B190 Enthusiasts

skater wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 31, 2022 9:01 am

Your rig looks a lot like mine right now.

The original ceiling floats in the rig, I'm not sure why AS made it that way, if anyone has any rationale for that design I would appreciate your input before I start screwing these panels into the supports.

Because it's faster and easier and therefore cheaper, I assume. But I don't really see a problem with it - I had no idea they were floating until I went to remove them.

I mean, why bother?

I don't understand this comment - are you wondering why they didn't completely fill the space? That I would agree with. But any insulation is going to help.

Addressing the last comment first, if there are small gaps in the insulation, then your heat loss might not be dramatic. Those gaps mean the insulation is essentially useless. It does explain the use of a 13kBTU heater in a 120 sq ft room.

Since I'll be screwing the ceiling and side panels into my supports, I can always unscrew them if there is any problems with vibrations or whatever.

The stove panel vertical has been cut in half and the generator switch cut out of it in order to allow me the headroom I need to install the ceiling. I'm using this adhesive:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000AY6AC?ps ... ct_details

which bonds wood to fiberglass, is used on boats for underwater applications, and remains flexible where epoxy becomes rigid. I doubt the contact patches I'm working with would suffer severe negative affects from using epoxy, however all things being equal I'm going with the more flexible alternative.

Next I have to pull the wiring for the generator switch out of the armored cable and route it back to the DS where the panel will be located. Then install my first ceiling support.

Ceiling supports are in. I need to wait a week in order for the glue to set, although the screws have provided a pretty solid bond to the cap. I've come up with a better option for the side panels, I'm going to screw my 3/4" ply supports to a 2" luan panel which will be glued to the side of the fiberglass cap. That way I'll get a much better bond with the glue (the luan being more flexible than the plywood) and reduce the overall weight of construction. The ceiling will rest on the 3/4" plywood, and my decorative luan panels will screw into the side of the 3/4" plywood. Both will help provide support for the overall construction being used. I had to bevel the edges of the plywood in order to take the angle out of the fiberglass cap and provide a square mounting surface for both the ceiling and the vertical panels. I was also able to re-route the gennie switch by cutting it out and re soldering it on the other side of the van.

All in all a pretty good weekend of work.

Here's how the side of the van top looks with the supports installed. The horizontal pieces sticking off the ends of the ceiling supports are temporary and only there to hold the top of the luan against the side wall while the glue dries, I'll take them off after about a week or so. I'm going to install the same construction around the back wall and up to the stove on the PS, once those are in and the glue sets I'll be ready to start putting the ceiling slats in.
All the wood has been painted (mostly) and then polyurethaned (completely) in order to minimize water damage over time.

Back support is up, going to tape up the wiring, maybe re-install a light here or there, put some ply over the gennie where the couch was with a blanket and some pillows for the dog and take this thing on a road trip!

Minimalist comes to mind.....

Getting ready for our first trip, I built a quick platform for the dog so he'd have a place to sleep, then I mocked up the vertical panels which has led me to realize that I'll have to modify the build. I end up with a 6 inch gap at the widest area which would be an incredible waste of insulation in a sidewall, so I'll be adding supports at the 'bulge' in the cap and mounting the verticals on an angle. That will give me about 2.5" of insulation all the way around, I'll have to build the cabinets to accommodate the 'bulge', but that won't be an issue in the grand scheme of things.

We visited Hershey for the RV show and I bought the Roadmaster Active Suspension which I'm anxious to add to the van. I also found a silver impregnated ceramic filter which is supposed to perform the same anti-bacterial function as a UV light without the use of electricity, so I'm looking into that for my recirculating shower build.

I'll be putting sound deadening mats in this weekend, as well as re-painting the spare tire holder so I can put that back on the back door. Once the mats are on the back door, I'll insulate it and put the panel back on.

I'm going to put the same type of construction on the side wall that I put up near the top (3/4" plywood bonded to 2" luan panels which will be glued to the fiberglass) only they will be mounted vertically. I'll be putting quite a few of them up, as they'll be providing not only the support for the decorative vertical panels but as mounting points for the cabinetry. I watched a vid last nite talking about making the construction robust to hold up in the event of an accident and that made an impression.

I have to make a thin piece of wood to to provide about a 15 deg bevel to the horizontal pieces up near the ceiling in order to get everything to match up, but that's why I have a table saw.

It's been a while, and some things have changed.

It's been totally gutted. Glad I bought one in good condition, lol.
Anyhow, the reinstall is currently underway. I've resealed all the windows, and clamped a 1"oak strip under each clamping ring. The oak provided the support for the window frames. The window frames, in turn, will support the interior decorative panels, which at this point will be luan. I've left enough room on the interior of the window frames to get the clamping rings out if the need ever arises.

You can also see the supports on the walls and ceiling to hold the decorative panels in place.
The walls have 2 inches of clearance for insulation, the ceiling is about 1.75". I haven't completely figured out how I'm going to organize everything in the rig just yet, but I'm getting ready to run a 110v line up to the front of the sleeping area to put outlets on either side of the bed for charging phones/laptops, as well as some 12v lines for lighting in the front cap and the up in the ceiling over the bed, as well as the fantastic fan. I bought wago electrical connectors because my regular push in electrical connectors are almost useless when you use braided wire. The wago connectors have a lever that opens to insert the wire then clamps down over top of it, holding it firmly in the connector. I do advise putting tape over the levers, just because.

Oh, and while I was working on the rig I found that I was getting water in the cap under the PS bed rail. At first I thought it was condensation, until we got a good size rain, then it became apparent it was coming in from the bracket that the awning was secured to. So I deleted the awning and plugged the hole.

As an aside, I had to cover the hole in the side of the van where the water heater was. So I used a scrap piece of luan that I put poly on just to get me through the winter until I could get a more permanent fix.

The first pic here is the luan after a pretty heavy rain. It looks like it's completely saturated. The second pic is after the luan has 'dried out' No water marks, no signs of delamination, nothing. And this is after it's been through about 5 different rain events.

I don't know how long it takes luan to fall apart when it gets wet repeatedly, but this seems like a pretty good sign for the interior of my rig, because all the wood I'm putting in it is either treated with Tung oil or polyurethane.

More window framing:

One more question, kstills - how much of that wool did you buy? I haven't measured, but I think 2 boxes should do it for me, for what I'm doing. But they have a special if you order a 3rd box, so if I'll need 3 I want to order them together. But I don't want to order 3 unless I actually need the third one.

skater wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 06, 2022 3:13 pm

I think I was reacting to the fact that the inner metal rings need to be pushing against something, or the window won't sit flat like it should. So I suppose I could do it when I'm at the stage you're at, for example. Then remove them again when the actual interior wall goes in.

Ah. I just put those oak blocks up to clamp the ring to, then made frames to sit on top of the oak. I figured treated oak will outlive me even if the van sits under water.

skater wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 06, 2022 3:15 pm

One more question, kstills - how much of that wool did you buy? I haven't measured, but I think 2 boxes should do it for me, for what I'm doing. But they have a special if you order a 3rd box, so if I'll need 3 I want to order them together. But I don't want to order 3 unless I actually need the third one.

So far I only have one box. I am guessing I'll need three, because I am stuffing it into every crevice of the van body prior to putting it up on the walls and ceiling. But I really haven't calculated it out just yet, as I'm a long way from insulating the entire thing. I will have the bed area done within the next month, so I'll be able to tell you how much that area used. Also, a lot will depend on the depth of your framing. Mine is 2inch minimum on the walls, with some cavities being deeper.

Got some work done this weekend. First, during the week, I put 3 coats of Tung oil on the luan that will make up the decorative panels in the bed area. Given they are only 1/8” thick, I’m confident this will provide enough water resistance so that I won’t have to worry about rot while I own the rig.
Next, I placed the 2” framing around the front window. Because of the curvature in the cap, I put them in the way Airstream had in 8” sections. I am not as happy with this window as I was with the other three, however I’m hopeful that the panel I put over top will allow me to eliminate the obvious flaws in the execution of the frame.
I ran the 110v line up into the cap (well, I wired the outlets and through them up there, lol). There will be an outlet with a USB A and USB C port on both sides of the bed, I’m also going to run 12v lights alongside and up into the ceiling. The current plan for the van layout will have the kitchen on the DS, so the 110v line will terminate into a GFCI outlet in the kitchen area that will allow me to use an Instapot and portable induction cooktop.
Finally, I cut the side panels and roughed them in. It rained all day, so I couldn’t cut the panel for the front cap, but I should have that done this week. I need to cut some more of the opening out of both side panels and then treat them with more oil, but I posted a pic so show what they look like without the vinyl covering installed.
Airstream joins the top and bottom panels with a riveted aluminum strip to allow for the curve in the cap. I was going to use chicken wire to accomplish the same however, for ease if disassembly, I think I’m just going to install them separately without joining them together. That way I can take one or the other off the wall, God forbid I need to, without taking off the whole panel. Should make adding electric or working on the windows much easier.

Advantages of Tung oil: https://woodworkly.com/tung-oil-advanta ... the%20wood.