Cuppa's Camper

[Clunk]

Yep have to agree.... would love a set up like these

[Woof]

Good to see that Brett looked after you mate, you have certainly been very busy lately, Cuppa's Camper is looking good

[Cuppa]

A bit more progress.
After collecting the various bits & pieces together to plumb in the hot water service, I haven't as yet plumbed it in. Initially I thought I'd start under the bonnet, but when it came to it, decided to start in the canopy. I've built an enclosure for the hot water tank, which I'll fill with extra insulation, probably those little polystyrene balls used for bean bags. I don't want to use anything that will make it impossible to get at the tank in the event of a leak. Making the enclosure has to take this into account too. No pics of the enclosure yet, that'll probably be the next 'installment'. Suffice it to say that a fair bit of time has gone into pre-building the enclosure, which is now dismantled for painting, & can be rebuilt around the tank. My style of building tends to be the 'make it up as you go along' type, as opposed to drawing up plans first. (Maybe the odd 'back of the envelope' type of drawing, but that's about it).Consequently a fair bit of time gets taken up with 'discovering' that something isn't going to work, & having to go back to square one!
After pressure testing the HWS on the bench to ensure that no connections leaked, I fitted it today.
Next job is to plumb it into the motor.
Here's some pics. Two show the HWS bolted into place & hoses connected to fittings that are bolted through the floor. One pic shows those fittings from under the floor. Very limited space, due to the under tray drawers. The fittings & hoses will run behind the underfloor gas bottle cabinet (removed at present to gain access. Rest of the pics show the two ARB fridge slides fitted.

Cuppa

[Shaunous]

Looking good mate, coming along nicely...

[DX grunt]

Looking good mate, coming along nicely...

X2. Looking good. It's amazing how differently we think!! lol

[Cuppa]

After the first attempt to plumb in the hot water service ended up with the HWS working but the cab heater not at all, I had a second go, & got it right second time around. The HWS needs to be in parallel with the heater, not in series. I'd read this before installing it the first time & thought I understood it. I understand it now! Luckily sorting it out only meant changing a few hoses in the engine bay, All the work I'd done running hoses from the engine bay to the canopy, including fitting a heap of that spiral 'armour' stuff intended to protect hydraulic hoses on diggers & dozers didn't need re-doing thankfully. Hopefully next time I want to spend a day or two scrabbling under the vehicle on my back in the dirt, with remnants of the Red Centre dropping into my eyes & mouth I will think to put it up onto the ramps first! Of course by the time I'd thought about doing this, I'd disconnected hoses & lost coolant, so wasn't keen to start the motor. Doh! At least when I finally re-started it I had no leaks. It had been a long job, the chassis & under the vehicleis not a place intended for heater hoses & I put a lot of effort into trying to ensure that all hoses are protected from flying rocks & from rubbing through on anything.

The HWS has yet to have freshwater plumbed to it, this will happen once I have a water tank. Of course the various 'standard' sized RV water tanks are all the wrong size & shape, so I have to get one custom made. So far I've had 5 quotes ranging from $945 (gulp!) to a far more reasonable $320. It will be a lightweight Polypropylene tank with a capacity of about 150 litres.

The HWS is now 'boxed in' with additional insulation around the tank, I used some polystyrene sheet & a couple of those high density foam sleeping mats cut up. Hopefully this will work as well as the set up in our bus, & keep the hot water hot for up to 3 days. Next on the agenda is wiring for the 'house battery charging system - DC to DC and Solar - I've worked out the wiring in a diagram, now have the challenge of transferring this to the vehicle, once I've sussed out the various wire sizes needed.

Cuppa

[Silver]

what about a condemned automotive LPG tank as a water tank? Years ago, some were stainless, and were picked up by the inboard engine ski boat crowd

[Cuppa]

Hi Silver, I had actually considered doing just that, as I have a couple of old LPG tanks sitting around here unused. I decided against it though mainly because of height (& the fact that they aren't stainless & surprisingly heavy). It would protrude up into where I want to have storage in sliding plastic bins so I'm going to get a tank that is only 250mm high, & sits under where the storage bins will be. I know someone who has four of those stainless lpg tanks in their converted bus for fresh & grey water.
Cuppa

[Woof]

Looking good Cuppa, when it is completed you and Mrs Tea hopefully will visit the wild west mate, so I can see it in the flesh.............got more patience than me for sure

[Inkbandit]

Nice Rig you got there Cuppa, just a tip with the wiring for the Redarc BCDC, we use circuit breakers instead of the recomended 30A fuse, we have had a few come back where they have actually melted the fuse and fuse holder, ie crank battery to 40A circuit breaker then run 6mm positive wiring to the BCDC and from that we use a 30A circuit breaker to the house battery. hope this makes sense, its harder to explain a circuit than what it is to draw it