Recently picked up a 80's model Skamper 100S from ebay. Been cleaning & studing what needs to be repaired / fixed. First question that I have, can you purchase a new canvas top? Not had much luck finding any information for this & feeling very worried about this. The canvas clean's up nicely, but all the screens need to be replace & two of the windows need replaced. Any help would ease my mind. After figuring out the canvas, I'll move onto the wiring that has been hacked up & the only orginal item left on the inside the fridge. New to the camping world & looking forward to repairing & keeping my 4 yr old son busy.
Skamper 100S questions
- Thread starter lefty
- Start date
dizzyspots
Adventurer
cant remember exact company google replacement popup canvas..
I would be contacting current popup manufacturers. They're going to have the scoop on who still poroduces canvas tops. Someone like haul mark, fwc, north star, etc
Re: your fridge, post up the model you have, and what you're troubleshooting. I can help you with that. Pictures always help.
Re: your fridge, post up the model you have, and what you're troubleshooting. I can help you with that. Pictures always help.
Yellowkayak
Adventurer
Can anyone tell me my there is the ziper in the front of the canas? The portion over the cab of the truck. Been enyoying cleaning the camper up. I have learned that the wiring has been all butchered up & will reqiure a redo. I have cut the bad window out & vilcro'd the inside curtain closed, figured I would get it useable & then decide if I want to spring for a new canvas next year. Does the rear lift have any adjustments to it? It is not lifting excatly even with the front.
Last edited:
Lefty, the rear lift is essentially a torsion bar that has a twist inside it, and it untwists to help raise the rear. I don't think it is adjustable, but I may be wrong. It is hex shaped and could theoretically be advanced one spot, but that'd be 60 degrees and I bet it'd be too much, not to mention really hard to do- you'd have to unbolt the rear and slide the rear bracket off the end of the bar, twist it and slip it back on, then you'd need some kind of creative spud wrench to twist it before you could re-bolt it.
I have the same camper, but with a home-made, overweight roof, that I jut got hydraulic lifters for. I'll let you know how the install goes on those. Its a little snowy to do it right now. They might help even out the roof for you.
I have the same camper, but with a home-made, overweight roof, that I jut got hydraulic lifters for. I'll let you know how the install goes on those. Its a little snowy to do it right now. They might help even out the roof for you.
Looking forward to reading about the lift supports. I have dug in deep on this thing. I tore out all of the wiring, except the wires going to the top for the lights & outside clearance lights and starting over with it. My truck already has a small 6 round plug in the bed & I'm wiring from that. Made my own wiring harness and figuring it out from there. Looks like I'll even need to redo the fridge wiring at some point. I can't stand how people patch thing's together. The copper tubing has all been patched together as well & some of the plumbing is missing, awe good times...
Sounds like we have opposite wiring issues. All my lower stuff was good, but I got mine sans roof, so after building a roof, I added domes and still plan to add clearance lights.
how many domes are in the original ceiling? I can tell I've got too many because if I run 4-5 of them along with the furnace, the converter overheats after half an hour or so.
The tail light wiring was so clean and obvious on mine. Hard to imagine messing it up. Did rodents chew it up? I did have to replace every lamp bulb in them. They seem to be lasting, but its only been a week.
how many domes are in the original ceiling? I can tell I've got too many because if I run 4-5 of them along with the furnace, the converter overheats after half an hour or so.
The tail light wiring was so clean and obvious on mine. Hard to imagine messing it up. Did rodents chew it up? I did have to replace every lamp bulb in them. They seem to be lasting, but its only been a week.
Not chewed up, just cut up. When they removed the converter & furance they just cut the wires & taped them off. They removed the rear lights all together & added some trailer lights screwed to the bottom & just let them hang over, wired to a four flat pitail. So all of the orginal wires were again just cut short on the inside. So I'm starting fresh with a 6 round plug that is all ready wired in the bed of the truck. Don't excatly undrstand the the added fuses & all of the wires for the orginal plug on the other side of fuses have also been removed.
There are 2 orginal dome lights. One just before the bunk of the cab & one over the sink/stove area.
I look forward to reading about adding some lift supports. I'm wondering how they can be attached.
SLO_F-250
Explorer
Hey Lefty,
Sounds like you dove head first into the skamper fixes. Nice work! My wiring was completely messed up as well. I took apart the converter and bypassed the ancient fuse because I couldn't find one anywhere and replaced with with a standard 2 prong fuse like you would find in a car. After that I was able to spot check things and follow power. Good luck with all your stuff!
Only 2 original lights eh? Interesting. Mine had 3. I replaced them with LED right first thing. Much better and draws less power. I have wondered about lift supports as well, but haven't found a good place for them. Since it is a crank up, I just help it a bit with my had while cranking to take pressure off the gears.
If I might make a suggestion, pictures are very helpful with your questions and make your thread much more interesting. Check out this Expo article on "Creating a Successful Build Thread". Just my 2 cents. :snorkel: Good Luck!
Started taking the canvas out this afternoon & got all of the bottom loose, hopefully get the top screws tomorrow. Questions, How do you get the cavas from around the lift bars at the rear of the camper? Is it just support the roof & unbolt it? Can you buy the plastic material that covers all of the screw's that's in between the rails? As I was getting all of the bottom screws out, I kept asking myself if "I was opening a can of worms."