M416 Build - Phase II - Addition of Hardsided Folding Camper Top

[bluebruin]

cnc done

drew up the plans for the wood frame. 12mm baltic birch. strong and light. used our shopbot at work to cut out.

put all the pieces together. brad nailed in place. Now I am putting deck screws in all the joints to make it solid.

next up. interior ceiling (3mm baltic birch), insulation, and lastly FRP panels on outside. then paint & latches. Pretty light so far. Hope its strong enough.

 

[Woods]

That's cheating - (don't mind me. I'm just REALLY jealous). Looks ************

drew up the plans for the wood frame. 12mm baltic birch. strong and light. used our shopbot at work to cut out.

put all the pieces together. brad nailed in place. Now I am putting deck screws in all the joints to make it solid.

next up. interior ceiling (3mm baltic birch), insulation, and lastly FRP panels on outside. then paint & latches. Pretty light so far. Hope its strong enough.

 

[bluebruin]

the only crappy part is baltic birch comes in 5ftx5ft sheets (unless you pay 30% more for the stuff they make for americans in 4x8 that has "exterior" grade glue in the plywood). I dind't want to have to order special wood, just used what we stock at work. Anyway, since my camper top is about 8'2" by 5'-11" I have had to cut everything in two parts and join them together using huge lap joints. TONS of pocket cutting. Took the CNC about 5 hours of cutting! The parts in the middle of each piece where there are no holes (for weight savings) are where my lap joints are. Hope they are strong enough.

I decided to put a slight arch in the top since I was using a CNC, why not! really its because my other top leaked last summer when we slept overnight in a rain storm. The water was pooling on the roof and it it found a pinhole from welding slag. Hopefully with a pitch I will not have leaks since I have to use FRP panels and glue them together to cover the whole roof.

 

[bluebruin]

interior ceiling installed

put 1/8" thick baltic birch (3-ply) ceiling into the underside of the lid.

Then filpped it over, and here is what it looks like. Next I will put in polyisocyanurate foil backed rigid insulation

 

[bluebruin]

Beware the black shell is not uv resistant. It will chalk over time despite what they say. Big fan of rust bullet, not so much of the blackshell.

its been several years now. no "chalking" or rust. seems fine

 

[bluebruin]

insulation added to lid

added 1" thick insulation

 

[skersfan]

Will be in Ouray in July, any chance I could see this monster?

You cheat, as stated before. But it is some really neat stuff. Doing a great job as always.

 

[bluebruin]

would love to meet up! What dates will you be coming through Denver?

today it snowed 6 inches at my house. made trying to work on things tough. I managed to get the trailer in my garage (steep slope into the garage) and then struggled to suspend the old top hanging so I could pull the trailer back out and then lower the top to the floor. That old top is a beast. I will not be sad to see all that weight go. I will miss the hatch/sunroof though.

I test fit the new top, fits pretty good.

 

[bluebruin]

Tested out putting the top up tonight. WOW. talk about easy. That weight sure makes a huge difference. I think this might work out nicely. The FRP is not too heavy. As long as I can find a way to make it water tight.... Hope the automotive seam sealer will do the trick.

 

[TheThom]

Looks great!

 

[bluebruin]

frp on the sides

I glued FRP panels onto the sides of the wood. Next I'll do the top FRP, and then trim it all out with aluminum L channel.

 

[bluebruin]

put the FRP on the top

FRP skin added to the top of the wood frame

I decided to make the top skin overhand the edges of the rest of the top by 3/4" as a "drip edge" like you have in your roof at home (if you don't have gutters). This is because I don't have a continuous material from the roof down the sides of the top, and I don't want to develop any leaks over time with sealer failing.

After attaching the top skin, I seam sealed in place a plastic "L". Its just the cheap drywall corner protector stuff that you can buy at home depot for $3 each.

Once that was try, I capped the whole edge with a "u" shaped aluminum channel. I found these at HD too for cheap. I then sealed the edge with the 3M 540 sealer.

Just need to add grab handles and get it back on the trailer.

 

[bluebruin]

Put the new top on. setup the camper. much easier. In fact, I managed to do it myself with no help this time. So, a big improvement over the last top.

 

[miller_au]

Just read your build from the start. Great read and top project, well done!

 

[bluebruin]

tested it out this weekend at our cabin in Fairplay. Made for a safe way to test it all out since I could always sleep in the cabin if need be. Worked well. Light top made setting up easier. Poured rain and no leaks.

Next weekend we head to Telluride for the 4th of July. Need to fix a few things before then.

I have the wood paneling on the inside in, but need to do all the trim work, window locks, screens etc.