Project Overland Exploration Vehicle

**stuckathuntermtn** · 02-09-2016, 11:21 AM

That's awesome. What's a Masters in ME?

**LightRanger** · 02-09-2016, 11:36 AM

Mechanical Engineering.

Sick ride, single.

**sherpahigh** · 02-09-2016, 11:43 AM

Nice! Love these threads/builds. Would love to make my own some day but lack the time, money and room for it.

**single** · 02-11-2016, 03:32 PM

So i've got 8 new glow plugs in hand, and a Stancor Monster Relay and replacement valve cover gaskets on order. Going to tear into this thing myself and hopefully not drop anything into the engine.

At the point now where I am considering doing the injectors. Truck has 180k on the ticker, and it seems like injector replacement is imminent, I am just debating whether or not to replace with remans or new ones.

So aside from platform woes, things are moving forward quite well. Took the flatbed off and sold it to a guy down in Wyoming.

Tearing into the truck right now and building out a frame extension. Going to bring the frame 18 inches further out, so I will have a proper 8' platform, and beginning to build all the parts for a 3-point mount.

I guess now is as good a time as any to reveal the concept... I realize this photo is tragically hip, but it was for instagram...

Thats a "rendering" roughly to scale. Going to change the lines a bit, probably going to call on the maggots for aesthetic critique once the design is getting to the final stages.

The truck will be aluminum stressed skin aviation style construction. Basically a cage of aluminum c-channel skinned with .090 aluminum. I realize that nidacore and all the other composites people are using these days is a more technologically advanced, lighter, simpler, generally better way to build a camper, but I have no interest in using glass for my personal project. It's not cool. Riveted aluminum is cool, and all of the engineering challenges that it presents can be overcome.

I have a lot of parts in the mail now, waiting on a big aluminum shipment supposed to be here monday.

In the interim, I have been working on the frame stretch, and building some parts that are going to make life a little easier.

My wife help me put this table together for making cuts....

And just a teaser to show the other half of this project (my friend eric with his truck), this is a bit of a team exercise... We call it AeroContinental and you can see this stuff on instagram @aerocontinental if you want

**::: :::** · 02-11-2016, 03:39 PM

is this project part of a business startup?

**single** · 02-11-2016, 04:02 PM

Originally Posted by acinpdx

is this project part of a business startup?

Not explicitly.

We were initially thinking about marketing these during the build, but as the process went on the decision to just move forward organically was made. As of now they are a couple of personal projects. If someone was interested in purchasing one, assuming all goes well, I would consider heading down that road. It's way too early in the project to know whether or not we could even be profitable at a reasonable price. There is a LOT of work ahead. I don't really even know how to price one of these yet. It would be a lot.

**::: :::** · 02-11-2016, 04:22 PM

Originally Posted by single

Not explicitly.

We were initially thinking about marketing these during the build, but as the process went on the decision to just move forward organically was made. As of now they are a couple of personal projects. If someone was interested in purchasing one, assuming all goes well, I would consider heading down that road. It's way too early in the project to know whether or not we could even be profitable at a reasonable price. There is a LOT of work ahead. I don't really even know how to price one of these yet. It would be a lot.

that was my other question: budget
i'm guessing this is a pretty significant investment
don't reveal any more than you want, but is there a particular budget for this thing?

**single** · 02-11-2016, 04:36 PM

Well, the project is going on over at least the next year and a half. The first stage will be the cabin shell. I'm anticipating it will weigh about 800 pounds. At four dollars a pound for aluminum, and estimating about another 1000 for anodizing and sheet bending, and add windows it should be somewhere in the neighborhood of 5k. I realize that the shell is a pretty small part of the picture, but that is really all I have designed to at this point.

All told I think it will be considerably less than an FWC, but we also have access to just about any piece of tooling we could ever need for the cost of consumables, so that helps a lot.

The majority of the retail cost here would definitely be in labor and engineering.

**east or bust** · 02-11-2016, 04:42 PM

checking in, this is a sweet build.

it's funny how some ideas I've had floating around in my brain have ended up on tgr the last couple days.

looking forward to following the progression.

**::: :::** · 02-11-2016, 04:42 PM

Originally Posted by single

Well, the project is going on over at least the next year and a half. The first stage will be the cabin shell. I'm anticipating it will weigh about 800 pounds. At four dollars a pound for aluminum, and estimating about another 1000 for anodizing and sheet bending, and add windows it should be somewhere in the neighborhood of 5k. I realize that the shell is a pretty small part of the picture, but that is really all I have designed to at this point.

All told I think it will be considerably less than an FWC, but we also have access to just about any piece of tooling we could ever need for the cost of consumables, so that helps a lot.

The majority of the retail cost here would definitely be in labor and engineering.

understood, thx for the extra info

i'm not a gearhead, but i do enjoy seeing these expo vehicle projects

**ACH** · 02-11-2016, 04:59 PM

Originally Posted by single

I guess now is as good a time as any to reveal the concept... I realize this photo is tragically hip, but it was for instagram...

Thats a "rendering" roughly to scale. Going to change the lines a bit, probably going to call on the maggots for aesthetic critique once the design is getting to the final stages.

The truck will be aluminum stressed skin aviation style construction. Basically a cage of aluminum c-channel skinned with .090 aluminum. I realize that nidacore and all the other composites people are using these days is a more technologically advanced, lighter, simpler, generally better way to build a camper, but I have no interest in using glass for my personal project. It's not cool. Riveted aluminum is cool, and all of the engineering challenges that it presents can be overcome.

Awesome!
I will be subscribing to this thread, reminds me a lot of my Tiger in several ways.

Will you reman the back of the cab so there is a pass-through to the coach?

**Massdeez** · 02-11-2016, 06:24 PM

Originally Posted by east or bust

it's funny how some ideas I've had floating around in my brain have ended up on tgr the last couple days.

Same I had an idea for something similar to this but with a pop-top and a smaller truck. In my research i found this pretty cool thread that i thought might be of some interest.

http://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/lexu...ehicle.593286/

Cool project Single, i'm excited to follow the build.

**Bobby Stainless** · 02-11-2016, 07:02 PM

Lots of win.

**single** · 02-11-2016, 07:40 PM

Originally Posted by AlpenChronicHabitual

Awesome!
I will be subscribing to this thread, reminds me a lot of my Tiger in several ways.

Will you reman the back of the cab so there is a pass-through to the coach?

Thanks! Those tigers sound like pretty nice trucks, seems about the right size. Yeah, we will have a pass through in the back of the cab. Also going to have a flatbed that mounts to the 3 point mount and can be swapped when the camper is not in use for general truck duties.

Originally Posted by Massdeez

Same I had an idea for something similar to this but with a pop-top and a smaller truck. In my research i found this pretty cool thread that i thought might be of some interest.

http://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/lexu...ehicle.593286/

Cool project Single, i'm excited to follow the build.

That thing is sweet! I haven't seen that build before. I was initially going after the idea of a pop up on the back of my old tacoma, but there is really no way to get around the fact that those trucks can't safely carry a heavy payload. My one ton truck is going to just barely get away with the final build weight. May be slightly over the rated capacity in the end, but YOLO and all that.

I also wanted to do a pop up camper really badly, but they are really only good for dry climates. The hard side is definitely bigger, but if you want insulation theres not really a good alternative. Unless you go hard sided pop up, but thats a story for another day.

**Jethro** · 02-11-2016, 11:09 PM

Are those military tires/rims still running the run flat device?

**Trapp** · 02-12-2016, 01:23 AM

Love these build ups!

Originally Posted by single

At the point now where I am considering doing the injectors. Truck has 180k on the ticker, and it seems like injector replacement is imminent, I am just debating whether or not to replace with remans or new ones.

Injector replacement is imminent, but if you're not getting any tell-tale signs of worn injectors right now, I'd keep running them. Or get them tested. When it's time, complete set of brand new. A bit more upfront cost, but piece of mind down the road (pun intended).

Keep us posted!

**ACheateaux** · 02-12-2016, 07:36 AM

HPOP?

**Conundrum** · 02-12-2016, 08:49 AM

How does the pass through work when you remove the camper?

Cool project. I've always wanted to do something like this and have a shop I could probably use at my grandpa's and that's two hours away so have never figured out a feasible way to get it done in less than five years and a lot gas traveling back and forth. Stoked to see what you come up with.

**single** · 02-12-2016, 09:26 AM

Headache rack seals the hole. Yeah I'm at a point where this is feasible, and I realized its probably a pretty small window of time before we start having kids and won't be able to work on weird stuff like this.

Turns out renting shop space isn't too expensive though. We remodeled a sportsmobile to pay for most of our 6 month lease.

**Tye 1on** · 02-12-2016, 10:15 AM

i had a similar concept in mind once, on a smaller scale, and had also just researched Wharram home-built catamarans, so had the idea of doing a relatively lightweight stitch and glue marine ply coated w/epoxy...

then i just bought a used topper and called it good...

**The Reverend Floater** · 02-12-2016, 11:08 AM

Let it be known this is the best thread and only thread I have been excited about in TPR for quite a while. Sick build...you got me googling Humvee wheels for my 6.4L Superduty.

**TAFKALVS** · 02-12-2016, 11:26 AM

Originally Posted by single

My one ton truck is going to just barely get away with the final build weight. May be slightly over the rated capacity in the end, but YOLO and all that.

Maybe you could go dual rear axle? That'd be sweet. 6 wheel drive would definitely increase the boner factor of an already sexy truck...

**exsparky** · 02-12-2016, 11:35 AM

I'd like to see this come out as well as the ambo van did,
Good luck and keep building!

**shirk** · 02-12-2016, 02:23 PM

For the interior dig up the work Paul Jensen has done. He's a wooden surfboard builder that has applied some ingenious techniques to overland / sprinter interior builds.

http://pauljensencustom.blogspot.ca/...uso-recap.html