Truck Box Coatings

[jabney]

I'm converting a reformed carbohydrate-carrier into a remote-type truck. It's 16' fr headache panel to back-door, aluminum UtiliMaster body, Cummins 3.9 turbo diesel (with a 60 mph governor :-), manual 4 speed and it's noisy. It needs some front end work, (I may have gotten a good lead on a mechanic) and I'd like to add some air-bladders, roof A/C, etc.

For standing still, I'd like to treat the interior. There is already some undercoating underneath, but it's really convoluted and removing would be a bear. With a lot of help from my friends, we've gotten most of the after-market steel racks the carb-merchants had attached with steel rivets to the floor. Only the head-ache panel area rivets remain and we're waiting for the ground to dry to back the vehicle into air-hose range of the power-chisel (ain't tools great). I've removed most of the caulking along the floorline although some residue remains (less than 1/8 inch,) I'll see if a wire brush helps once it crusts.

The interior has yet to be sanded and the insulated roof interior is a little water damaged due to the gap at the top of the roll-up door, and since it's metal should be coming out anyway. I think I may have come across a way to gain some headroom and some R factor.

Instead of recaulking, I'd like to straighten the one wheel-well area for a closer mechanical fit then cover the whole interior of the box with VB-1x from www.cascadeaudio.com/ topped off with CAE's TG-1 (http://www.cascadeaudio.com/pdf/tech...ech%202004.pdf)
for what should make a more comfortable box. The company sells a pretty decent looking spray gun that works on both the sound-deadening VB-1x and the R20-in-two-coats TG-1. Does anyone have experience with this combination? I assume a week's wait between coatings should be sufficient.

I plan on treating the floor as well, although I do expect to put a floating floor in right away. Wood will be involved, and rubber pucks too I think, unless something like the Auralex drum platform type foam would work better. If rubber pucks are the answer, which ones? And what happens if the rubber pucks rest on top of the VB-1x/TG-1 sandwich? If there's no difference, I'd just as soon not mask-off a bunch of little circles. If I need direct contact, I can use spikes.

[Remoteness]

Please don't take this the wrong way but, you're converting a waste management vehicle into a remote truck? Are you serious?
If so, please attach a picture or two -- seeing is believing.

[Waylon]

I think he means a refrigerated transport truck? although, the "waste management vehicle" would make for a intersting mobile.....

Either way, you came to the right place.... Pics would be awesome, and i cant wait to see the evolution!

[Remoteness]

Interesting. I never heard of a carbohydrate-carrier truck. How old is the truck?

Let's see the before and after shots!!!

I'll check the links you posted and reply soon...

[jabney]

"Carbohydrate carrier" does not refer to a waste carrier, more like a waist carrier :-). It's a bread truck - specifically a muffin truck I won't say the brand of muffin; but don't be surprised if I ask sometime about the best way to mic' all the nooks and crannies of a timbale or something :-).

The step van is an '89 Ford with a little over 76,000 miles. I'll probably have some pics in about a week or two. (Until then, you can roughly substitute by looking at a FedEx or bakery-type truck and imagining it in all white - we're talking pretty generic here folks.) I've been working on removing the oxidation on the aluminum interior. The ceiling-panels and head-ache panel have yet to be removed.

The current consensus between me and my friend Marc (who is a good friend, a big help, and a decent designer and wood worker/metal smith) is that the sliding door on the passenger side be replaced with a hinged door. I'd like to retain the slide pocket to use for a screen door.

Debate centers around the bulkhead i.e. ('head-ache') panel and rear-door (currently a full-width Todco garage-type raiser). Removing the bulkhead would expose the non-paralleled front of the truck (good) but might eliminate some body stiffness (bad). If the bulkhead between the cab and cargo area remains in the final design the door-way (currently in the middle) will be moved to the passenger side. the wall thickened, and the whole structure moved toward the back a few inches.

How to allocate a space about 7 1/2' wide, 7 1/2 tall', and about 20' long? I'd like an area where I can listen to monitors with some accuracy. I'd like a utilty area. I'd like to be able to do vocal and drum-booth stuff - maybe even track a small group. And I'd like it to be relatively easy to strip to the bare walls and haul a PA rig. I'm thinking E-rail and removable panels each with a wood side and a fiber-glass/fabric side.

We are thinking of using rack-gear to create a back wall between the main cargo/studio area and the utility/drum-booth area behind. We have one idea for using rack rail, but we're trying to refine the design to use the rack cases (of differing manufacture and hinge-type) instead.

There's a lot more, but I've got to go work on the truck now. It/she's going to the mechanic's tomorrow so I should soon have a better idea of just how mobile this is going to get me.

I am hoping to go on the road and record an album's worth of the songs of Fanny Crosby ("Blessed Assurance" etc.) as interpreted by church and secular musicians. Think of it as a sort of tithe of my lump-sum retirement (people tell me I look much younger :-) ) monies to get the studio off to a rolling start.