joining cab to cabin
 

Hi all, im in the planning stages, have most of the bits sorted, but, im stumped about joining the cab to the chassis. Irish campervan regulations state there must be a walkway through to the cab from the living area.

i have an iveco 40.10 cab chassis

im buying a refrigerated box unit, 11 feet x 7, the logic being its already insulated.

im going to build a pivot to compensate for chassis flex, so im going to need some kind of flexible material, rubber maybe or similar, to serve as a walkway between the two. im all out of ideas...

anyone had a similar problem?

regards,
ned .

The usual is a flexible bellows type of arrangement , modern version would be something like truck side curtain material . with a rigid board at bottom secured with a hinge either at cab or box end , it is then able to float with chassis twist . I made one about 30+yrs ago on a bedford RL HTSH

Hiya

Mine is just curtain side material with washered screws every 6" maybe. Then a layer of foam around the outside of that, and a few layers of black duct tape making a firm tight fit, but no condensation or draughts. About nine years old so far. The square edges of the hole has about half an inch bent at right angles into the hole so there isn't a sharp edge facing your knees. And two cushions that are a squash fit filling the hole when you want a warm camper at night. Never used as camper access though.

:)

Just check the reason for the walkway through to the cab from the habitation area. Often this is done to ensure that there are at least two means of exit in an emergency from the habitation area. Sorting out a "walkway" into a cab maybe far more difficult than having two doors at opposite ends of the habitation area. I've seen windows used as the "walkway", but they hardly qualify as an easy means of exit. Enlarging the window hole can affect the structural integrity of the cab with all the associated problems of cracking windscreens on rough trails, doors not closing properley, tilt mechanism not locking down.

snipped That stirs some sort of memory somewhere that communication between driver in cab and passengers in the camper is one reason somewhere, easily overcome by two way radios :)

Hi Ned,

In the UK there has to be access from cab to camper if you are carrying passengers in the rear. I cut the whole of the back of my cab out and fabricated some channels that I welded in place. This formed the large opening I wanted and put back any strength that I may have lost. I joined the two in with the method previously described. It has got two or three pin holes but never gets wet as it is under the luton. Sometime in the future I will renew it with a bellows, like you see on bendy buses. we can walk easily between front and rear as I have changed the original double passenger seat for a single. I did not like the idea of a crawl through.

Graeme

Hi, I've a similar job to the one described by Grizzly7 above. Mine has a door on hinges that closes and locks for security, and also this door is 3 inches thick with insulation.

It was fine four our Irish registration. We registered it in Kildare, and from what I could figure out it was one of the first "truck" campers that they registered. during the inspection, I dont recall them asking me to prove I could get from the front to the back, but the size of the door made it obvious that I could do so easily.

Merv