I was sure given the size of the cab - well it's a TRUCK after all - you can just about walk around in the cab - that the seats would fit - NO WORRIES MATE . . .
WRONG !!
It turns out that the transmission hump is very large and the standard seat base very small and car seats have wide bases.
Maybe if I really hacked things around I could get the driver's seat to fit - but then when you sat on it the spring base settled and the seat sides would catch; and the passenger seat area was NO CHANCE because of the third "dicky seat" in the middle squashing things up.
Given what's probably happened by now to the beer used to purchase the seats with I don't even want to think about a refund.
"Sure. Here you go mate. Hhhuuuurrrccckkk!"
Oh Well. Bolt back in the original seats.
Replace the horrible vinyl on the driver's squab and organise some seat covers.
That will have to do at this time.
In the mean while seeing I was doing truck things I am finishing off the torsion mounts with primer and paint and finally bolting them down properly.
Not everything seems to be going smoothly at the moment.
I have had a number of discussions with electricians who do caravan and motorhome fitouts and they have convinced me that : "12Vdc with discrete components" is the way to go.
It has nothing to do with the efficiency but much more to do with the economics.
I was intending to try and do it all in 24Vdc. Trucks are 24Vdc and in theory there is an advantage in efficiency as the voltage increases.
However 12V items are more readily available for a lot of items.
I was intending to use an integrated AC switching, inverter/charger etc for power.
Everyone argued that if it failed all the electricity would be out (except of course 240Vac supplied by either shore power or generator).
I'm not sure that that argument holds water (only one part may fail and the rest of the operations still be OK) but what has to be considered is that you may have to remove and or replace the entire item in order to fix it.
By using discrete components you can elect to replace only a smaller portion of the system and even change brands and capacities etc. in an emergency. This is a much more telling argument and seeing I am using an older simpler truck for similar reasons it's hard to argue against it.
All this came about after starting to look for a 24Vdc truck windscreen wiper motor to use as an actuating mechanism with which to raise and lower the bed. You may remember that they started in the hundreds of dollars. After considering 12Vdc of course I could go and get a standard car type motor for about $50! That goes some way as a convincing argument.
This one was obtained from the same source as the seats (but we haven't figured out a price yet).
Clamped in position with all the reciprocating arrangement removed and a small drum fitted I could use it to test the lifting capability (only one corner at a time, however).
It was obvious that it was straining a bit. This did not auger well for longevity and reliability so I am having to rethink that bit at the moment. It also raised the problem of the amount of cable to be reeled in. The more I lowered the "gear" ratio in order to lower the load on the motor the more cable I needed to use. This resulted in the cable building up on the drum (unevenly without some form of distributing mechanism) and would result in all the corners moving at different speeds. In other commercial systems this is resolved by using chains and sprockets and very high torque (expensive) motors and gearboxes.
I was obviously trying to avoid "expensive" so this is going on the back burner for a while hopefully to solved in the middle of a good sleep with one of those "AAHHAA" dream moments.
A visit to the Caravan and Camping show being held in Perth this weekend has turned out to be quite fruitful.
I have bought a number of items from the "Eastern States" via the internet over the course of this project. I always try to give the local businesses the opportunity to match the prices first but it seems they are "not able" to do this most of the time. I understand this is because many of the ES companies are merely warehouses with lower overheads but I find that most of the time I receive no value from the "shop" style of selling that we have locally. If I could buy locally via the internet/warehouse approach I would cheerfully do that!
The operators of local businesses of course argue that they provide access to service facilities etc. that he warehouse operations don't, but as nearly everything goes back to the manufacturer for service/repair these days I am not sure that makes a good argument. After all where I am intending to travel I probably wont have access to the original seller anyway!
However it seems that the shows bring out the specials so it's worth having a look.
Sure enough it was worth going. In all cases of the things I was looking for I managed to get the ES price without the freight. I guess that saved about $1000 overall.
First off the list was another fridge. I already have a smaller one of these that I intend to use as a freezer. I think that an upright fridge with shelves is of dubious value even on good roads so off road where I'll be I think the chest style fridge is the only way to go. I know it is more economical to run on gas when parked up for a while but all the reading and research I have done suggests that this requires considerable management as you can't/shouldn't run on gas while moving. Also these are about as efficient and reliable as you can get and I have overkill in the generator department anyway.
Other items purchased include hot water system and air conditioning which will be arriving in the next week or so.
Then it will be full steam ahead again as I now know exactly what I have to put where.
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