Replacing Class c motorhome body for touring act

[freebeard]

Thanks for posting the top view. How much time and money do you want to invest before the tour starts? I suspect gaining cooling air will net more than streamlining for gas mileage.

One option would be to insure that 14" vent opens to half it's width, e.g., 7" and put an 12v fan in the opening. If it's a 20" fan then you wouldn't need to shroud it and get the full opening working. Maybe a car radiator fan on an undersized motor (to keep RPMs down—up in the opening above the fan), with a hardware cloth grille since it will be right in your face in the bunk.

If you decide to open it up, go forward to the new front edge; and curb it up. Make a curved piece of Lexan (not plexiglass so it won't shatter) and put crescent shaped sides on it. Those can be opaque, 1x4" wood or whatever.

What did you think of the idea of a motorcycle fairing above the windshield? You could put driving lights in it. Having the light above you sight-line is great, off-roaders do it. And you could slide it up or down so the windscreen is the right height to be the front of you new skylight/ventilator.
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That aluminum looks to be thin enough you might consider shrinking it flat. To do that you would need an industrial heat gun (really hot hair dryer) and some dry ice. Run the heat gun over the high spots and then slap on the dry ice. Repeat as needed.

[Varn]

Hi Robot guy:
Not all of my projects turn out the way I envision them starting.

How much bracing do you have behind the front. I would think for 60 mph you are going to get a lot of flutter and concavity in your panel. I like the way it starts off nice with fillet radii at the bottom but there is no real transition to to the surfaces behind it.

If it suits you, great. If you decide you want to rebuild it in the future consider it a learning experience.

I'll have to check out your robot band.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by capturedbyrobots

I'd do a 4bt, the only issue is weight. I haul about 2k pounds, robots and merch and tools.
My 360 puts out about 175hp...well, maybe less now that its getting older but much less torque.
If a 4bt could pull this load up mountains, I'd be cool with it.

Even usually rated at lower power, the 4BT doesn't feel underpowered. Neither in mountains

But the size of it might be difficult to deal with, they look really deep.

The 4BT is not really so small, but not really so hard to fit into your van, there was even a guy who managed to fit it into a Nissan 180SX. Anyway there are other options such as the Isuzu 4BD1-T which is in thesame displacement range of the 4BT but is slightly smaller.

I have no smog restrictions/inspections on this camper, so I could put anything into it.

Then you could even throw a Deutz 913-series into it, one of the best Diesels ever made. No worry regarding radiator, hoses or water pump

[capturedbyrobots]

I've got a lot of framing in there. Pics were not shown of all of it. Everything is tied together, glued, screwed, and stapled. There will be no flex in the plywood or framing. ****, you could lift the camper by this new sleeper...well, not quite...

The aluminum skin will flex a bit I'm sure. I've never built things for aerodynamics before, nor ever skinned a vehicle body. Like everything, the next aero project will be better. This project was one where trade offs needed to take place (still having a single sleeper)

My robots didn't start as awesome as they are now. It's been 15 years of tinkering and rebuilding....

As for extra stuff to do, I'll figure out something to use for a big vent and an aero ramp before it like freebeard suggested. As to a motorcycle fairing, I don't really get it....I want to keep this thing really simple, as I have lots of programming to do still, lots of songwriting, video editing, tshirt design and printing, etc.....

I'm only going to do a few more quick mods, air dam on front and sides, and small mirrors, and a boat tail if I have time which I probably will....
If I do a vent, I probably won't do a fan, because I don't want to have to buy another battery or power pack. Ambient air is fine with me. As long as the hole is big enough, it will let some cooling air in. I could just throw a mosquito net over the opening when I sleep.

Q: effective length of my open boat tail...
What would be the shortest optimal length of it,
Would 2 ft be enough? Tapered at a 15 deg angle?

[capturedbyrobots]

As to money and time to this project, looking to spend somewhere around nothing, give or take. Spent about $40 on the new sleeper for the flashing and caulk. Everything else I had on hand.

Time? Don't know. I could do all the air dams in a day. Boat tail might take a day or 2.
Got some free coroplast coming my way, but might have to buy a full sheet or 2.
A full sheet is around $30 from my local "tap plastics".
A full sheet will do the side air dams 1 ft x 16ft. I have the front coroplast already.

[capturedbyrobots]

Oh, I found a plastic barrel of sorts with a low fitted lid that looks like it would work great for the sleeper hatch. It's been outside for awhile and the plastic is still very pliable, so I'm thinking it should work. We'll see...

[slowmover]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

If you're really gonna do so, I'd advice you to get it fitted with an anti-insect screen. Also would be good to consider some weather protection in case of heavy rain, for example.

And window-unit-type AC filtration can also be fitted to hold down the dust.

Wally Byam, the AIRSTREAM founder, had both a floor and roof vent fitted thus to ensure convective currents during the night in the sleeping area. Whether in Russia or Africa on the around-the-world AIRSTREAM caravans of the 1950's and '60's it was included on his personal TT.

Vents can be the type that tilt from one end, or open from two screws. Both have advantages.

MAX FAN and FANTASTIC FAN are the upscale (but highly effective) RV roof vents. I expect to spend about $300/ea on [3] for my travel trailer. That's the high end of pricing. Look them up and study design. Just a fan in a square hole doesn't move much air.

Escape hatches on RV's are side windows that simply fall out with the release of two/three latches. Should be plenty in an RV salvage yard (of which there are several in AZ).

.

[capturedbyrobots]

I like the idea of a floor vent to allow up/down cross flow ventilation. I hate opening windows at night.
I just need to find a place to make a floor vent where I can hook it up easily...did he run them on the sides near the walls? Any pics?

[slowmover]

My understanding was that the floor vent was in the aisle between the twin beds, just below ceiling vent (and windows on exterior walls of beds).

[capturedbyrobots]

Welp, took it on its short maiden highway voyage without the sail, and its great. No flex, no noise, seems like it just rolls better with less resistance. Sealed it up and there's no leaks after the other day of rain.

So I'm pretty happy.
Thinking of doing the front air dam today since I spent all day rebuilding robots in the dungeon yesterday. It'll be nice to get out in the sun.

It was cool to use my vacuum gauge to see what the engine load was. I never knew that climbing a slow steep hill in 2nd pulls a lot more fuel than climbing in first with barely any throttle. Gotta get a dedicated unit now mounted to the dash, are those summit ones any good?