ecomeat wrote:Alan,
Very impressed with the mobile man cave.
Could you give us a close up of your barrel vice and it's fitting to the tow ball ?
Very fancy wiring there on the LED light bar !
What is its cruising speed ? Plenty of power ? Have you been game to weigh it, fully loaded ?
Tony
Tony,
This vise can be made without any machining or welding, although I did get the vise bolt heads tacked to the underside of the bottom plate. The top and bottom plates are mild steel, the 3 jaws (2 bottom and one top) are 10mm aluminium each fixed with small bolts tapped into the aluminium. The checker plate step is independent. To get all of these bolted on to the towbar, I bought a long shank towball (105mm shank) to get through the step, but a standard 60mm shank would suffice without the step.
![Image](http://ozfclass.com/forums/pic/vanandblunderbus/vise.jpg)
There's a story to the light bar. I took it to an experienced auto-electrician to get wired and he said no worries, I can do that right now. When I picked it up he said, one small problem he couldn't find an easy way through the bulkhead for the switch to be inside the cab, so the switch is under the bonnet! Fortunately he didn't charge much, so I had a think about it and decided there must be a switch in the cab. Ebay to the rescue : I bought a little remote control 12V switch for $15 plus postage - stuck the little controller on the dash and it works like a charm! The external cabling has a connector and allows the light bar to be taken off quickly by undoing a couple of wingnuts. I only intend to have the bar attached when in roo country at night. Apparently thieving of these is common, and also if a man in blue decides that its mounting position is illegal in his state (not very clear laws at present), I just apologise and take it off.
Regarding performance of the vehicle, I would happily cruise it at the limit on those 130kph signed roads up north, and read a European road test describing cruising at 180 on the Autobahns with a high roof model. I was concerned about how the cruise control would work with a manual, but shouldn't have been. It just keeps going at 100kph in 5th gear up the steepest hills without dropping out.
I do have it loaded up. The plywood alone weighs about 250Kg, and with about 100L of various fluids (water diesel etc), heavy appliances (microwave, fridge etc), generator, extra battery, several heavy barrels, heavy sandbag, T7 press, projectiles etc. etc. I estimate a "payload" of about 700Kg (licensed to carry 1000Kg). But as I said, no problem with power. One thing that I have to improve on is securing the load. I had a few learning experiences this trip where things moved around and some things fell off shelves, so will be putting some thought into that before the next big trip.
But its a much better way of doing things than with the little Subaru and large tent. Arriving and leaving the range is so much quicker without having to setup and dismantle, and on the way there and back everything is easily accessible, and not trapped underneath a huge pile of gear. So I'm convinced that the concept is a good one.