Our NZ housetruck build thread...

Discussions about all things to do with buses, trucks, and the homes made within them.

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Stealth Camper
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Post by Stealth Camper »

Am loving the pictures! That is some fantastic work. Have started looking for a stove like that. I have a Royal Rose that is similar, but without the top shelf. I like that one better.


Usually, I hate to butt in and/or get preachy, but I saw a sensitive point in his pictures - where he is working on his axle...barefoot. I cringed. I love steel toed boots!! Well, I like the results when wearing them...the boots are nothing to get excited about.

Anyway; my sermon for the month consists of the following two items. Both achieved without steel toed boots with a good strong high top.


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And this was a separate ignorant event that I engaged in - the picture taken before the bruise spread to most of the foot. (Yeah, I had two dumb moments - hard to imagine, huh?)


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yoeddynz
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Post by yoeddynz »

Cheers for more nice comments.

On subject of boots..cheers for your concern. Your not the only one who has mentioned my bare feet.
yep - I should be wearing boots I know..but I just love being barefoot. One day I'll get hurt I'm sure but probably more chance of getting hurt doing other things I enjoy, like hurtling down a mountain on a plank, on a bike, diving off tall bridges, fell running etc. One thing I'll never risk though is my eyes- I will always wear eye protection - oh and ear protectors!

Apparently Kiwis have the widest feet globally- due apparently to most young kiwis growing up either barefoot or wearing only jandals. I'm surprised more of us dont lose our feet!
I do always wear steel caps when engineering as a job though- many more heavy things about.
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Post by dburt »

Even steel toed boots can fail you sometimes!

Case in point- a while back I was cutting apart some steel to salvage it for projects. I decided that since I was going to be cutting it apart with my plasma arc cutter, that maby I should wear my good work boots with the steel toes, mostly tho just to keep the hot goobers from burning thier way thru my tennis shoes into my tender little feet. :wink:

I was cutting off the end of a very heavy bar- about 30 lbs worth- when it decided to bend down near the end of the cut. I thought I would step back and sever the final little bit of metal where it hinged down. But it decided to let go, and my foot was directly under it. It came down like a spear right on the top of my foot, behind the steel cap in the toe of the boot. The pain and shock of it actually dropped me to my knees before I realized what had happened. For a couple of minutes all I could do was sit there on the floor, I could not stand due to the pain! :cry:

Luckily, I did not break any bones, which I may have done had I been wearing my tenny runners. The heavy lacing and heave leather tongue on the welding boots cushioned alot of the sharp blow. But for several days I was one very 'gimpy' camper! :oops:

By the way StealthCamper, are you going to come clean and 'fess up to what caused all the bruising on your foot? No, not the issue of not wearing the steel toed boots like you should have, but what 'event' caused that 'issue' with your foot? :wink:
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Lostranger
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Our NZ housetruck build thread

Post by Lostranger »

Hello Alex and Hannah,

Just discovered this thread and your site today. Love your truck. It's the most roomy I've seen. When I showed an exterior photo to my wife, she said, "He's been reading Rob Gray." That was a compliment from her.

I'm shocked by the height of your rig. How tall is it? What's the legal height limit in NZ. Most states in the US have a 13' 6" limit, but a rig a couple of feet lower than that can be trouble once you're off the major highways. I've been sketching a mid size housetruck that would work on our '79 GMC long wheelbase dually, and I was concerned because the height is pushing 11'. I would need that much height because we like to sit up in bed. You have me inspired to not worry about the height.

On a related subject for anyone reading this thread. I've never considered framing a house truck with wood. When we reskinned the window area of our Flex, I used 18 ga cold rolled steel on 1 1/2" steel tube. I will definitely frame whatever we build with steel, but I've lately been considering wood siding. This is a sea change for me. I've never before considered anything but steel.

What I like is horizontal T&G drop siding. I'm wondering if this could be applied directly to the steel tube frame without intervening plywood. This siding is made to be applied to non sheathed houses, and it looks like plywood on the steel would just add weight and expense. The steel tube uprights will likely be on 3' centers. I'm thinking of using two screws through the face of each board at each upright. I'd also use adhesive on each upright (maybe Liquid Nails Heavy Duty), and possibly glue the boards to each other at the T&G. Then I would seal the wood on the inside before applying rigid foam insulation and then interior siding. The steel frame will be plenty strong from diagonal bracing, and I don't yet see a reason why this system would not work.

I'm all ears for anyone's input. I'd also love to hear your experience with exterior wood sealers.

Alex, thanks again for sharing your work with the rest of us.

Best to all,

Jim in North Carolina
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Post by Stealth Camper »

Wait a minute!! I just paid attention to the last two pictures! MOVE OVER!! You are driving on the wrong side of the road!!!!

The first was a 40 foot piece of 6" channel iron (about 240 lbs.) I dropped on the toe - that was about 4 years ago.

The second was a water heater (again, not wearing protective high top boots that I own but was not wearing) that I took down off it's stand and it landed on the inside "knuckle" joint of that ankle. Got an xray, cause it kind of felt like it might have "issues" - like being broken - but it wasn't. The bone was dented. Not sure how that happened without cutting me - guess it must be these old bones getting softer?? That was about 2 months ago.

Even at this late date, it shows that I still haven't learned all my lessons properly.

Side note; I have had the Pink Floyd pajamas shown for a few years. Kids got them for me. Also gave me the sock monkey. (Did I put up a picture of Sock Monkey??)

They keep telling me that one of them will have to move back home and finish raising me...just as soon as their kids are grown, about 4 years from now.
Last edited by Stealth Camper on Fri Jul 15, 2011 4:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Stealth Camper »

Exterior wood;

Not directly about sealers, but about a material. I used to use the standard old T-101 type plywood siding quite a bit, but have found something called "Smartsiding" that is amazing. Holds up 20 times longer (or more) than the plywood and still looks like it. 35 year warranty. I have been using this for about 6 years in all new projects and the oldest still is good as the youngest. Plywood already would have started to fail by now here.

Available in 4x8 sheets or planks. Not much heavier than regular wood that rots.

http://www.lpcorp.com/smartside/

Also, there is Hardy cement products, but they weigh too much for me to look at for my little bus.
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Post by Headache »

Stealth Camper wrote:Side note; I have had the Pink Floyd pajamas shown for a few years. Kids got them for me. Also gave me the sock monkey. (Did I put up a picture of Sock Monkey??
I have the sweatshirt, some posters and a few other items to match those pants! And I think I'm the only one on this planet that never owned a Sock Monkey.
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stuartcnz
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Re: Our NZ housetruck build thread

Post by stuartcnz »

Lostranger wrote: I'm shocked by the height of your rig. How tall is it? What's the legal height limit in NZ.
Jim in North Carolina
Legal height in NZ is 4.25 metres.
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Post by Stealth Camper »

What are the weight limits?
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stuartcnz
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Post by stuartcnz »

Weights depend on axle and tyre configuration.

A single axle, single tyre is 6,000kg

From memory a single axle with dual tyres is 8,200kg

A tandam axle with dual tyres is 15,000kg

Depending on the tyre size of that particular truck, allowable gross weight is probably 14 metric ton.

To convert kg to lbs, multiply kg by 2.2
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stuartcnz
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Post by stuartcnz »

OTR combination limits here are generally 44 metric ton (96800 lb).
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Post by dburt »

Stuart, you forgot to tell us metrically challenged North American Gringos how to convert metric to feet. 4.25 meters- is that about 14 feet? That's the standard height limit for OTR trucks over here, without special permits and routing for special roads of course.

Do the New Zealand truck laws allow for more weight then the roughly 98,000 lbs if you use an air drop axle on both the truck and the trailer?
Over here you see trucks with 2 air drop axles on the trailer with the standard two axle set up, and an air drop axle on the on the truck. If my memory serves me correctly, I think some trucks can then run up to 105,000 lbs with the correct special permits in some states with those air drop axle additions.
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stuartcnz
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Post by stuartcnz »

The legal weights are based on axle weight combinations, up to 44 ton. Drop axles are treated as any other axle, for weight purposes, when on the road.

When needed, over weight permits can be obtained, provided, the necessary axles are included on the vehicle. This only applies on a case by case basis. Generally for heavy haulage, of things like big machinary, etc.

Yes 4.25 metres is around 14 feet.
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Post by yoeddynz »

Lostranger- cheers for the compliments. Yep- as Stu said the NZ height limit is 4.25 m (14'). We built ours to 4.2 but as the truck got heavier it settled and is now about 4.15. Most roads, bridges, tunnels in NZ, at least the ones we will use, are designed to allows a rear overhang of 70% of the wheelbase. We used that! Front overhang can be 3m from the front edge of the drivers seat!!!! We didn't go that far....

If you use plenty of bracing your shell will be fine to use horizontal cladding. We wanted to use Cedar originally but very expensive here and our budget wouldn't allow it. Decent Cedar in NZ is imported western red. NZ grown varieties are apparently not as good as they grow to quickly and are not as stable.

The marine ply we have used is great though not as classic looking as lapped cladding. Its a lovely colour and seems very durable against the wet so far but the harsh sun here I think may break it down. Its getting a rough surface and we think it may need paint in the next year or so. The big decision is what colour!? Its a shame to have to cover the hardwood as the patterns are fantastic. I don't think the photos really show them off well.


A bit of an update here. I thought we would be in Nelson by now, parked up, waking up before 9am and doing that work thing. But we keep finding little jobs to do.

I think we may be stalling...

The most important thing to sort out was getting a electrical warrant of fitness. This is a requirement by law if we want to stay in campgrounds and use the hookups.
I wired all the relevant stuff in place like circuit breaker, rcd etc. Then a friendly Welshman working for a local electrickery company came round, had a look, gave some advice. We moved bits here and there and then he wrote out a nice 'leckywof' which is valid for 4 years. Sweet. Done.

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Other jobs done recently include the following;

After putting up with wobbly, slippery steps for ages now I finally got around to building some better ones. I have made them out of steel, with adjustable legs for uneven ground as they now attach directly to the veranda. I have added mounting points both at the rear directly in line with the door and also off to the side. This is so if we park somewhere that the ground or access is bad straight out back we have another entrance option onto the veranda. One place we are looking at parking up in Nelson has a creek that would be directly behind the back door if we park there.

The steps swing up and over onto the veranda when travelling. I have used up loads of odd bits of steel left over from the build. Very satisfying.

The brackets to be bolted onto veranda frame.

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Build in progress..

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I also made them even distance between the steps this time. The previous ones were spaced wrong and it meant bigger step ups. Sooooo much easier walking up them now- especially for my olds who, as old people do, complain about such things.

Here they are against the old steps.

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Hannah finally got to make a little bathroom cabinet for shampoos etc. She's very proud of it and rightfully so as it look great. She got to use a little door knob she found ages ago that has a little fern print on it. It matches the green paint. The little things in life. I'm glad she is easy to keep happy.

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I boxed in the water pump, filter and associated pipework now that I'm happy the old old califont works well. I was worried about the ceiling getting too hot so I decided to make a little heat shield. But with what. Ahhhh- the left overs from the kitchen bench thats been laying outside next to the shed. Perfect!

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All thats needed to finish the bathroom is a step for the throne- being a composting toilet its really high up. In fact you can look out the window while reading car magazines on the 'job'. Not that we have tried the toilet out as I have yet to put in the flue plus the fan and without that it would be a very stinky place. We wont be needing the toilet yet as the spot we are moving to has toilets. But it will be there for when Nelson gets its overdue earth quakes, or we go travelling.

Today I finished fitting a bike rack I have built. Its using parts from this old rack I built for my old Rx3. When I sold the Rx3 the fella didn't want a rack or tow bar (such a crime- all cars need tow bars...) I love this shot- could it be the only Rx3 coupe out there with a tow bar and rack?

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So I brought the rack back to NZ with us.

Now it adorns the front of our house.

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And what good is a housetruck update from me if it hasn't got a cat in it. Heres Daisy happily enjoying the woodburner..

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somewhereinusa
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Post by somewhereinusa »

Well done on the steps, and Hannah should be rightfully proud of the cabinet.

:D Ah the importance of an easily pleased mate, Mumsywumsy is quite content with a trip to town and a meal at the Chinese buffet. After 42 years I guess I'll keep her. :D
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