1 Bored Clerk's DIY Camper

[rruff]

I'm wearing a tyvek suit, respirator, goggles and gloves to try to avoid any health or comfort issues.

Good for you! I'm too lazy; just wear a dust mask. The dust doesn't seem to bother my skin or eyes that much.

I'm surprised it was that easy to cut. I'm guessing you have a good carbide blade.

What is your joining plan?

 

[1 Bored Clerk]

Good for you! I'm too lazy; just wear a dust mask. The dust doesn't seem to bother my skin or eyes that much.

I'm surprised it was that easy to cut. I'm guessing you have a good carbide blade.

What is your joining plan?

Fiberglass dust doesn't bother me a ton but if I can avoid it, that's good.

I bought a really nice carbide blade for my skilsaw when I started my camper build several months ago. It'll probably be trashed by the time I get done here. See my next post for my joining plan.


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[1 Bored Clerk]

Got the floor cut, routed, glued, clamped and weighted!

Here's how I decided to join the two floor pieces. I cut a stair step over 3 inches. Cut the same feature in the other panel. Tons of six 10 epoxy and squish together. This is a mashup of various joining ideas I had seen...and was doable with tools I already have. I figured there was plenty of surface area and the open honeycomb in the middle step would offer a lot of mechanical keying with all of the epoxy in there.

Here it is all clamped up and weighed down. I still need to cut it to length but i figured it would be best to do that after the seam was epoxied so I can be sure it's exactly the right length. I will also have the opportunity to square it up if needed.

This joint will be finished off with a layer of 6" wide, probably 6oz, fiberglass on both sides. I may run two wide strips of 1/2" plywood perpendicular to the joint for extra reinforcement for the floor as well as the mounting points. We'll see!



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[rruff]

Here's how I decided to join the two floor pieces. I cut a stair step over 3 inches. Cut the same feature in the other panel. Tons of six 10 epoxy and squish together. This is a mashup of various joining ideas I had seen...and was doable with tools I already have. I figured there was plenty of surface area and the open honeycomb in the middle step would offer a lot of mechanical keying with all of the epoxy in there. ... This joint will be finished off with a layer of 6" wide, probably 6oz, fiberglass on both sides.

You're probably fine if the honeycomb is filled with epoxy, so the two sides are epoxied together. You can't think of the honeycomb as being structural at all. Even with an epoxy fill it's going to be weak in some modes. If you got the standard skins, they used 1708 cloth which is ~25 oz/sq yd. If you used something like that for the patch over the seams you should be good. If it's filled maybe 6oz is fine for the loads you put on it.

I think it's good to experiment if you have any doubts. Make a test piece and destruction test it.

Good luck!

 

[1 Bored Clerk]

You're probably fine if the honeycomb is filled with epoxy, so the two sides are epoxied together. You can't think of the honeycomb as being structural at all. Even with an epoxy fill it's going to be weak in some modes. If you got the standard skins, they used 1708 cloth which is ~25 oz/sq yd. If you used something like that for the patch over the seams you should be good. If it's filled maybe 6oz is fine for the loads you put on it.

I think it's good to experiment if you have any doubts. Make a test piece and destruction test it.

Good luck!

I filled it pretty well. I'm certainly not afraid to put more glass on the outside reinforcement at all. We'll see how it goes.


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[b dkw1]

Round 2 is looking good LOL........

 

[1 Bored Clerk]

Round 2 is looking good LOL........

Thanks! Let's hope it's the last round for a while.


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[1 Bored Clerk]

Reinforcements!

I cut some paddle shaped reinforcements out of 1/2" Marine Grade plywood and epoxied them in place. These are perpendicular to the seam in the floor and serve to add structure/stiffness as well as add some more structure around the mounting points.

Once those were cured, I laid in some fillets with colloidal silica thickened epoxy. Once these cure, I'll go back in and add the heavy reinforcement glass to the seam and a layer of glass over the wood reinforcements. I think it'll be tough enough.

The floor is going to take some time as I have to have it nearly finished (except the edges) before I flip it over and start putting up walls. Once that happens it will be much more difficult to get to the bottom. At least, the whole bottom at once.


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[1 Bored Clerk]

Got some work done tonight. Added fiberglass reinforcement to the bottom seam on the floor.

4 layers of 6" wide 6oz fabric. One down the middle, one offset to each side, and one down the middle again. I think it looks good...has enough epoxy. I'll cover the wood reinforcements and the edges of the seam tomorrow night.



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[rruff]

Should be strong enough!

 

[1 Bored Clerk]

Got more work done tonight.

I finished glassing over the seam and I also glassed over the wooden braces. Next step is to sand (lightly in some areas) the entire bottom in prep for paint/coating. I'm not going to paint it until the whole box is done but I don't want to have to sand it upside down at that point. This should help ease the pain of finishing the bottom. I suppose it won't need coating but it seems like a good idea. Another barrier from the elements can't hurt.


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[1 Bored Clerk]

Should be strong enough!

I hope so! The interior floor seam will be done the same (minus the wood braces). All that plus the walls...I think it'll be fine.


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[ghostshaper]

Sub'd!

Want to do almost the exact same thing w my first gen tundra (flat bed and fiberglass camper).

 

[1 Bored Clerk]

Sub'd!

Want to do almost the exact same thing w my first gen tundra (flat bed and fiberglass camper).

You can see how it goes for me and decide if it seems worth it. Haha


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[1 Bored Clerk]

Hit a milestone today: EVERY panel needed to build the camper is cut!

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