Installing the Box
 

Installed the box on the truck for the last time today. Probably not the best day for it with winds gusting over 30 mph. Had to get the DW out to hold onto it while I backed the truck under it. Minor clearance problem between the muffler guards and the box corners. Easy fix with some adjustments. Progress none the less!
MMM

Nice job. Nice pictures. Keep us posted.

x2! Love that pic of your wife holding it up so you can back in.

Interior
 

Interior walls installed and insulated. Shower and sink drain lines installed. Running water lines and electrical currently. Has anyone used a tankless electric water heater? I bought one thinking that would work for a sink and shower however I am having second thoughts. I have room for a 6 gal electric. What are your thoughts? Also, a friend gave me a almost new Winegard SDI in motion satelitte. He replaced it because it didn't do HD on Direct TV. I think I can live without HD at that price. Is there anything I need to know about hooking it up? I have the install manual,looks pretty straight forward. As always,any and all input is appreciated.
(Kenn, tried to send an email and pic's but they were returned. Will try again later)
Michael

water heater
 

I have a tankless waterheater in the house and absolutely love it, my concerns in a mobile application would be will you have enough water flow to trigger the burner and also fuel consumption, when the burner lights up it's a blowtorch. The real savings is that it doesn't hold water @ temperature 24/7, you will have to look at your lifestyle/usage/needs to make a decision, if it's 1 or 2 people turning on the 6 gal in the morning for dishes and showers might be the answer, on the otherhand if you have an army of people to run thru the shower the tankless is the way to go.

Hey Shorts, I think he is asking about an electric tankless water heater. I'm sure the electric tankless will work if you have anough juice to run it. Isn't the wattage requirement pretty high for these? Think about the places you will be traveling to. Will there be enough power avaialble?

andy
the electric heaters use the same principal of a monster burner, only it's 3 or 4 chambers with seperate elements in series so you get a continous temp rise as the water flows. If your electric heater required 30 or 50 amp dedicated service you would definately be in trouble in a RV. The only saving grace might be that your incoming /ambient water temp from the fresh tank might not require as much of a temp rise/increase to get where your hot water is hot - 140f. Most instant heaters are rated/speced by flow/gpm, temp rise/degf and energy use either btu or watts/amps. I would think that in a mobile application that a LP or diesel fired unit would be the right choice with the diesel burner having some sort of electrical requirement for the burner to operate while the LP unit could be entirly stand alone.

I agree with you Shorts. If you want tankless it will need to be diesel or LP. FWIW I have a 6gal electric water heater (1300w I think) in my toter and I like it fine. It gets hot in about 15-20 minutes and that is good enough for me.

Did you put anything under the plywood floor to keep water/salt spray off of it ? I'm just in the design stage of mine . Also what are the measurements of the bottom boxes.

Thanks everyone for your input. I tested the tankless 1500 watt water heater. I do not think it will be adequate for a shower,even with a low flow showerhead. I have now installed a 6 gal electric. Takes more space but I think I will be more satisfied with the output.
As for the plywood floor, I glued .030 alum sheets to the bottom of the plywood to protect it from the elements.
Progress has been at a standstill the last couple of months. Jumped off a ladder and broke my foot. Should be able to resume work in the next couple of weeks. Thanks again for the input. MMM

799, I missed your question on the boxes. The driver side box is 6 feet long, 27 inches tall 29 inches deep. The passenger side is 5.5 feet long, 27 inches tall, 29 inches deep. The generator is actually not attached to the box. It is attached to the truck frame only to reduce vibration that could be transmitted to the box which is mounted on rubber mounts. MMM

Looks Great mmmc101 I'm hoping you are better by now? How are you progressing? I'm just now thinking of starting a project like yours. I'd love to see some more pictures.

Kurt,
Haven't worked on it the last few weeks. Real work keeps getting in the way. I am ready to install the skin on the sides and roof. Once those are in place I will start installing the slideouts. I'll post more pictures soon I hope. thanks Michael

Michael,
Must be the foot is okay.?? Glad to hear that. Work, is good it helps us pay for these projects. Look forward to the pics of progress....I'd come lend a hand but I'm in Michigan and my boss might have something to say about it.
I have a 2000 W900B with a car hauler head rack on it. I'm in the process of removing it. The truck has a 50 inch sleeper not sure what to do yet. That's why I'm interested in what you are doing. Keep me posted.
Thanks Kurt

How are you doing on your box, it should be done by now, Il bet, just pulled in so forgive me if its done on another thread,but you do great work. I want to build something like that for my pete, what are you planning on for your outside skin.....

Haven't had time recently to work on the toter. Real job keeps getting in the way. The outside skin is .040 alum riveted on using shaveable rivets. I have the rear and front skin and entry door installed and am starting on the side skins. Once that is completed I will fabricate and install the two slideouts. My goal was to have it completed,tested and debugged by 2013 when my wife retires so I haven't been in any hurry. Estimate your time to complete and double it !! I'll post more photos soon I hope. MMM

Finally found some time to work on the toter. Have three sides covered. Awaiting rivet shipment to finish the last side. Installed 3/4" plywood on the roof after insulating. Ready for one piece alum roof. Currently building the lower access door frames from 1" square tubing. The doors will be covered with polished 1/8" alum deck plate. Progress!

It looks GREAT!!. I like the back-up lights on the back they should work good. I am waiting on permits to put up a carport to protect the truck from the weather. It will be at least two months because I live on a creek and my property is in the flood plane. I will be putting the truck outside in the next few weeks after protecting it from the rain and snow. Keep the pictures coming.

Thanks Kenn. Finally got caught up on outside jobs and plan on spending the winter working on the toter.
Been following your build along and it's really looking good. Great craftsmanship!
I don't envy you working on it outside though. My old bones don't like the cold/heat.
Shame you don't live a little closer, I have room for it in my shop. MMM

im curious - did you go electric only on the water heater ?

personally (now having fixed blown reset/fuse) - i like the 6 gallon, lp/electric...hot water no matter what & i dont need to run the generator just to heat the water.

short of what seems like an ANNUAL anode change out the thing is low maintenance and it seems to hold the heat well and provide enough hot water for at least 3 or 4 showers in a row.

my routine generally is to turn on the water heater the morning we leave, heat the water as we're loading up & then turn it off (this way we have hot water on the road if we need it, w/out running the generator, if we dont need too otherwise).

I went with 6 gal electric only. Would like to have installed a lp/electric but really didn't have the space for an LP tank. I had orignally purchased a 1500 watt on demand water heater, however after testing it I deceided it wouldn't be adequate for a shower and sink together. If I had planned on an LP tank in the beginning, I probably could have put one somewhere. To far gone in the build to redesign. MMM

we have two on-demand heaters in the house...w/ 3 teens at home, i wouldnt have had it any other way....but i think even a small tank in the coach is the way to go....it holds the heat fairly well & doesnt use much LP.

I jokingly say im a slut for an electrical outlet....if i dont have to consume propane or diesel (generator) i won't...even a 15 or 20a outlet serves us well - enough to cool the coach even in the florida or texas heat.

correction - our water heater is a 10 gallon (NOT 6 gallon)...precisely its a Suburban SW10DE. I understand (but could be mistaken) - that ATWOOD water heaters dont require anode rod maintenance.

I've got the 6 gallon Atwood ac/propane water heater in mine. I'm pretty sure there isn't an anode in it. And I drive down the road with the gas turned on for it all the time. No problems that I can tell. Same goes for the furnace.

as i understand it - if the atwood tank becomes "compromised" it will act as the anode.
and yes we too - have driven down the road w/ the hot water heater on (lp).

have never needed to drive down the road w/ the HEAT (in the house) on.

Accy doors installed
 

Finished building and installing the accy/storage box doors. The gas springs work great. The door mount for the gas springs break over center when the door is about six inches from closing and hold the door closed. When opening, after the first six inches, you can release the door and it opens itself. My DW thinks they are great. On our previous motorhome the doors were to heavy for her to open/hold open. A word of caution, if you installed to large a spring the door would probably bust you in the mouth! Next will be installing the roof sheetmetal,air conditioner,satellite and power vent. MMM

doors
 

Michael your doors look great, very nice finish work. Will you need to limit how far they open when the slides are out? Maybe you could just put some type of rubber bumper under the slides. Keep up the good work. I am neck deep in trying to get through the building permit process with the county so I can put up a car-port.

Kenn,your correct on having to limit them when the slides are out. I could have used a shorter stroke gas spring and stopped the door at horizontal but the additional 23 degrees of travel sure makes access a lot easier. May just put a rubber bumper on the bottom of the slide. Would liked to have the roll up doors like yours but just didn't have the room. MMM

Roof finished
 

Just completed installing the one piece alum roof,trim,A/C unit, power vent and in motion sattelite. It's a little crowded on a 12' box but everything has the required space.
Starting the Slideouts tomorrow.
MMM

Where did you locate the outer trim pieces for the corners of your roof?

Sorry for the delay in responding. Was out of town.
The trim (stainless and alum) on the box was purchased from Frank's Custom Trailers in Okla City where I purchased my trailer. I wanted the truck and trailer to match. Frank's does trailer repair as well as sales. Great people to deal with if you need a trailer. They ordered the trim for me from the manufacture Forrest River in Waco Tex.
MMM

Michael, I see you went with shaveable rivets to attach the skin, did you also use 3M tape or Sika Bond as well or just the rivets? Are the corner pieces also attached with rivets & or tape? Looks like you placed the rivets about 3 or 4 inches apart (very neatly too). Did they get painted after shaving?

Choice of skin material and method of attachment are still the biggest decision I am working with in the design phase of my build. Concerned with taped joints popping open, but rivets are lots of holes that have the potential of becoming loose and creating a path for water to enter.

Thanks

Dave

Dave, I was planning on using Silkaflex-252 to bond the .040 alum to the 2" tubing. However, after doing two test strips and following the manufacture's instructions to the letter, I was still able to pull the alum from the tubing after 72 hours cure time. Also, I have seen two "store bought" trailers with bonded sheeting peeled open like a can opener went down the entire side. That's when I went to the shaveable rivets. The rivets are 3/16" with an "O ring" seal. I predrilled a 2" x 1/8" x 10' flat strip for a pattern to space the rivets all the same. The rivets are spaced at 4" and the studs are on 16" centers. Using the pattern it went pretty fast. The rivets are not painted. Once they oxidize a little they look almost white anyway. I am sure there are some bonding agents that will work well, I just feel better with a mechanical fastener. The only drawback is the price of the shaving tool. At $200 it seemed a little pricey and you need to shave a few "practice" rivets to get the head shaved correctly.
MMM

Thanks, Not thinking 200 for a tool is too bad at all. drop in the bucket on the overall price tag of the build.. Did not know the rivets had o-rings that should take care of the seal issue there. Did you put any kind of sealant or tape between the overlapped panels, and the trim and panel? Wondering about water seeping in between the panel seems.

Enjoy seeing the progress pics on your build, very similar look to what i am planning except for a lot longer and another axle.

Hoping you guys get to thaw out a bit back there soon on your side of the Rockies

Dave

Dave
Did not use any sealant on the seams. The alum sheets have a two inch overlap and with the rivets on 4" centers they are pretty tight. The cast alum. corner caps are sealed with silicone and attached with screws. The alum top trim is sealed with self leveling silicone roof sealer purchased at a local RV dealer.
I just returned from a 2 week vacation in southern AZ/Cal area where it was a pleasant 80-85 degrees. This morning it is 4 degrees with 3" of new snow and ice.....should have stayed another 2 weeks!
MMM