Camper and Truck Photos

[Bubblegoose1]

We were out running around the Big Bend area recently. Here are a few shots from out and about.

Finishing up Old Ore Rd. North to South
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Finishing up River Road, East to West
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Camped in the State Park
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Running down Fresno Canyon in the State Park
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Heading out - top of Fresno Canyon heading north-
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Very cool. Thanks for sharing.

 

[jrod420]

Very nice, really diggin the side entrance and the flat deck, and trailer, and all that other neat stuff!

 

[Del_Williams]

Cedar Strip Pop-top

Here are a few pictures of our camper project. We finished it in January -- at least finished it enough to use! -- and tried it out on a 3 week trip down to Death Valley from BC. It works great. Nice and light (about 600 pounds dry) and takes 5 minutes to set up.

 

[UHAULER]

Very nice looking:26_7_2:

 

[whwv]

that so so sweet!

 

[rangerdogg]

Cool where's inside pics

 

[Del_Williams]

I'll post some more pics later. There is not to much inside yet... A pull out bed over the cab and a temporary counter.

 

[tommonta]

Construction pics too, if you have them.

 

[craig333]

Interesting look. Why so long to set up?

 

[Del_Williams]

Cedar Strip Pop Top Camper

Here are a few more pictures and some more information on our project. My wife and I do a lot of camping -- from our canoe, our truck, backpacking etc... The last few years in our truck, we used our simple fiberglass canopy with a bed platform and set of drawers underneath to store our gear. This worked quite well, but on those rainy and cold days it sure is nice to have an actual place to sit and cook inside -- simply not possible in our canopy.

We thought a camper would be nice, but it would have to be light and suitable for the occasional foray on 4wd roads. It also had to be easy to haul long distances without impacting gas mileage much. A lightweight pop-top seemed to be the answer. However, when we looked at commercial ones, they seemed quite heavy and of course involved a lot of cash. So, we decided to build one ourselves.

We had some experience building cedar-strip canoes, so thought that we would use this technique. Basically, you slice cedar boards into 1/4 inch thick strips, glue them together on a framework, sand the whole thing down and apply fiberglass cloth and epoxy resin on both sides. You then have a lightweight and strong structure. We then cut holes for the windows and installed them, installed a door, sewed a tent-like bit for the pop top, and built mechanisms to actually 'pop-up' the top.

This all took about 6 months of our spare time, but we got to try it out on a 3 week vacation in February. We drove almost 5000 km and slept in it every night. We also bounced up a lot of backroads. We were quite happy with it... Anyway, here are some pictures:



Stripping nearing completion


Sanding


Gluing roof strips


Stripping completed -- awaiting fiberglass


6 oz fiberglass cloth on roof


Interior view, after fiberglassing and before the roof was attached


Roof popped up showing front hinge and rear posts used to hold roof up. Tent sides attach with industrial grade velcro.


Interior view


Interior View


Another interior view

Wer were in a hurry to use the camper, so the interior is pretty sparten right now. We will add a water tank, sink and some nice cupboards...

 

[Del_Williams]

Hi Craig333, To raise it, I go inside the camper and push the front (cabover) section up with my back and lock the front hinges. Then, I raise the back with one hand and put two poles up in each corner with my other hand. There are four bungy straps inside to hook up after that and it is ready to use. This all takes 5 minutes max...

 

[ripperj]

Very nice job. Enjoy

Sent from my Passport

 

[ETAV8R]

Work of art!

 

[wanderer-rrorc]

Del that is VERY well done!!!

 

[redthies]

View attachment 390897
Roof popped up showing front hinge and rear posts used to hold roof up. Tent sides attach with industrial grade velcro.

Victoria??