FlipPac 1977 Barr Industries Rebuild Project

[FlipPacForFishing]

Some background on this project. My wife and I live in Denver metro area, and like to fish in the mountains. After several years of sleeping in the back of the Jeep, or truck tent in a Dodge Dakota, I thought we needed to upgrade to some form of camper. Since it is going in the Dakota, I wanted to keep it relatively light, so I started looking for a small pop up truck camper on CL.

After looking at a few small pop ups, I stumbled on this FlipPac. The pros, it fits in the 6.5 foot bed with the tailgate closed. The cons, it needs a lot of work (but should be a good winter project).

I wanted to post this on this site because of all the great builds of FlipPacs (and other campers), and because this one is different than current build FlipPacs in that it is older and has an attached floor. I can do a fair bit of fabrication, but welcome any suggestions on other ways or ways to do it better / easier.

It appears to be a later version of the FlipPac shown in this thread.

expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/81372-The-Original-FlipPac-Prototype

Some current pictures of the camper.







Model Number 75-001
Serial Number 10029 (I think, it is very difficult to read).
MFG Date 11 22 77


Possibly Rader Awning based on search






My goal is rebuild the structure over the winter. Many of the rivets in the flat panel have pulled out of the panels. (at this point I am thinking I will replace the flat panels with aluminum panels backed by foam insulation).
This is going to be a project with a slow path, so there will not be frequent updates. My plan is that by next spring, the camper will be operational with minimal interior. Then based on a few weekend trips, we can figure out the next creature comforts that need to be added.

 

[Bella PSD]

That’s amazing!! Only the third early Flip Pac that I know of that was built in with a rear door, yours the one from the Craigslist ad and a blue one that someone spotted once parked out in front of a store. After I did my camper build on a standard Flip Pac, the one you had in the craigslist link popped up for sale. I was the one in the other thread that saved the craigslist ad pictures. Anyway, GREAT FIND!! Yours looks to be built much different than the newer Flip Pacs. Even a little different than the other two early ones I have seen pictures of.

Here is a picture of what I build from a standard Flip Pac. I had no idea at the time there was a proto-type flip Pac camper with a rear door and fully enclosed. To cool….
Mine

 

[FlipPacForFishing]

Bella,

I had a few days from when I looked at the camper to when I could get my truck to bring it home. Your build thread (with the great beach pictures) certainly helped me to decide it was a worthy project. I was also trying to figure out why some pictures had rear doors and some had tailgates.

Progress Update

I had to rearrange some other prior projects in the garage, so I could get this one inside before winter. Once that was done, I started by removing the plywood that forms the seats and lower walls that go next to the fender wells in the truck bed. The lower frame that goes in the truck bed is made of 1 inch square steel tube. It is only visible in a few spots once the camper is in the truck.

The steel frame is bolted (and caulked) to the bottom side of the lower aluminum corners. The lower aluminum corners hold the main wall panels vertically and a wood 1” x 2” piece horizontally. The bolts came out pretty easy, and some careful saw work cut through the caulk. Then I could hoist the top portion of the camper off of the steel frame.




Looking up at bottom of the aluminum corners (and wood), you can see the bolt holes.



The aluminum corner pieces are certainly unique. I am assuming they are custom extrusions (from aerospace industry in Southern California circa 1977). The width for the wooden portion is slightly thinner than the side that holds the panel.




The main wall panels (front, sides and rear) are built of a three layer sandwich of thin plywood on the inside, a middle layer of expanded polystyrene foam, and an outer layer of what appears to be a thin plastic composite (plastic similar to melamine and hardboard). The thickness of the panel where it goes into the aluminum corners is about 1.18 inches.

The exterior of the panel next to the rear window was cracked and delaminating, so I pulled it off to see what was inside.


This is looking down at the bottom edge of where the side window would go. The plywood on the inside is delaminated, probably from getting wet.



Next Steps

To make the replacement panels up, I am planning to use 25 psi (or higher) compressive strength extruded foam board (blue or pink rigid insulation (XPS)). In the Denver area, the local big box stores only seem to sell one inch thick XPS foam board in 15 psi compressive strength . Hopefully, a construction supply shop will have the one inch foam in 25 psi. The outer skin will be 0.035 or 0.040 aluminum sign stock. The inner panel will be 1/8 inch plywood. This should get me close to the proper thickness. The bond strength of these composite panels is only as good as the tension strength of the foam panel (tension strength increases as compressive strength increases of the foam, which is why I want the 25 psi (or better) compressive strength XPS foam. I will also be using a vacuum bag set up to help clamp all the layers together during the gluing process.

I will also check the lower frame for cracked welds, excessive rust, or other issues.

 

[homemade]

Nice.

Except for the probably low demand for specialty campers in general I'm kind of suprised that this wasn't the prefered platform for the flippac or even the newly marked flip to the back cap. Instead of having to deal with muliple truck bed dimensions probably three products could be marketed, one for small trucks like Tacoma class size, one for full size short bed and one for full size long bed. I like the insulated walls but unless you camp with the top closed probably almost all of the heat loss is going to be thru the huge top tent area and I doubt if insulated walls would make much that much difference.

I have thought of making my flippac a slide in and still might at some point. The bottom FWC type plywood tub is a simple one day or one weekend project. When I built my FWC type pop up I used steel for the frame but if I converted the flippac to a slide in I would just use wood framing.

Good luck with your project.