New habitat box,
ready to fit
Queen bed, U-shaped lounge, a true wet room and full Victron power in our standard 4.6 m box. Built in Queensland, and ready for your chassis in the second week of November.
From the builder
I’ve spent over 30 years building new campervans, caravans and truck habitats, along with repairing and rebuilding other people’s. That second part is what shaped this box.
I’ve seen what works loose on corrugations, what delaminates, and where mould gets a start. Every one of those lessons is built into this box, from the floor core to the last grub screw.
It’s the same box my customers are travelling the world in right now. There are Expedition Habitats boxes in Europe and the USA, and one that left Australia more than a year ago is currently working its way through China and Russia.
I’m a big bloke, so it’s built to be genuinely comfortable: a bed you walk up to rather than climb into, and a shower you can actually turn around in.
Habitation box specification
- Dimensions
- 4,600 L × 2,260 W × 2,100 H mm (plus roof fan and AC)
- Walls and roof
- 42 mm, fibreglass skins on XPS closed-cell core
- Floor
- 45 mm, fibreglass skins on PET core
- Frame
- 100×100×3 mm aluminium external with expansion joints; 50×50×2 mm internal
- Water
- 365 L inboard, 3-stage filtration with UV
- Batteries
- 2 × 200 Ah 12 V lithium on a 24 V system, space for 2 more
- Solar
- 1,095 W (3 × 365 W, 3 independent MPPTs)
- Inverter
- Victron MultiPlus 24/3000/70
- Heating and hot water
- Truma D6 diesel, ducted throughout
- Cooling
- Dometic roof-mounted AC
- Build status
- 95% complete, finished 2nd week of November
- Location
- Queensland, viewing any time
What’s fitted
Living and sleeping
- North–south queen bed, walk-up access with no ladder
- U-shaped lounge, 2,200 × 1,400 mm, grey leather upholstery
- Lounge converts to a bed larger than a double
- Dual-height fixed table leg with slide-about table top
- Google TV on a swivel mount, viewable from the lounge or the bed
- Over 30 m of LED lighting on individual switches, 6 USB points
- Power supply and roof space ready for Starlink
Kitchen
- Thetford Topline 902 double induction hob
- 221 L Thetford fridge freezer with off-road secure locking
- German composite sink, big enough to wash full-size pans
- Solid composite benchtops in matt black
- 7 soft-close drawers, including a pull-out waste bin
- Soft-close grey hardware throughout, MaxxFan for cooking fumes
Bathroom
- True wet room with full-room rain shower
- Stainless steel shower tray
- Thetford chemical toilet
- Top-of-range MaxxFan with automatic rain and temperature sensors, remote included
- Heating ducted in, so it doubles as a drying room
- Fully waterproof LED lighting
Power, water and climate
- All-Victron system, managed from a GX Touch 50 via Cerbo GX, including tank levels
- 3 solar panels on 3 independent MPPTs, so one fault never takes out your charging
- Battery case has room for 2 more batteries straight away; the system is sized for up to 1,600 Ah
- Batteries and electrics mounted centrally for weight distribution
- 365 L water inside the box, centred between the axles and side to side
- Household-grade 3-stage filtration finishing with UV
- Truma D6 diesel heating and hot water, plus Dometic roof AC
Built not to fail
Every item in this box is fitted either with redundancy or so it simply doesn’t fail. Most of these details you’ll never see, and that’s the point: they’re the things that go wrong on other builds after a few thousand kilometres of corrugations.
Bonded cabinetry
All cabinets are glued and dowelled, with no screws to loosen on rough roads. They’re bonded to the walls rather than screwed, which avoids the pull-stress points that lead to fibreglass delamination. I’ve repaired exactly that damage on Hymers in Europe.
PET floor core
The floor uses a PET core for its strength and the way it chemically bonds to the fibreglass skins. Many builders use XPS in the floor, and that’s where delamination starts.
Nothing works loose
Every bolt is Loctited or Nyloc. Sink taps have a secondary locknut, and grub screws are plastic-welded so they can’t turn.
Wiring done properly
Australian-made tinned copper cable, terminated with quality lugs and crimps from brands like Klauke. Every cable runs in conduit, with full separation between low-voltage and extra-low-voltage circuits.
Frame that moves with the box
The external aluminium frame has expansion joints, because aluminium and fibreglass expand at different rates. Ignore that and something eventually cracks.
No cold spots, no mould
Heating is ducted to every area of the habitation. Cold corners are where condensation and mould begin, and it’s sadly missed on a lot of new builds.
Components I trust
German appliances, UK plumbing fittings (fitted correctly), an Australian-made sprung mattress, and parts I know from years of experience rather than the cheapest option.
Fits your chassis
Like every Expedition Habitats box, this is our one standard size, so it suits a range of single-cab cab-chassis trucks. If you already own one, or you’re choosing one, talk to me about mounting and I’ll tell you straight whether it’s a good match.
Photos
Some photos were taken before completion, so a few trim pieces and finishing details are still to be fitted.
Come and see it
The box is in Queensland and you’re welcome to view it any time. Get in touch to arrange a time, or ask me anything about fitting it to your truck.