Gait's home-made fiberglass camper

[haven]

http://www.epicycles.com/Truck Blog/2010-01-01/2010-01-01.htm

This link first appeared in the Fuso camper section, but i want to share it more widely. The link above describes in considerable detail how a retired engineer built a lightweight fiberglass pop-up camper for his Fuso FG truck. Worth reading for overall design and floorplan ideas, and for ingenious solutions when building a camper in your garage, instead of a well-equipped commercial facility.

The builder participates in this forum with user name Gait. He is about to depart for a lengthy tour of east Asia in his camper.

 

[dwh]

It's not really a "pop-up".

From what I can see, and the description, it's a box with removable wall sections which allow the top to occasionally be lowered in order allow it to fit in a container.

However, lowering the top requires A) slacking up on the turnbuckles, B) lifting the top up a bit, C) removing the wall panels (and the door I think), and then D) lowering the top. (And maybe something with that bed elevator as well...)

That is apparently not something to be done on a daily or even regular basis.

It's a very neat solution to the problem of getting a tall hard-sided camper into a container, but it's not a "pop-up". That's a bit like calling a Bronco, Blazer or Ramcharger a "convertible".

 

[18seeds]

very cool

looks like the top pops up to me. maybe call it an occasional pop up

 

[haven]

Thanks, DWH. Maybe we should call this a "collapsible" or "pop-down" top. The builder says he drives with the top in the raised position, and lowers it only occasionally to clear obstacles.