SuperAwesomeDOOD
Member
The hallmark we looked at today was in pretty bad shape.
To pop up or NOT to pop up
- Thread starter SuperAwesomeDOOD
- Start date
BajaSurfRig
Well-known member
I am going to shamelessly plug my FWC Grandby that I have for sale (the rear of it was narrowed by All Terrain Camper to fit modern trucks):
expeditionportal.com
Hearing that you are in the PNW though I would say you get a hardside. I just bought a Lance 815 and love it. It weighs in at under 1,700 from the factory and is somewhat narrow at 86”.
$7,000 Updated 1983 Four Wheel Camper Grandby
This one-of-a-kind poptop camper will take your adventures to the next level in both comfort and style. Designed from over a decade of experience off-grid camping, this buildout is solid in its simplicity and reliability. Low center of gravity makes for easier travel on the roughest of roads...
expeditionportal.com
Hearing that you are in the PNW though I would say you get a hardside. I just bought a Lance 815 and love it. It weighs in at under 1,700 from the factory and is somewhat narrow at 86”.
SuperAwesomeDOOD
Member
You’re in Los Osos? I stayed in Piedras Blancas for 8 months while working on a project at Hearst Castle.I am going to shamelessly plug my FWC Grandby that I have for sale (the rear of it was narrowed by All Terrain Camper to fit modern trucks):
$7,000 Updated 1983 Four Wheel Camper Grandby
This one-of-a-kind poptop camper will take your adventures to the next level in both comfort and style. Designed from over a decade of experience off-grid camping, this buildout is solid in its simplicity and reliability. Low center of gravity makes for easier travel on the roughest of roads...
Hearing that you are in the PNW though I would say you get a hardside. I just bought a Lance 815 and love it. It weighs in at under 1,700 from the factory and is somewhat narrow at 86”.
View attachment 758633View attachment 758634
I looked at your camper a day or two ago. I’d definitely be interested, but 7 hours is a strike to look if I can’t convince my wife. I’m showing her the pictures now.
She wants to build new, or get a new grandby. I told her we could get a new project m topper for $10k and I could build a belly to attach it to to make it into a slide-in. She’s not opposed to that idea either…
SuperAwesomeDOOD
Member
Some pictures from yesterday of the Hallmark that’s “never leaked”
It’s amazing that some people have, look you right in the eye and lie.
I drove 6hrs RT to look at a Hardside that was supposedly in excellent condition. The whole cabover ceiling was falling down due to water damage. Complete waste of a day
BajaSurfRig
Well-known member
Yup I am in Los Osos. I hear ya that is a long drive to come check out a camper. I can send you as many photos as you want to help with the decision. The camper is turnkey, but I also understand the want for a project ?
SuperAwesomeDOOD
Member
This was a 5 hour round trip.
He said, “Well, it’s a 23 year old camper. It’ll have some issues.”
One of the reasons I drove that distance was he told me he’s the second owner (for the last 2 years) and the first owners always kept it in a garage except when taking trips a few times per year. I’ve seen garage kept older rigs. They look pretty good because they’re only in “the wild” 30-60 days per year.
SuperAwesomeDOOD
Member
In the areas where the welds have cracked, how did you access them to observe the cracks? Would they be accessible to me to re-weld?
BajaSurfRig
Well-known member
It has popped a few welds on the front wall (you can see two places where the frame members are pressing out on the exterior skin). If I had access to a shop and a TIG welder I think it could get fixed in a long weekend. If you set the camper on Jack stands and took the front jacks off and front skin you could access the popped welds and maybe gusset in a few locations that make sense.
I will take some photos of it in the coming days.
I will take some photos of it in the coming days.
SuperAwesomeDOOD
Member
Just saw this at the local market. I think it’s a sign…
SuperAwesomeDOOD
Member
I’ve been giving this quite a bit of thought over the last several days and may go this route. I’ve been thinking, this is going on my crew cab long bed Cummins on 35s (possibly 37s in the future, but I digress). It’s not a rock crawler. It’s 497’ long. So I’ve sketched it out multiple ways. All will include one of my smaller saws just in case.I favor hardside, since it's simpler and not that difficult to make work since you are going custom.You are building a steel frame, so you can fairly easily make it quite robust for knocking tree branches out of the way. Have you considered an exoskeleton with panels bonded internally? The custom Everlander build and the Aterra are examples of this. I think both use Nidacore panels, PP honeycomb core and fiberglass skins. Those don't have the greatest thermal performance if you will be camping in extreme conditions, so foam cores would be better in that case.
Another "trick" is to not put fragile stuff like solar panels, window hatches, and roof vents on top... unless they are well protected. This goes for pop-ups too actually... easy to make a hardside more capable of surviving low branches than most people's pop-up setups. And more aero for that matter.
Winning in my head right now is an .065 1x1 steel space frame sandwiched for shear in a combination of undecided possible materials, based primarily on availability. I’m thinking 7’ wide above the bed rails, 7’ exterior height from bed floor; which should yield
an acceptable interior height as I’m just a bit over 6’ tall and a 4’ cantilever over the cab for a total length of 12’.
I would like to avoid seems. This means coil rolls of whatever material I can find. So far I’ve only found Filon and aluminum in 24 gauge. Neither are terribly bulletproof. The aluminum could be decent with an appropriate backer such as 1/4” ply or potentially 1/8” luan (but apparently most luan at big box stores has gone downhill in quality). The other thing about aluminum in coils is availability. The one place I found online so far is RecPro, and they seem to not have it in stock any longer.
Another option would be one of the more durable bed liner products over the entire surface. This would probably work decent on the aluminum scuffed up, but I’d be a bit apprehensive to sand on the Filon and risk screwing up something I’ve just glued down.
I’ve also thought about fiberglass options. It doesn’t seem doable for me. The area I’d be working with epoxy, resin, sanding etc is not temp controlled. Curing may be an issue. Also, I need to be able to work on the camper in small chunks of time. Working with fiberglass is fairly time sensitive. Lastly, material handling working mostly alone can be quite difficult. I live in the sticks and it’s not feasible for someone to drive 45 minutes out to my house to help for an hour or two.
Last note about time, I want to be done with the shell by summer 2023. I’m willing to sacrifice build complexity and a few pounds for the sake of a short build period. We just want to get out. We are avid mountain bikers; I guess we can ride down the trails our truck can’t go. I was tempted by a fiberglass 2004 Lance 815, but it’s 5 hours away, they are asking $9900, they “will ignore lowball offers” and finally, it’s been repaired near a jack attachment point (must’ve backed into something).
I’m open to suggestions on materials now that I’m 95% dedicated to the hardside idea.
vintageracer
To Infinity and Beyond!
IF that's ALL the water damage you found in the camper pics shown above "I" would say that IS a pretty solid OLD camper!
There is always the possibility the owner did not know. Slim but possible!
There is always the possibility the owner did not know. Slim but possible!
vintageracer
To Infinity and Beyond!
Given virtually every other hardside build shown on this forum and the time needed to complete their builds your statement above WILL NEVER HAPPEN!
Mickey Bitsko
Adventurer
Imho.. you're going to need a higher budget.
Now might be a good time to do a little price checking/ comparison on materials and tools for whatever framing material.
As noted, burn out is a high probability.