mrbolly
Posts: 148
Joined: Tue May 09, 2017 9:07 pm
Location: Bayswater Victoria

Re: The journey to date

Post by Mrbolly »

Dot wrote: Mon May 15, 2017 7:02 pm Looking forward to the next instalment Alan, so far looking great. :D
Thanks Dot,

Alan
Who said it would never go?
bagmaker
Posts: 886
Joined: Sun Jan 20, 2013 4:56 pm
Location: Victoria

Re: The journey to date

Post by bagmaker »

Looks like a nice rig, Alan, the windscreens have gone all flat!!
Was that a big task?
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El Gringo
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Joined: Sat Dec 28, 2013 1:48 pm
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Re: The journey to date

Post by El Gringo »

We need lots more pics... :)

If you have a photobucket account you can just link the pics to the post like this.
Image

That way they come through at a nice size and it doesn't affect the bandwith of this forum - or so I'm told.

Look forward to more info and pics,

Cheers,
Bernie B
Bernie B
I plan to stop procrastinating tomorrow.
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Busman
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Re: The journey to date

Post by Busman »

Hope you have beefed up under that slide out or you are going to have a bent coach going down the road, we have 2 in the same position but have undertaken very extensive structural work to put the strength back in, once you cut through the webbing connecting the front and back module they tend to bend once you put a few miles and bumps on them. Chris Wright won't even fit them to denning or tourmaster any more due to bending, that may give you a bit of an idea.
Cheers
William
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Suzuki GV more than ready to go NOW !
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