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Vicente
2014 Mar 31, 5:42am
CNG remains attractive to me, however there's the problem of planning your route around fill stations for it. Lots of municipalities have them nowadays, but not all, and I'm interested in more remote areas.
Bellingham Bill
2014 Mar 31, 7:05am
yeah, the PNW is particularly brutal
two 5' cylinders can hold 42 DGE (diesel-gallon-equivalent) and weigh 260lb dry (filled they weigh ~500lb) and should have a 600 mile range, more if I also put in some sort of auxiliary wheel motor powered by solar / regenerative braking system.
RVs certainly have the space to play around with, if you can live compact (like on a boat), you hit weight limits before space limits -- water weighs a ton, literally.
(boats are even better, no weight limit really, they have to carry deadweight as ballast, but their ability to go inland is rather limited)
The crap I want to carry around with me could easily fit in this RV, if I had more input into the interior layout -- laptops, iPads, and projection TV were made for RVing . . . 'course these are also made for thieves to walk off with . . .
but I'm beginning to see a plan here -- summer in Bellingham/BC, fall in MT/UT/CO, winter in AZ/CA, spring in CA/OR . . . that'd be a sweet life cycle . . .
Here is a euro version that is inspiring from a DIY standpoint.
http://www.gizmag.com/tonke-camper-wooden-mobile-home/27351/pictures#23
BB, I liked the loft that comes down out of the ceiling in front of the (unused) cab space. More aerodynamic than the permanent over cab ones (see link below). I could see going on the road with a family of four in that.
I like the Sprinter (MBZ engine) based designs as they run on diesel. I saw one Sprinter based RV on Craigslist for $50k, but they usually go for more than that. Here's one (with a sideout)
http://www.lemkerv.com/pre_owned_detail.asp?sid=0672085X3K31K2014J7I22I00JPMQ8182R0&veh=3652799
Bellingham Bill
2014 Mar 31, 12:22pm
The new Dodge and Ford vans are basically copies of the Sprinter.
The Dodge ProMaster is coming out in diesel this year, which is great for my CNG dreams!
http://www.allpar.com/news/index.php/2014/02/promaster-diesel-this-month
The ProMaster is FWD, which is odd for a truck/van, but no drive shaft to the rear axle leaves a lot more space for the RV part, plus I would think it would be technically possible to integrate 4WD via an auxiliary electric motor driving the real wheels.
I see this as a power-assist going uphill, regenerative braking going downhill, and even maybe taking over for the FWD for in-town stuff (running on rooftop PV-sourced power for short jaunts). I should patent this, LOL
With 50 DGE-equivalent in CNG tanks, a rooftop PV array, a Leaf-sized battery pack (600lb), this thing would be an efficiency monster, like a monster Prius.
Why the hell not!
Park during the day to recharge the PV, shuttle to the next stop at night.
All it needs is Google's self-driving technology, and it'd be the dream machine . . .
Bellingham Bill
2014 Mar 31, 2:59pm
http://www.mitfuso.com/en-us/Canter-Work-Truck-Models/FG4X4
same Fiat diesel engine, but this chassis doesn't mess around
some guy in BC made a 4X4 RV with that truck:
http://www.expeditionportal.com/threads/48351-out-with-the-old-in-with-the-new
Bellingham Bill
2014 Apr 1, 6:58am
same truck, making the argument for 4WD:
seems like 4WD pays for itself by its ability to avoid pay-per-night campgrounds.
not to mention the better views
http://www.gowinnebago.com/products/2014/trend/exterior/
I like how there's no dedicated bed space, that's just a big waste of space
and I like how the aft end is a unit bath (very Japanese in design, actually)
and how the style isn't pandering to 65yos.
Not sure how Winnebago is adding $50,000+ in value over the stock cutaway:
but I'm sure a custom job will add up $$$ fast.
Life of a vagabond -- not sure it's for me, but it might work to have a cheap home base somewhere and spend 80% of the time in a small RV like this.
Ford also has a new cutaway van coming:
and I think they have a better CNG story (CNG looks the way to go for an RV -- the cost per mile is currently 1/2, and it'd be cool to have one fuel source for all appliances, though perhaps it'd make more sense to put the freezer on a dedicated propane tank).
But it'd be pretty crazy to put $100,000+ into an asset on six wheels. So easy to steal!