Flux's GAATMHQ Build

[Bbasso]

Very good progress, keep at it.

[Flux]

Originally Posted by Jsweezy

Nice! Congrats on the kids getting to go for a cruise!

Thanks all for the support! But yes, getting the kids in there for a road trip was a great victory.


I need a rear view camera bad!

[Flux]

Just in time for summer. Llumar Premium 15 over the factory rear tint and 35 on the front windows. Gotta keep the front mellow or get busted in CA.




Some days I still can't believe I have a Sportsmobile(ish) van.

[Flux]

Keeping my theme of jugging 5 different sub projects and finishing none, it was time to work out the roof rack. I really like what Ujoint did and from a utility standpoint, you just can't beat 8020 or Tslots for being able to alter and modify to fit your needs.

This is the 8020 15 Series Ultralight with some custom mounts I will fab up. Not showing the hardware, but you can see the sketch of where the solar panels will lie. Might throw a couple more crossmembers on there as well as some floating center supports to take the weight of walking on the rack. No fancy corners, but that maxes space for the panels. Biggest issue is that the top is not square, but follows the van and is about 3" wider at the front than the rear. So the crossmembers are gonna be cut to fit once the sides are on. Adds 6" to the total height. Panels will be recessed down for branch protection.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[Flux]

Main electrical panel coming together. All the major cables hooked up. Gotta kid proof it until I get the cabinet built around it. Big thanks to everyone who helped me get a good plan going. I feel pretty confident with this setup.

[saline]

Nice work on your setup!

[Otter]

Hey, Flux, you're really manic about this, but I'm sure enjoying reading about it especially the pics! Great job! Anything more you wanna write about that electrical will be surely welcome.

BTW, yeah, amazing sometimes to think you have a Sportsmobile-ish rig, right? I stopped at the factory on my way back to Portland and it was a blast. Will have to save up my pennies now for that pop-top. You'll have to keep reporting on it in the meantime.

[Flux]

I have to be manic. Planning an end of June road trip!!

here's the schematic except I drew it up mirrored from the picture

Basically you can charge from the alternator and the ML-ACR is a smart switch for doing so and combining batteries, but the alternator is not a smart charger. So I will have 200 Watts of solar which can handle loads and battery charging as well as the Zantrex which can do the same when plugged into 120V.

The extra RBS is so I can isolate the house battery and solar so when I am on a big cruise, the solar can smartly top off the house battery and the alternator can keep the loads running.

Everything is marine grade I hunted around for and got a few components cheaper on ebay.

There are some great threads in the electrical section on all of this and folks who really know their stuff. I owe them bit for their wisdom on these things. They really helped me get this far.

[Flux]

With summer closing in fast and some trips planned, the realization that I won't be able to get everything done is setting in. So now it's down to utility and necessity, but I wanted to get a bit of an interior in there. All the materials are assembled in the garage.



Festool plunge cut saw on a sacrificial board makes really short work of accurately cutting panels. as expected, I have a lot of flaws, but I can live with them knowing this is my first build.



So here's the drivers side dry fit. Some expected stuff and unexpected stuff. If I had a passenger interior I would have utilized the stock window trims. Rather than get some, I decided to give this a try. So I pulled back the SMB roof liner, and I knew I would see some not so great stuff up there. Nothing i can do about that.

So the panels are in and my gap from the windows is a little bigger than optimal. I may have to rethink this later, but for now I am gonna pull these panels and put some vinyl upholstry on them and see where it goes from there. The side of me that wants this to be perfect thinks that this may not be the last time I do the interior. For now, I am sticking to the plan for better or worse and want to spend time in the van before trying something else.

I don't like the SMB headliner a whole lot. It's clean and does the job, but I want something else there rather than 1x2's wrapped in upholstry and screw into the body. Like to make better use of that void with some lights etc, but that may have to wait.

We will see what tomorrow brings

[86Scotty]

Looks like a good enough start to me. I often figure out what I really want to do AS I'm building an interior, with little plan beforehand. You'll figure out more what you want and need as you use it and experiment a little.