Hello all, first time posting, long time reader. I to have joined the ranks of those who picked up a budget skamper. Found it about 3 weeks ago on marketplace. A guy in Denver had it for sale for $100. Lucky me, my daughter was working in Denver at the time. So after 45 min of texting back and forth, I sent him a payment through venmo, and it's mine. I let him know that I will pick it up on friday. But, I live at the home of the Super Bowl Champs, Kansas City Chiefs!! (had to get that in there). So since I'm going to Denver, decided to take the mountain bike. WOW, trails there are amazing. Long ass drive, but sort of a mini vacation. So, getting to the meat on the bone, my question is, I have no roof! It has this, what someone had tried to construct, but total junk. I do have the 4 aluminum rails that the wood attatches to and one original corner, a little broke on the bottom. Having read many postings on various sites, I see that most have the aluminum skin and most of the roof. The main thing I need to know is, what is the size or dimensions for the front and side plywood. (I'm kinda guessing, but it seems like 4 1/2 inches may be it???) I bought 2 sheets of 1/2 plywood at lowes, had them ripped to 5 inches. I cut both sides (2)@ 4ft and (2)@ 7ft, overlaped and glued together with titebond wood glue. the front and rear are 2@ 8ft. I put about 200 lbs of weights to press them down while the glue dried. There a little long till I figure out my dimensions to cut. I will try to get some pictures up of what I've been doing. Thanks to all who's postings i've been reading.
Omg, another 072s skamper roof rebuild
- Thread starter aok13
- Start date
Most sides are 1", 2 1/2" pieces of plywood glued together. I'm not a fan of that. I used treated deck boards, cut a little narrower at the bottom on a table saw so it would fit in the bottom aluminum extrusion. That plywood ends up having a raw edge sitting in the extrusion and it wicks up water from there. There's no picture with your post.
Hey Kerry, thanks for the response. yeah, I too agree about the plywood, but I think it'll be ok. May apply some kind of sealer on it though. Do you know what the height of the plywood sides would be? I mocked up some corners, 1 @ 5 inches, 1 @ 4 inches. Kinda knotched the corners to fit the only outer corner I have. The 4 1/2 seems to work the best. I know i'm not gonna get a tight fit, just want to get it close. Since i'm not sure of the roof top dimensions, I may just mock it up with the 4 wood corners I have, and best guess it ?? I've read on a posting that there is some kind of seal that goes under the aluminum frame, but is no longer available. I'll probably use a automotive type rubber seal with the 3m adhesive backing. Hopefully this works. If so, then step 2 would be the roof top. Do these type of roofs have an arch, or are they flat? Since everyone who has done one of these has the aluminum skin, I'm kinda leaning toward a rubber membrane roof. Anyones thought on that? Gonna be nice this weekend, so I'll try to get something done. Let me know if these pics help. Thanks.
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RedRoostre
New member
My Northstar (not the same I know) has a nice arch to the roof. Surprising for a 20 year old popup.
I've had a few rubber roofed RVs. I didn't like how easy they tear if you happen to go under a tree branch hanging in the road. Might not be as much of an issue on the shorter pop-up vs a taller hardside.
Yes. our Northstar had an arch originally too. Not anymore. It had been damaged before our purchase. I don’t know the height of the sides off the top on my head. I have a thread on here with pictures of the repair of my front side. The sides and the flat piece of wood around the top do not touch on a Northstar. There is a piece of rounded styrofoam between them to hold the rounded shape of the aluminum skin.
well, its been awhile since my last post. kinda took a break on the camper for a little bit. I have made a some progress on the roof rebuild since late spring. but of course the weather never wants to cooperate when you need it to. since then I have managed to get the roof built. as of yesterday it is on 2 supports above the camper, not yet fastened to the lifting arms. looking at other roof rebuilds, does anyone what the actual weight of the roof top is? seems to me that the original roof looks like it is molded or formed, then fit to the wood side and aluminum trim, with a composite ceiling making it light weight??? just my guess. I'm not sure of my roof weight, but will try to figure it out and post it. and yes, I do have many pics of the build. just need to load them to my computer so I can post them. I'll get back here shortly.
finally managed to get some pics up. I believe my side measurements are 4.5 x 1. I used 1x2 on the sides and 1x2 for the cross bracing, 1x6 for the front lift bracket. the little ribs on the top were my attempt to put a curve on roof, I think the measurements for the lathe strips were 2', 10", 6". you can bearly see the shim that I used on the edge. it stops right before the plywood. I used wood glue and 1/2 staples for the top and finishing nails and glue for the sides. I used 2 2x4s on each side to help with the sagging.
Part deux, got the lights from ebay wired up, ran the wires in that channel, covered it with that vinyl insert molding trim screw cover from ebay, 100ft. I'll also replace all the outer vinyl trim too. led lights layed out. framed in for the roof fan, I drilled holes in each corner so I'll know where to cut hole. insulation is 1/2 thick. and finally luan ceiling. As of today, the roof is on the camper, but not attached. Now for the bad. having done what I done, I think it turned out pretty good, seeing with what I started with. However.... the roof is too heavy for the lift system to lift it! I need to go back and measure and weigh left over wood to get an estimated weight. Now that it's done, I think that a flat roof with frp for the ceiling instead of luan would be much lighter. My next step is to raise the roof w some help and raise the lift system to get it to the height measurement needed to attach the fabric, but not fasten the brackets. So.... the question is, not knowing the total roof weight yet, does anyone know what the lift system can lift? ?2- when the roof is raised, it will need to go up 27ish inches. my thought is to use 4 gas shocks on the outside to help assist with the lifting. any thoughts would be much appreciated.I routinely lift the roof on our Northstar TS1000 with 100 lbs of canoes on top using the OE Heco lift system. I use a longer handle for the crank--a sailboat winch handle. So it's hard for me to imagine that you increased the weight of your roof enough that the Heco system can't lift it. I've also lifted 200 lbs of boats on a regular basis with the Heco lift.
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well d-uh, now I feel like a bonehead. suffering from SCRRS, skamper camper roof rebuild syndrome. thanks for the reply guys. after reading your reply zman, and re reading my post, it dawned on me that the answer was in my question. NO, I didn't have the roof raised and have the lift system connected. with that being said, I will get that done. another question, when you removed your roof with the lift up, what position where the corner brackets at?
Zmanfj40
Member
I'm not sure if it's supposed to sit at level or a slight angle (no more than 10°) I've been trying to verify that.
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