Truck insulation, walls, ceiling, and floor

[MadScientist267]

Cold season is creeping in, and faster than I'm comfortable with (no pun intended)... I haven't acquired the rails to mount the PV yet, and mother nature waits for no-one. So I rethought how to go about insulating the ceiling so as to keep accessibility for the cabling simple and still not need to undo or otherwise remove anything when the time comes. This is what I've come up with.



2" x 1/16" angle aluminum cut to either 4 or 6 inch chunks, depending on exact location around the edges, L brackets in combination with eye bolts, terminated with T nuts, to form the structural support. The foam is 2" R-10, finished with 5mm 3 ply panel.

Only the first section is up, there are a total of 3 more full size sheets to go up, and the "access hatch" for the PV wiring (a narrow strip of similar assembly that will overlap the main structure for easy removal).

Didn't come out bad at all... the weight is evenly distributed and the tiny amounts of sag visible will be easily rectified by a small amount of adhesive (likely just going to use a thin skin of RTV in select spots to finish it up). There's almost zero pressure required to close the gaps.


Typical 4" bracket, there are 5 of these on this section, one on either side near the very front, and 3 spaced apart along the front wall.



There are two 6" angles, one on each wall, that share corners with the adjacent section.



Detail of the T nut assembly. You'll have to use your imagination here, the extraneous stud (pronounced "head gasher") will be trimmed off and the assembly creatively locked and finished. I'm still tinkering with ideas there... May leave it exposed and just lock it with blue, but also considering gorilla tape, trimmed to the fender washer. 2 birds one stone

More to come... the ceiling won't be completely finished before I begin on other parts due to various reasons, so this will jump around a bit as weather, creativity, and possibly insanity permit 

Steve

[niall]

i like the insulation .......

keep it or loose it ........

i tried to do similar on an old house but but mine was a loosing battle .............it makes you think though

bubble wrap seems usefull , and cheep ..a good insulator....i like bubble wrap

[MadScientist267]

Thanks, not bad really if I say so myself considering that I'm on the fringe of nearly everything in the process of trying to make it all happen... it's a challenge, that's certain.

Starting to kinda sorta resemble something like "home" with the addition of the second section... the lights kinda reel it all in



It's a relief to finally see it starting to take on its new shape. Everything about those lights were a gamble when it came to the insulation and paneling... whew.

More as it comes...

Steve

[tomw]

I haven't noticed any windows.

It will feel like you are in a tomb when the door is closed.

Suggest a skylight and maybe a surveillance camera system.

My homebuilt pickup camper I lived in after I got back from SE Asia in '71 and turned  hermit had that problem. No windows for light, no ventilation and no way to see what was happening outside without opening the door.  Got stuffy and close in there too but it kept the weather out. It let me reboot from warrior mode into average Joe mode. I did not add windows because the dark interior matched my dark mood and it served it's purpose at the time. I have to admit when I stopped using it and burned it it was a joy to leave it in ashes.

Just thoughts from that experience.

It was easy to sleep late with no light announcing daylight.

[MadScientist267]

Yep no windows or any external light sources. Primary goal is stealth, which windows would destroy... and most certainly agreed... when I want to sleep, light isn't the factor

I've looked at a couple ways of doing surveillance... May just use this simple RF (analog) cam set I've got and pipe the composite into the TV... no recording of course with that, but let's me grow a couple extra eyes anyway.

It'll end up being whatever cost and creativity allow. I have those on hand, if I can find all the parts... LOL

Steve

[tomw]

maybe a couple simple periscope type devices? no electric devices to fail /power just tube and mirrors.

Just a thought.

Tom

[MadScientist267]

I'll figure out something...

Few more pics, got two more foam boards cut and laying in place more or less as a test fit that never got done LOL

I have a "heat teepee" set up with the remaining foam boards, sliding (ok squeaking) door and all!

Must be well on my way to something right... 26C in here according to the classic...  ~79F... and it's 6C (42.8F) out












A little cramped, but warm.

Till next time...

Steve

[ZoNiE]

I've been reading your stuff. Very interesting and enlightening.

Are you going to put any sort of protection over your wiring before you mount your foam boards? Murphy's law dictates that in the future when you want to mount something, you will drill the first hole right into the wiring...

[MadScientist267]

Ahhh yes, Murphy.

I'll evade him on that particular point... virtue of other aspects of the design. But I didn't say that, mmmkay? Cuz if he heard.... 

More or less, it won't be an issue simply because things to be mounted have to be considered ahead of time or gone about another way. The box is made of fiberglass reinforced plywood, and is relatively thin, so I've taken steps above and beyond to avoid going into it directly anyway, as much as possible. So far the only exceptions have been for the wiring supports themselves and electrical boxes. Everything else is supported indirectly, by the aluminum rails.

This has of course caused headaches, as it is impossible to foresee all of the future needs or desires. As such, there will be rather extensive usage of the passenger side wall, shelves "behind" the desk, another structure above the wheel well, etc. I'm not much for decorations, so nothing of the knickknack variety, or pics hanging anywhere, and so on. The innermost paneling is still not set completely in concrete, but will likely be too thin to do much more than look at. 

If something needs to be changed badly enough, the construction allows relatively simple disassembly so that modifications can be made.

Steve

[ZoNiE]

Gotcha, and it's not like other people will be installing things anyway, I s'pose.

[philb1]

My homebuilt pickup camper I lived in after I got back from SE Asia in '71 and turned  hermit had that problem. No windows for light, no ventilation and no way to see what was happening outside without opening the door.  Got stuffy and close in there too but it kept the weather out. It let me reboot from warrior mode into average Joe mode. I did not add windows because the dark interior matched my dark mood and it served it's purpose at the time. I have to admit when I stopped using it and burned it it was a joy to leave it in ashes.

Just thoughts from that experience.

It was easy to sleep late with no light announcing daylight.

I know many that did about the same thing Tom including me. Readjustments can be difficult and take quite some time.

Mad- I'm glad to see the progress.  Obviously you are thinking about how everything should be setup. It looks really good to me.

[MadScientist267]

I realized just a bit ago that the pics were mounting up and the progress was being made but I've been slipping a bit in the documentation department... so here's an update.





The back wall has been roughed in and the ceiling worked out. The design allows for the rollup door to remain intact, retracting up into a tightly margined gap. It also provides a space for the propane locker and some inherent storage space above it.

The transition (visible in the pic below with the fan) was the trickiest part to figure out, but once I set it up, the rest just kind of fell into place.

We got a little ahead of ourselves (that's been par for the course for me throughout this entire endeavor)... the sheathing needed to go up on the sides before the framework that supports the back wall, and now, again as typical, it will be difficult to rework. I may bypass the rework altogether and go with a little idea I've got... it'll depend on what timing does.





The back wall with the OSB in place. The placement of the foam is only temporary.





Since this wasn't even remotely a standard sized anything, the door had to be fabricated from scratch as well. It's frame is 2" thick to allow 100% foam fill, but also has the same OSB as the wall for a little extra toughness. It will mean some tweaking for the lock, but should work fine. The inside will be covered with the same paneling that the ceiling has.



Here is the cross flow fan hanging from the transition support beam (not visible). It's there for evaluation as a replacement idea for the traditional style fan. It uses very little power, and while it moves a fair amount of air, it's all in a "beam", and so diffusion vanes will need to be designed for it.

The tape above the left side of the fan is a patch until that piece can be replaced. I broke it after cutting it by slapping it to get the stragglers off

Behind all this you can see my makeshift door that's keeping things comfortable until the real door is finished.

That's about all for now... I'm just trying to squeeze 4x what a truck this size is designed to hold down into a volume occupying approximately 1/8 of it's total available space. Not fun...



... Nearly everything in that pic is slated to play a role, and there's plenty more where that came from

Till next time...

Steve

[bj]

   Looking good Steve.  Should be easy to keep nice and warm.  Probably even here.

[MadScientist267]

Been a while I know, but lots been going on here or there... figured tho maybe a sneak peek is in order 



Getting there... one piece of the puzzle at a time

Steve

[ZoNiE]

Coming along nicely.

I'd stick a window on that back wall, so when you are not needing stealth, you can roll up the back door and have natural light.

I also think that some sort of "industrial" panel up near your headboard would make some sense. A flip out vent looking thing, that when open allows fresh air and a way to look out and down, or pop open all the way so you can really see.

Paint some graphic on the box like a window installation company, and mount a real residential window on the surface with a small panel that you can open, say one pane's worth? Me? I'd gotta have a way to look out other than a camera or periscope...