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

[pods8]

I'd be nice if the finished camper with 21gal of water was about 1000lb, we'll see. I've also got some decisions to make about the interior build that will have an effect but will leave more flexibility. We'll see I've got a good amount of payload to work with.

OH, a solid day was nice but it ran long and got into the tiresome phase near the end. I've just got one more BIG lamination to do and then its back to more reasonably sized stuff.

 

[pods8]

So I made my judgement calls on where I'd like the lighting and installed some 3/4" flexible PVC conduit to chase wires through at a later date (current plan is no headliner). Got one light over the dinette, one over the counter, one centered over the bed, and that last conduit run drops into the side wall for a porch light. I decided to located the wire bundle between the upper and lower half in the front corner of the counter, I figure there will be less chances of it getting in the way there even though it'll likely mean longer wire runs for most circuits, I'll just size gauge appropriately to limit voltage drop.

He's a shot before the bulk sanding:

I sanded it out last night but didn't snap a picture. I'll finish filling in the conduit runs and skim a coat of micro slurry over it. Normally I to the micro slurry as the first step of fiberglassing but the other side of this big piece took a lot of hours at once to do so I'd like to segment out that step, it'll mean I'll have to do a quick scuff sanding of it after the micro slurry dries but I think it'll be a worthwhile so I'm not so burnt on the last big lamination.

 

[Billhilly]

Looking really good Pods. So as you said, doors and cabover wall segments to go. Whats your current thinking on hinges for the wall pieces, and were are you up to as far as 'lift' is concerned? Hydraulic or electric?

 

[Heifer Boy]

Great attention to detail as always Pods. Good job.

HB

 

[pods8]

Looking really good Pods. So as you said, doors and cabover wall segments to go. Whats your current thinking on hinges for the wall pieces, and were are you up to as far as 'lift' is concerned? Hydraulic or electric?

Aluminum piano (continuous) hinges is my thought for the flip up walls and door.

Planning to use 400lb electric actuators at this point and I'm back to a 24" stroke, I'll need to source them soon. I also want to test the true amp draw on them as it could affect my strategy for wiring up a switch panel (I want 1 main switch and then 4 individual switches to trim out/bump an actuator). The site recommends using a 10amp fuse to protect the motor if you overload the weight on it (ie the fuse is supposed to blow before the motor cooks itself) but elsewhere I've seen 5amp references. My plan is to power an actuator through a doc wattson meter and have it pick up a few hundred pounds and see what the draw is. I can get away with just switches if its under 5amps, if its over then I'll build a relay bank (needed for the master switch since I don't readily know of a DPDT rocker switch that'll handle 40a).

Great attention to detail as always Pods. Good job.

HB

Thanks. The inlaws are coming into town today through monday. I'm not sure if I want to subject the FIL to helping me knock out that big lamination of the other side or just hold off on that until after they're gone, I could use the help but its messy work that I'd feel bad sucking someone else into for hours. We'll see. But as a more fun/fulfilling task I figure he and I could make a protype interior out of some cheap OSB sheets. Once the shell is done those can be temporarily used and give me a chance to really assess what areas of the interior need what finesse. I'll swap them out later with nicer build/lighter stuff.

 

[pods8]

Inlaws were visiting so I figured it'd be a fun project to switch gears and make a prototype interior with the FIL to figure out and finesse a few things. The mockup has been very helpful already in flagging some things to alter slightly and figuring out how much space I'll have to work with in the cabinets, etc. I was quite pleased at the potential flow of people, someone can be standing up at the main counter (between the sink/stove) and not impede folks getting in/out of the dinette (both sides).

View looking towards the front, under the bed with be ~3.5" tall storage bays. The center two will get a drawer in the front, something in the 18-24" range, the right one will have a flip down front to stuff long items into, the left one I'm undecided if it'll be a fixed panel or not. The bed cover will be hinged to access from the top and get to the backs of the bays, the bays will house the lesser used items. Other than that you see the fridge in its cabinet (I'm going to cut the upper portion of the cabinet back some which will allow the fridge to be pulled out of the camper more easily when needed as its too tight between the cabinets right now), water tank which will have a structural cover built over it so it can be stepped on, and the main counter top where the covered sink/stove will be.

A bigger view of the fridge cabinet. Underneath will house the batteries/power center on the left. On the right will be a storage compartment [16.5"deep, ~18" tall, and something like 16" wide depending on final battery layout]. If I can fit it I'd like to have a flip up lid over the fridge with a shallow cabinet to store misc stuff like keys and such as well as a mirror on the cover for putting in contacts (me) and for the wife.

A view looking into the doorway, you see the fridge cabinet from this angle and some of the main cabinet.

Better view of the main cabinet. Furnace in the lower left, propane box with a grey water jug in front of that, then the 21gal water tank. On the counter planning for the stove on the left (we normally use the right side burner of the stove so not too worried about folks bumping a pot/pan) and sink on the right. See the dimensional sketch below for the area available for cabinet/drawer build out.

Looking back at the door side dinette seat, 40" long. Storage in the box is 39"long x 20" deep x 16" tall.

Other side of dinette seat, 48" long. Storage in the box is 47"long x 20" deep x 16" tall. The table will be able to be put aside which opens up a floor space under it that is 40" long and 37" wide.

 

[pods8]

My current thought is that I'll put an access door on the end of the 40" long bench so while standing outside the camper stuff could get shoved in/out of that. I'm pondering whether some cabinet doors on the face of the 48" bench would be of any good, if the table wasn't installed and someone was sitting on it then someone could still get into there but that doesn't really see too practical either. Mainly trying to figure out the best place for kids clothes and such... Maybe I'll look into the sizing of those collapsing fabric hanging organizers perhaps those could be hung in the back corners for their clothes storage and then just placed on the benches when we hit the road... hmmm.

(OH used some stuff from blue performance in his build, here's just an example)

Best picture of the back corners I have on hand from an earlier mockup:

 

[davesteve]

Just read all 18 pages....took 3 beers and one and a half hours and I am totally exhausted. Had notions of building my own... but now??? Maybe not.
I certainly admire your determination and commitment though. Amazing!

 

[pods8]

Just read all 18 pages....took 3 beers and one and a half hours and I am totally exhausted. Had notions of building my own... but now??? Maybe not.
I certainly admire your determination and commitment though. Amazing!

Preformed skins (whether FRP, wood, aluminum, etc.) would make a big time difference as would fully formed sandwich panels if using that style of construction. I completely underestimated the amount of time it'd take to laminate my own structure otherwise I think I would have spend more time looking for suitable commercial panels in which I'd just have to do the work in the corners to assemble them.



No real new progress on my front, had a few weeks of work travel followed by a trip with the family to see the extended family in MI. I bought a couple of those small sized blue sea bags, they're apparently discontinued so I had to track down some warehouse stock. I'm thinking this weekend I'll shuffle the garage again to get setup to do that last LARGE lamination on the underside of the roof, maybe I'll take a crack it starting Sunday morning. Otherwise I'm not sure when I'll get to it next and its sorta holding me up. After that is done I can make progress in smaller segments which is much easier to schedule.

 

[pods8]

Truck is gonna get a makeover:

 

[pods8]

I've got the majority installed now. Still outstanding are lights, the drop sides, and a bracket for the fuel filler. My bed was a custom length 7.5' and they sent the wrong drop sides (8.5') so I need to cut them down and drill new hole placement for the pins, otherwise I would have already wrapped that up. As it is I got cooked by the pleasant sunny day in which I forgot about sunscreen so I called it a day. Working casually solo this was about 8hrs of work to unbolt/remove the other bed and install this one to the point you see.

Other bed stripped and unbolted, ready to remove:

I managed to squeege my truck into the garage next to the camper build (BARELY, I had to climb out the window) so I could use the ceiling joists to ratchet off the old bed:

Cab and chassis style ready to get the mounts installed:

Hard to see in the picture since I already touched it up but there was a gasket on the bottom edge of the stock bed that had rubbed through the paint, so if you're planning to do a flatbed have some touch up paint handy to paint over the possible bare metal (I didn't and had to stop to run to the store). Also one of the mounting brackets:

My headboard was setup for 9" drop sides when I got it so I had to drill another hole and flip the bracket to work with my 12" sides:

Other than sides/lights/fuel filler as mentioned above its more or less done for now. I'll eventually build a custom rear bumper that will come out slightly past the flatbed but I've got other things to focus on for now:

Also this bracket will be getting installed behind the front bumper as well for a future addition:

 

[chris_the_wrench]

Did you buy or build the flatbed? I'm planning to pull the bed off my '06 2500 this fall and build a flatbed. I've been evaluating pre-builts for materials/designs.

Keep rolling!

Thanks

 

[pods8]

Did you buy or build the flatbed? I'm planning to pull the bed off my '06 2500 this fall and build a flatbed. I've been evaluating pre-builts for materials/designs.

Keep rolling!

Thanks

I bought it from UTE (note the mud flaps ). I looked around at aluminum plank extrusions on a steel frame and it wasn't going to save a ton of money as far as I could tell (and was a ***** to find sources) so considering I'm way to low on time I bit the bullet and bought the bed. Luckily I'm local for pickup from UTE and also did my own install so my cost was more manageable and I'll sell off my bed as well and see what I recoup out of that.

 

[SLO_F-250]

Pods! Keep up the great work!!!!!!!!!

So Jealous of the flatbed! :drool: I REALLY want one! Nice work!

 

[bee]

Really nice to see it coming along. I like how you ran the conduit through the foam. I don't know if you had finalized the jack situation yet, but I just came across this setup which looks pretty cool.
http://www.truckcampermagazine.com/sport-cam-1158z:-the-crawling-truck-camper/ Unfortunately I couldn't find any youtube videos of it in operation but If I understand correctly. It looks like its a single winch that clips onto the bumper. The center cable pulls the camper out of the truck and the 2 on the sides pull it in?
The downside would unloading it in rocky terrain I guess? I was thinking of a winch like this, http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200365241_200365241 that could probably have the drum easily modified since the gear reduction and motor are all on one side and just a support on the other.