Hard sided pop top - how would you do it?

[pods8]

I had that on my first FWC and found it marginally useful. I didn't get it at all with my current FWC and I certainly wouldn't sacrifice any functionality in the camper for this.


If it highly conflicted with the rest of my design I'd think about ditching it but as long as I can find a reasonably priced double slider front window it would work out pretty well for me since that area is already open to provide a step up into the bed:

 

[DirtyDog]

You should consider putting that fridge on a slide so you have some real counter space above it.

 

[pods8]

You should consider putting that fridge on a slide so you have some real counter space above it.


Probably would do something like that or have a hinged counter top over it, something of that nature. Long story short I'm accounting for it in my counter space plan, I'll figure out the best way to deal with it when I get there.

 

[pods8]

So ntsqd's thought yesterday had my wheels spinning, if the double stack was done all the way around and not just on the cabover it more or less solves all the issues aside from having a full height door. However you can get a door as tall as a FWC/ATC so if you can live with that then we're on to something. To keep it down to a 2 set extension this did require I add 2" in vertical height to the cabover profile on my model, something to stew on.

Here's a rendering with the top all down. The door height will be driven by how high the cabover to flatbed is but something in the 38-40" range seemed feasible for what I was thinking. This would be plenty big enough for ducking into the closed camper:

They when the top goes up and exposes some more of the lower portion of the camper one could opt to have a shorter section swing up to add 10-12" (in this design) of extra vertical height to the door giving around 48-50" total. (Note the taller the cabover profile is the more height that can be recovered but I'm trying to limit that as much as possible).

 

[ntsqd]

I'm working on something for my own curiosity; what is a reasonable height for the deck of a flat bed? I'll post images when I've got it worked out.

 

[pods8]

I'm working on something for my own curiosity; what is a reasonable height for the deck of a flat bed? I'll post images when I've got it worked out.


I assume you're wondering about deck to underside of cabover for clearance of truck? If so I was figuring in the 42-44" range on my truck. If you're wondering about to the ground I'm thinking somewhere around 40" on my truck, obviously suspension and tires will affect that on various rigs.

Lets see what you got, the brainstorming is churning up some potential ideas.

 

[DirtyDog]

Home skillet isn't posting up quick enough so I'll present his idea. His door is wider than normal. That door contains a second door within it. The second door is only tall enough to remain under the top part of the camper when the roof is down. Best solution i have seen by a mile.

 

[pods8]

Home skillet isn't posting up quick enough so I'll present his idea. His door is wider than normal. That door contains a second door within it. The second door is only tall enough to remain under the top part of the camper when the roof is down. Best solution i have seen by a mile.


Still a shorter height door like on a normal pop up though right?

 

[DirtyDog]

Still a shorter height door like on a normal pop up though right?


Yes its just wider which accommodates the door within a door.

 

[pods8]

Yes its just wider which accommodates the door within a door.


Roger that. Perk is a single action door for the larger one (verse the two piece on I did up above, but that one would have a little mini awning affect which could potentially be nice).

 

[ntsqd]

I assume you're wondering about deck to underside of cabover for clearance of truck? If so I was figuring in the 42-44" range on my truck. If you're wondering about to the ground I'm thinking somewhere around 40" on my truck, obviously suspension and tires will affect that on various rigs.

Lets see what you got, the brainstorming is churning up some potential ideas.

Bed height off of the ground, I'm working on developing the ideas that I posted much earlier, along with a variation that I'm out-right stealing from Joaquin Suave's Casa Azul.

The double door is an interesting idea. I suspect that done poorly it could become a sealing nightmare due to flex, but done well (rigid 'outer' door design) I think that it has potential.

 

[Nimbl Vehicles]

The XPcamper is the best out there by a mile. The interior is SO MUCH NICER than any other camper it pretty much puts every other camper to shame. I'd buy one now if I had more funds.

I wouldn't do a cab through it creates more problems that it solves.

The door as I have seen it has some issues but Marc says he's redesigned it so we will see.

I'd take the XP as-is and wouldn't worry about the hard side stuff. The tent in the XP is pretty small compared to a FWC and is quite a bit thicker.

But the XP camper is just another class of camper - both in terms of quality and price. These camper designs I'm discussing are FWC range campers.


Here is the new Door.

 

[pods8]

Here is the new Door.


Marc if you don't mind commenting (I can understand if you don't want to toss out too much info). How feasible is it to pull the top door closed when the top is down, I assume a strap or such would be used but is it hard to over power the shocks with the short moment arm? Any irritation in your mind to having a side swinging door and a vertically opening door (obviously there really isn't a perfect solution, each are going to have pros and cons). How are you accessing the outer door latch from the inside when the top is down to get out?

That said it is appealing to have the door function as an awning to avoid having your head dripped on.

 

[home skillet]

Home Skillet was just over and using beer power he solved the door problem in a pretty clever way. I'll let him post about it so I don't steal his thunder



Hey everyone, sorry it took me so long to get back to the board, but I just posted my proposed solution to the door issue here: http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/index.php?/topic/4343/

Let me know what you all think. I have a drawing in the post too. I think this may work.

Home Skillet

 

[Fisher205]

Like everyone else I've been designing a camper in my mind for years. I would second what Thom said about flex in a split door frame. WhatI have found in my old and severely beatup Alaskan that it has enough flex in the door frames that some times it won't latch, the next it will be wedged shut. This is on the short wall of the back. The long wall on the sides will allow even greater flex. You will need to reinforce or brace the walls with cabinets and then build a stiffer split door frame. I recommend using a deep aluminum L or channel should provide enough bracing to accomplish this.
Good luck with your build.

Brad

 

[pods8]

I'm working on something for my own curiosity; what is a reasonable height for the deck of a flat bed? I'll post images when I've got it worked out.


Anything to toss out here yet? I'm curious what you've got up your sleeve, I'm still trying to lock in my plan and debating back and forth in my head.

 

[ntsqd]

Work and illness cut into my time to work on these concepts. In looking at them they're close enough now to post the ideas even if they have many rough edges. For reference, the humanoid is modeled at 6'2" tall and the tire is modeled as a 33-10.50.
The first three are simply a recessed side door featuring a trap door to close up the notch and restore interior floor space. The ladder is on links that stabilize it when down and help store it when up. I felt a need to explore this, but it's not my ideal approach.



Then I blatantly stole Joaquin Suave's side entry in Casa Azul, which incorporates a built-in shower pan that doubles as a 'mud room', and applied it to a hard sided pop-top. I like how this came together much better. An interior floor section could be made to restore the full floor if needed or desired. In looking at it I see that the door could even be a little taller than it's current 57" height.

 

[pods8]

Ah I see you're mainly focusing on trying to do a cutout section of the flatbed for the floor. I assume the top is going more towards the dual pop picture I posted before (and again below)?

(All the below assumes you're still operating on the premise of having a removable camper rather than one generally intended to be on all the time).
They have possibility if the flatbed you are using can accommodate having a chuck cutout and flanges added to the cut perimeter and cutout to add the portion back in for later use as a flatbed. Probably would need to take a serious look at how much the flatbed of your choice relies on its outer perimeter frame and see if reinforcement could overcome any issues.

One downside on the second design you posted is you'd need to jack the camper quite high to clear the lower part for removal (would work better if behind the tire). Also that portion protrudes from the bottom if you're ever try to set the camper down.

On your first design I'd maybe explore the option of whether the drop out floor section could function as a stair section as well and avoid the ladder entirely. That could be cool.

 

[ntsqd]

Initially I started down the road of using the trap door to carry the ladder function. The problem that popped up immediately is that when closed you can't use it as floor space due to the ladder bits. I saw it as a potential tripping hazard. You could be tricky by building linkage that would turn the steps flat when closed, but that seemed like excessive & unnecessary complexity.

I figured that any notched flatbed would be a custom and that the camper would rarely if ever come off. A custom flatbed is nothing near as complex or as difficult to build as a pop-top camper. While it would be possible to build it dual-use I don't think that it would be worth the effort. Too many camper oriented compromises.

I hadn't given much more thought to the pop-top portion of the camper. I suppose that the dual pop could be confined to just the cab-over portion though I'm not sure if this would simplify or complicate things.

This was just a design exercise for me. I got curious about some ideas that I had and figured to investigate them. Hopefully by posting them they inspire a solution to someone else's problem, or someone likes one of them as is and uses it.

 

[pods8]

Initially I started down the road of using the trap door to carry the ladder function. The problem that popped up immediately is that when closed you can't use it as floor space due to the ladder bits. I saw it as a potential tripping hazard. You could be tricky by building linkage that would turn the steps flat when closed, but that seemed like excessive & unnecessary complexity.

If you're dealing with also stowing a ladder I'd ponder linkage steps to at least ferret the idea out.

Another thought is if the drop portion was short: You keep the cutout flatbed portion in place with a hinge along the back so when it drops down the floor piece does too. If there was a step rung on the edge of that flatbed piece for one step and the next you're into the camper there might be something workable there too.

I hadn't given much more thought to the pop-top portion of the camper. I suppose that the dual pop could be confined to just the cab-over portion though I'm not sure if this would simplify or complicate things.

This was just a design exercise for me. I got curious about some ideas that I had and figured to investigate them. Hopefully by posting them they inspire a solution to someone else's problem, or someone likes one of them as is and uses it.


I've pondered the dual pop only over the cabover some, not sure how entirely I feel about it. It adds the need to seal along the back against the rest of the hard top too in addition to the normal top/bottom seals. Don't know if that single piece would have more chance to get misaligned in movement verse if it was all the way around the rig. One perk of having it all the way around is it exposes more uncovered sidewall in the down position to allow for a bigger door in that case. It does make window selection more complicated though. I'm trying to decide which way to go on all that.