Home Skillet isn't totally nuts after all

[DirtyDog]

Home Skillets carbon fiber camper was being loaded onto the truck to go to the painter today. Here's what it looks like so far.

Reference: http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/index.php?/topic/3706/

 

[DirtyDog]

The builders happy with their work (I built most of the thing TBH):

Looking good!

 

[MarkBC]

Cool! Can't wait to see more.

 

[BSS]

Wow, that's really something! I wonder what the weight so far totals?

will you be welding the final cabinet frames or making then from wood, fiberglass, what?

 

[Ted]

Looking good. Enjoying following his build.
Nice timing - over the weekend I was thinking there hasn't been any updates on his or your camper projects for a bit. What's the latest on yours DD?

 

[pods8]

If I'm see right he didn't carbon the whole inside of the roof? Or wrap the carbon around the window cutout (to tie the inner and outer skin together)? I hadn't noticed that in the previous updates, makes me leery. Or is he just getting the exterior painted and is planning to do more work on the interior "skin"?

Skillet get in here! I've got questions.

 

[home skillet]

Hey everyone,

First off, thanks to DD for the help yesterday and the photos! Couldn't have done it without you and its always better shared with a fellow enthusiast.

Have not been to the scale with it yet, but we are pretty sure the whole thing is only around 350-400 lbs. We will see soon.

The interior work will mostly be wood. I am totally sick of working with resins and materials. The interior walls will all be finished in nicer material, so you won't see any of the rough CF and Kevlar.

PODS8 has the engineer's eye of course. He is right, we did not completely cover the inside of the pop-up top with CF. As we went along it became apparent that the strength was phenominal on the 6K CF with just the top layer, that said, we need some on the interior for attachment points and for added strength. How strong is it, you ask? Well we had a really wet snow fall (about 8-9 inches) one night when I had left it out in the driveway. It pilled up on the roof and must have weighed around 400-500 lbs total. The roof didn't even care that it was there. No bowinng, no bending, no nothing. I was terrified at first, then really excited as I unburried it with a shovel. I also have layed on top of it while sanding. Again, no bending or anything. With regard to the windows, there is almost no compression between the interior and exterior sheets. So from a window mounting standpoint, no problem. The vertical wall strength is beyond strong and not at all in question........I guess you have to be here to appreciate the strength of the CF.

I will be getting it back from paint on Friday and will be taking some more pictures and doing a formal post on HookedUpFilms.com soon.

Glad you all are here to support me electronically.

Home Skillet

 

[pods8]

Well your snow test was a pretty good one! I was going to say though the main way these structures work is by having skins on both sides separated from each other by the core and they act as an I-beam. However I know you put in a bit of an actual beam on the inside so maybe that took away the need for a skin on the rest of the interior roof.

The window part is just me being conservative about wanting to really tie both skins together. Those flush to the edge endings on the test pieces I made will start to peel/delaminate when subjecting the area near them to a hammer. Tied together they are way stronger. However this is dealing wit fiberglass plys I've been playing with. I know you made up a test corner piece before, have you taken a hammer to that at all to see how it reacts to impact (high out of the strength plane forces)?

I was just throwing my last minute thoughts out there since you were off to the paint shop with it, much easier to make additions at this point if you felt it warranted.

 

[Marc]

Looking good. Interested in the over all weight. How many hours do you think you have into the build so far ???

marc

 

[home skillet]

Pods8,

You are not wrong. If maximum safty is what you are after, then tying everything together is the way to go. The window frames that I am usinng are compression trims and will work somethat in that fashion too (not as stronng as material wrap though). I just can't imagine a localized impact in just the right area to cause a problem. I guess anything is possible though.
The beam in the roof is a good protion of the strength, but I also ran 3' strips on the interior of the roof at 2' intervals, so the interior is not totally devoid of CF. I do plan to add some more after it comes back from paint, but there will still be some squares with just foam. My only concern here is that if you strike the ceiling where there is just foam, then it may dent a little. Why not cover the whole thing? Well, mainly weight. The top was getting a little heavy and I really want this thing light. Also cost. Appreciate your input all the way through this Pods.

marc,
I can't even count the hours. A guess would be around 175-200 man hours. I simply gave up my winter weekends and some evenings ever since October. Not a bad way to spend the winter.
I promise to weigh it once I have the windows in and all the pop-up components in place, this way we will know what the completed shell weighs. My guess right now is 350-400 lbs.

Home Skillet

 

[home skillet]

Wow, that's really something! I wonder what the weight so far totals?

will you be welding the final cabinet frames or making then from wood, fiberglass, what?


I would love to make the interior frame out of aluminum and/or fiberglass, unfortunately I don't have a money tree. So, mostly wood, with some composite finishes to keep it light.

 

[HIKEMT]

And I thought it was a lot of work designing the interior of a camper shell - my hat's off to you. Good luck with the rest of the build, hope I can see it some time. Post more pictures when you can.

 

[agate]

Good luck Home SKillet, this is very cool to follow from afar! I can not wait to see the next steps.