Sankey Widetrack Camper Conversion

This is ace. Really interested to see the finished product, should be excellent t

After the last set of pictures were taken, we stripped it all down and assembled it with the adhesive, bolted the corner pieces in place and also bolted the roof sticks up into the cant rails. It starts to feel very solid once the adhesive goes off and the panels and extrusions become fastened together.

We have the roof covering material and the extrusion to go over the places where it is fixed down, but we have one more roof stick to place and then we'll be doing the front panels and cutout for the door.

We also have to go round all the seams and joins with sealer.

I'll post a layout drawing tomorrow.

Looks like tomorrow is going to be wet again, but the afternoon might give us some time to get more done.

Peter

Layout drawing as of this week, but subject to change:



Here is the bolted-up version with all the metalwork glued down and the roof sticks bolted in place:



Corner casting detail:



Roof sticks attachment:



Cant rail end:


Daylight shot:



Peter

I have been wondering about a sankey but mount a roof tent on top and storage underneath.

This seems much better

Those pre-made corner pieces are really neat. I've not ever built anything with aluminium extrusions like this before. It's very impressive what you can get. Do they do bits like that to accommodate the non-right angle joins you'll have on the front too?

Personally I like those brackets you can get to join tubes together - Kee Klamp and similar brands. We made a bondage bed for one of my friends with that, years ago.

Flat:
The basic Sankey is much too small to live inside, but with the extensions we put on it gets to a length where you can do something with it. It only has 1500kg gross weight, so you can't go too mad, but we think Philip's version will come out OK.

Brown:
The non-90 deg bends will be done by cutting the cant rails at an angle, no pre-made bits unfortunately.

The push-in square tube fittings are great for knocking up interior fittings, cupboards etc, haven't used them myself but have seen lots of examples.

With the experience of building the big 6-wheel drawbar trailer, this is simpler but where the drawbar trailer was a design and build, the chassis being drawn up first followed by the body, the Sankey has to fit around a pre-existing base, and we modified that as well before the body was started.

Nothing I'd change really, it has worked out OK, possibly the top slope down at the front might get ditched as the compound angle is going to be awkward on the cant rails.

We have cancelled our regular trip to Holland and France in May/June next year so we can get the Sankey and the Mercedes both finished. A trip to North-west France is planned, so the cancelled Stena Line monery paid for the Britanny Ferries crossing from Portsmouth to Caen and back in September.

Peter

More this afternoon, getting the bevelled front made up, after the rain had stopped!





Peter

Very good Thread!!! intrestingly different!!!!

The camera on wide angle setting makes the walls seem cockeyed, but they are straight!

We finished up last night absolutely frozen, the wind was icy and we had to keep the sealant in the sink in hot water to keep it thin enough to use.

Sikaflex and Parabond600 are the two we use, and remember that out of date cartridges are still OK for at least a year or more after their sell by date.

If you need more than a couple of cartridges, there's an ebay seller in Germany who knocks them out for just under £4 each, and £8.73 carriage regardless of quantity. I've bought from him before and it's good product, in fact we are using it on the Sankey now. I'll be ordering another 10 cartridges today.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/311355608960

UK sellers are asking up to £12 a cartridge!

Peter

Which Sikaflex are you using? I've used a couple of their products on boats and caravans - and even on my house. Quite remarkable, and excellent for this sort of work as they do not produce formic acid as they cure - which is bad for alloy!

We use 221 for everything, it's the best all-round adhesive/sealant we have used.

Peter

Out there today!

Philip wants to get the front and roof on, so we are working on it on Boxing Day

Cut the door out, got the second front corner up, now he is out in the road cutting up an 8' X 4' sheet of GRP/Ply.









Peter

Lousy weather again!

Did get a dryish spell and got the front panel fixed in place.







Next step is to get the cant rails cut around the top of the front bevelled panels, then the roof can go on.

Peter

We did a bit on the trailer yesterday, but we are working this week so play has stopped until the 1st January.

Peter

Philip has been up there today, getting the doorway sorted out.

Panic set in when he realised that the door was too narrow to get the fridge through.....

The trim extrusion that goes round the door aperture we had left over from the big trailer build, but they cut a piece a bit short and found they didn't have enough. I looked through the remnants again and found a couple of feet of it which got the job done.

I'll get some pictures tomorrow if it stops raining.

Peter

Well, just drop the fridge in through the top and then put the roof on.

Roof sticks are too close together!

Probable solution is going to be fitting one of the two windows with non-setting mastic, so it can be taken out if the fridge or cooker need removing.

Philip is up there today, the door surround was done yesterday, the door itself made up today, plus I took a load of bits of extrusion and a large offcut of the GRP/Ply up there, but it started peeing rain yet again, and although we have a sheet over the roof he can't use power tools in the open.

Peter

Still raining!

Philip has got a 5ft flourescent and a 2-bar electric fire in there, and there's a decent sheet over the open top:



Door surround is on:



Door finished but waiting for hinges and lock etc:



Interior started:



Drier weather tomorrow.

Peter

this is looking so good

flat said:

this is looking so good

Click to expand...

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