New and Improved Camper Box Build - Ver 2.0

[Heifer Boy]

Stage Eight – Floors

Not a whole lot done this time. I just cut and dry fitted the floors for the upper storage areas. It’s good to get this done as it really shows the size of each of the storage spaces.

The LH side is pretty big and we will be able to get a lot of stuff in there. I’ll probably divide it up a bit to hold plastic boxes etc without them sliding around the place too much. The RH side obviously has a step in it to clear the fridge height so the space it a bit broken up. On the upper section at the back I’m going to put the second battery with fuse box and outlets in front of it. There will also be a small hatch cut into the top panel to allow access to the water jerry can to disconnect the hose when it needs to be swapped. In the photos you can see I made the lower RH section out of two pieces which are joined with another lap joint. This is because if I didn’t I would have to buy a complete sheet of 9mm ply just to make this!! With the strength of other lap joints I have made I don’t think this is going to be a problem!!

The idea is to bootline these areas but and although I would like to do that before the top goes on I think it will have to wait until we have done a couple of trips and really know how it’s going to be organised. We know what we generally take but I don’t want to have to try and rip up carpet and redesign the insides after it’s all built.

I also started making the drawer slides. These will hold all the storage boxes, the kitchen box, fridge etc. They still need a lot of work but I was able to get true dimensions off the LH one so my partner can start designing the removable kitchen box we have planned. These are made out of 12mm ply and have small extensions lap jointed to the ends to use up the offcuts and give the length I needed.

It’s a pain that the length of everything in this build is just over the 1220mm width of a full sheet so it all needs to be cut out of a full panel. It took an initial bit of patternmaking to minimise the waste so I didn’t just keep buying more plywood each time I needed a new panel cut. Well worth doing though and I check my drawings each time to make sure I cut the right panel from the right sheet.

It’s really starting to look like a camper now and not just a pile of plywood panels. Yay!!! I hope everyone is enjoying the write ups and please feel free to comment. Feedback is always welcome.

 

[riveroceanandmountain]

Nice build!

I love how meticulous you are being...... it will be soooooo much better in the end! Well done....... I'll be watching

 

[Heifer Boy]

I love how meticulous you are being...... it will be soooooo much better in the end! Well done....... I'll be watching

"The devil is in the detail" - Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

I also advocate the K.I.S.S principle...

 

[Cletus]

Cool to see someone using these techniques in their build. Always thought stitch and glue or even strip planking would work for a camper build, looking forward to seeing how it holds up.

 

[SLO_F-250]

Nice work! Its cool to see this taking form. Keep it up. Cant wait to see how it works out for you! :smiley_drive:

 

[Heifer Boy]

Stage Nine – Side Door Frames

The next step was to make up the side door frames. These were the same as the front door frame – 12mm ply outside, 9mm ply inside with a 15mm step around the opening to create a door jamb. Also on the inside piece are some rebates for the ends of the aluminium angle cross members that will help support the top.

These were then dry screwed in place to check everything but won't be glued up until the interior is finished a bit more. If I put the floors and walls up I can't get into the box so I have to finish it in certain order or I'll make it very hard for myself.

I also glued up the lap joints I made last time for one of the floor pieces and the storage drawer slides. All nice and solid now.

 

[Heifer Boy]

Stage Ten – Doors

The three doors are also made of two pieces of ply laminated together to make a stiff, strong door with a 25mm overlap for the seal. The inside is 12mm ply with a 4mm skin on the outside. This leaves a 8mm gap for the compression bulb seal I'll fit to the doors. I removed some material from the inside panel of the main rear door to save a bit of weight as it's going to be side hung and is 1.3m long so I didn't want it sagging too much. You can also see the holes cut for the compression locks I'll fit – two for each side door and four for the main door.

I pre-coated the panels with epoxy and then spread on some runny thickened epoxy for glue. I thought of various ways of clamping the doors but decided to just weight them down on a nice flat surface so used everything I could find in the garage. Over about 40mins I just kept removing the bits of epoxy squeezing slowly out of the joint and now it's all dry I'm really happy with how stiff and strong the doors appear to be. They should seal up well.

So nearly all the ply has been cut out and dry fitted now but there is still a fair list of things to do -

1. Epoxy interior.
2. Fit water system.
3. Fit electrical system.
4. Glue up floors and walls.
5. Cut and fit aluminium cross members.
6. Make and fit top.
7. Make storage drawer box and fridge slide box.
8. Make kitchen box.
9. Make drop down table for door.
10. Fibreglass exterior
11. Paint it.
12. Fit doors and bottom slides.
13. Fit the roof top tent.
14. Go camping!!

The water system is basically done. I'm still planning electrics but have a fair idea of what to do. I'm pretty sure I've done nearly everything I need to to the main box so can start mixing up epoxy and painting it on and then finish up glueing the floors and door frames.

Keep in touch!!!

 

[pods8]

Stage Ten – Doors
This leaves a 8mm gap for the compression bulb seal I'll fit to the doors.

You going surface mounted for the seal? I pondered this one myself, I don't know how robust it will be but figured it'd be the easiest and can be replaced as needed.

 

[Heifer Boy]

You going surface mounted for the seal? I pondered this one myself, I don't know how robust it will be but figured it'd be the easiest and can be replaced as needed.

Yes I am. I'm using the attached EDPM Buld Seal with Wing one which was recommended to me by Scott at Concept Camping Concepts http://compactcampingconcepts.com/ (thanks Scott). We had a chat about seals and he sent me a link and I was able to find the same seal in Oz.

Because my camper box (and Scott's Explorer Box) is wood it is very hard to attach a pinchweld seal to the door or frame unless I muck around with angles or channels. It's easier to use a self adhesive strip and this one is perfect. I've used self adhesive foam tape before and it sticks and doesn't let go. This bulb seal should be a whole lot better at keeping out the weather though.

 

[pods8]

Funny that is the same seal that is at the top of my short possibles list. I mainly worry about the hinge side of the door since it'll shear across the seal as it closes much more than the other areas which more or less just compress the seal vertically. But as I said its easy enough to replace/reglue/etc. something simplistic like that over time.

 

[trailrunner]

cool build man

 

[Heifer Boy]

cool build man

Thanks man

 

[Heifer Boy]

Stage Eleven – Disaster!!

Well it had to happen. Things were going far to well and it was time for a set back. And it's a doozy...

I checked and double checked all my measurements a long time ago taking into account a bit of space around the box so I could fit some foam tape to the outside to protect it from excessive rubbing on the tub. No problems with that but guess what I didn't account for?

The hinges for the main door!!! :Wow1:

It never even crossed my mind until I finished the doors and started looking at mounting them. Aaarrrggghhh!!! A test fit confirmed it for me. I couldn't close the tailgate!!! Aaarrrggghhh!!!! Deep breath, deep breath, deep breath....

I'm using a nice Stanley Gate Hinge I saw on Jess's famous Sawtooth XL build http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18142 They are a great hinge with a nice smooth bearing but the pin has a 15mm overall depth and I factored in a 10mm gap front to back for the foam tape. Unless I did some major tailgate panel beating it wasn't going to happen.

So how do I get the 15mm extra space I need? I investigated different hinges but the right kind of sizes all had pins around the same diameter and it took me age to find these black hinges anyway. Rebating the hinge would only give me 3mm and the door skins are only 4mm thick so that's not happening. Flipping the hinge around and rebating for the pin means the seal gets bumped off the door jamb and it pivots wrong anyway so that was out. The solution – do it properly and cut the back panel off, remove 15mm from the walls and floor and glue it back up!!!

It sounds pretty dramatic but it was the only way to fix it properly. But it was a hard decision to make after all my work so far. Oh well...these things happen. So a combination of circular saw, jigsaw, 4” grinder and mostly a panel saw and off it came. The panel saw was great at doing a flush cut and I could take my time and be accurate I had to be careful not to remove too much as the back panel was 9mm thick already and I only wanted to remove 15mm overall so there was not much space to move in. The hardest part – after starting that is – was getting through the epoxy fillets. That stuff sets hard and wrecks your tools!!! Three jigsaw blades and a severely blunted panel saw later and it was done.

I then trimmed up the fillets with a router to remove as much epoxy as possible from the sides, floor and back panel so I had a flat surface work with. I also re-routered the dado down the centre of the back panel and restored it back to it's original measurements. It was nice to be able to reuse this panel rather than have to buy a new sheet. Careful cutting saved it. A bunch of very careful measurements later and I removed a total of 15mm off the floor and cut back the walls an extra 9mm to fit the back panel. Then I re-drilled the screw holes I had already filled, dry screwed the back panel in place, removed it again and finally epoxied it back in place. Filleting was done this morning.

So three days later it looks exactly like it did on Tuesday but is in fact 15mm shorter!!! There is plenty of room for the hinges and I still have some free space around the box. I have to trim the middle floors and the side door frames to fit the new dimension but that won't take much. Luckily I have 100mm to play with on the door frame length and not just the 40mm jamb used elsewhere.

So even though I thought I had thought of everything the simplest of mistakes slipped my mind. Luckily I hadn't gotten much further with the glue up of the middle floors and door frames or it would have been a major problem to fix. It was still a pain but I managed to get it done pretty easily in the end. It's definitely not something I want to do again though... Phew!!!

 

[pods8]

Stage Eleven – Disaster!!
The hardest part – after starting that is – was getting through the epoxy fillets. That stuff sets hard and wrecks your tools!!! Three jigsaw blades and a severely blunted panel saw later and it was done.

Bummer dude, but way to do it right. Go get a beer!

The epoxy really sets, also if you have any glass in your fillet compound you have to keep in mind you're basically sawing through fused sand (ie rock)!

 

[Billhilly]

What he said! Go have (another) beer.
We all do these things, think we have though of everything but.....
Nice fix, deep breath (be thankful it didn't cost $$$), and carry on.