Does anyone know where I might find a box that I can fit on my Iveco 40-10? I have heard that there are ex army radio boxes, that are insulated with windows. I have had no luck finding any on the net so far. I would travel to Europe if the right thing was available. any ideas welcome.

Graeme

Hi

I got this web address of this site on another thread and looks pretty usefull..

www.pad.de

go to 'zubehor' and it looks like they may have something.

If you need any help with translation or contacting them let me know as my girlfiend is German. I may also be going over there sometime soon to look at a truck.

Stan

Hi Graeme

Haven't you started that camper yet??

Depends on what you want to spend! Any of the european specialists will build you one to order, eg Langer und Bock at around six grand Euros for an Iveco. And that's just the box, but it is a whizzy foam sandwich construction.

I know someone who has acquired an ex-BT glassfibre box off the Transits they use for his 40.10 but it's not all that big and is only a bare box. Light and cheap though, and should be easy to extend if you're good with the resin and mat.

Cheers

Nigel

Hi Stan/Nigel......your link does not work Stan! can you post again.

Nigel I dont want to spend on a new box and the bt one is too much work although cheap. No I havent started yet but I have time enough.

Graeme

Hi Graeme
I am still looking for a chassis, so you are well ahead! I saw a neat camper in France on a Merc chassis, he had bought an old fridge box, loads of those around, (often mounted on Ivecos) light, good insulation and easy to cut holes for door and windows. Ask a company that rents out these vehicles as they often sell the chassis at end of lease and scrap the body.

thanks for that cedar, do you know of any rental companies?

Hi Graeme,
Stan's link is probably for Philipp aus dem thingummy; try Philipp aus dem Hanfbachtal - Militärfahrzeuge, Armeefahrzeuge, Wohnmobile, Expeditionsfahrzeuge
Lots of lovely toys to look at.

Given up on the caravan idea then?
Have a look at the 4x4 camper conversions for sale on mobile.de - der Automarkt für Gebrauchtwagen und Neufahrzeuge - Finden oder Verkaufen Sie einfach und schnell ihr Auto you often see caravans on trucks so it's not impossible. Remains to be seen how it would hold up to the rattling.
Good luck
Luke

Most seem to be sold at padh but
http://www.aignertrucks.com/aigner_e...ml/ersatz.html

have alu box 'shelters' in two sizes.
Mario T at
http://www.southing.com/overland/fra...-index-eng.htm
has put a bigger one on a Merc.

I'm also considering a back box and do wonder how tough these plastic refrigerated delivery items would be for genuine overlanding. The insulation and ease or cutting is handy compared to metal but I suspect a lot depends on having a tough, 3-point mounted platform to mount it on which will remain rigid and not flex the box.

btw, if you put 'Iveco 40-10' into:
http://images.google.co.uk
you get a lot of boxy examples and maybe leads.

I think for a short and not too demanding trip a caravan is a great idea - at worst you have a handy supply of firewood and it saves a whole lot of time and money despite the pikey look!

Ch

__________________
Morocco Overland 4 pre-order for Xmas • Trans Morocco Trail

I know nothing about boxes so please forgive my ignorance - do they not act as ovens in the African heat unless insulated ?? Do the likes of langer and bock supply their boxes with insulation ? I'm thinking of getting a truckette myself for desert and trips further south.

Does anyone know anything about the slighter larger MAN KAT trucks (Flat nose types), they have bigger engines than 7.5 tonners which may be useful. Are they crew cabs or mid engined or what ?? Thanks...

Andrew.

do they not act as ovens in the African heat unless insulated ??

In my experience (north Australia, small TLC bushcamper) yes they do, even with all the windows/doors open. You need a breeze so we slept out under a mozzie dome most nights. If/when I was building/converting a cabin I would add thick insulation plus lots of mozzie-proof (and cooking area) ventilation for the equatorial regions. The insulation will work well in Arctic conditions too. All sorts of techy materials exist.

CS

__________________
Morocco Overland 4 pre-order for Xmas • Trans Morocco Trail

Even the insulated boxes get fairly hot. Ours has 30mm of PU foam and when it's 40°c outside, the inside can be hotter.
In arid regions the difference made by hanging out the washing inside the box is really very impressive: we got the interior down to 32°c on washing day in Mali in April for 43°c in the shade (of the camper).

Once you've got a box (i.e. a slightly bigger vehicle) it's increasingly difficult to park it in the shade (although it makes shade for the others) so it will warm up more.

In coastal humid regions the water evaporation method doesn't make a difference. Ideally I'd like to cover the entire roof of the vehicle with solar panels, enough to run an aircon like the new Webasto 24v truck unit. But a good static aircon generally needs a generator, which IMHO ruins the ambience of where you've made such an effort to get to (not to mention how environmentally unfriendly it is)

Some German camper-truck owners I've talked with maintain that 50-60 mm of PU foam in their walls is plenty and they don't need aircon; I guess it depends on your personal (or the other half's) comfort zone and when you travel.

Andrew, the big pros like L&B, Ormocar, Action mobil, Unicat etc all use insulation in their box walls. Because they're generally made to measure you can specify the thickness you require.

A KAT will have more power than a 7.5 tonner, and will consume more. What I don't like about the KAT is that the long cab is only ever single cab; the rest is engine housing. The occupants sit in front of the engine, which takes up a lot of valuable chassis length where you could be putting living space.

(Those that know me will have seen this coming ;-) If you're looking at trucks as big as a MAN KAT, why not consider a Tatra 813 or 815? low kms, come in 4x4,6x6,8x8, twin cab (9seats) or single cab, and the engine's right up front so you've got more useable chassis, which is ultra stiff and doesn't need a fangled flexible mount system for the box because of the central tube transmission.
Spares available in most of the places the soviets intervened in cold war times AND where the the americans are/have been since the gulf war; they're running rebadged Tatras in their logistics/support fleet. American Truck Corporation trucks are ex-soviet block Tatras!

The aircooled engine is just as guzzly as the MAN aircooled from the KAT, better to chuck it out and put a modern(ish) lump in its place.

Ideally, you build in a 2000l tank, leave home with enough veggie oil to get you either to Libya or Iran which are pretty much obligatory visits with such a beastie.

Sorry, couldn't help it

Hey Chris, great writeup on your new Man; almost tempted to go looking for a DoKa in Germany. Load bay's a bit small though.

L

here's a page of link to just about every company in Europe specialising in expedition worthy motorhome conversions.

Outdoor/Offroad-Links

when I get the funds together I'll be paying one of the specialists to built the torsion-free subframe and box onto the chassis for me. Just about everything else is possible by a competent DIYer with a bit of electrical, engineering and plumbing knowledge. Ormocar and L&B seem slightly more reasonable on price than unicat and action MOBIL and both are happy to as much or as little of the work for you depending on what your budget is.

The advantage of the sandwhich material that some comanies use as far as I can tell is that the insulation and structural integrity is performed by the same material. A significant advantage in my eyes. I was worried that it would not have the integrity of a metal framed structure but provided that the edging is solid it should work well.

In a simple metal framed structure the welded joints between the steel box sections take all the lateral forces imposed on the box and are acting to prevent swaying and elastic deformation. In a mobile structure like this the vertical loading is minimal, mostly limited to the self weight of the members and cladding, plus any internal furniture attatched to the walls inside. Most of the stressing therefore is caused by inertial forces that throw the weight of the box and inernal fixtures around when the truck is bouncing around, plus a little lateral loading caused by the wind. This requires a box structure that is strongest at resisting swaying and axial deformations. In structural engineering the three most common ways of provideing structral integrity are to rely on the strength of the connections between the frame members (risky unless heavily over-engineered), using cladding to provide lateral restraint to a frame (aluminum or plywood panels are common), by using diagonal bracing members on each side of the box (excellent but adds extra weight and reduces the possible location of windows and openings), and what is called a shear wall. In tall buildings the shear walls usually take the form a lift shaft, rigid enough to stop the building swaying even if all the other joints in the building are pinned and free to rotate. In a box structure for a truck the idea of shear walls can basicly be translated to using rigid ply, or, in the case of L&B, ormocar, unicat, etc, this rigid sandwhich material that is being used. Provided the angled section used to hold each of the panels together is strong enough, I think it provides the best strength to weight ratio. Many of the boxes made by these comanies have been as far off-road as any vehicle, and so I'm confident the strength of their work is enirely adequate. However, using this method I'd be wary of imposing excessive vertical loads on the roof, if an aluminium frame were fitted transferring the laods to the walls and corners I would feel safer about having people standing on the roof, but nevertheless if you want to have 5 people sitting around a table eating dinner on the roof of the truck I'd advise one of the framed construction methods.

__________________
http://jimthetruck.blogspot.co.uk/

Nicely put Nick.

Some ipressive Unicat action here:
http://www.unicat.net/video/IMPRESSIONS.MOV

One of the Unicat vids mentioned a fibreglass on polyester body as the offering the best stength for weight.

Ch

__________________
Morocco Overland 4 pre-order for Xmas • Trans Morocco Trail

Hi guys,

Out of interest, when using mega-tonners for overlanding what do you do when you get stuck? Can you recover a Tatra with anything else than another Tatra size vehicle?

__________________
----------------
Roman (UK)

I think the standard way at truck trial competition where a lot of the tatra 813s and 8x8 kats appear is using tracked plant equipment. This is all when and good if the equipment is a few meters away but the likelyhood is that if a vehicle like that gets stuck it is somewhere very remote. At the competitions the plant will have arrived on the back of a low loader; there is a good chance though that if a 8x8 is getting stuck that a low lowder wont get anywhere near. This means that getting anything suitable for recovering one of them is slow and difficult.

If somethign fatal happens to the engine such as a snapped cam or cracked block I would be pessimistic of the chances of recovering a vehicle of that size within any type of reasonable time frame.

__________________
http://jimthetruck.blogspot.co.uk/