Keystone Rebuild - Narrow Floor Pack, Redo Interior, Paint Exterior

Thank you everyone!

longhorn1 said:
Did you just paint the roof trim black or the whole roof? If the whole roof the inside temperature could be up 20 degrees +/-. You might want to re-think that one. You build is really awesome. Can't wait for the interior pictures.
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Click to expand...
No, I just painted the outside trim pieces. The previous owner fiberglassed and gelcoated the roof white and I am just going to keep it like that. I thought of taking the fiberglass off, but figured the little extra added weight will pay off in the better insulation it will have.
 
Thanks!


Another update.

Today I installed the tiedown points on the four corners of the camper (didn't take any photos of that buy I can). I then installed some 1" high pressure treated boards along the full length of the camper.

I did this because I wanted to have a little clearance between the roof of my truck and the bottom of the cabover section. I also thought it would be good for the camper to not sit directly on the truck bed for drainage reasons.

Then it was time to load it up!

I used the old cable jacks that came with the camper and some 2x4's to shore it up. The jacks were too short to get the camper into the truck by themselves. I then carefully backed my truck under the camper. It would only go about 2/3's back until my tires were hitting the cable jacks, so I lowered them down then slowly picked up the camper and pushed it in the rest of the way with my forktruck.



After I got the camper on the truck just right, I strapped it down with some ratchet straps. I thought about using turnbuckles, but I thought straps might be better. We'll see.

Anyway here are a couple of photos with the camper on the truck.







And one back at home showing the running lights and the backup lights. These backup lights are BRIGHT, hope they don't blind anyone ;)



I'll start in on finishing the inside of the camper in a few days. I figured I could work on the inside of the camper while it was on the truck, I'll be able to get in some camping this way while I finish it.
 
Great job. As far as securing the camper to the truck, I believe you would be far better using turnbuckles, I would think a lot safer to. Since the manufacturer's of the small pop-up campers all seem to have in bed eye-bolts with turnbuckles I would believe they have their reasons that have been well throughout. Just my two sense worth.
 
I did end up using turnbuckles for the front, but I am still using ratchet straps for the back since the distance between the two eyelets are too far apart.



Time for a little update.

I finished up the chalk painting and waxing (no finished photos as it is still a mess).

Next on the list was to build the seat cushions.

I am using 3/4" ply for the cushion bases because the seating will convert to a third bed. I didn't take photos while I made all the seat cushions since I forgot my camera at home, so I'll show photos of me building the seat backs.

Here I'm building the bench seat back. Since this will serve a dual purpose, both as a seat back and part of a third bed, I used the folding legs that were originally on the cabover bed and cut them down to size.



I started with a base layer of 3/4" laytex like foam. I cut these from some exercise mats I bought from Walmart. A little 3M 77 for bonding to the ply.



Next I used a hotwire cutter to cut down the 3" foam blocks down to size. I found these 3" x 24" x 72" dense polyurethane foam blocks at Home Depot for $25.00 each, a quarter of the cost than you can buy them for at fabric stores.



More 3M77 and the foam is attached to the seat back.



Since this bench seat back will be able to convert to a bed, I had to make a way for it to attach to the front side of the bench seat. I took some 1 x 2 poplar and dadoed 1/4 slots in two sides, then attached this to the front of the bench seat. I then cut some aluminum angle and attached it to the back of the seat back. These will hook into the dadoed slots and hold the seat back in place when it is used as a bed.



Here they are inside the camper. Sorry for the bad photos and the mess. The inside is still under construction and I didn't clean it for the photos. I'll be sure to take some decent photos as the inside is more finished.

The bench back in its normal place (I still need to fab up some mounts so it stays in this position, yet can detach to turn into a bed.




And set up in the bed position. This is about the size of a regular twin bed and is VERY comfortable and sturdy.






Tonight I asked my mom to come out with me to a fabric shop and picked up some nice upolstery fabric. My sister will probably have the time some time this week to sew up the cushion covers. (I could try it, but I never sewed before and my sister volunteered [:D] )

For the cabover, I'll be buying a 3-4" queen sized memory foam topper.

Next up, installing the heater and wiring, then finishing up the cabinet doors and drawer, then it is all finished!
 
Thanks! Yeah, there is quite a bit of room. That extra 18" really makes a lot of difference.

Well, I got the memory foam mattress and CO/Propane alarm ordered.

Also, after doing a lot of research, I picked up a 120 qt. Xtreme Marine 6 day cooler for $68.00. I figured for right now, I'll use the cooler and save up for the engle fridge and solar setup (which will cost roughly $1,000.00). I can live with buying ice every 4-5 days or so.

I might try sewing up my cushion covers tomorrow. My sister said she'd do it, but I would like to see if I can do it myself, and they are ready and waiting to be covered. How hard can sewing be anyway?

I also started in on the wiring and finished installing my heater and stove and all the propane lines.

I figure I should have the camper finished my the end of the week!
 
Colorado CJ said:
...How hard can sewing be anyway?...
Click to expand...
Sewing is not hard. But when I compare mine to my wife's- let's just say there is a vast difference in the quality of the outcome, haha.

Good work, you are close to done!
 
Colorado CJ. You must have forgotten about the women's touch, especially when it comes to sewing.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Wander The West mobile app
 
Heavy material, like upholstery cloth, can make things that much more difficult when using a home machine. If it's an industrial machine that you're using the material shouldn't present much challenge on it's own.
 
Time for another update. Not long now until the final update as I am nearing completion!

I finished all the wiring and working on the propane lines and made sure everything was in working order (I still have to install the CO/Propane alarm).

Then, Friday, my sister, mom and I decided to tackle covering the cushions. We came up with a pretty easy method that had us only having to sew the corners.

After my sister sewed all the covers, I had the task of fitting them to the cushions. An electric staple gun, some tacks and some time (about 5 hours) and I was finished.

Here I am attaching the vinyl to the back of the seat cushion after stapling the upholstery on.



After the vinyl was tacked on, I reattached all the brackets and supports.



The completed cushion (6 more to go after this one)




After finishing the upholstery, I installed all the cushions and cleaned up the camper a little for some photos. The newly upholstered seating really makes the camper feel more complete. I still have a few odds and ends to finish up, like the cabinet drawers and doors as well as a little trim work. I could get that done next week, but for now, the camper is completely usable.

The upholstery looks different when the light hits it different ways. The background color is slightly shiny, so the camera flash makes it seem much lighter than it really is.







With the queen sized bed pulled out.



And with the bench seat back converted to a twin sized bed.



That's it for now. Like I said earlier, I have a few small odds and ends to finish up, but it is near complete now. I'm sure I'll be changing things / adding things here and there once I take it out a few times and see what I need to do differently.

I'm liking the way it's turned out so far though.
 
Wow is the best explictive I can think of. Very nice redo indeed. This is going to make me look at my old Grandby wit a certain amount of contempt.

I hope this referb gets archived in the "Builds" thread. I'd hate to see it lost to the sea of FWC threads.

Thanks for sharing.
 
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