Touring robot rock band challenge, please help.

[capturedbyrobots]

Btw, what do you think about the design of the Winnebago rialta or lesharo?
Would that be something I should attempt to emulate? I know the rear is wrong...
But as far as height and front/sides shaping...

[freebeard]

Btw, what do you think about the design of the Winnebago rialta or lesharo?
Would that be something I should attempt to emulate?

Yes.

I took a pass through Photochop:


First, with the nose up, you get air rammed into the undercarriage. Drop the front. 2nd, skirts on the rear wheel wells.

You're dealing with wooden 2x2 and aluminum construction. Have you ever opened up the walls to see what tools you will need? Have you ever tried to remodeled a house while you are living in it? Prepare yourself.

I would limit the mods until you get a better vehicle. What I have shown is a longer radius cut into the wall behind the cab doors, the overhead and everything behind the rear wheels tapered in plan, and a radius on the top front.

Is there a door in the back? Your boat tail could turn into a porch.

[capturedbyrobots]

Well, I've been looking around and I might have found a smallish 1990 diesel f350 box truck with a rebuilt motor on the cheap. (under $2500) That would be a much better platform for mods than my camper here. To park it in front of my house, it has to be under the 10,000lb limit due to bull**** local laws, so if it is that might be a good option.
Then I could also convert to veggie as well...

Yeah, I've done tons of home remodeling, removed and built walls, framed windows, etc...
Lol, did a full remodel with a broken arm (got hit by a car)

But yeah, I guess I'm realizing that perhaps going with the smallest diesel box truck I can find would be an immediate doubling of my mpg at least. It would pay for itself in 1 tour if I pay less than 4k for it.

The truncated tail idea I had was to simply hinge 4 panels to the rear body.
They would fold against the body for parking and loading, then would latch together for driving.
Does there have to be a seal at the end of the chopped tail, or can it be open?

Btw, Thx again everyone for helping me figure out the best option for me here, with the minimum work/maximum results/least price.

[capturedbyrobots]

I found out that almost any box truck in CA is going to really cost me some serious coin in regards to commercial registration and insurance. I'm not about to give this crazy state $500 a year to drive my vehicle, especially because when I tour, I'm only in the state for a day or 2 at the most.
Ugh. Back to square one.
My city also has a law they just started enforcing which has put me on this crazy quest. No "motorhomes" on the street between 2-6am. Been here for 4 years and never had an issue until 2 months ago.
Thats why I wanted the length to be limited to 16ft, so it will fit in my driveway. I could get the box truck registered as an RV (loophole) but then I have to battle the city tickets again. Then chop it shorter for driveway parking? What a pain in my ass.


Between my city's parking on the street laws and the state registration laws I'm really just between a rock and a hard place.
I'll find a loophole somewhere eventually.

[Weather Spotter]

why stay in CA? If you go on tour a lot move states to one with better laws, or move out of the city. Find a place that is central to most of your tours to reduce driving. just some ideas but why not change more then your car.

[freebeard]

At your 11:40 post I was happy for you, the box van would be preferable to that 'house of cards' construction. Then at 12:33 I saw what a roller coaster your on.

Between my city's parking on the street laws and the state registration laws I'm really just between a rock and a hard place.

Can you say 'Californicated'?

This last weekend my brother and I went to the races (Electrathon, that is). One of the teams was carrying 2ea 6-7' long racers in this:



That's my brother in the yellow shirt (I should have Photoshopped that). The owner reported that when he did the stretch he lost about 2 mpg, so ~42 mpg.

Now a Metro is 12 1/2' long, so you could only stretch 3 1/2'. Maybe start with a Rabbit diesel pickup? Any way you go, you're trying to fit 8' of load into a 16' bag.

[NachtRitter]

Sounds like he's looking for a place to snooze in while that 8' load is in there, plus there's the driving area... so definitely need more than 8'. I was thinking about a Diesel VW as well, but a 1500lb load is quite a bit! And that's in addition to the driver & luggage & so on. Not sure how much an old Rabbit pickup can haul but my Jetta is only spec'd for ~900lbs load.

Sucks on the problems with the box van... wonder if there's any chance of finding a used E350 van (preferably Diesel, of course)... a bit smaller but still able to haul a good amount of stuff...

EDIT: This could be a fun one: Ford : E-Series Van XL Standard Cargo Van 2-Door in Ford | eBay Motors



A ways to go to get it though...

[capturedbyrobots]

I know, California has some bull**** laws.
Moving isn't an option. I go out about 1x or 2x a year for 6-8 weeks at a time.
Other than that I'm living the dream. This vehicle situation came up because of 2 things:

1.being raped by the gas pump more
and more and that has to change..7-8mpg is not acceptable with 10k miles a year. I could tour at $2-$3.50 a gallon. At $4 I'm dying

2. New ticket happy law enforcement popping me for $50 a ticket any night they feel like it.

I'm trying to get a meeting with the head of parking and traffic so I can tell him what's been happening, and maybe if I'm real nice I can have him help me attempt to follow these ridiculous laws. My camper is only 19ft now. That's the same length as an extended van. The law was surely put in place to stop homeless encampments and the big 40ft motorhomes being on the streets. Not to stop someone from parking their own slightly large vehicle in front of their own house.

I've been up against worse situations where I found a difficult solution. I don't give up when I'm up against a wall.
Touring with a rock band of humans sucks. I made robots because it was more economical, and easier to deal with. The human band members were dicks, they were mostly on hard drugs, moody, difficult, screw it.
I just made the robots...took years, but now I'm living the dream, and no one else gets paid! Pow!

[capturedbyrobots]

Yeah, a standard van with a high top is what I used to tour in. It really was a drag because of the load being lengthwise. And the wheel wells, hah how I hate wheelwells!
There was only about a 1ft area between the bench seat and the front seats. That was with a 19ft 89 dodge high top van. Rough touring...just not quite big enough. I need the width, and I know that kills Cd, but if I can load em at 8ft wide, I can have about 7ft of living space in my current configuration. I rarely get hotels, usually drive until tired often after a gig, then crash at the flying j or walmart, etc.... So comfort can really make or break the touring experience.

I really appreciate you smart fellas helping with cool ideas here.
I emailed with the diesel box truck guy, it was a former u haul with a rebuilt 6.0 diesel he thinks (I think it's a big 7.3). Do those big diesels get crappy mileage? He said reg was not bad, so I wonder if it's registered commercial or not???
I'll call him now.

[capturedbyrobots]

Btw,
If I had a vehicle that was NOT registered as a "motorhome" I could have it as long as I like. Though for parking outside clubs the 19ft is a doable size.
I can't tell you how many times I just squeezed into a parking space in front of a club. I could possibly go to 20ft if i had to.
The 16ft limit is if i had to put a vehicle in my driveway if it's classified as a motorhome. Thus the ticket for being on the street between 2-6am.

Has anyone made a slideout for the rear to be extended while traveling?