DIY Composite Camper T100 Expedition Vehicle Build

[rruff]

No framing on the top and 2.5oz FG on everything.

Whoa, that is *very* light! I have ~32oz cloth in each skin and 4lb PVC foam core (~2.5x as dense as the XPS you are using). Weighs ~1.5 lb/sq ft. I wanted it to survive being whacked with a small sledge hammer...

Many ways to do it though. Since you are comfortable with FG I'd suggest sticking with that. It's much stronger than PMF in my testing.

 

[Traveling 2gether Journal]

Awaiting your design (or ideas) on your lifting system.

The idea is to use a box-on-box design. The roof will be attached to about 17" of wall all the way around, making an upside down "box". This "box" will fit over an inner section of wall that will also be about 17" tall. The outer and inner walls will be attached with vertically mounted drawer slides to allow the roof box to move up and down vertically with minimal side to side movement. The upper edge of the inner wall and lower edge of the outer wall will also be fitted with interlocking pieces of aluminum flat bar and foam rubber seals to make a watertight closure when open or closed. Or at least that's the idea.

I pulled a few images from my drawings to try and explain better.
__________________________
This is with the roof down in drive mode. this is with the roof up. the gray rectangles are the drawer slides.

this is with the roof box pulled off in an attempt to better illustrate what I'm liking about. (it won't actually come off like this)
you can see the gray drawer slides a bit easier and the orange poles sticking up at angles are gas springs like the ones used to hold open the rear hatch on a camper shell or an SUV.

I will probably have to try out some different force gas springs to get things figured out, but the idea is to get enough force from the gas springs so that I can easily push the roof up with one hand and lock it in place.

It's not the most elegant system, but I think it will be a lot simpler and easier to maintain than a cable winch, hydraulic, or pneumatic system. And will hopefully be fast to set up or pack down and will still be functional (with a bit of extra effort) even if the gas springs do fail.


At this point in the build I can still easily change this part of the plan, so let me know what you think.

 

[b dkw1]

View attachment 663505

With the slides on the outside like that won't you have a hard time sealing around them when it's up? The beauty of the internal lift poles is that they leave a nice unbroken top lip for bulb seals to contact.

 

[locrwln]

Have you looked at the Reico-Titan roof lift system? We have it on our Bundutec camper and it’s an adaptation of a system that’s been in use for a long time. You do have to plan on the motors and actuators when placing them, but ours have been great for untold number of roof lifting. I checked with them and they do sell to private builders.

https://www.riecotitan.com/image/catalog/instructions/electric-roof-lift-instructions.pdf

Jack

 

[RJ Howell]

I like the idea! Keeping it simple is always the best way to go. I know the gas strut suppliers will engineer the correct ones by weight and show you the placement/mounting. You need to work out balance point and mount distances equal from there. This is as I believe the biggest reason so many DIY lifts pinch. I have also found the gas struts I have tried (in other rigs) are not consistent in lift pressure. Meaning not much to start then at a point take over. I found up was easy once going, yet down created a challenge to get it started. I went to the H brace/lift bar to hopefully compensate for this (I see similar in commercial rigs). I say hopefully because I never did require the gas strut. I went N/S yet I can lift one end at a time, you can't... E/W with this brace/lift bar you can lift the entire roof at once (close enough to operate both at once), also can give a locking system once open.

design:

actual build:

I had the wood on hand! The metal would have been prettier, but I'm better with wood.. LOL

 

[highwest]

I like the idea! Keeping it simple is always the best way to go. I know the gas strut suppliers will engineer the correct ones by weight and show you the placement/mounting. You need to work out balance point and mount distances equal from there. This is as I believe the biggest reason so many DIY lifts pinch. I have also found the gas struts I have tried (in other rigs) are not consistent in lift pressure. Meaning not much to start then at a point take over. I found up was easy once going, yet down created a challenge to get it started. I went to the H brace/lift bar to hopefully compensate for this (I see similar in commercial rigs). I say hopefully because I never did require the gas strut. I went N/S yet I can lift one end at a time, you can't... E/W with this brace/lift bar you can lift the entire roof at once (close enough to operate both at once), also can give a locking system once open.

design:

actual build:

I had the wood on hand! The metal would have been prettier, but I'm better with wood.. LOL

Do you have a build thread?

 

[Traveling 2gether Journal]

Have you looked at the Reico-Titan roof lift system? We have it on our Bundutec camper and it’s an adaptation of a system that’s been in use for a long time. You do have to plan on the motors and actuators when placing them, but ours have been great for untold number of roof lifting. I checked with them and they do sell to private builders.

https://www.riecotitan.com/image/catalog/instructions/electric-roof-lift-instructions.pdf

Jack

Good recommendation. It's so hard to find companies that are willing to sell this kind of stuff to private builders. Cool that this company does that.
I like these systems functionality but I don't plan on having a massive battery bank or solar array at this time, so I think I want to be able to use the camper without power just incase.

 

[Traveling 2gether Journal]

With the slides on the outside like that won't you have a hard time sealing around them when it's up? The beauty of the internal lift poles is that they leave a nice unbroken top lip for bulb seals to contact.

Getting a seal around the slides will be an issue. I'll make an effort, but doubt I will ever get a perfect seal, so I am open to other ideas. I'm not sure what you mean by "internal lift poles" though.

 

[Traveling 2gether Journal]

I went to the H brace/lift bar to hopefully compensate for this (I see similar in commercial rigs).

I thought the H-brace just hinged in the center when lowered and locked in place somehow to create a vertical brace when popped up. How does it help with lifting the roof?

 

[FlyingBasset]

Getting a seal around the slides will be an issue. I'll make an effort, but doubt I will ever get a perfect seal, so I am open to other ideas. I'm not sure what you mean by "internal lift poles" though.

I'm not sure if this is what he means, but I'm actually planning to do nesting poles in the corners to keep alignment as the struts are lifting. They will go straight from the roof and so won't interfere with the seal.

I also plan to have the roof overlap the sides by at least a few inches at full extension for additional rigidity.

Sent from my SM-G970U1 using Tapatalk

 

[rruff]

The idea is to use a box-on-box design. The roof will be attached to about 17" of wall all the way around, making an upside down "box". This "box" will fit over an inner section of wall that will also be about 17" tall. The outer and inner walls will be attached with vertically mounted drawer slides to allow the roof box to move up and down vertically with minimal side to side movement. The upper edge of the inner wall and lower edge of the outer wall will also be fitted with interlocking pieces of aluminum flat bar and foam rubber seals to make a watertight closure when open or closed.

The fully hard-sided vertically moving top seems like the best way to do a popup... I'm surprised it is so rarely done. There is the obvious negative of not being able to make it quite as low when closed or tall when opened, but that seems like a small price for the benefits.

I'm not sure I understand your description of the sliders and seals... but my thinking is that you don't really need sliders or guides. Pieces of plastic should suffice for reducing friction between the two walls. On the outside of the lower wall you'd have two small angles (lower and upper for your two positions). The inside of the roof would have an angle with bulb seals top and bottom, which mates with these. The gas struts would probably work well to assist in raising and lowering the roof smoothly and could be strong enough to hold it in the upper position. Clamps could be used for the lower position.

 

[1000arms]

The idea is to use a box-on-box design. The roof will be attached to about 17" of wall all the way around, making an upside down "box". This "box" will fit over an inner section of wall that will also be about 17" tall. The outer and inner walls will be attached with vertically mounted drawer slides to allow the roof box to move up and down vertically with minimal side to side movement. ...

The fully hard-sided vertically moving top seems like the best way to do a popup... I'm surprised it is so rarely done. There is the obvious negative of not being able to make it quite as low when closed or tall when opened, but that seems like a small price for the benefits. ...

A flatbed non-cabover DIY "Alaskan Camper" could have lots of headroom for camping yet compact nicely for travelling.

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[RJ Howell]

I thought the H-brace just hinged in the center when lowered and locked in place somehow to create a vertical brace when popped up. How does it help with lifting the roof?

It does but also works as a lever. I use it mostly for the front as it's tougher to reach. Commercial units have a pole of sorts attached to the front one to assist using. The first part of the lift, like using gas struts, is the hardest. Happy it's so lite!

 

[RJ Howell]

Up is the easy part. Down I saw most commercial rigs that use the gas struts, have a handle of sorts to pul it down (at least to start it down). I found sway of the top was also an issue. The H brackets stopped E/W and the material slows N/S. This is where most commercial rigs have movement unless they add the X brace you'll see on some of them. Your hard side will also be prone to this movement. H lift brackets E/W would remove any N/S and help keep the slides alined. Go way to start the lift, lock it once up and start the lowering.

Think about it and see if it fits with what you're doing.

 

[rruff]

Your hard side will also be prone to this movement.

Why would that be? If the struts are pushing it against a seal, I don't see why it would move.