OKA NT Building Diary Part 1

On July 24th the first "work" was done at Alu-Star.

Alu-Star in Schallstadt (Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany).

We stayed on-site over night in our Defender and enjoyed the "luxury" of our roof tent.

On Saturday Alex came in to work with Ruedi. It was very hot.
The measurements of the bicycle "garage" were checked and a replica built.
Alex and Ruedi discussing how to attach the bicycle in the garage.

Ruedi's plans are correct. Details were discussed.

Building of the camper cabin

The roof with 2 openings in the roof, the floor, the front and left hand side wall are being built.

View into the cabin from the front; 2 views of the left side.

Delivery of the camper cabin

On January 21st, 2005 the empty camper cabin is delivered on a 40 ton truck.

Carefully the 900 kg weighting cabin is lifted from the truck with 2 straps.

The cabin will now be finished standing on a assembly-platform .

Everything is checked carefully for damages in transit. All measurements are controlled.
All is fine and Ruedi seems to be delighted.

Details of the split door.

Floor heating

During February the tubes for the floor heating are being installed by Alex
The boiler will also serve as accumulator for the floor heating.

The tubes are then covered with metal sheet. Even with this tedious work Alex keeps his sense of humor by proposing degreasing spray as deodorant.

Sampling

Beginning of March the floor is finished, the linoleum fitted and the first peace or furniture built.
It is time for sampling now.

With cake and coffee discussing colors and materials is much easier.
We cannot decide if we should go for colors or wood.

To help Alex shows the difference between "rolled" or "coated" paint.
We go for the rolled one.

At the end, as the floor is made of a dark grey linoleum, we decide to go for off-white walls with colored spots and the furniture doors will be light grey timber laminate. For the kitchen bench-tops and the dining table a matching Corian top is chosen.

The choice of the upholstery is not easy. At the end we settle for light-brown Alcantara.
Color will be added to the interior with bed-linen, towels, cushions, etc.

The furniture is developed

The last few fixing points are applied and the cabinet for the kitchen sink is set in it's place.

Ruedi seems to be skeptical and checks a few dimensions.
The fridge looks fine.

Ruedi and Alex check the height of the window by sitting on makeshift seats .... especially Alex ....

The windows have arrived. Alex explains the functionality of them.

On Easter the next visit is paid to Alu-Star. Thomas has come back from a job up north and is now working on our window frames.

Alex has generated an overhead compartment. We need to decide if the doors should open upwards or downwards.
Due to the constraints of the hinges we decide to open towards the ceiling.

Also the top-section of the kitchen element needs to be discussed.
Some things can not be decided just on paper, it requires discussions in front of the object.
As the element will contain Ruedi's guitars Ruedi also opts for the door to open towards the ceiling.

The windows will be equipped with aluminum"blinds" that can be locked from the inside.
These blinds are meant as protection against burglary and environment but also to make the camper a bit less obvious.
Ruedi wonders who many wholes need to be drilled into the blind to allow some sight of what is happening outside without on the other hand revealing to much of the camper hidden in the container.
We decide on one whole as more often than not one doesn't want to be detected than one needs to look outside through the closed "blinds".

At lunch time we all gather outside and enjoy some Pizza together with some beautiful warm sun shine.
Happy Easter!

Solar panels, emergency escape

It is already April. Ruedi's father, Max, comes along to Alu-Star.

Thomas is ready to start the installation of the solar panels.
All is discussed and the planned setup re-inspected from all sides.

Hansjörg and Alex work on the emergency escape into the driver's cabin. It seems to jam a bit.
All is removed again, cut open, welded again and then it fits perfectly.

How should we solve the mozzie-screen door? There also must be a grille to prevent the opening of the door so the top section can be left open open night.
In spite of some good ideas and once again studying the catalog the problem is not solved.
Well, we also need something to discuss next time, right?

Solar panels finished, windows and blinds, roof window, sampling again

In May Ruedi is at Alu-Star for 2 weeks to help.

The water filter system is built and together with the UV-filter installed in the kitchen cabinet.

Over and over again they realize that the furniture lacks a metal piece here, and additional whole needs to be drilled there.
When testing if the Rako-Boxes fit into their destination spots they find that the drawer for the pots and pans is not wide enough by 4 mm meaning that the Rako-Box does not fit.
Alex wants to take the furniture apart and fix it properly, but there is no time. The furniture should have been handed over to the painter a while ago!
So it is decided to build an Aluminum-drawer to take the place of the Rako-Box. Guess the pots and pans will not mind.

The Solar system is ready.
For easier tracking of faults always 2 panels are connected into the cabin over one wire.
When Ruedi wants to test if the system works he has to realize that there is no sun shining inside of the shop ....

Thomas is working on the second roof window. The first one stands in the office, ready to be mounted.
The resistant Macrolon is extremely flexible and is almost unbreakable.

Alex is not happy with the quality of work done on he hinges. He orders the cargo doors to be removed again.
Then the hinges get removed too. As they have been glued in with Sikaflex this takes some time.
New hinges are fitted correctly. Now the work is up to Alu-Star-perfection!

The last window to be mounted is the one at the dining table.
Hmmm ..... the mounting place is 3 mm to small. Alex needs to cut it out a bit more.

Ruedi removes the metal dust so it does not get into the mounting material.
The window now fits perfectly.

On the other side of the cabin the windows are already mounted.
They can be fixed on any height.
Once the window has been closed at the end the blind is closed. Once the blinds are painted once will not see much of the camper hidden in it.

Some of the materials and colors that we chose a few weeks back are not available anymore because their companies have ben taken over by another one.
All except the Corian and the linoleum which is already mounted needs to be sampled again.

After another long discussion we decide to go for painted furniture. We choose a RAL-color as they are available globally and potential dentures and scratches can be repaired by us.
The new colors are:
Walls: white
Furniture frame: Alu silk
Doors: RAL 1015, bright ivory
Seat covers: Alcantara-similar material from Sonnhaus, washable, Tiffany silver