Birthday present for the wife...a $200 Skamper.

[kentuckydiesel]

Yep, you read it right! :costumed-smiley-007


I had been trying to decide what to get my wife for her birthday, when I came across this on Craigslist (a month after it had been posted):

I have a skamper pop up truck camper from the 80's. The roof needs work. You could build a new roof out of plywood or you could repair the existing roof. I will take 300 dollars for the camper. The furniture, stove, refrig, and all that is ok, it needs roof work. It is siting on a boat trailer that has been converted into a hauling trailer, I will take 200 for it, so both items are 500 dollars, or will seperate. It will fit a long bed truck but it will fit a short bed with tail down. Weight is under 1000 pounds. these truck campers make a truck look good, not like the other types.
text me first... prices are firm, I can get this scraping it...

A $300 pop up truck camper with a bad roof??? IT'S PERFECT!!! :Wow1: Only 15min away??? EVEN BETTER!!! :Wow1::Wow1:

I thought to myself, surely it can't still be for sale after a month on Craigslist, but to my surprise, it was still for sale.

The guy told me that everything was good on the inside (no water damage, etc.) but the roof needed to be fixed as it wouldn't lift. While it was a nice thought that I would just have to do minor roof repair, the picture he sent had me expecting the worst.



To make a long story short, this guy was sort of a "project collector". Looked like he had a lot of projects in the works, but hadn't yet completed one.
He had bought the camper to repair, but got about 15min into the job and stopped...last winter. It had just rained, and the roof wasn't as water tight as he believed. A buddy and I lifted the soggy roof to find that half the canvas was hanging loose, but it was fairly in-tact. The floor and bed area both had standing water, but it hadn't been there long enough to cause rot issues. The appliances looked good, and everything was there.

I offered the guy $200, and after some discussion about how the camper was going to rot away if he let it sit there any longer, he accepted my offer.

We slid the camper off his boat trailer, (backwards) onto the little 4x8 trailer I brought with me, and I was on my way to my shop.

(Taking a typing break, will post the more soon).

-Phillip

 

[kentuckydiesel]

I forgot one of the best parts of the negotiation with the previous owner...something I always get a kick out of when people are selling anything with even 1% aluminum content: At first, the guy would not come down off his $300 price. He was very insistent that he could get well more than $300 by scrapping this camper. He said that the roof and siding was all aluminum, and he stated very plainly that aluminum scrap brought $20-$25 per pound.

I chuckled and told him I'm in the metal fabrication business, and I pay around $2 per pound for new aluminum. I went on to say that not only was there much less weight there than he thought, but that he would be lucky to get 50 cents per pound for what little painted aluminum siding and extrusion he had there. It always amazes me what people think aluminum weighs, and what they think it's worth.

Anyway,

I got the Skamper back to the shop and set it in a corner where I could work on it. Luckily the guy had put all the cushions in his garage, so they weren't moldy and ruined.





The previous owner had spent just enough time on this project to make a huge mess inside with all the roof foam and paper.





After 45min or so, I had the majority of the mess under control.



With the top popped up half way, I started removing the screws that secure the canvas to the top.



Unfortunately, at this point I began having trouble keeping my phone charged long enough to take a picture, but I removed the old top from the lift frame and took the side extrusions off of it. I tossed around the idea of building a new plywood frame for the original top, but with all the sagging/strength issues I've read about, I decided to go a different route. Rather than building a 1x4 outer plywood frame, I used 1x6s, then used 2x4s inside of those. As you can see in the picture below, the canvas mounting surface ends up being at the same height as the original setup, and the upper roof mounting surface is only 1/2" higher.



So, here is the finished roof frame.

 

[freedomrider]

Love it when people apply skill and elbow grease to give new life to things worth saving. Good luck with the restoration.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

 

[kentuckydiesel]

Haha, yep. I found a few nice sized mouse nests, along with a well constructed squirrel nest behind the LP tank.



-Phillip

 

[craig333]

I have a feeling this is going to a very nice rig when you're done, a for a pittance too.

 

[libarata]

Where does the hottub go?

 

[kentuckydiesel]

I've been working on some roof mount hot tub designs, but that'll have to wait until the rest is finished.

The camper roof is finished. Will try to post pics tomorrow.

The wife was amazingly excited when I unveiled the old Skamper. She spent the afternoon cleaning and painting the intererior while I checked out the appliances. Gas range works. (I should hope so) Vented gas heater, blower fan, and thermostat work...and the 3 way fridge works! Score!




-Phillip

 

[Sock Puppet]

Nice indeed! Looks like you're making great headway!

 

[subterran]

Looks great! :lurk:

 

[kentuckydiesel]

After finishing the roof, I brought the camper home on a little trailer so I could give it to the wife. I tried to take a couple pictures of the progress with it, but my phone died after the first picture.

Anyway, here is the camper with the roof completed.



I started by putting four "rafters" across the frame.



Added 20ga Galvanized angles to the sides and rear of the frame.



Laid the first roof sheet over the back of the frame.



Then overlapped each one moving toward the front, screwing the sheets down as I went. (BTW, The sealer I uses is a Ruscoe product called Permanent Sealer HV...we use it on everything from grain bin roofs to swimming pool bottoms. It's good stuff.)


Before I put on the last (front) roof sheet, I took a couple 1x6s and drove them between the center of the roof sheets and the rafters to form a light crown down the center of the roof. I then put the last roof sheet on and capped it with the front angle.




BTW, sorry for the 3D representations. I wish I would have taken pictures along the way, but my phone battery just won't hold up. Time for a new one.

Also, before putting the roof frame back on, I used a similar trick to what others on here have done for their torsion brackets. The difference was, instead of using two pieces of angle pulled down and bolted to a third, I pulled the torsion brackets out just enough to disengage them and let them sit level, held my angle up and marked where to drill the holes, put the torsion brackets back in, bolted the angle to one side, pulled it down to meet the other with one hand while twisting the 2nd bracket with a pair of channel locks. Once they were lined up, I used my third hand to put the bolts in the holes, then tightened everything down.

I know...not the best description, but it's better than nothing (maybe).

-Phillip

 

[kentuckydiesel]

We will probably using the Wife's truck for camper duty more than we will the others, so we are planning to paint the camper "Oxford White" to match the truck...Not sure about the trim color yet.




Also, I'm toying with the idea of replacing the aluminum siding with something like FRP board. Has anyone tried that? I know most FRP isn't UV resistant, but it could be painted.


Thanks,
Phillip

 

[libarata]

For siding, you could look into Tuftex. It is made of Polycarbonate, in a factory about an hour from me. You can pick it up in most Lowes, or Home Depot.

http://ondura.com/our-products/tuftex/

Really glad the appliances work. I was holding out for that, as those things are not inexpensive anymore!

 

[kentuckydiesel]

For siding, you could look into Tuftex. It is made of Polycarbonate, in a factory about an hour from me. You can pick it up in most Lowes, or Home Depot.

http://ondura.com/our-products/tuftex/

Really glad the appliances work. I was holding out for that, as those things are not inexpensive anymore!

Me too! I wasn't looking forward to having to replace any of those appliances.

I had actually considered some polycarbonate for the exterior, but after some thinking, I decided that if I was going to replace the siding, I'd rather get away from the ribbed look altogether.

Here are a couple of interior shots I was able to get before I left for work this morning. They don't really show anything spectacular...just wanted to post some "before pictures".



Over the next week or so, we will be painting, redoing the flooring, recovering all the cushions, ect.

-Phillip

 

[rangerdogg]

Nice camper looks like a great start. Nice bday gift too. Can't wait to see more pics . Happy camping