Gutted Popup Weight

[OwyheeMagpie]

I’ve always had an interest in a simple popup camper. When I camp I enjoy a minimalist approach. I’ve researched everything to death and I’d probably just end up getting a used FWC. Let’s be honest, they’re optimized and the resale is bar non. I do like the Scout popup camper but 30-40k is just unpalatable. I also really like the Khaya but I can’t stand how the sides have all the compartments. If it just had windows or windoors that would be awesome!

I’m a professional mechanic so I love tinkering, building and odd projects. For several years it’s crossed my mind to buy a Palomino SS500 or similar, completely gut it and build it out with space and weight savings in mind. Frankly I could do without a lot of the built in stuff like cabinets, drawers and so on. Heck, I’d be ok even ditching the mattress in favor of sleeping pads and so on. With that being said, any good guesses how much weight could be shaved off of a factory camper like that? I understand the overall construction is a lot different than FWC where they pay attention to every detail and design to save weight.

But what do you think?

 

[AbleGuy]

Many of those old campers use that compressed sawdust board for their cabinetry. That stuff was pretty heavy and you’ll get a good weight, saving and getting rid of it.

I had several of those old pop-up campers, and the sides and roof seemed to be made out of one by twos and mobile home paneling. So tearing out the interior and leaving only that get your weight down probably as far as possible.

You could pull out the paneling and insulation and put Styrofoam insulation instead and that might save you just a little bit of weight

When I tore one of these apart, the heaviest weight was from the three-quarter inch plywood that created the main box of the floor, the lower sides of the side in and the support for the overhead bunk. None of the rest of it seemed very substantial or heavy.

Still though I don’t think you’d save more than maybe 25% of the total weight tearing out the guts, maybe 30% tops.

This sounds like an interesting project and I hope you can report back to us on your progress

 

[rruff]

But what do you think?

Buying a POS camper and gutting it so you can use the POS shell... just doesn't make a lot of sense.

There are lightweight pop-up shells that mount to your bed rails. Seems like that would be ideal. If you want a slide in shell, look at ATC... All Terrain Camper. They are a cheaper version of FWC.

If you want to DIY, plenty have gone that route for the camper shell itself, including me.

 

[dstefan]

My Ovrlnd weighed 360 lbs, and with a pretty decent but no frills build out still weighs less than any slide in shell, with more floor space to boot. Not to mention, zero problems, in 4.5 years of pretty heavy use. Very stout welded aluminum build.