April was a slow month regarding the build of our expedition truck. Aside from work keeping us busy, everybody around us seem to be struggling with the flu or cold. So we could only wait until we got the green light to drop of the chassis to be sandblasted and the shelter for a new coat.
SANDBLASTING THE CHASSIS
Initially, we weren’t planning to get the chassis sandblasted. We just simply thought it was not in our budget reach for now. For example, at Excap in Germany you can get your chassis sandblasted for big $$$ BUT then the whole chassis will be completely overhauled. Every screw, bolt or tube will be come off and replaced or restored. As such, you basically have a new chassis at the end of the ride! We think this is rather amazing. However, our money jar is just not large enough for that. Instead a friend of us told us about another place (also located in Germany) where we could have it done and repainted, but without complete overhaul, for around 2500-3000€. Still pricy but hopefully we don’t need to worry about rust for the next decade. Afterwards, this turned out to be the right decision. There was more rust damage than we had expected. Especially the fuel tank had too much rust, although it is not leaking yet, it needs to be replaced before we leave for our world trip.
Tip: What we were not aware of when we requested our new color for the chassis and the shelter was that matte paints are more porous than glossy ones. The sandblaster however knew this, and although we had ordered matte black as the new color for the chassis he added gloss paint to it. He knew we would be off roading with the truck thus a semi-gloss coat for the chassis would be far better than a matte one.
CHOOSING A NEW COLOR FOR THE SHELTER
Which color should we give the shelter? This question had been haunting us for months. With the of photoshop and hours on the internet we narrowed it first down to these 3 RAL-options:
We eventually chose for the first, lighter option “quartz grey”. We are very happy with the result. We notice that depending of the environment and the lighting the color changes a little. In the woods it gets more a green color. On a sunny day on the streets it has a more brownish/beige color (more like the creation of photoshop). What do you think of the result?
Love the project. Looks amazing, and like it could take on some serious stuff. I think you went with the best option with sandblasting the chassis. That way you can find any hidden rust or issues. Always seems like the safe way to go. the project looks great.
Hello,
Please may I ask who you chose to do the chassis sand blasting and re-paint?
Thank you,
Elliot
P.S. I am reading carefully through your building file. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your experiences for the benefit of others!
Hi Eliot,
First of all, thank you for your kind words. It’s nice to hear that the website does what it was intended for, helping others with accomplishing their building/travel dreams.
Regarding the chassis, we had it blasted and repainted by a firm in Darmstadt, Germany. I’m not sure if you would drive that far, so if you’re still interested in it, I can look up the exact name and address (sorry, it doesn’t come to mind right now). Just let us know.
Happy travels!
Nicole & Elmer