Hi Again,

In my past few posts, I’ve included lots of updates on all the elements that are going really well. I thought I might as well share a recent but very embarrassing mistake in the hope that it will help some others down the road…

“ALWAYS CHECK THE OBVIOUS”

One of the design specifications for the vehicle was to be at most 96″ at it’s widest point, so that we could load it onto a shipping pallet and then on to a container ship.

Of course there are RoRo ships throughout the world, but the schedules are more sporadic, the locations less remote, and any shipping nightmare stories I’ve read always seem to revolve around RoRo’s. (theft, loading damage, etc)

So Jeff and I have been struggling to keep everything within the 96″. This affects the floorplan, the walls, the awning, etc. You even start thinking about the rain gutters and bar locks, looking for more flush options in order to retain every inch of inside living space.

Then Jeff calls me last week… “You do realize that those Meritor axles you put on the front are 102″ wide right!?” …DOH!

Even the (grudgingly removable) steps on the fuel tanks come out to a full 105″

We were done, before we’d even started… There was no way we were going to make the 96″ limit due to a silly oversight on my part on one of the hundreds of components / decisions. But of course it is too late to change that now.

So, now we’re back to the drawing board and stretching the camper out to 102″. I’m sure the extra few inches inside will help in a number of areas, but I sure do feel silly.

Anybody have any recommendations for a good RoRo line?