The Crib

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stuartcnz
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The Crib

Post by stuartcnz »

I'm starting to think about getting a truck for conversion in about a year. And I'm leaning toward getting an old chiller/freezer truck to convert, about 10 ton. Four wheeler, one rear axle with dual tires and one steering axle. Thinking something like a Hino Ranger.

A common sized chiller box on this size truck appears to be around 5.5 metres long, by 2.5 metres wides, by 2 metres high.

With that in mind, I have been playing around in Sweet Home 3d, an open source, cross platform piece of software, to mock up an arrangement.
Based around standard measurements that I keep here http://www.nomadichome.org/accommodatio ... imensions/ I've put this basic arrangement together.

There are two external entrances/exits at 750mm wide by 1,800mm high. One at the back, from the living area, and one out the side, from the bedroom. The shower is 900mm by 900mm and the toilet room is around 750mm by 900. The bed is a full size queen, elevated from the floor, with 900mm sitting headroom above, leaving a large storage area underneath. There are two doors between the toilet and kitchen. the living area is a little over 2,700mm long. All wals are assumed to be 75mm (3 inch) thick. I haven't included any windows or ventilation in this sketch, just a basic layout.

Starting with a birds eye view.
Image
Image

Next we have a picture looking into the living area from outside.
Image

Next is a picture from in the living area, looking across and forward at the kitchen bench, with the stove to the left and the edge of the sink to the right.
Image

Next, also from withing the living area, looks across and to the rear, with the kitchen bench and sink visible, and the edge of the stove to the right.
Image

Moving right along, this next picture is from the passageway, between the living area and the bedroom, looking aft, down through the living area.
Image

The next one is from the bed. looking aft, passed the shower, into the living area.
Image

And the last one, also from the bed looks down the middle of the living area, to the rear entrance/exit.
Image

This is drawn up for left hand side of the road driving, so would be mirrored for a vehicle driving on the right hand side.
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Re: The Crib

Post by Dusty »

Did you know the govt have screwed us again over the RUC.
Used to be charged out in one ton increments. But not in an even increase , as the weight got more , the price climbed faster.
Check it out now. The new rule is going to be in 5 ton increments. so as my bus is 7 ton , I have to buy a 10ton ticket. BUT WAIT !!!!!!
NO>>>>>>>>> I have to buy according to my GVM , on the old Beddy that is 11.8ton, so a 15ton ticket is the fee !!!!!!!
The difference between the fees is roughly $75 per 1000km for 7 ton and close to $500 per 1000km for the 15 ton .

Watch what weight of truck you buy Stuart
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Re: The Crib

Post by Dusty »

Sorry about that , back to the topic.

Nice little bit of software ,

No particular reason for the interior walls to be 3", just added weight, no particular reason to have 2 interior doors like in the house regs, just more weight. OH, I see you have separate rooms for the toilet and shower, that seems to be a luxurious waste of space. Common fitment is one room for both , leaving space for your wardrobe/storage.
Being in a box , I find an unobstructed sight line from front to rear helps my sanity, also I have made sure there are no lockers at eye height , again to keep the visual effect spacious.

Its fun making plans , eh.
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stuartcnz
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Re: The Crib

Post by stuartcnz »

Dusty, have they settled the costs on RUCs yet? Is there anywhere to see the updated prices online?

The three inch walls are an affectation of the software. I wanted to have a reasonable representation for the external walls, and couldn't change it for any others, once set.

Re the bathroom, there are a lot of common themes in both boats and motorhomes which ignore a lot of practicalities. I do not like damp/wet toilet paper! There are compromises in all solutions.

Coming from a boat background, I probably have different priorities to a lot of house truckers. And one of those is a seperated sleeping area. The added weight of dividing the space is very minimal on a vehicle of that size, when doing it the boat building way. And building reg's or not I don't want a toilet to close to my kitchen. Irish travellers don't even use a toilet in their mobile accommodation at all, due to hygene concerns.

While I do like the feel of open plan housetrucks, I am more familiar with the confines of boats, and find the enclosed living spaces, very comforting, particularly when the lighting and ventilation has been thought out properly.

And you are correct, it is indeed fun making plans. :wink:
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Re: The Crib

Post by rlaggren »

I agree w/Stuart vv. the loo - separate makes more sense when possible. I might be feasible to have some sort of sliding or (re)moveable hanging rod in the show, since it's empty space except for a few minutes a day - move the rod to take a shower. It probably wouldn't do for some things, but other stuff wouldn't mind a bit of humidity if it dried out daily.

My .02 is... Vent the stove hugely. Double whatever fan size seems to make sense and use a full hood. My main issue w/cooking in the boat is reliving the experience for the next 24 hours or more, so I want to get the smells out before they go anywhere at all.

I'm going to look up that software.


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stuartcnz
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Re: The Crib

Post by stuartcnz »

I'm planning on putting in the Dickinson Pacific stove that is currently on my boat, and using a two burner gas stove, that used to be on the boat, on top of that, in warm weather.

Until I actually get a truck, I won't be able to work out exactly how I am going to do the ventilation, but one thing is for sure. It will be more like a boats than the normal house truck system, ie, it will probably feel like a tent to many housetruckers, with all the fresh air coming through.

This is the link for the software for other operating systems: http://www.sweethome3d.com/download.jsp If you are using a Debian based Linux, you can just apt-get install it.

Here is a link to a heap of extra models: http://www.sweethome3d.com/importModels.jsp
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Re: The Crib

Post by Caravan Monster »

I've been living full time in a similar sized unit for a few years now. My set-up is static, so seperate toilet and shower facilities plumbed into mains water and sceptic tank are used. So far as cooking operations go, I have an electric cooker. I have found that it is ok to use the oven and grill, but I do not use the hob for anything more than small jobs like reheating soup. I use a gas burner outside for things like frying in a wok, and the slow cooker goes outside too in a vermin proof building. And the #1 rule is to never cook fish indoors :lol:

Not sure how I would go about organising cooking and washing in a more self contained set up on the road. There is an old fashioned gypsy family that sometimes show up around here. They live in a bow top horsedrawn wagon and make their money sharpening knives door to door. They cook and eat outdoors on the side of the road and presumably wash outdoors too. Not sure what they do when the weather is bad.

Would be interesting to hear how the nomads out there handle washing / toilet / cooking on the road and which house truck layouts have worked well.
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Re: The Crib

Post by stuartcnz »

Playing around in FreeCAD http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/f ... =Main_Page

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FreeCAD

Image

This is along the lines of what I am thinking, though in a basic fashion, due to my lack of understanding of how to use FreeCAD. In this case the width and length dimension are the same as an the ISO intermodal dimensions for a 20 foot container. In this instance it could have container pockets fitted in the bottom coners, which would open up the type of vehicle, to anything fitted for carrying 20 foot containers.
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Re: The Crib

Post by Dusty »

Stuart, it looks like there have been some changes in the draft RUC proposal.

I find it a bit confusing , but here is some more talk on the subject.

http://www.nzmotorhome.co.nz/NZMotorhom ... =17&t=4912
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Re: The Crib

Post by stuartcnz »

Thanks for that Dusty!

Looking from the outside, it looks like a bit of a storm in a tea cup to me, for most. Though I can see that some select vehicles will be hit fairly hard, I would suggest that most of those ones are using an inappropriate sized vehicle. Personally I am interested in either of the two heaviest bands for a type 2 truck. And given the overall cost of running them, the difference just doesn't look that significant to me.

On the upside, it looks like they are going to try to price those abominations of 4 axle tractor and four axle semi's off the road, in favour of 3 axle tractor and 5 axle b-train combinations.
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