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

[ITTOG]

Date: May 10 and June 26, 2021
Time: 0 hours
Total Time to Date: 176 hours
Rework: 8 hours
Total Rework to Date: 65 hours (not part of Time above)
Current Weight: 561 pounds (calculated)
Roof: 115 (112 + calculated 3 pounds)
Camper: 398 (309 + calculated 89 pounds)
Wedge Weight: 48
I need to weigh everything again due to a lot of work being completed since last weights were taken.

At this rate of work the camper will never get finished. Unfortunately the summertime is difficult for projects for me. Also my son graduated high school so that wiped out about four weeks.

The theme of this update is much like the last, REWORK! I just feel doing this now will give me a much better product so it is best that I am doing it. I worked on welding a lot of the tubing that I cut to straighten the top and changed how I plan to anchor my struts and roof locks. The original design was to weld on 1/8" x 4" plate to the tube to distribute the load. The problem with this is it created an issue with skinning the camper. So with a little more thought I decided to change the plan so these plates are not sticking out on the outside of the camper.

The plates worked well but just created other issues I didn't want. So I cut them off.




On the back of the plates I welded the nuts on. Thus I had to cut holes in my tubing for the nut to not stick out.


Here you can see a couple of the plates I removed and the new barrels I plan to use for mounting the struts and clamps. The tubing is 1.5" and the barrel nuts are also 1.5". Thus Therefore they will be welded on the face (ie outside of the tube/camper) and on the back side (ie inside of the tube/camper). This will give me the reinforcement I need without causing anything to stick out on the outside of the camper.


This shows how I made the hole in the tubing a bit larger and then started filling in the holes. So I have a lot of welding and grinding the next time I work on it.

 

[ITTOG]

Date: July 8 and 24, 2021
Time: 0 hours
Total Time to Date: 176 hours
Rework: 8.5 hours
Total Rework to Date: 73.5 hours (not part of Time above)
Current Weight: 604 pounds
Roof: 123
Camper: 433
Wedge Weight: 48

I finally pulled out the scales and reweighed everything. Ouch, I was hoping the entire thing, meaning finished, would have been about 600 to 650 pounds. I may have to look for options to cut out some weight.

The rework is finally coming to an end. I spent about five hours welding and grinding. I am glad that is over. The rest of the time was drilling 8 holes for the gas struts anchors and then raising the roof! Only the second time I have done that but first time with the new anchor system.

In this pic you can see the hole I drilled in the camper base and the cylinder that will be welded in. Notice the hole is at the bottom of the tube. This will help put the weight of the roof across the bottom of the cylinder in addition to the ends where I weld. I really believe the new method I am using for my anchor points is far superior than my first iteration. Kind of exciting. I am thinking about cutting a hole in the bottom of the tube so I can weld the middle of the cylinder to the tube as well but that is probably overkill.


In this pic you can see the strut anchor in the roof (the top two rails are the roof). Notice the anchor is at the top of the bottom tube. So again, instead of the weight just being on the ends of the cylinder it is also spread out along the length of the cylinder as well. It should really spread out the load.


After Installing all the cylinders and anchors it is time to raise the roof. To do that, I have to support it front to back and side to side because the struts only lift and do not keep things aligned. So, I clamped on tubing to ensure the roof lifts straight up. Without this the roof would fall off.


Just another angle before raising the roof. You can see the gas struts are installed in this pic.


The roof has been raised. The next step in the process is to fab the lift mechanisms at the front and back of the camper. This lifts will ensure the roof does not fall off front to back or side to side.

This is what I plan to build to keep the roof up. In order to build the lift panels, I had to get measurements on my roof to know how tall to make them. The roof at the front of the camper was 34 1/4" above the camper and the roof at the back of the camper was 33 3/4" above the camper. So, I will make the lift panels to hold the roof at 33 1/2" at each end. This will keep the struts compressed a little but hopefully that won't shorten their life too much. I still need to figure out if I attach the lift panels so that they are between the tubing of the camper and the roof or if it sets just inside of the tube. This of course is important because it impacts how I attach the canvas. I really wish I had close up pics of the photo below. I am curious how the canvas and lift panels are attached to prevent any problems.

Source:

Another-nother OVRLND camper build

(little out of order) installed some led puck lights using 1/2" birch to make 4" strips that then were attached to rivenuts in the roof frame. The back 6 are over the truck bed on two separate strips that all are controlled by a switch on the electric panel in the driver's rear wall. Over the...

expeditionportal.com

https://expeditionportal.com/forum/attachments/img_20201215_201905-jpg.656561/

 

[Andrew_S]

Awesome to see the roof popping up and down. That must be super rewarding.
A good set-up with struts is a lot harder to engineer then one would think.

 

[ITTOG]

Awesome to see the roof popping up and down. That must be super rewarding.
A good set-up with struts is a lot harder to engineer then one would think.

Yes it is. I can't wait to get the lift stabilizers built and installed so it is easy to pop up and down any time I want. But, I am also struggling on where to attach the lift stabilizers given I have to ensure a way to attach the canvas.

Yes it is difficult to engineer. Much more than I expected it to be. I have changed thoughts on the design several times and still have not settled on a method.

Thanks for stopping in.

 

[ITTOG]

Date: August 14, 2021
Time: 1.5 hours
Total Time to Date: 177.5 hours
Rework: 0 hours
Total Rework to Date: 73.5 hours (not part of Time above)
Current Weight: 608 pounds
Roof: 123
Camper: 433 + 4 (calculated)
Wedge Weight: 48

I didn't have much time so not much new completed. The first thing was to create a pocket to slide the skin into given it would have an exposed edge to the wind. You can see the backside of the 1/2" x 3/8" angle in the pic below, identified by the black arrow.


This is from the other side, showing the pocket. No other area on the camper will have an exposed edge like this.


I cut most of the metal for my lift stabilizers at the front and back of the camper. The stacked 1" , 16 gauge tube is the horizontal tubing for both sides. Next is to cut the vertical pieces.


If you have been following along for a while you will know I have an angle on the front of my camper that is in two separate planes. Due to this I cannot weld anything in the area that would be a flat, single sheet. So I have decided to use 2" wide strips of 22 gauge, I believe. I will weld it in and given it will probably warp due to the heat I will then use bondo to ensure a smooth surface. This approach will be better than fiberglass to ensure the camper is water tight in the area. Not because fiberglass leaks but because the fiberglass would have to be glued on and it isn't as reliable as a weld.

 

[ITTOG]

Date: August 20 and 28, 2021
Time: 8.5 hours
Total Time to Date: 186 hours
Rework: 0 hours
Total Rework to Date: 73.5 hours (not part of Time above)
Current Weight: 631 pounds
Roof: 123
Camper: 437 + 8 + 15 (calculated)
Wedge Weight: 48

It was finally time to begin welding the sheet metal into the front of the camper. It took me a while to get the feel for welding sheet but it proved to be serviceable. First I will cover the two angled sections of the front of the sidewalls. It was difficult welding the 22 gauge sheet to the 16 gauge tube. Each side took ten 2" x 14" sheets, plus one that was about 3/4" x 8". Welding the straight end on was fairly easy but welding it on the other end was a difficult because you had to twist the sheet. The top always needed to be pushed in about 3/8", over 2" of vertical height.




This picture shows how the sheet, right side, has to be twisted in order to fit the tubing. It isn't a lot of bend but enough to make it difficult. I think the end product is going to look really good though.


My first spot welds on the sheet metal. This was actually much easier than welding the sheet to a thicker tube.


On the other side of the camper you can see I added a lot more welds. Both sides will be fully welded and then covered with Bondo.


You can barely see the sheet when looking directly from the front.


But it is clearly visible when viewed from down the sides, which will be how it is viewed most the time.




This pic is from the inside of the camper.

 

[ITTOG]

I haven't finished the sides yet but I wanted to get the two pieces in the front on. These are the only areas the skin will not be aluminum. So I began by creating a paper template to ensure the tightest fit possible.


I put the template onto 18 gauge sheet and traced out the piece I needed for each side. I think I wish I would have used 22 gauge. I think I used 18 so it wouldn't warp when welding it to the thicker tube. The two trimmed sheets weighed 14.4 pounds.


Held in place by magnets while I perfect the fit.


An angled view from the inside.


Both held in place by magnets.


View from the inside.


I probably have about four hours of welding and grinding to finish this.

 

[ITTOG]

Time: 5 hours
Total Time to Date: 191 hours
Rework: 1.5 hours
Total Rework to Date: 75 hours (not part of Time above)
Current Weight: 631 pounds
Roof: 123
Camper: 460 (calculated)
Wedge Weight: 48

As I was preparing to fit the top sheet onto the angled skin I discovered the left side had warped inward about 1.5". I clearly got it too hot. So I had to replace 14" (seven 2" pieces) of it. After that, it was a lot of welding and some grinding. Unfortunately I have a bit more welding and grinding before I complete these skins.

This pic shows how the top of the angled skin is warped inward. So it had to come out.


This pic is the new skin with the top tacked in.


In this pic you can see the top sheet I mentioned above.

 

[Andrew_S]

Holy smokes that's an intense amount of fab for two corners! Nice work, can't wait to see the thing skinned fully.

 

[ITTOG]

Time: 4 hours
Total Time to Date: 195 hours
Rework: 0 hours
Total Rework to Date: 75 hours (not part of Time above)
Current Weight: 631 pounds
Roof: 123
Camper: 460 (calculated)
Wedge Weight: 48

Today I finished welding in the side wings and the front panels. Most of this involved welding pinholes to hopefully create a water tight seal for the front of the camper. This process required me to use spotlights behind the metal and look for light. It was a tedious process because you had to constantly change the angle you were looking at because the pinholes were in three dimensions and not just facing straight ahead. I have mentioned before, but I will use Bondo to smooth out the side wings, and front panels. But overall I think they will look very good.

I also needed to straighten one of the camper walls. This is how I rigged it up. By applying heat and the use of a come-a-long I was able to straighten it. The wheel is in the air just because of the two anchor points on the camper; one down low and one up high.


Before applying heat I did try to straighten the wall by force. Amazingly, the come-a-long dragged the truck about 6".


I haven't fully decided how I will skin the camper. I need to decide what material to use; aluminum or ACM (aluminum composite material), which is 3mm thick. I also have to decide how I finalize the corner on the roof and side of the camper.

The pictures below show the two options I am thinking about for the roof. The blue boxes are 1.5" tube. Box one and two are welded together to create the side of the roof. It isn't shown but there is also tubing to the left of box one (under the roof) going to the other side of the roof. Box three is the top of the camper, not including the roof. The gap between the camper and roof is where my weatherstripping will be. The yellow line is the canvas inside the trailer. The gray rectangle is the skin, regardless of the two options I mentioned. Note that if I use just aluminum for the skin, the part that hangs down from the roof over the side of the camper (pseudo drip edge) will have to include reinforcement or something different as the drip edge. The black line is the galvalume roof. The green line is the corner cap and I have to decide if I use aluminum angle or aluminum flat stock. Between the roof and skin with the tube will be 3M's VHB tape. The VHB tape would also be between the galvalume and tube/skin. Not sure if I will use VHB or Sika between the roof/skin and the angle or flat stock.



Your thoughts on these options would be appreciated.

 

[ITTOG]

Holy smokes that's an intense amount of fab for two corners! Nice work, can't wait to see the thing skinned fully.

A total of 19 hours. I sure hope it turns out as nice as I think it will. I figure I will do all this work and it looks great, but there is a leak somewhere. That will be fun to resolve!

 

[97heavyweight]

I would definitely go with option 1. The more coverage the better.

 

[Porkchopexpress]

Amazing job!
Option 1 looks like it could cause water pooling on the edges and more corrosion. The roof seems overbuilt already but you would know better having fabricated it.

 

[ITTOG]

Amazing job!
Option 1 looks like it could cause water pooling on the edges and more corrosion. The roof seems overbuilt already but you would know better having fabricated it.

Yes it will but this method appears to be an industry standard on campers and cargo trailers. I think the thought is having another layer of overlap is better than not having the pooling. I probably won't make a decision until I have my siding and roof on. At that time I will be able to see what I think is the best option.

 

[Porkchopexpress]

Yes it will but this method appears to be an industry standard on campers and cargo trailers. I think the thought is having another layer of overlap is better than not having the pooling. I probably won't make a decision until I have my siding and roof on. At that time I will be able to see what I think is the best option.

I guess you could make up for it by having a good roof sealer. Maybe even truck bedliner.