POD: Homebuilt foam core fiberglass skin pop-up camper build thread

[Ponyracer]

Here's a thought, how about forming some light holes into the leading edge? Some 9" lightforce or a light bar would be SWEET in there! Also, when you start glassing can you take a few pics of the steps for us, um, fiberglass challenged folks like me? I'm really interested in doing something similar someday!

Great job by the way!

 

[pods8]

Here's a thought, how about forming some light holes into the leading edge? Some 9" lightforce or a light bar would be SWEET in there! Also, when you start glassing can you take a few pics of the steps for us, um, fiberglass challenged folks like me? I'm really interested in doing something similar someday!

Great job by the way!

I don't personally have any interest in putting lights on the front of a removable camper so I didn't want to mess with the extra hassles. You'd need to make aesthetically pleasing holes in your structure, have to then deal with working fiberglass into/around these to encapsulate the foam all around (verse just a flattish panel like I have), deal with the body work both on the core and finished fiberglass so they look decent when painted. Also since I'm not using headliner in my camper I have to bury all my wiring runs in conduit embedded in the roof, so I'd need to do extra work there. Finally I wouldn't want high wattage lights touching my camper batteries so I'd want wiring going back to the trucks electrical system dedicated just for these lights so there would be an extra set of wiring connections at the camper/truck junction. Not really appealing to me.



During the action I'm gloved up/sticky but we'll see if the wife will poke out one of these days. Earlier in the thread I went over the non-glamours setup: http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...op-up-camper-build-thread?p=914017#post914017 Basically once a piece is sanded, rounded, etc. and ready for glass I lay it down in a work space. I put my roll of glass cloth on a rod between two saw horses to spool cloth off it, I lay out a ply I need in the orientation I want and cut/trim/label it. Then fold it and set to the side and repeat with the other ply(s). As for glassing: Glove up, head over to the bench to mix up the correct resin/hardner ratio. First coat on these rough sanded foam cores I mix some micro balloons in it and use a squeegee to skim the piece and fill it in (this rough sanding give more surface area for the skins to bond to), then lay out the first ply onto it and once it's straightened pour unfilled epoxy over it, I'll usually start in the middle of a piece. Spread it around thick and give it a moment to start wetting out the cloth (it becomes clear), then I'll start in the center of my wetted area and start squeegeeing outwards to work out the air bubbles and excess resin, I'll push this to non-wetted cloth areas to keep moving along till I run out of mixed epoxy. Then mix more and repeat till the ply is done. Then lay down the next one, straighten it out and get it flat and repeat. Slow work, I just rock podcasts/audiobooks on my headphones.

There are books out there that talk about this stuff more and ALWAYS do some test piece work to familiarize yourself with the process before going full bore.

 

[pods8]

Top is all sanded out ready for glass. I'll work on finishing up the side panels and probably start on those first though most likely. When I get to doing the top I'll need to move the main camper out of the garage because it's too high up to comfortably do the big layup sitting where it currently is but I don't have enough room in the garage to do it side by side. After I glass the exterior of the top I plan to flip it over and work on finalizing light placements and router in conduit runs which will be embedded.

 

[Boonie Buster]

Lookin' Smooth! :ylsmoke:

 

[Ponyracer]

Very nice man, ya I see your point about the lights but it sure would look cool lol! So what is your overlap % if there is any from one piece of mat to the next? How many layers are you doing? And how you you get rid of the "matt" look when your done since you won't have a "gelcoat"? Do you skim and sand the whole thing with filler? Sorry if you already covered this, I don't remember seeing it.

 

[pods8]

Very nice man, ya I see your point about the lights but it sure would look cool lol! So what is your overlap % if there is any from one piece of mat to the next? How many layers are you doing? And how you you get rid of the "matt" look when your done since you won't have a "gelcoat"? Do you skim and sand the whole thing with filler? Sorry if you already covered this, I don't remember seeing it.

Some was covered earlier but a recap doesn't hurt, lot of pages ago. For starters I'm not using mat, I'm using fiberglass cloth. The cloth I'm using isn't a full unidirectional fabric but leans that way (ie the bulk of the glass is oriented parallel to the fabric coming off the roll). This combined with a couple plys means I don't really need to overlap them but I tend to to make sure I have full coverage on each ply, I shoot of about an inch or so but the final amount depends on how the cloth lays when it's squeegeed out (moves a little). Generally I've done 3 plys on the exterior and 2 on the interior for the walls. The floor was 1/8"plywood with 2 plys glass each side. The roof may get 3 and 3. The cabover rails got extra attention.

The only way a gelcoat works is if you have a mold, you lay up the gelcoat into the mold first, then your fiberglass and the mold makes the smooth exterior surface, I don't have that option since I'm not building a big one off mold. I'll be filling/painting. However I've opted to use peel ply over top of my lamination which helps smooth things out quite a bit and fills in the fabric weave. Granted the weave is filled with resin verse a micro balloon slurry or such but for the cost/little weight it will save me a lot of work later. Esp since there isn't a good way to sand the dips in the weave of fabric layups for adhesion of the next layer without sanding through the actual glass. Sand blasting works but I wasn't going to go there. In my case with the peel ply I just rip if off, give it a scuff sanding and start my filler work or primer layer depending on how it needs to be attacked and ultimate finish desired.

 

[chris_the_wrench]

What weight fabric are you using? 7oz 10oz etc?

Thanks
-Chris

 

[pods8]

I'm mainly using 8.6oz crowfoot (style 1543). More details on ply schedules, weight, etc. bank here in the thread: http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...op-up-camper-build-thread?p=860140#post860140

 

[slawson2000]

Very Interesting Build! Also, nice job thus far.

I have been contemplating a build myself (always the designer, never the builder) and have run into the potential of sag similar to what you have. I have been thinking about a build of 3/8" ply with fiberglass both sides. I know you have opted for the smaller door but I have a question.

Was all your flex in the floor or did you have some in the forward deck and front wall?

The reason that I ask is that I see you have some cabinets against the front wall in your design. Those could be fiberglassed into the front wall and floor to help with transitioning the forces down to the truck bed. Also you could run some runners/skids under the camper to stiffen the floor.

Since I a faced with a similar problem (but a short door is not an option for me), I would be interested in your thoughts.

 

[pods8]

Pretty sure all the flex was in the floor in the door threshold area, knowing that now and starting from scratch if the desire is to keep a large door that area could be stiffened from the get go more easily. I'd just build a more stiff structure into the core in that area and/or thicken/stiffen the skins. Off hand since I used 2" thick foam I'd look at using a 2" pultrusion box tube in the core more or less directly under the threshold (extending past to tie it in) and also do a bit thicker lamination in that area or use carbon fiber.

 

[pods8]

Need to figure out a camper jack bracket, I picked up a set of 2" square tube jacks. The main bodies are ~50" and there is 32" of extension. The three main studs on the jack body are in the upper 20" and then there is one lower down maybe 12" off the bottom as a guess. Due to the overlapping nature of my camper build the brackets on my camper will be on the bottom 20" and after that the overlapping top of the camper will jut out about 2.5".

So due to the nature of things if I mounted the jacks straight up to the camper then the lowest I could drop it down is ~30" which isn't desirable. So below is one idea that popped in my head, looking for input if anyone is seeing another good idea. I figured I'd mount a 2"x2" angle down the side of the bracket using the mounting studs, the top part of this would attached to the camper in a similar vertical dimension as above (ie I'd only be able to lower it down to about 30", this would be handy for short term removal where I didn't want it dropped lower down or if I had to lift it higher up, also this orientation is best for the crank handle). Farther down on the jack I'd add a piece of 2"x3" angle perpendicular to the first one and the jack would be rotated 90deg to use this mount, this piece would off set the jack body ~3.5" from the lower camper wall and thus clear the upper wall when it's retracted and it would allow the camper to be dropped lower to the ground (target is under 12", final dims to be determined based on practicality) this one has interference with the crank handle (even though I'd use a drill more often than not) so it's mainly be used when required to drop that low.

 

[pods8]

LOTS O SANDING complete and shifting gears back into the resin spread'n mode. My memory of how long lamination work takes was optimistic, hopefully I'll pick up some speed going forward as I bang these out.

Cleaned up my bench a bit, laid out some new plastic on it and got my resin/harder(s), gloves, acetone, fillers, etc. all at hand. I did the whole lower half in 4:1 fast but started in the cooler weather, it was sometimes a bit of a hussle in the summer to keep working with that so on this round I've also picked up some 3:1 medium which I'll use in the warmer temps. I still got a bit of 4:1 again for doing cooler temp nighttime work or small stuff that I don't need the longer work time. Sanded out panel in the foreground.

Just finished up the lamination on the panel once it sets I'll trim up the edges. Working within the constraints on my space. I'll be able to do all the side panels like this but I'll have to move the main body of the camper out to do the roof.

 

[pods8]

Yesterday was a LONG day of laminating but I've hit a milestone in getting the exterior of the roof panel done. Now I'll flip it over and imbed conduit runs/fair it out and then need to glass that. The other roof side panels are already completed so after the interior of the roof is done I'll be assembling the top half once and for all. Still have the small flip up walls and door to build after that. Then fairing/painting. Trying to push hard to get to that point so I can install windows and it'll be weather worthy.

The garage is tight with the roof off the camper and both inside:

Once the camper is moved I can shuffle the roof to the side for more room to kick off what ended up being a long day:

The aftermath, now ready for trimming after sitting over night:

 

[Ponyracer]

Looking great man! What was your target weight again?

 

[Overland Hadley]

Doesn't it feel good to get a nice long day of work on the camper in?

I was able to work on my camper all day, with a few breaks for some weekend chores. Feels good to make some solid progress.