1977 Pop Up Camper Rebuild

[TheThom]

Well, I'm finally starting the roof rebuild. I have to get it done by the end of May because I'm moving cross country and need to tow that sucker.

First some teardown pics of the old roof

Here's a close-up of how good the wood was.....OK, not really. The front and back were plywood that was rotted through. The sides were a layered plywood/?epoxy?/metal that was REALLY heavy.



I quickly decided to start from scratch rather than salvage the roof sheet aluminum.



Here's a sketchup model of my plan. I've since adjusted the measurements to make it a bit taller, but the idea is still the same.



Rather than rounded corners, I'm putting angles on it. Hopefully it will give it kind of a cool look.

My plan: a local metal/fab shop sells 4x10 sheet of aluminum with metal on one side and white paint on the other - the kind used for semi truck sides. The local heating place that cut and bent the aluminum panels for m walls and doors said they could seam the aluminum and cut/shape it to fit over a wood skeleton of the roof.

I bought some wood. I thought long and hard about the best way to do it regarding both strength and weight. I ended up going with 1" stock pine for the walls. The top will have 1 or studs holding it together. I want to be light on weight, but I'm also installing a roof rack and want it be sturdy.

Here's some shots of the wood. It's cut and set in place, no fasteners yet. I put it up there to brainstorm ideas for the next step. All in all, I'm pretty excited about how it might turn out.





That's it for now. I just need to fasten it up and pre drill some holes for the roof rack tracks, mounted flood lights, etc.

 

[VanIsle_Greg]

Moving across country? I guess I wont get to see this up close after all...lol.

Good idea on the roof, looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

 

[TheThom]

Moving across country? I guess I wont get to see this up close after all...lol.

Good idea on the roof, looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

Yep, finishing my military time and moving back to the Centennial State (Colorado) this summer. I guess you're chance to see it came and went when I was camping on your island last summer

 

[VanIsle_Greg]

Its all good man, glad you guys had fun here, French Beach and that part of the coast is super nice.

Colorado also super nice, going to make my way down there one day.

 

[TheThom]

After quite the delay I've made some progress on the roof. I was finally able to source some appropriate sheet aluminum and the local heating place cut and bent it for me. The top/front/rear is two pieces seamed together and the left and right and left panels are individual pieces. In the pics below they are resting on the frame. I had to strap them on to get them home (while driving very slowly).







Now I need to trim it out, prime it, paint it and have it ready to tow across the country - all in about 3.5 weeks. I'm going to paint the top with roll on bedliner like I did the bottom except it'll be tan instead of black.

 

[VanIsle_Greg]

Nice! Looking good.

 

[TheThom]

Well, I'm up against a time crunch. I have to have it ready to tow across the country in 2 weeks as part of our move. I'm not going to have it done in time. BUT I just about have it towable.

I've trimmed out the roof metal panels.



I re-used the original trim piece with the C-channel for the awning



You can also see that I attached the Yakima roof rack and bars.



I'm going to attach porch lights on the awning side. I was going to go with a fairly complicated setup, but I abandoned that. I will use the same bolts that attach the lift arms. This is just for demo/trial for me. They won't be wired up before my trip.



Just about ready to move to the Centennial State! I've already purchased the epoxy primer and tan roll on berliner for the roof.

Thanks for looking.

 

[TheThom]

I had a question about the light and awning clearance. I got the rest of the roof latches in stalled so I mocked up the light and put the awning in place. When I'm traveling the awning will just rest on the folded down light, but when the awning is up, it should be just about perfect. The other nice thing is that the hole for the wiring will be tucked up under the awning and should be protected from water getting in through the holes.

A couple of pics.





The lights stick out less than the awning and pole holder for the awning. Looks like it'll work out well. We'll see.

 

[VanIsle_Greg]

Looking good!

 

[TheThom]

So I had to strip it out and get a dry weight on it today (part of the moving process). Completely dry weight with only the battery left in it: 1520lbs.

How'd I do? I was worried it would be much heavier.

 

[TheThom]

Well, I moved to CO! The camper was towed behind the Tahoe and it did great. 1400+ miles and no issues. I only got one poser pic near the top of Cochetopa pass.

 

[VanIsle_Greg]

Happy trails.

 

[TheThom]

Well, I finally finished it! I disassembled the roof rack, cleaned it, primed it, and painted it with tan Monstaliner.

After that cured, I flipped it and built the interior of the roof.

I cut and laid out insulation.



Then I put wood sheeting down. I painted it a tannish gray color (Or maybe grayish tan). I wired in my LED ceiling lights. And I wired in my exterior flood lights.





It took some work to get the roof vent opening right and trimmed out correctly, but I'm happy with it. (ignore the weird pattern on the old nasty blanket I had underneath it to prevent scratches)




Trimmed it all out and installed it back on the base. Then installed the roof vent and roof racks.





Thanks for looking. First trip is tonight!

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

Looks awesome. Hope the maiden voyage is a blast!

 

[OttawaXJ]

Looks good. How bad are the roads you're taking this down? I don't know about there but 60-80km/h down the roads around here that we do alot of overlanding on and those jerries will rip right off that camper if its only screwed into the wood with 4 screws. Hell it was enough to damn near tear the cap off the taco on the last trip.