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It was a lot of fun driving it.

Great question. I think these actuators are rated to 10,000+ cycles so it should be 15+ years using them daily before a likely failure. The odds of both failing would be very unlikely, so I'd just open the other door and remove the pins of the failed one if I need to open it. And the wiring goes into the cabin with the controller there, which can be manually controlled, and if it failed, I'd just jumper the actuators from there to power them open or closed.

I prefer spin weld fittings because 1) they cost about $1 each vs about $20 for a bulkhead fitting; 2) they are much smaller in profile and thus easier to place and take up less space away from other things than a bulkhead fitting; and 3) many of tanks do not have access to reach inside to install a bulkhead fitting, and 4) they are much lighter weight and won't leak or fail or ever need replacement if installed correctly. Because spinweld fittings only need access from one side and install easy with one person, they can be easily installed in any size tank, any location, and without an access port. My last batch of these cost $1.23 each.

I've been using SikaFlex 292i and 252 also is a very good option. There are many other very good adhesives for this application. I've used some from other manufacturers that are very similar in specs. Generally any high-quality poly-urea based adhesive sealant for outdoor use and applicable for the two materials it's adhering should work well.

I think the asking price was between $85k-$100k--that was in June 2021. This same Unimog later sold on Bring a Trailer for more but also after some refurbishment.

@@vantripping that sounds about right.

Good suggestion. I am not very familiar with it as we don't have these in North America, and also wanted control of the box dimensions and wanted a fully rectangle box as well, having built out campers in Sprinter vans was tired of working with all of the curves that a van body has, so wasn't an option for me but a really great option for others.

Sportsmobile West in Fresno used to install these, and I think Field Vans in Reno has a similar version that they install. Not sure who else but I am sure there are others. Good luck and let me and others know which pop tops you find and go with.

@@vantripping ill be definitly make a video but i need to study i wanna do it my self

@@DaeliaVanlife It should be pretty easy to cut out the factory roof, but will require some support and more than one person to lift and place the new top, get it aligned. Then should be fairly easy to mount and seal it, should be fairly easy and few hours to a day to do it.

Yes indeed!

Thank you.

Yes, now that I have the camper on it, and nearly built out, it rides decently. Will update on the drive once I get it a little more complete. Bummer about your check engine light. Mine was caused by a leak at the fuel tank vent line to the fuel filler.

You're welcome.

I got super busy with work, and having little time left over for making videos, but I have another in the making right now--hope to have out within a week, and still making progress on the camper, with a lot of cool things finishing up or soon to finish up. Thanks for watching, more videos of my camper build coming soon.

Epic

I used a portable drill guide to ensure that my holes were perpendicular to the wall panels. It's really easy to drill them just slightly off and the hole on the other side of the wall won't line up. The drill guide ensures they are drilled right.

Yes, there are "fast axles" available for most Unimogs, and this one had those from factory, and could still be regeared, but the portal axle gearing and these 46" tires still limit top speed to about 70 mph. It's by no means a lack of power, just limits of safety with the tires. It's a very cool vehicle and was fun to drive.

@vantripping lol, that's like 110km/hr! What's wrong with that!? And who wants to handle a unimog tyre blowout at even that speed??? 😅🤣😂

@@gideonporter537 Yep, nothing wrong with that, especially when traveling with a home attached and a large truck. When I drove it and I didn't felt less safe as I approached 70 mph, as it's a big truck, that can do a lot of damage, and rapid direction changes or braking would likely be slower than needed and very scary. The seat base alone is over 6 feet off the ground.

I have the Yaesu FTM-400xdr amateur radio and President Bill CB. Each has worked very well. The remote display of the amateur radio is fantastic, especially for limited space dash (as most all are), and the small form factor of the CB radio is also very nice. The location of each provide excellent viewing, sound and control.

Thanks for the info and I do understand and appreciate your points, but Total Composites has many boxes in use for well over a decade with this design and the adhesives, without any known failures or problems, and pretty much the same design as with other manufacturers. The loads are very small per square inch--well below the adhesive and material strength ratings. Now that it's all built, it all seems fine.

Good question. I charge my house batteries, battery system number 3, via the factory Aux battery relay, so when it connects soon as the engine is running, it connects the factory Aux and my house batteries. My house batteries are over 4x the capacity of the Aux battery but each times four batteries can take about 2-3x the charge rate of the AGM since they are lithium which has far higher charge and discharge rates since much lower internal resistance. So the load on the factory alternator will be far higher than the just the Aux battery, and I noticed that the engine voltage would drop and come back up within the first 30 seconds of the engine running, and that delayed start allowed the "start up" load of fuel heaters, cabin resistance heaters, pumps, glow plugs and all of the other high loads at engine start up to settle and voltage to stabilize before I add that significant load of the potential 100+ amps of charging current going to the house batteries, and additional to the AGM Aux battery at the same time as engine is warming up and start up voltage stabilizing. I found this delay alleviated the voltage dips right after engine start up. AGM batteries like the factory Aux battery can only take a modest charge of about 20-30 amps like all lead-acid batteries, while each of the house lithium batteries can take a charge rate of up to 100 amps, and with four of them, my cabling limited it to about 120 amps total, and the factory alternator and its relay to 150 amps. At start up, current for the engine and its systems can be over 120 amps, so that maxes out the most the alternator can do at peak, yet at idle it's about half that which is less than the load of engine start up and AGM and House battery charging, so hopefully this explains why the voltage drop. MB changed the Aux battery electrics and alternator in ~2018-2019, and it sounds like your van is different than mine, so you may not be experiencing this voltage drop or not have a house battery system with the capability to accept as much of a charge as mine did, so my approach helped to preserve voltage stability while your system may not need this. It may not had been needed, but certainly helped to keep electrical systems getting a more stable voltage within acceptable range instead of the >2 volt sags I saw.

It's the excessive draw on the alternator he's preventing not flood (load) on the auxiliary battery.

A Blue Sea Systems Weatherdeck DC switch panel. Available in many sizes, and this one happens to perfectly fit within the headliner DIN cut out space or self-cut out. A great switch panel within fuse per circuit, lighted lables that can be custom ordered, and even waterproof. www.bluesea.com/products/category/25/22/DC_Panels/WeatherDeck

You're welcome. Those covers came with my bumper. I ordered the van without the front license plate mount, so maybe that's why it came with those little covers. Maybe you can order them although MB makes it really hard to order things that don't match your VIN which is problematic especially with so many options. Hopefully you can get those covers or make something like a plate to cover them.

Yep, this video series of building out an expedition camper from scratch is most certainly not a how to series, as I've said in several of my videos. It is my sharing of my build, my decisions, my challenges and how I am building it so that others can learn from my experiences, and hopefully motivate others to also take on projects they want to accomplish. Many have questioned the strength of using adhesives, so I wanted to answer those questions and concerns about its strength from my experiences to enable others to use some of these great products and gain confidence in building a different way that may be better.

@@vantripping This is the only video of yours that I have seen. The problem I have is that your description for this video says "I show how to attach cabinets, shelves, and other camper equipment to an overlanding adventure vehicle", which is not true. You also titled a chapter "How to Attach", which doesn't provide any information about how to attach, except that you clean the surfaces with alcohol and use a level, which I think is pretty obvious to anyone who might be doing this kind of work, even for the first time. You produced a 17-minute video that provides about 10 seconds of useful information. It's 17 minutes I'll never get back. Anyway, congratulations on your amazing journey, but I'll pass on the subscription.

Thanks for you feedback @@muprock .

Thank you. It has been a lot of work, and tough to keep plugging along when I can only work on it part time, so taking longer then I'd like but gall that what I am sharing is helping you and others with your projects. And I look forward to hearing and seeing what you're creating too, we all learn from each other.

If you trust other countries you can get a complete composite build for $7500 plus $3500 ocean freight (add taxes and duties). And the labor for the box build is not necessary. (empty box 4200mm L X 2200mm W X 2100mm H) The wall thickness is 55mm. Add $1200 for subframe.@@vantripping

Thank you and good question. I don't use thread locker, instead I just torque them to their spec'd torque, which is quite low for a 1/4-20 bolt, around 10-foot pounds. In my last camper built with 8020, I did not have any loosened screws even after much rough trail and road travels, so I don't expect the bolts to loosen so long as everything is straight, tight, and well connected and interconnect with each other, the whole system should not move or flex especially in a composite camper on its own subframe. I could use thread locker, but since I haven't experienced loosening of screws and thread locker adds a lot of time per bolt, I just simply torque and built it well. If I come across a loose bolt, I'll just tighten it.

@@vantripping thanks for the answer. One more question, did you make a video of the finished cabinets? Can't seem to find it. Would love to see them ready.

@@rodrigoalmeida9978 I wish! I am about half complete with the finishing of the cabinets. It's been a very part time project of lately due to work commitments, but will be sharing the completion of the cabinets and many more things soon.

You're welcome and thank you for saying. I have only found positives and no downsides to this approach with water fill and venting. Good luck with your build.

Thanks! This is a great area to ride and a fun trail. I can't say a location name for where I started the descent since I could not find one on the map. I tried to paste a snippet of the topo of this ride, but CZcams wouldn't allow that in the comments here but the descent started at roughly 10,600' at/near Tenderfoot Summit. I hope that helps. I hope to get back here and ride it again--it was a blast!

You're welcome! Glad the info I shared was helpful.

Thanks! This entry door is made by Motorcraft Adventure Development, aka MAD, out of England. It's a very nice door.

I bought my panels from Total Composites, which at the time they would sell custom cut dimensions. The Total Composites camper panels can be purchased from them or resellers, and Globe Trekker in Oregon also sells panels, as do other camper builders and suppliers. Topolo and Hunter RMV are two other panel suppliers.

I bought my panels from Total Composites out of Vancouver, Canada area. At the time, they would customize the panels, but not sure they are allowing customization any more. Hunter RMV and Globe Trekker in Oregon also offer panels or boxes, and Topple just panels.

Most insurance companies will authorize a payout to you of the estimated cost to repair minus your deductible, and you can spend that how you want, so instead of on the factory bumper and upgraded bumper which likely costs about the same as the factory bumper, maybe even less. This was an easy DIY project.

@@vantrippingThanks van tripping. That's exactly what I'd like to do. Seems a waste to put a new factory bumper on only to replace it or cut into it again. I'll ask State Farm if they'll do that. Makes sense.

@@headinghome1644 You're welcome, should be easy, just ask for that and good luck with the process and converting the bumper to a much more useful one.

Thanks, happy travels to you too.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of them either, as they are always in the way, take up much space, and are a failure point. I felt there was a better solution so I created one with parts I had.

@@vantripping There is a company in the UK making tilt parts where they will fold flat

Thanks @@nonyabiz550

You're welcome.

The frames of the cargo door, entry door and windows are all glued directly to the outside wall of the composite camper.

Thanks!

you're welcome @@marcosw6893

Good suggestion. Hard part is that the cab and camper move up 6" diagonally from each other, and also pull them selves away from each other by .25-5". Then I also need to tilt the cab away easily for doing maintenance and fluid checks, and still have it all seal from noise and weather. Now maybe I should've just created two frames with a flexible and removable seal in between, which is what I'm doing, but the two frame with each side didn't work out like I thought to make it easy to separate for maintenance, so I decide to go a different route. I'm probably making it way more complex than needed, it's my style. 😉

@vantripping I'm just referring to how you trimmed out the opening you cut in the box. I'm a woodworker, and I figured it's similar to when I've built two-piece door jambs where the casing is already attached to both sides. For the seal between the cab and the box, I was thinking about making an inflatable rectangular ring using the same kind of material whitewater rafts are made from. Then, when the truck frame twists, the bladder would just slide back & forth against the outside of the box. It's not an original idea. I remember seeing an inflatable ring being advertised to seal up the gap between the sliding back window of a pickup and the sliding window of a camper shell.

@@stewpacalypse7104 thanks for sharing. I cab frame was by EarthCruiser, that I glued in, and it's rounded, so I instead cut a rectangle in and trimmed that out. Was a lot of work the way I did that. I too have thought about an inflatable ring but instead thinking of similar materials as you except stretchy and not inflated but instead insulated to attach to the two sides, and be easily removable, which is harder than it sounds as also needs to be secure.

My preference for attaching the aluminum framing to the composite camper is SikaFlex 292i. Sika's 252 is also a good choice, Here is a link to these options which can be purchased at many resellers. usa.sika.com/en/industry/products-solutions/adhesives-and-sealants/sikaflex.html

​@@vantrippingwhat Adhesive do you use for the solar panel installation on the roof?

@@gator701 I used a two part adhesive from ClikBond, which was incredibly strong, same adhesive used to bond fuselage sections and landing gear to the frame on Commerical airliners. But that is hard to come by, and there are many one-part urea-based adhesives that are great for this purpose, such as Sika 292 and 252.

Ha! That is an AWESOME idea and I wish I thought of it. I just may add a brush mechanism to top of the cavity the table slides into to clean the crumbs off each time it's put away. Thanks for your great and funny suggestion.

It's a great question. I have both a tool-less mechanical disconnect and a switch in the inside.

What, you suggesting that I overthink things? Yeah, you're absolutely right, I do. But, when car makers make door handles retract to reduce drag, you can bet that grilles and locks will also add to drag, but not likely much. Using actuators to raise and lower these doors is more about ease of opening and closing large doors that are far off the ground when open, and ease of installation as the locks I was going to install were very complicated on these composite doors, so this was easier and added much connivence and ease of use, in addition to a streamlined exterior and not have to carry a key to open it even if one of all locks.

Ha! Yes! I need to get this done and out using it. I get few hours a week to work on this due to work and other life commitments, and it's mostly a solo project with some help from others, but it's about 85% complete, so progress towards being usable and nearly done should be pretty soon.

Yep, I wish there were actuators this long that moved about 2-4x faster. It's an optimization of force, size, weight, cost and speed, and speed has been de-prioritized in the available options. I may change these out for faster ones if those become available.

You're welcome and thank you for your comment and watching.

I'm using a wireless switch controller with their dedicated app, which there are many of these available. Also, the linear actuator companies such as Progressive Automations also provide wireless controllers for their actuators..

Great idea! Yes, I have a small rear door that can be opened from inside the garage and someone can crawl out, and I will install an interior switch to open each door, but also each door can be opened from inside without tools by removing some cotter pins just in case that happens. The gear garage is insulated and will have a small electric heater on a thermostat controller, which will help to reduce moisture. All great comments and ideas, thank you!

@@vantripping not what I meant exactly :D what will you do if someone gets his arm stuck?

@@DE-li7jt That is a good question that I only have one good answer for: don't put an arm or hand into the door as it closes, just the same with other doors.

@@vantripping You could measure the increase in current in the actuator when something doesn't go as planned and then reverse it. Ever thought about doing this pneumatic?

@@ijsvogels_nl Yes, this can work just like auto up power windows work with a safety and a good idea. I might do this if the current transducer and controller can be low cost and easy to wire up. I did think about using pneumatic actuators instead of direct current electric actuators, but running air lines would be more difficult than wires, and I need power everywhere, plus air lines tend to leak no matter how well installed, plus would rely on the air compressor regularly running and the system staying up to pressure instead of staying off except when needed. Whereas power will always be available. Plus the electric actuators are much lower cost and lighter weight than pneumatic ones.

I've been mostly using Sika 292i and sometimes Sika 251 as well. Looks at the specs of any adhesive sealant to make sure it bonds well to your substrate and bonded material, as well as meets the operating specs needed.