One of the main reasons that we decided to make a new habitat for our truck was that we really wanted to incorporate a passthrough into the cab of the truck from the living area. Honestly, we’ve been a little overwhelmed by the logistics of designing and building a passthrough for a while. We figured that now would be the best time to finish the passthrough details before we start assembling the habitat box.
We designed our passthrough to have a frame assembly on the cab side and a frame assembly with door opening into the habitat side. The frames are connected with a water tight EPDM rubber bellows / accordion seal. The cab side assembly is made of 3 steel frames and can be disassembled to disconnect the bellows from the cab if future engine or transmission work requires that the cab be tipped up. The primary cab side frame is welded to the back of the cab.
The habitat side frame is made of 2 steel frames and 1 aluminum frame. The aluminum frame incorporates the door hinge and lock strike plate. The door opens inwards into the shower/bathroom/entry area of the habitat. The door is made from a 1 1/2″ thick insulated RV door panel. The hab side steel frame is bonded to the forward wall of the habitat prior to habitat box assembly.
- Talked with vendors about passthrough bellows material
- Finished design of passthrough
- Cut steel for passthrough frames
- Cut aluminum RV door frame extrusion material for passthrough door frame
- Welded habitat and cab side steel pasthrough frame
- Milled slots for passthrough door hinges in aluminum frame
- Milled steel corner fillets for bellows connection
- Welded and finished fillets
- Ordered passthrough bellows material (ED-5389 from Uni-Grip)
- Primed and painted habitat exterior passthrough frame
Aluminum Passthrough Frame Assembly
Steel Passthrough Frame Assemblies
Wabi-sabi Overland 