Replacing Class c motorhome body for touring act

[capturedbyrobots]

Its getting a little confusing. Never dealt with these triangles or domes...
I think it might be too much for me with trying to get it covered quick. I'd hate to get in over my head and then feel lost.

I found out that soldering the seams wouldn't be too hard, just would need to prep well. Or a locktite product or even a bondo style material would work to smooth and waterproof the seams to make it look smooth.
I think with good overlap, and sealing it inside and out, it would hold up fine.
The aluminum material my camper has now is only durable in the sense that if you don't touch it it's fine. A simple tree branch can rip it open easily. Steel would definitely be stronger, and I could get away with a lighter gauge than aluminum.

Yeah, the last design I posted is what I want to do, but is there a template for it looking down from the top? Id like to try and get a more 3d plan of attack.

As for roof vents, Ill wait until the build is done to decide what to do. If I added a normal vent then added a vent cover like was posted would that be still kill my FE, cd ,AAA, a&e, and all that fun?

I think I'm going to attempt to reuse my old windows and just rebuild them.

[ChazInMT]

From the top down, in an ideal world, you would superimpose 2 template like this.



But who are we kidding? Trying to design this into your shell would be very complicated, and I don't believe the return would be significant. I have thought through your design and this is why I say V2 is great, you don't really need to worry about the sides if you don't angle down the top too quickly. If you put the tail cone on, this would need a bit of a side taper. The thing you're trying to avoid is a pair of huge tornados that you drag along behind you everywhere you go. This is caused when the top drops too quickly, and the sides don't. The lower pressure created on top drags up air from the sides and makes a mess of things.

Look at this link to get a better idea of what I mean.

Page with lots of Vortex Talk

So, if you build your new shell based on the side view in post #22, just be sure you come in gradually and only about 10-12 inches on your tail cone area from where it attaches to the straight sides and I think you'll optimize your space, and avoid the dreaded big butt vortices that really kill you.

The reason a vortex is bad has to do with the energy it takes to maintain it. Keep in mind, the air you're driving through is standing still. We have it in our minds so strong that the air is "Blowing" over our vehicles, and for a lot of things, this is OK to think this way. But when considering the Vortex, it helps to keep reality in mind. The vehicle is pushing through air that is not moving. (Assuming a calm day)

Now when we minimize the amount we disturb, or set into motion, this still air, then we end up imparting less energy to make it go in motion. When you create a tornado that you are dragging along, it requires a large amount of energy to keep it moving. Remember the air was still before you came along, so if it's rotating after you left the spot, that requires energy, the bigger the vortex, the more energy required.

The key is to minimize the pressure differences that are close together, so by modestly tapering your top, you don’t create as much low pressure that is going to try and suck in the higher pressure air from the side. At the back tail cone area, where the top starts to angle down more, you need to taper in the sides to form a lower pressure there thus keeping the air from moving up.

I hope I didn’t lose you there. If so speak up and I’ll try drawing something or figure out another way to put it.

You may want to reconsider the whole foldable tailcone thing and make that interior space instead, as long as you don't pile a ton of stuff in the back, I'd think that room would be gold to you. Heck, that would be a good place for the bed to go and really stretch out. just sayin.

Also, I notice you're pretty aggressive on the bottom coming up, this should be 10° max and I measured it to be a bit over this at 12°. You may want to rise more gradually there.

Hope this helps.

[capturedbyrobots]

Great explanation!
Got it.

The tail is foldable for parking. I didn't write it in this thread, but I mentioned it in my introduction. My city is ****ed. They've been giving me tickets lately for having a motorhome on the street between 2-6am. I've been here for 4 years and never had an issue. This is what led me here.

To fit it in my driveway so they can't keep popping me, my driveway is 16.9 ft to the sidewalk. Can't block the sidewalk or I'll get popped for that. I was gonna get a diesel box truck and modify that, but then there's another bull**** law, no commercial vehicles with a rating over 10k gvwr parked on the streets.
The small uhaul box trucks (f350) are rated at 11k. Pow, ticket!

So I've been hunting unicorns, looking for a vehicle that can fit my robots, and one that I can park on the street to keep it at around 19ft.
Can't find one. Need the standing room in a tall vehicle, need the 8ft width to store the bots width wise so I can have the living room when on the road for 6-8 weeks at a time.

I have 2 calls into the head of the department of parking and traffic, and have not received a call back yet. I need to find out if the vehicle classification changes on the registration, and it no longer looks like a motorhome, will I still get tickets? If not, then I'll build it longer (19ft total length, then I'll do the boat tail after that. I swear, this bull**** has kept me up at night, wondering if I'll owe the city $47 every night is a really great way to induce insomnia.

If he doesn't call me back, I'm going to go the the police chief and lodge a complaint, and have the chief help me understand the law and figure out a way to not break the law. ****. I hate authority. I feel like a ***** bowing down to their crap, but unless I pay for storage, I have to deal with them.

[capturedbyrobots]

Heres a thought on the new sleeper nub I'll have over the front seats,
Would it help to add an upside down boat style nose to it, so it's not bulbous as much as it's pointed, then follow that upside down boat style from the top all the way back???

Just a thought, but I won't bother with it if it wouldn't give me much benefit over a rounded top without the taller center rib.

[freebeard]

Its getting a little confusing. Never dealt with these triangles or domes...

No problem (the whole rest of the world isn't ready yet, too), even though it would be stronger. It was suggested to address this:

Heres a thought on the new sleeper nub I'll have over the front seats,
Would it help to add an upside down boat style nose to it, so it's not bulbous as much as it's pointed, then follow that upside down boat style from the top all the way back???

Ignore the triangles. Instead of the sleeper getting to 8' wide at the back of the doors you could push it further back as shown.

Here's an example of what your structure would look like:

The tail is foldable for parking.

I knew a guy that lived in a Chevy panel truck. He had an awning that mounted on the roof that would roll back to make a roof over the back doors. It could follow the slope of the rear roof, and deploy downhill easily but you'd have to push it uphill to store it. There's been some debate about whether the back and bottom of the boat tail need to be enclosed.

Instead of a boat, think boxfish:

[capturedbyrobots]

As far as top and bottom of the tail they would fold against the back doors, and latch. For removing stuff from the rear doors, I'd just make a prop up stick like car hoods have and the bottom would just lay down so I could put a sturdy ramp over it. I'm just going to make it out of coroplast sheet with metal frame. No real structural integrity, so if they get hit, no biggy.

[pete c]

I think a cummins repower is in order. The 6BT should bolt right in. A 4BT would do even better mpg wise, but, it might be a tougher fit. I think the 727 would be up to either one, just make sure you have a huge tranny cooler.

Personally, I'd just find something like this....

2003 F.o.r.d E.3.5.0 passenger bus diesel 9 passenger

The nose is already pretty sleek and the wheelchair lift would be handy for loading your 'bots. BTW, could we have a pic of your rockstars? just tack a nice boat tail on. I would think that 20 mpg would be doable.

[ChazInMT]

Captured by Robots Promo Pic

Just guessing that's you in the funny shirt and the chain link adornments.

[capturedbyrobots]

Yep, I've been captured by robots, they are jerks...ripped my guts out, dont cha know.

[capturedbyrobots]

I want a truck like that. Problem is, how much you wanna bet it's over 11k gvwr?
Then I'm in the same boat I am in now, and would still either have to shorten it to fit in the driveway, or get tickets when I parked it on the street.