I decided to build my own Pop Top camper

[Josh41]

Great job! I've been looking to build an 80/20 cap for a while now, your camper and post are great inspiration, thanks for sharing.

 

[97heavyweight]

Hey there Heavyweight... love the build!
I have not been following this (I wish I had been) as I have not been on here much lately, but man this looks pretty great! I have a question for you about your roof design. It appears from the pics that I saw, that you have a small lip all the way around the edge of your roof. The thickness of the aluminum 'L' edge you used. Do you have any problems with water pooling on the roof or does your truck naturally have a bit of built in rake to it (or from being loaded)?

I put a thinner gauge aluminum drip edge/edge around my roof on my build and had some concerns about pooling. Just curious and thought I would pop in and say "Nice work"!

Hello and thanks! I have had minimal, but it has not caused any issues. My truck sits higher in the rear so it tends to flow off the front. So far so good. I believe the edge is 1/8” thickness.

 

[VanIsle_Greg]

Thanks for the follow up. Pretty much what I thought.

 

[ITTOG]

Hey there Heavyweight... love the build!
I have not been following this (I wish I had been) as I have not been on here much lately, but man this looks pretty great! I have a question for you about your roof design. It appears from the pics that I saw, that you have a small lip all the way around the edge of your roof. The thickness of the aluminum 'L' edge you used. Do you have any problems with water pooling on the roof or does your truck naturally have a bit of built in rake to it (or from being loaded)?

I put a thinner gauge aluminum drip edge/edge around my roof on my build and had some concerns about pooling. Just curious and thought I would pop in and say "Nice work"!

That is how every cargo trailer I looked at is built as well. I probably look at 10 different brands at a minimum. All of them had 1/8 or 3/16 in aluminum around the top. My cargo trailer had 1/8 in aluminum and it would hold a little water but I never had any leaks from it. So it seems to be a fairly common standard for building.

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[97heavyweight]

That is how every cargo trailer I looked at is built as well. I probably look at 10 different brands at a minimum. All of them had 1/8 or 3/16 in aluminum around the top. My cargo trailer had 1/8 in aluminum and it would hold a little water but I never had any leaks from it. So it seems to be a fairly common standard for building.

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Are the trailer roofs flat or bowed?

 

[ITTOG]

In the end it doesn't matter because even bowed, would hold water at the edge. But all of the ones I looked at were flat.

 

[97heavyweight]

On my way to the Mountain West Expo my cheap amazon fridge started to crap out on me. It was freezing and to keep it from freezing I set the temp to 58F. I will give it credit, for $280 it lasted 2 years and I used it a lot! While at the Expo I purchased a Dometic CFX3 55 and it is much larger than my older 37. So to make it fit I re-did the seat delete. I extended the platform by 5.5" and removed all of the rear trim and added plywood to the rear wall. I think my dogs like the extra room.

 

[97heavyweight]

It finally happened. During the rain that we've had recently in the PNW some water pooled up on the roof and made it's way through. I was hoping that waterproof tape and flexible waterproof silicone would be enough to not have to use Dicor. So this week I will be slathering all joints on the roof in Dicor to ensure that it does not leak anymore.

 

[97heavyweight]

I was hoping not having a drip edge wouldn't bite me in the ass. Turns out not all waterproof fabrics are in fact waterproof. Last week I put dicor all over the joints on the roof and I still had some leaking. I have determined that it is dripping from the roof onto the exposed canvas and soaking through...I think. So I present to everyone the not so pretty and probably not so useful duct tape drip edge!!! Hopefully it works. It will be raining this weekend so we shall see.

 

[craig333]

Just think how well its going to seal when you build 2.0

 

[97heavyweight]

Just think how well its going to seal when you build 2.0

Roof 2.0 will be sooner than I want it to be. It will include new canvas as well.

 

[ITTOG]

Well, that is creative. Not sure I would have thought of that. Not sure how well it works for you though.

This is a big reason why I want to keep all of my canvas inside and use weather stripping to seal the roof. I hadn't been planning a drip edge, hoping I can get away with just the weather stripping. That may be too optimistic.

 

[97heavyweight]

Well, that is creative. Not sure I would have thought of that. Not sure how well it works for you though.

This is a big reason why I want to keep all of my canvas inside and use weather stripping to seal the roof. I hadn't been planning a drip edge, hoping I can get away with just the weather stripping. That may be too optimistic.

Make sure that your weather stripping is closed cell not open cell foam. My 'waterproof' open cell foam is not very waterproof. My roof version 2.0 will have the canvas attached to the inside as well with closed cell foam and a drip edge of some sorts.

 

[VanIsle_Greg]

Make sure that your weather stripping is closed cell not open cell foam. My 'waterproof' open cell foam is not very waterproof. My roof version 2.0 will have the canvas attached to the inside as well with closed cell foam and a drip edge of some sorts.

Dude... sorry to hear this. Man, that sucks, like a lot. I worked a lot on the roof edge design... the guy who was working with me on this designed it to have more of an overhang, but it was like 3/4 of an inch away from the sides? I was not ok with that as I was (mostly) concerned with air getting under the edge while on the road and water. I now have less of an overhang, but what I do it about 1/4 away from the finished face of the sides and it overhangs about 1". Now the fabric will be protected by a rubber automotive rubber bulb seal and 1" overhang. No wind or water should ever touch the Sunbrella when closed or on the road in rain and deployed it 'should' shed water well.

Fingers crossed!!

Now, I just need to install the stupid fabric! Cant wait to see that duct tape replaced with some nice brushed aluminum!!

 

[ITTOG]

Make sure that your weather stripping is closed cell not open cell foam. My 'waterproof' open cell foam is not very waterproof. My roof version 2.0 will have the canvas attached to the inside as well with closed cell foam and a drip edge of some sorts.

Yes my weather stripping is closed cell. My struggle is with the drip edge. First, I'm not sure what to use for my drip edge and second, how will the drip edge impact my fasteners that hold the roof close?

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