ITTOG's Truck Camper Build (was 6' x 12' Trailer Conversion)

[ITTOG]

I'd think adding a rubber membrane like flex seal at the bottom of the boards would make it rot faster, by trapping water at the bottom. Wood needs to breathe, but also needs to be treated for weather resistance. Be that by oil soaking, such as creosote, chemicals, or used oil with a penetrant. Either way it should be allowed to breathe, while doing whatever you can to prevent water from being trapped in areas where you are capable. JMHO

Yeah that makes sense. Just like the sealer I bought indicated to not apply until the wood is dry. You don't want to trap anything inside the wood. That is probably worse than moisture attacking the outside. I will have to investigate it a bit more.

 

[ITTOG]

Trying to get the wood dried out so I can apply the sealer. Not sure the heater and fan I am using will work given it has been so humid and rainy. May have to wait until this summer.
View attachment 867955
View attachment 867954

The board's for the trailer in my garage have been drying since Sunday. I have a fan and heater going 24 hours a day on them. The humidity in my garage is normally around 40%, but since the boards have been in there it has been more like what is in the picture. The crazy thing is the boards are still wet to the touch. They need sunshine, lots of sunshine!

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[ITTOG]

Well the wood never dried enough to apply a sealer so I had to put the trailer back together. I guess I will do it this summer. The trailer looks good though. I miss the smell of new wood in the garage.

 

[Kingsize24]

Hopefully after a bit of summer sun you can apply.

 

[VanIsle_Greg]

Looking good on the trailer rebuild. Pressure treated is definitely the way to go. On the power front, I decided to put in a 100AH Li Time battery in the camper connected to the fridge, lights etc. It runs everything, is the newer gen with BT and so far it has been awesome. I picked up a Bluetti V2 Elite power station for 'other stuff' and for portable power as well as home emergency use. I really like the Bluetti for the form factor and for the features and functions. $pendy, but Black Friday deals helped there and I saved a lot.

Camper is looking rad as always ITTOG.

 

[ITTOG]

Looking good on the trailer rebuild. Pressure treated is definitely the way to go. On the power front, I decided to put in a 100AH Li Time battery in the camper connected to the fridge, lights etc. It runs everything, is the newer gen with BT and so far it has been awesome. I picked up a Bluetti V2 Elite power station for 'other stuff' and for portable power as well as home emergency use. I really like the Bluetti for the form factor and for the features and functions. $pendy, but Black Friday deals helped there and I saved a lot.

Camper is looking rad as always ITTOG.

I have a 100 ah AGM battery. My biggest question right now is how long will that last. How many days can you run your fridge? Do you use solar panels to recharge or the Bluetti?

Thanks on the camper. I always liked yours as well. But I haven't seen a pic of it in a while.

 

[ITTOG]

I have started the interior skin and had a question for the crowd. Anyone have experience glueing 1/4" plywood together? I am looking for suggestions on what works best. I don't want to use corner trim, at least not now.

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[dstefan]

I do a lot of woodworking and really nothing will let you glue up strong 90° butt joints like it looks like you’re trying to do. Titebond woodworker’s glue is strong enough when used in the right joints not to fail before the wood does, but 1/4” just doesn't have enough surface area in your type of joints and the glue struggles with edge/end grain.

You need some structural support. I’d suggest some1” or larger 90° ( or whatever angle you need) reinforcement in your joints along the edges. An accurately squared, long 1x1 along the inside of those long edges with wood glue and a few screws would be great.

Maybe some sort of seriously strong thickened epoxy fillet on the inside of those edges would work, but that seems even harder and you’d still have a weak structure without mechanical fasteners.

 

[ITTOG]

I do a lot of woodworking and really nothing will let you glue up strong 90° butt joints like it looks like you’re trying to do. Titebond woodworker’s glue is strong enough when used in the right joints not to fail before the wood does, but 1/4” just doesn't have enough surface area in your type of joints and the glue struggles with edge/end grain.

You need some structural support. I’d suggest some1” or larger 90° ( or whatever angle you need) reinforcement in your joints along the edges. An accurately squared, long 1x1 along the inside of those long edges with wood glue and a few screws would be great.

Maybe some sort of seriously strong thickened epoxy fillet on the inside of those edges would work, but that seems even harder and you’d still have a weak structure without mechanical fasteners.

Thanks for the response. I can't really do the 1x1 you mention because there isn't enough room behind the boards. I can do the epoxy though. I am also going to try out this material on the outside. Maybe the two combined will work well.
Corner Trim with Adhesive

 

[dstefan]

Thanks for the response. I can't really do the 1x1 you mention because there isn't enough room behind the boards. I can do the epoxy though. I am also going to try out this material on the outside. Maybe the two combined will work well.
Corner Trim with Adhesive

That might work for you, especially with an epoxy fillet on the inside. Quarter inch is really tough to work with for structures without an external or internal frame!
Another thing to consider, if you don’t mind the aesthetics is 1/2”x1/2” 1/16th aluminum angle as an outside brace or an inside one. I’ve built lightweight 1/4” thick coroplast boxes and drawers that way using VHB and they”ve held up very well. Makes for a very rigid frame.

Good luck and let us know what you ended up with and how it worked.

 

[ITTOG]

That might work for you, especially with an epoxy fillet on the inside. Quarter inch is really tough to work with for structures without an external or internal frame!
Another thing to consider, if you don’t mind the aesthetics is 1/2”x1/2” 1/16th aluminum angle as an outside brace or an inside one. I’ve built lightweight 1/4” thick coroplast boxes and drawers that way using VHB and they”ve held up very well. Makes for a very rigid frame.

Good luck and let us know what you ended up with and how it worked.

I am trying to eliminate all metal on the inside so I didn't consider aluminum trim. Actually, one idea was to use 1x1-1/16th inch steel angle and place it behind the wood. In the end this is my first try to support the no metal goal. If it doesn't work then I will definitely look at metal options.

Thanks again for the info.

 

[ITTOG]

Not a lot to report but I did work on adhering the 1/4" ply. It adhered okay but it definitely wasn't very strong. Just not enough surface area for the epoxy to create a strong bond. So I went ahead and bought the trim I previously mentioned and installed it. It helped but not enough. the biggest issue with it is it doesn't stick very well. In addition, instead of being clear, the trim is milky. I don't like it. Finally, I fiberglassed the back side of the wood with one layer of glass. This made a huge difference. I put the form into the camper and stepped on it and it didn't break. This may be the solution to make it work. We will see.

Here are a few picks to show what I did. This is the backside with the dried epoxy and fiberglass.


Here it is in the camper. I stepped on it several times and nothing broke. So hopefully it will work long term. Here you can see the milky trim. It doesn't stick to wood very well. If I decide to keep it I will use epoxy to hold it down. I am also thinking I will try the hard clear plastic trims. The wood is a different color because I put linseed oil on it. that stuff smells bad. I may look for something different.

 

[dstefan]

Internal fiberglass looks like a good solution for you.

Yeah, linseed oil isnt gonna be your friend! Try wiping with mineral spiriits to clean it. A great, simple natural color finish is wipe on poly. It basically polyurethane cut with 50% mineral spirits that you apply with a rag. It penetrates into the wood and dries quickly. Just two coats is enough, but more can give you a very durable and water resistant surface.

All my camper wood and counters are done with it. You can buy premixed (Minwax is a good brand) or jus mix your own easily and for about 1/4 of the cost.

 

[ITTOG]

The only problem with my camper at the moment is related to lifting it. I didn't by electric jacks because they were $3,500 and I decided to use manual jacks instead. I was able to use a drill to raise the camper quicker but the problem was that doing it one at a time would cause the camper to lean. So I started having my wife help and that improved it but was still a problem. I then used cross bracing and again, that improved it but not enough. So, I decided to build my own electric jacks.

So this pic shows the cross bracing. I could have added more but I had to store the bracing and I was running out of room. So I decided to not add extra bracing.

The first thing I did was order a motor that I could connect to the jack and see if it was strong enough to raise the camper. I added a connector on the wiring, covered it, and made attachments to connect the motor to the jack. I tried the jack at all four corners to ensure it could lift the camper and it did it with ease. After completing that test I was full bore on finishing the project before the fall camping season began.


So I started building a control box with the wiring to connect to the four motors. I was keeping all of it external to the camper.



I mounted the motors on all the jacks and gave it a test.


Running the system on a 12v battery worked but it definitely taxed the battery so I attached a charger to keep the voltage up.


Other than how slow it is the system works great. I was able to build my own electric jacks for about $1,675 and even better than that, is it is infinitely safer.