Walkabout Motorhome

Welcome to the webpage for the construction of the Bucklander motorhome...

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The first job was to replace the blown cylinder head gasket on the rear bank of cylinders. This was a major task as the head had to be removed with an estimated force of about 20 tonnes due to carbon buildup on the cylinder head bolts where the blow occurred. The head was machined and the fuel injectors were rebuilt. After reconstruction the motor was found to run very well (it seemsin very good condition), although there is a vibration to be investigated, but I am confident this is a dry universal joint in the driveshaft between the torque converter and gearbox. The vertical exhaust stack was removed, repaired and reassembled at this point, and repainting was commenced by myself on the top half of the rear of the unit. Respraying is now being done by Ron Carratt.
Motorhome construction began in December 2007 with removing the seats and stripping out the interior. The overhead storage area floor was replaced with timber as the mesh bottom was damaged and the plastic coating was peeling off the mesh. The damaged side was removed and the metalwork was straightened and a new panel was made up. Prior to fitting, the main water tanks were fitted behind the replaced panel (300 litres). A new diesel generator was then 'shoehorned' into the space beside the motor. A storage area was constructed over the main fuel tank which is also the access point for water filling, compressed air outlet and external water tap etc.
A base for the lounge was constructed with storage underneath and a filing cabinet was put in place beside where the lounge is to be located. Four of the original bus seats were recovered with leather (the lounge will be the same) and were refitted in a club seating arrangement. There will be two tables between the seats. This will also be the main computer centre for the motorhome, directly behind the drivers seat. As soon as the right side of the unit is resprayed we will turn it around and the PlugIT office will then be relocated into the motorhome. This should occur sometime in March. Weather has not been very conducive to painting!
Construction of the main bedroom then commenced. The original rear 'window' (aluminium) was made to hinge out at the bottom and a perspex roof was constructed. A canvas surround was made up to clip in place around the 3 sides. This can be folded inwards if ever required. This makes up the last 2ft of the bed. Part of the underbed area was built in as an auxilary water tank (260 litres) and the rest was converted into underbed storage consisting of 4 large drawers, 2 large cupboards and a very large underbed storage area under the mattress. The central 'island' console was then constructed, which is one of the main features of the motorhome. Construction of the kitchen area has commenced with the removal of the first window and wiring being run up to the rooftop for solar power. Next major project will be fitting the prefab kitchen which will be ready around the end of February, at which stage the bulk of the 240 volt wiring can be fitted (some wiring was done when the generator was fitted).
Once the unit has been repainted on the right side we will be turning it around and at that point the plumbing and gas installation can commence. There will be another external door in the left side of the unit.
April 5th 2008. This marked a milestone in the development of the RV. Except for a section in the centre of the roof that is to be done in nonslip paint as a walkway, painting was completed last week Respraying was one of the major hurdles and this was completed by Ron Carratt with myself as the understudy. Fitting and setup of all components on the right hand side of the unit were completed by this morning. These included completion of the generator unit, the solar battery layout and componentry, the water tank/pressure system/supply and refilling plus the access door to the main fuel tanks and the storage unit. It also involved completion of the main bedroom extension as this had to be completed and folded up to be able to park the RV rearwards in. As a result we were able to turn the unit around and start on the left side of the vehicle. This was quite a process as we had to block off the main road in both directions while the vehicle was reversed out and again when it was reversed in. Daniel relished the opportunity to use the Stop/Go lollipop sign (borrowed from my next door neighbour and ex Hornsby Council). We had a fleet of locals as spectators (it has become quite a celebrity/talking point in Koolewong and has had quite a few visitors!). Once we had reversed out we 'boarded' the bus for the trip to Woy Woy and a U turn around the roundabout to be able to reverse in to the driveway. So now work commences on the left side. Remainder of construction will be divided into 3 main parts plus the awning (Part 4). Part 1 - underfloor. Underneath the floor the hot water system, toilet receptor unit, air conditioner compressor unit and the LPG cylinder storage unit will be fitted. Part 2 - interior. Inside work to be done involves the completion of the kitchen, fitting of the spa/shower unit, the toilet/vanity unit and completion of the electrical outlets, both 12 and 240 volts (majority of the electrical work is completed). During this part of the construction 3 windows will be removed and replaced with fixed panels and the interior part of the air conditioner will be fitted. I am retaining the original flurorescent lighting system and supplementing it with 12 volt downlights throughout. Part 3 - rooftop. This will involve fitting the solar panels (all wiring is done and the batteries - inverter are already connected and being used), fitting some storage and tv/foxtel arial/dish combo (and this is the part that I am in the biggest quandry over). Part 4 (awning). Design for this part of construction is pretty well finalised but it is the last item of construction so will not be started on until most of the rest is completed.
May 8th 2008. Progress to date: All windows have now been completed and the bathroom and toilet windows have been installed with 'partial blockout' incorporated into the window glass. These were a major job as the whole windowframe had to be 'fabricated' from the existing frames, and the result is something I am very pleased with. The major project this month has been the completion of the kitchen and related accessories and I am pleased to report this is now 98% complete. This was one of the major and most time consuming projects as the quality of the kitchen can 'make or break' the project, with a lot of detail work taking a lot of extra time to complete. All drawers and cupboards are complete (I had the drawer frames made up by a company in West Gosford and am more than pleased with their expertise and co-operation with what I was trying to achieve). Also done over this last month has been the solar collector system. During this time I have been working part time on other areas: completion of the kitchen involved completing most of the 240 volt and 12 volt wiring, completion of most of the gas plumbing (the stove and fridge are the major gas appliances, only other one being the primary hot water system - the gas cylinder container which will be incorporated under the floor is 50% done). The solar panels are installed and working plus a tilt mechanism has been employed to maximise sunlight capture for winter. A lot of the bathroom preliminary work has beeen done, including installation of the bathroom flooring, preliminary installation of the vanity unit and spa bath, drainage for the vanity and spa bath and the washing machine and electrical wiring for both the bathroom and shower/bath unit. Currently I am working on the hot water system and I will make some notes on this at the end of this section. Major work to be completed is as follows: Underfloor - installation of the gas cylinder reservoir (50% done in the workshop), toilet reservoir, Air conditioner external unit and auxilary hot water system (completed by tomorrow). Interior: Completion of the bathroom and spa/shower unit, the main hot water system and the extra bench area (including the washing machine and internal air conditioner unit and additional storage). There is some electrical work to complete, both 240 and 12 volt, but most 240 volt work is done, only waitinng on Jono re earthing. Roof: Have to replace some damaged roof panels with some panels that I have had fabricated. this will need at least 4 days of fine weather as I have to open the roof up and will need assistance from someone (probably Daniel) for this work. Will also be installing the electric awning at the same time (this is not the external room awning - this will be one of the last projects and will possibly not be completed until later in the year).When I remove the roof panels I will also be running power to the rear area of the unit and this will complete the electrical work. Extras: I am still 'mulling' over the design of the satellite TV system (mainly how to simplify the dish setup) but have a fairly good idea what I want to do and how to achieve it. Apart from this and the external room awning I am still pretty much on target to finish by the end of June.
WATER. When I started this project, one person whose advice I sought was someone I have known for many years - Phil Leggatt, as he has both vast experience with trucks and has run a similar sized motorhome for over 12 years. A lot of his advice has been invaluable, but probably none more so than his advice on water. His advice was to have as much water capacity as you can, and although you may not need it often, it can make life a lot easier if you find a spot you want to stay in - if you have enough water you dont have to pack up and leave just to replenish your water supply. So, thinking along those lines, I decided to design the hot water system to be able to uutilise the "best of both worlds". We have both a spa bath and a shower, and obviously the spa bath would not be used when you are in a situation where you are trying to make your water supply spin out to the max. So as the main water heater I am installing a Trumo gas/240 volt system with a relatively small tank and a quick recovery cycle. But as an extra I am installing a good old fashioned Dux domestic non offpeak 50 litre HWS which will feed into the Trumo, so if you are in a situation where you have plenty of water, you just turn on the Dux and should have plenty of hot water available. There will be a bit of trial and error initially, as with the Dux feeding hot water to the Trumo it will probably be need to be set at a lower water temperature than the Trumo. If it is not running, the cold water will pass through to the Trumo and it will be doing all the work.
July 22nd. After a lot of delays and some problems we are now ready to begin 'road trials'. We had a few problems, chiefly issues with chinese inverters but hopefully this issue is behind us. Had to also remove the underfloor watertanks, all because one tank (of course the hardest to get to :( sprung a leak, and on getting it out I found a flaw in the moulding in the small tank, which was actually a new caravan tank. This was fixed and the tanks were refitted. The bathrooms are now finished except for the mouldings around the windows - these are a minor detail that will be done later. The satellite dish has been an overwhelming success. I reverted to a manual setup for the fold and the elevation tilt which means you set it from up on the roof (see photos for how we access the roof) but this is no hardship as you tilt the solar panels at the same time. It is only a small job to set the skew for the LNB and set the elevation, then come back inside and rotate the dish with the winder to the required compass heading and watch it locate the best position on the satfinder guage. After a bit of practice the operation should take under 10 minutes. Electrical certification was completed succesfully last month with no issues, initial gas certification was done, but we had to make some minor alterations, so I am going to Erina hopefully this week for its final inspection. I have to get a weighbridge certificate for its next registration, when it will be converted from a motorcoach category to (I assume) an RV category. After that we can start loading some more gear in. For the recertification for registration I also have to have an inspection by an RTA certified engineer (theres only one on the coast!). Things like the seats have to be certified but I dont anticipate too many issues. This will probably happen next week. This week I am also intending to take the motorhome down to West Gosford to be 'fitted' for the sides to the awning (sounds like buying a suit!). The awnings have also worked out very well - the front awning is a standard domestic 240 volt automated awning (sourced from GraysOnline auctions), but it has to be folded in in strong winds. The rear awning is the same but I have modified it with locking arms that allow it to be left out in strong winds and to date we have had some very strong winds with no problems. With the sides attached and anchored to the ground it should withstand most wind conditions. Another major succes has been the air conditioner - it is an NEC inverter unit and is one of the quietest I have ever seen. We fitted all the front half with venetians - these seemed to give us the best light control. Spotlight did the curtains for the rear and for the room divider (and stuffed up the measurements after coming out and measuring it up, but are going to redo a couple of them), however they will be good when they are finished.