Lightweight Homebuilt Camper for my Tacoma

[riveroceanandmountain]

Had a few slow days... but finally received more supplies for the next phase....tape to stick on the roof skin... actuators to lift the roof... the tent wall fabric... wow... lots to do!

Did a quick and dirty mock up of the seat arrangement and table so I could determine where to weld a plate in to attach the table leg to... forgot to take pics

Then flipped it over to put the floor bottom on... and the edge trim around the floor.

I still have to get some inside corner trim.... just waiting to make sure I order everything I need at once.

Insulated the floor before putting the bottom plywood on... you can also see the plate for the table leg attachment

 

[riveroceanandmountain]

Productive day today....

taped the roof


skinned the roof


trimmed one end of the roof..... but ran out of screws... most of the screws I purchased ended up being too short to install the trim pieces... I need to order more of the correct length... amazing all the things that are hard to know until you have done it!



That's ok... I have lots to do

flipped it over and started to insulate


I see that lots of people are viewing this thread .... so I keep posting.... but now I relate to other build threads whose posters consider retiring their thread.... not much feedback happens... thanks to all of you who have given feedback so far..... everyone else... feel free to say something.... anything...

 

[kcatto]

simply amazing.... I cannot wait to see the door mech installed...

 

[pods8]

Keep it rolling. Folks watch and comment occasionally. It keeps folks involved for brainstorming/daydreaming. Makes a great reference thread in the future. All great things.


Personally I was thinking it coming along quickly/nicely verse my meandering pace.

 

[OutbacKamper]

riveroceanandmountain;

I tend to watch all the camper build threads, especially the popups. I learn something new from each build. However I rarely comment, since I don't want to clutter up a good build thread with a lot of "Wow great work" type of comments, if I don't have anything constructive to add. However, if getting some feedback will encourage you to keep posting then I am happy to help. I think you are doing a great job, and seem to be progressing well. I wish I had your metal fabrication skills. I only live a few hours away from you, and would really like to see the camper in person when you are finished.
Keep posting and building!
Mark

 

[riveroceanandmountain]

Thanks for the comments everyone.... yes I suppose too many comments of the "wow great work" type do nothing but stroke the builders's ego.... but no comments at all make one wonder if anyone is even interested or watching.....

Spent the morning finishing the insulation in the roof


and then my typical overkill design ideas..... add a layer of 1/2 inch eps over the whole thing


The magically disappearing frame.


out to the shop to cut the panelling for the roof..... more glue is on the way but there are lots of pieces to cut!

 

[bphang10]

i second what outbackamper said. been following most of the smaller builds for the last couple of years and always find bits of info and tips that i store away for later. i've already sourced a few components that i've seen on yours, i.e. the scanstrut pass thru cable routing and shore power hookup...though i had to opt for the plastic rather than stainless. sometimes makes me feel like i'm outta my league when i see attention to detail like yours. awesome, keep at it.
i'm currently in the middle of my build and trying to get some photos together and get a thread started. soon.
bp

 

[Overland Hadley]

I carefully read through each post you make.

 

[riveroceanandmountain]

interesting how the funky little details sometimes take way more time than a large amount of productive work.

The edge of the roof where the fabric attaches and the roof sits on the wall... is a bit of a stickler because of the extra layer of eps on the inside..... without the 1/2 inch of eps it would have been a smooth transition to the roof edge... but I don't want 1/2 inch of foam between the closed roof and wall... because my roof edge gutter trim would not screw into the roof frame then.... it would hit the foam... and that would not work.

The solution is a bit of finicky trim work I decided.... unless someone has a better idea. The step in the insulation will essentially be where the canvas wall comes down anyway, so it will not be visible from the inside. Were I to build a second one.... I would do it differently but too late now!

Got a start on the trim work.... now on to other things while I await the glue.





I know it is hard to interpret these photos because the roof skin is not attached on the side of the roof and the whole thing is upside down.

I will attach the pop up canvas with 1x1 angle then the roof material will lap over the angle for a water proof overlap. Then the eve gutter screws over the edge of the roofing to finish it off and catch the runoff from pouring down the canvas wall.

Of course I want to finish the roof interior first... but I can sew the canvas while I wait. Need to do a test window right away.

Doing everything myself does take a lot of time!

And even worse is I still get all these crazy ideas.... like that cool recessed LED lighting in the peanut shape... that was done in that amazing custom build...hmmm how could I do that?

 

[pods8]

Are you putting the canvas on the inside edge of the roof member (ie the vertical part of the angle tucks into that gap between the roof skin and member and the horizontal piece sandwiches the fabric between itself and the bottom of the member)? If I recall correctly its typically on the outside edge.

 

[riveroceanandmountain]

Somewhere on here someone described the fabric being attached with a T shaped piece laying on its side. The leg of the T trapping the fabric and pushing it toward the inside of the pinch zone. Where the fabric attaches to the body of the camper, the fabric is pushed to the inside edge of the wall by a corner moulding... at least one picture I saw shows it done this way.

Yes, my plan was to have the canvas to the inside of the roof member.... the only difference from what you describe is the vertical part of the angle will face down, not up, to overhang the camper edge.

I don't think you want the fabric being pinched by the roof as it will create a lot of wear over time.... don't you think?

Hadley.... perhaps you could describe how your 4 wheel camper canvas is attached.... it has been a couple years since I have seen one.

 

[pods8]

I'm having a harder time remembering the top as well, maybe it is on the inside edge but I don't think so. The bottom though I KNOW was on the outside edge so the roof definitely rests on some of the soft side material. These is a bit of soft foam over the members that contact the soft sides (which again makes me think both the top and bottom are on the outside).

Note my reference point is an early 2000's camper.

 

[riveroceanandmountain]

My plan was to put it inside on the top and outside on the bottom until I recently saw the picture with a corner moulding on the body of the camper pushing the fabric in

Now is the time to make the decision for sure

 

[bphang10]

not sure if this helps but on my 20 yr old shadow cruiser canvas is attached flat to the top of the inside roof by way of a flat aluminum strip. lower wall is attached to the outside on the vertical surface but does use a short leg angle across the top, folding the canvas in about 1/4". 1st photo is from the outside looking up, 2nd just shows the upper inside detail is a clean right angle. the right angle also seems like it would distribute the stress along the edge of the strip rather than on the screws. same with the bottom angle.


personally i've been thinking of attaching to the vertical surface along the inside for the top and exterior vertiacal surface on the bottom. this would seem to give good water drainage but i'd sure like to know how others are doing this and how the pro's do it.

my apologies on my last post, sourcing was based on the dirt sherpa build....been checking them all.

 

[riveroceanandmountain]

I found the pic.... it is Hadley's FWC... looks to me like an RV corner moulding piece that holds the canvas on the top edge of the camper.