Summer project: Installing the rooflight

We have this proverb in Finnish: Vaikeuksien kautta voittoon (Through difficulties we shall conquer). That pretty much sums up the latest truck project. Instead of painting the container, as we thought we'd do when I last posted in January, we decided to install the rooflight (or hatch) and windows first.

Dometic / Seitz Heki, ordered from Germany.

We had a minor side project during this spring, which delayed our plans for a few months. We bought a building plot, sold our house and moved. That meant we had to move the truck quickly and we ended up moving it to our off-road-guru's yard in Tuusula (40 minutes drive form our new place). Out of sight, out of mind, we concentrated on planning the new house and getting our stuff together in the new place.

We had quite a miserable summer here in terms of weather, but of course it was one of the only hot days when we drove to see the truck and get started. No ventilation or holes - so it was enjoyable. The next two project days were ominously rainy, but miraculously we succeeded in the end without a total heat exhaustion or water on the floor.

So, what happened? First we just assessed the situation and cleaned up a bit (of course this vacant space filled pretty quickly during the move), and got ourselves some new tools.  Then we started by measuring the hole and drilling 12 mm diameter holes in the corners.

 

Then we cut along the lines from corner to corner with a metal sandwich saw blade. We drew the lines on the inside too to be able to check the straightness of the cut.

 A-ha, the clouds!

Then we took off 3 cm of filling out from the sides of the hole to make room for the enforcing wood pieces. The wood we had oiled for better weather proof.

After this we had to leave and let the hatch on the roof to protect the hole. We decided to come back soon to finish the installment. This, turned out, wasn't as easy as we'd hoped...

There is no photographic documentation of this next phase, for an obvious reason. We were being extra careful to avoid any cold bridges and moisture problems, so we decided to add a little bit of sealant behind the wood. Of course it kept on growing and growing and we feared the wooden pieces would come out too much and make it impossible to install the hatch. We tried to install the hatch anyway, but decided against it. After a lot of sweating and good old Finnish cursing, we left the part of the roof we had cut out inside the hole and left, defeated. We had met our first real obstacle, it seemed!

But with the sisu of a true Finn, Riku returned for the fourth time (!), to check on the situation. And it was worth it, he got it installed!

It opens wonderfully, there is a mosquito net and a curtain to keep the light out and it's right where we wanted it, on top of our bed. So Loppu hyvin, kaikki hyvin - all's well that ends well. Next project? We shall see!

- Tiina

And almost everytime I say we, I mean he :)

Container renovation Part 2

Riku took out all the mounting rails from the walls and roof. And then we cleaned the inside of the container again. So this is the container waiting for some improvements:

 

And this is working in October, before the heater and lights:

 

As it turns out, the wallpaper glue requires +18 Celsius to dry, and it was about + 5 in November. But the heater borrowed from a friend worked great and with the powerful lights it was easily over + 20.

We chose a smoothly textured glass fiber wallpaper for the walls and roof. From mint green to white:

The gymnastics approach:

The artistic approach:

And now we're in 2015 with the whole container finally wallpapered! We've got the base paint purchased, so that'll be the next phase.

Stay tuned!

/ Tiina

Container renovation Part 1

Happy New Year everybody!

We've been trying to work on the truck through our precarious Finnish early winter (slowly though, with Christmas and everything). The temperature can go from -20 Celsius to 0 in a few hours. There's rain, there's snow, there's freezing and it's dark. But hey, the container doesn't have holes in it anymore, so there's nothing a heater and some construction lights can't fix!

Last time you saw the container it was in the middle of the measuring and planning process. Some things have happened since then.

We ordered 12 aluminium plates from a metal shop to cover all the holes in the container left by the heater and other appliances. Riku painted them in our garage and drilled all the holes for the screws. We also cut out right sized bits of polyurethane foam plate and foamed them to the aluminum.

Then we needed to lift the  driver's cabin to reach the back of the container. It turned out to be a bit more tricky than planned.

The locking mechanism of the shift stick extension was leaking hydraulic fluid, so it wouldn't open and the driver's cabin wouldn't rise. It took some time to fix it, but finally we did it!

After installing the aluminum + foam plates from the inside, we filled the sides of the holes with foam to minimize cold bridges which could prove problematic in the future.

After all this cutting, spraying and taping, we finally got to covering the holes with the aluminum. First we scraped all excess dried foam and then glued the plates on.

We also took out all the original plates and glued them to get rid of the screws that would show under the wallpaper.

Speaking of which, this was next:

To be continued in Part 2.

/ Tiina

The first adventure: Pälkäne off-road!

First of all, sorry for the really, really, unacceptalbly long break in the blog!

We'll be catching up now, because I conveniently caught a cold yesterday and I finally have some time on my hands.

Speaking of yesterday... we went offroading for the first time with the truck. It was really good to test the truck in some forest conditions, now we know what we can handle and what not :)

We left for Pälkäne near Tampere, 150 km from here, early in the morning. We caught up with four other trucks at a gas station and after some coke and coffee, drove with them to Pälkäne.

The place was pretty amazing (also from a historians perspective :)) and it was pretty cool of them to welcome us there. The host's help was also very valuable!

 

The king of the event, in our opinion :) Finnish army SISU

We almost got stuck in the first curve, and after that a few times in the most unexpected places, that didn't look so bad. Summa summarum, we desperately need new tires!

 

Here we go!

I guess our son was right in saying, that when you brake something, it's a sign of a good offroading :) We got in a bad jam nearing the end of the day in the middle of some birches. The condensation valve in the air tank got loose and the air pressure escaped. But, with the help of the host and some guy we hadn't even met, we got a spare part and the help to fix it. And everything was great again!

 We didn't get to see much of the birch forest...

As with all outdoor hobbies, you should never forget your snacks. We had some breakfast and lunch sandwiches packed, with smoothies and coke. We also barbecued sausages, as is custom in Finland in almost all outdoor activities. There was a wonderful "kota", or barbecue hut in use on the grounds. There was a bigger off-road event for smaller cars on the grounds as well, so we had lots of company in the hut. Leo also found a playmate from one of the trucks, a girl only 9 moths older than him.

The crowd is gathering to cheer a truck and an ATV across a puddle and up a hill

After some final difficulties on the last drive, we got out of the forest just in time before dark (at 3.30 PM).

Almost there!

In the episodes to follow: what have we been doing after last spring? Stay tuned...

Through my window...

... I can see there's more than you and more than me. Through my window I can see our wildest dreams could be so real.
- Bunkface

 

See? Maybe a mountain on this side, to make it right? While I reach for the spices, the moon rises...

 

Or over here a rising sun, while having breakfast with our son. And a beach, right in our reach...

- Yours truly :)

You've gotta use your imagination for a while still to see through, but not for long. We just ordered three windows (Seitz S4) from Germany and they should be arriving soon! In addition to the kitchen and dining area windows, we ordered a small one for the toilet, to give the illusion of space in that 1m2 booth.

Can't wait for Riku to install them! :) We would have actually enjoyed the sun already while working had we had the dining area window, since that side is facing south.

Here's an example of our window:

 www.woelcke.de

The windows have integrated curtains and mosquito nets. We are also considering the fridge and stove in the picture.

Have a great week!

/ Tiina

Planning planning

Last weekend we finally got round to marking all the spots of the structures and furniture inside the container. We have a nice layout made for us by the local carpenters and we decided to test it in real size. The weather has been great for the past week and the morning sun warmed up the top of the container wonderfully when we were inside at 9 AM :) The light was good even without any windows or lamps, the spring in Finland can be pretty awesome (or maybe it's just that it comes after the dark winter...).

Checking the measurements on the iPad

Morning light

Making sure the bed is big enough

Here comes the kitchen

Inspite the pics, I actually helped :) Next phase: measuring out the perfect sized windows, and then getting some to Finland!

/ Tiina

Truck at the shop

There has finally been some progress in the project after a slowish winter. We took the truck to a guy we know from the Volvo circles.

There it goes!

And there it is, at the shop

The container followed on a trailer. Our guy designed and built the subframe and we are really happy with the result! The subframe sits on a three-point mounting with the pivot at the back.

 

Of course the colors could possibly match even better...

The truck itself got some taking care of as well. The front middle seat was installed (it was lacking, but it'll be nice to be able to travel with everyone in front, if we want to). Also the back supports of the other front seat and the back seat were missing and got installed as well.

Our guy took the combo to the vehicle inspection, which is mandatory in Finland. Suprise suprise, it didn't pass!

So now we are waiting for some magic to happen :) Hopefully at the next inspection everything will be OK.

We will start working on the container when we get the truck back on our yard and the weather warms up a bit. We had a warm winter and now a slow spring. We bought 3D-plans for the interior design from our local carpenters, so we have great guidelines and measurements to start working with. The next purchase is probably going to be the windows.

Hopefully there will be some developments soon!

Have a great spring!

/ Tiina