I decided to build my own Pop Top camper

[97heavyweight]

That looks like a pretty clean first gen 4Runner beside your Tacoma.

The camper is pretty cool too.

Instead of using a 3" tall rectangular tube section, consider a composite section or something like a Z-Beam, as used in residential ceiling joists. The open space in the middle saves weight and material and actually adds considerable strength. This would, however require fabrication in one form or another, and is not likely an off the shelf product.

Why thank you. That's my old girl. Just got her running and considering a diesel swap now.

That's not a bad idea. Maybe on V2 i'll look into that.

 

[kerouac]

This is such a great build!!! Kudos to you on your resourcefulness. I'm really attracted to the Go Fast and AT Summit style campers but really dislike the angled side walls so I particularly appreciate that your build uses straight walls off the truck box. I too would love to see your total cost and final weight once complete. This has inspired me that I may be able to do the same thing. You're in the home stretch now and you got this!

 

[97heavyweight]

This is such a great build!!! Kudos to you on your resourcefulness. I'm really attracted to the Go Fast and AT Summit style campers but really dislike the angled side walls so I particularly appreciate that your build uses straight walls off the truck box. I too would love to see your total cost and final weight once complete. This has inspired me that I may be able to do the same thing. You're in the home stretch now and you got this!

I have total up to this point price and i will add the approximate weight to the first page.

 

[Mighty Dodge Ram]

And of course the required how awesome does this look pictures. I am super pleased about the profile of this thing. Fingers crossed all this work holds up.

How awesome? Pretty frickin’ awesome! I like your application using the unistrut. I’ve had several fiberglass toppers and the importance of allowing bed rail mounted canopies to “flex” cannot be overstated. They can be “pinned” to prevent forward/backwards movement but absolute rigidity will induce all kinds of issues.

 

[highwest]

How awesome? Pretty frickin’ awesome! I like your application using the unistrut. I’ve had several fiberglass toppers and the importance of allowing bed rail mounted canopies to “flex” cannot be overstated. They can be “pinned” to prevent forward/backwards movement but absolute rigidity will induce all kinds of issues.

Sorry to the OP to hijack this awesome thread, but I have a question that may or may not be relevant.

I have recently replaced a traditional truck shell with a Flippac. The shell had clamps that were installed by the dealer and now I have installed the Flippac with through bolts into the bed rails, very tightly. Should I loosen those bolts to allow a bit of movement? Any way to quantify what that level of tightness should be?

 

[Mighty Dodge Ram]

Same apologies to OP but since I brought it up I’ll quickly reply. Snug, meaning you can’t move the canopy by hand, the seals are compressed, but bed flexing will allow some movement. My current canopy Leer 122 hi rise is bolted to the rails due to it wanting to slide off backwards, with clamps, while driving the Mojave Rd. My former Snugtop, with clamps, never did that. I drilled slightly larger holes than the bolts used (don’t remember exact size of the bolts but probably 1/4” or 5/16”) to allow for some flex movement but no slipping off the truck. OP has, from what I can see, very good clamping system. Time will tell whether he has to pin the canopy to prevent any sliding backwards. All newer truck beds flex, even with fully boxed frames. If you don’t allow for some flexing/movement of the canopy you are inviting stress cracking in the canopy somewhere, whether fiberglass or aluminum.
OK, I’ll shut up now and return to the broadcast. ?

 

[97heavyweight]

Same apologies to OP but since I brought it up I’ll quickly reply. Snug, meaning you can’t move the canopy by hand, the seals are compressed, but bed flexing will allow some movement. My current canopy Leer 122 hi rise is bolted to the rails due to it wanting to slide off backwards, with clamps, while driving the Mojave Rd. My former Snugtop, with clamps, never did that. I drilled slightly larger holes than the bolts used (don’t remember exact size of the bolts but probably 1/4” or 5/16”) to allow for some flex movement but no slipping off the truck. OP has, from what I can see, very good clamping system. Time will tell whether he has to pin the canopy to prevent any sliding backwards. All newer truck beds flex, even with fully boxed frames. If you don’t allow for some flexing/movement of the canopy you are inviting stress cracking in the canopy somewhere, whether fiberglass or aluminum.
OK, I’ll shut up now and return to the broadcast. ?

No apologies needed. I went with 3/8" rubber seal and am compressing about 1/8" and that still allows me to rock the truck while pushing on the camper. Once those are snugged I have a plate that bolts the front wall of the camper to the front bedrail and the rear wall is bolted into the bed stiffener. All the bolts utilize a hole that is larger than the bolt to allow some movement. Hopefully, fingers crossed I won't have any issues.

 

[highwest]

Much appreciated. Thanks to you both!

 

[97heavyweight]

I finally have the door fitted. I will say that I was worried about messing up the corner radius cuts and making them too big. Luckily i was careful and used a file for the fine tune adjustments of the radius cut. The door is amazing and I absolutely love it.

Next step is to complete the trim of the rear wall and add the seal around all the edges. Then sew the last seem of the canvas top and add the canvas trim and keder rail for a rear porch awning. Then with all luck the camper will be usable. Maybe even by this weekend.

 

[pigsammy]

Looks Great!

 

[rruff]

What door is that?

 

[FlyingBasset]

What door is that?

He says it in the first post:

"Door - This was the most expensive single item at $1146. It is a Tern Overland Wildlands Door"

Sent from my SM-G970U1 using Tapatalk

 

[TachedOutOffRoad]

Badazzz man!

 

[97heavyweight]

Looks Great!

thanks

 

[97heavyweight]

He says it in the first post:

"Door - This was the most expensive single item at $1146. It is a Tern Overland Wildlands Door"

Sent from my SM-G970U1 using Tapatalk

thank you