2022 Ford F550 - DIY - Adventure Expedition Vehicle Build Thread

[Vance Vanz]

Carbon Fiber Rear Fenders for Camper - Shaping Core Material

I was originally going to try and make the rear fenders match the front baja fenders exactly-ish, but they just looked weird, like caca poopy . I decided to incorporate some of the basic design elements off of the front baja fenders, while also holding/incorporating some design elements from the camper. The rear fenders are a blend of both. The intent is to provide some additional contour/detail to the camper and tie in the truck/front fenders with the camper more, all while not being something that looks out of place or out of balance. Let's just call them my subtle-baja rear fenders.

Some may be thinking who really cares, they are just fenders on a camper. For me, the rear fenders are the last composite design element left on the build that can significantly add to the aesthetic of the camper.



Related to matching the front fenders, I used/maintained: the 1-1/4" high flat inner trim front face, overall height of the fender at the the center of the fender, taper in the fender (front to back) and larger radius on the top front corner (in the design of the rear fenders). I also gave the top of the rear fenders a little ledge/edge to match the flat-ish top edge of the front fenders and kept the rear fenders longer/wider in total length to give them a subtle baja look/match the wide overall length of the front fenders.



Related to matching the camper: I kept the overall inner edge design/contour angular/the same angular shape as the wheel well box and angular aspects on the camper. I also rounded off all of the edges on the fender to the same radius that is on the corner of the fairings just below the fender. In addition, all of the edges on the camper are also rounded off/radiused.

The thickness of the core material (3/4") was also chosen for many reasons: not to wide to look out of place with the contours of the fairings/skirts, not to wide as to hang out too far/way past the outside edges of the rear tires, are proportionate/almost exact to the distance the front fenders are wider/extend past the outside edge of the front tires and are almost inline/just inside the width of the front fenders (while looking down the side of the entire length of the camper). Additionally, the 45 degree taper at the very bottom of the fenders (taper into the fairings/skirts) also looked best at no more than a 3/4" thick core material.


These are all examples/reasons why this stuff takes so long to design, not to mention build. The slight taper (front to back) in the thickness of the rear fenders/core material (3/4" thick at the inside edge and 3/8" thick at the outside edge) could only be partially cut with a table saw. The remaining width/still attached piece was cut using a hand saw. I then had to hand file and block sand the entire hand sawn/filed transition surface flat/smooth with the section cut using the table saw. It took forever to hand shape (flatten/smooth out) this transition down the entire length of the core material needed for both fenders. So many details.

Here is the passenger side. The only difference is needing to cut short/shape the left side of the rear fender to account for the entry door.



Time for bed 🤫

 

[ITTOG]

Great work. This is going to be an amazing camper.

You have thought about this a lot more than me but the rear fenders are narrower than the front fenders and look a little odd to me. Did you look at it with the rear fenders having the same bulge as the front? Just curious.

 

[DzlToy]

The fenders look great. I haven't seen any quite like that.

Is there a non-facey-gram location for one to view the boat or camper build of "Wilds Drake"?

 

[TonyCatmandu]

The fenders look great. I haven't seen any quite like that.

Is there a non-facey-gram location for one to view the boat or camper build of "Wilds Drake"?

Drake Boatworks

www.drakeboatworks.com

I don't know how to copy and past any videos from insta or even if you can but the above is the website for his boats.

There is a video @bredrake posted on January 22nd that is a short on the camper.

 

[TonyCatmandu]

Drake Boatworks

www.drakeboatworks.com

I don't know how to copy and past any videos from insta or even if you can but the above is the website for his boats.

There is a video @bredrake posted on January 22nd that is a short on the camper.

I like the fenders. I am guessing when you stand at the front and look down the side they appear in line as the camper extends beyond the side of the cab.

 

[DzlToy]

Nice stuff, thanks.

 

[hidn45]

With the "Pause-a-lot" button you might get something outta this:

 

[Vance Vanz]

Great work. This is going to be an amazing camper.

You have thought about this a lot more than me but the rear fenders are narrower than the front fenders and look a little odd to me. Did you look at it with the rear fenders having the same bulge as the front? Just curious.

Hey ITTOG,

Thanks for your comments and question.

Yes, that was part of the initial round of trying to match the front fenders exactly/as close as I could.

Increasing the width of the back fenders any more than 1-1/4" to 1-1/2"s looked super funky as they: overhung the back tires too much, the 45 degree taper into the top of the fairings/skirts was too drastic and they started to be wider than the front fenders (when looking down the side of the camper).

Just as TonyCatmandu stated, the camper is wider than the truck. The outside side-edge of the camper already covers the with of the tires, so I had to keep the width of the rear fenders slimmer/thinner for all of the reasons noted above. If you look at ER'S new rear fender design, as well as their previous design, you will see the similarity. Also, most builders have thinner rear fenders, or none at all-they just paint what looks like a fender around the wheel well area.

 

[Vance Vanz]

The fenders look great. I haven't seen any quite like that.

Is there a non-facey-gram location for one to view the boat or camper build of "Wilds Drake"?

Thanks DzlToy !

 

[Vance Vanz]

I like the fenders. I am guessing when you stand at the front and look down the side they appear in line as the camper extends beyond the side of the cab.

Thanks Tony C and correcto mundo on the profile comment!

 

[Vance Vanz]

With the "Pause-a-lot" button you might get something outta this:

Sometimes I gotta put Wild's in a headlock and force him to give me the non-published (behind the scenes) photos of his build .

 

[hidn45]

I think we'd all like to see more details on that one too - those Insta-bite shorts are a big tease!

 

[bouguer]

With the "Pause-a-lot" button you might get something outta this:

Am i missing something here, or is he sealing his infusion bags directly to the foam core? It does look like he coated the interior foam with something before bagging. The wood frame looks like it supports the foam, but doesn't offer anything to seal against.

 

[Vance Vanz]

Am i missing something here, or is he sealing his infusion bags directly to the foam core? It does look like he coated the interior foam with something before bagging. The wood frame looks like it supports the foam, but doesn't offer anything to seal against.

Hey bouguer!

I'm not sure of the detailed production method related to his habitat box/camper, so I can't be of any help.

 

[Vance Vanz]

Body/Fairing Work - Interior

Where has everybody been??????

I'm feeling abandoned over here 😆!

You know......, you can't leave somebody on the Portal alone for too long while they are in the trenches of a comprehensive build. They may cross over to the dark side and never come back 😁!

Well that is where I have been, literally, inside of a black carbon fiber box sanding salmon skin since may last post. Say that fast 10 times "sanding salmon skin since". I did meet a new lady friend and have been traveling to see her every two to three weeks (doing the long distance thing), but other than that, it has been non stop body work.

Ooooooooohhhh, I don't know how I have managed to endure it, but the body/fairing work on the interior is finally complete. The good news, it is done and will probably look like it came out of a mold once it is painted. The bad news, I had to do every single inch of it by myself 😫🤯.

Trust me when I say this is something you do not want anything to do with! If you get tangled up with this much body/fairing work by yourself, and you want it to look like it came out of a mold, you are going to get utterly crushed. A few late nights, during multiple 12-14 consecutive solid twelve hour days of block sanding, I started to think about all the words to best describe the process of what I was doing. The best word I eventually came to in some of those tough moments was, "stupid". "This is simply stupid!" There may have also been the F word in that phrase 🥳.

I don't share this to complain, I share this as information for anyone thinking about doing the interior of their habitat box in composite/glass, without the use of molds, where they will also be tabbing and fairing the joints. It is so much body/fairing work if you don't have a team tackling it with you. I lost count, but I think I have at least 8-10 weeks minimum, probably 10-12 weeks, just on the interior body work. This will most likely be the hardest (tediously labor intensive) individual project on the entire build.

Enough said, lets get to some pics:

Step box entering the camper


I radiused all the corners to keep everything consistent, accept for the very top portion of the back corner that meets the subfloor. I wanted the trim piece that will cap/cover the end/edge of the flooring material to sit flush up against the adjacent walls. The details............


Pictures from all four corners


I am so glad this is done!!!!

This will be the cabinet under the sink. I did the body/fairing work on every surface/space/cabinet/shelf/etc., where the composite will be visible.