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

[pods8]

Little bit more progress. I built a bit of a wood frame with tabs on it to support and position the roof pieces in proper alignment to glue them up and keep things from sagging while things are not glassed yet. I glued together all the roof pieces now and used spray foam to fill out the larger gaps (hard to try and exactly fit this geometry on the fly in the garage, so I did a bunch of close enough fitment figuring I'd shape/fill as needed). The extra foam on the top has been rough trimmed now. It'll obviously get sanded/faired/filled in as a whole before moving onto glass work. Ready to start roughing out the sides now.

That's is as far as I got because a back spasm hit me saturday morning and made me a useless lump on the couch most of the weekend.

Here you can see a little bit of that wood frame for positioning:

Here's the roughly completed roof with extra vent in place:

 

[pods8]

As I was pondering out final window placements for the sides of the upper half I noticed an issue. I put the rear window in the lower half down in a position that I'd have sight line from my rear view mirror and these dimensions are based off where I can see out of my current FWC rear window and accounting for the raised bottom of the camper on the flatbed. I mostly use my side mirrors but even having a small sight window directly to the rear of the camper is helpful to know if someone is hanging out right in your blindspot, etc. Anyways I was planning on a 24" lift height and realized this wasn't going to pan out dimensionally how I would like because if I build the upper half in a manner to have the window down low enough to match the bottom of this window then when the top is raised 5" of the window is still below the top of the bottom half which doesn't agree with me at all (the wall is about 4.5" tall above the window so coping it out doesn't solve the issue with a 24" lift either) I could abandon this sight line desire all together I suppose but then I'd rather have that rear picture window higher up.

Where I'm currently leaning though is to go with 30" actuators instead and put external limit stops in place to stop the stroke at 27" instead. With a 27" lift only 2" of the window is below the top of the current rear wall and I could realistically rework that part of the rear camper wall to drop it down in that area, in turn I'd lower part of the upper half rear wall to match with a ~2" overlap (that's how much I was thinking to overlap the halves). If I did this with the 30" actuators then if I ever needed to lift the halves past each other to work on seals or such I'd just need to move the external limit stop and could lift the top ~1" clear of the bottom. Leaving that flexibility is one reason in my head to not just lower the bottom edge of the upper half ~2" all around, also if I lowered it all around it would cover the propane hatch slightly and mean I'd need to lift the top a tad to access it which I wasn't planning on (my water fill hatch will be under the lowered upper half though).

Not sure if that thought process/description is making sense or not. Pictorially (on an old picture) it would mean I'd cut out the red line area and redo the top edge fiberglass. The green lines show were the bottom lip of the top half and window would be in the lowered position and the yellow lines show it in the raised position.

Feel free to comment, I haven't fully made up my mind on this yet.

 

[pods8]

Mocked up all the upper half walls. Everything is just taped/clamped together for the most part right now so I can shuffle around the window placements that I'm currently stewing on. I put some hooks in the roof and my garage ceiling to use ratchet straps to lift the roof up to the extended height to get the right sense of space. As you might have noticed at the moment I'm pretty sure I'm going to just shift the design to a short door in the lower half which should simplify some things. It'll address the flex in the floor, make working out the door design easier, and in terms of use means you don't have to open one door then the other and vice versa for closing.

 

[craig333]

Starting to look like a camper. Can't wait to see it in person.

 

[pods8]

Yeah it was nice to get that sense of space defined and some glimmer towards the future. Now to glue them up, fit them back up to fair out the transitions and then drop them off again to do all the glass work... Also need to pick placements for things on the inside roof and imbed conduit, not sure if I'll do that before or after glassing the exterior of the roof.

 

[Ghettofab75]

So how lite is this thing so far? I take it, from its size, that its at least a two person lift?

If you don't mind me asking, how much money do you have in the basic structure, foam, wood, and resin? I know its not about the money, but this has me curious about doing my own camper project and what that would wind up costing vs. buying a used FWC.

Project is looking great!

Thanks,
Kevo

 

[pods8]

So how lite is this thing so far? I take it, from its size, that its at least a two person lift?

If you don't mind me asking, how much money do you have in the basic structure, foam, wood, and resin? I know its not about the money, but this has me curious about doing my own camper project and what that would wind up costing vs. buying a used FWC.

Project is looking great!

Thanks,
Kevo


Don't know, not really a point in weighing it at this stage since I don't readily have a means to do so. I'm assuming the finished shell might be around 600lb, figuring the camper with interior, 21gal fresh water, 160lb of batteries, etc. will be be under 1000lb. We'll see when I eventual get there!

The roof with be lifted/held up by actuators.

I've got numbers at home but generally off the top of my head I think I've got ~$650 of foam picked up locally, lets say $200 in wood (a guess), $1000 in fiberglass cloth shipped. I originally purchased 12.5gal of resin which cost $600 shipped, I'm down to about 1gal left of that now (the upper wall foam structures are glued together now as well) so I'll need to order in some more (it'll probably take about 20gal total if I had to guess).

If you're fine with standard FWC type layout you can find used I would not suggest doing a build like this as a cost savings type measure. There are lots of little costs that add up and quite a few hours will go into this before it's completed. Things like hinges, water tank, sinks, latches, interior fabric, WINDOWS, furnace, fridge, lights, fans, etc. all start adding up very quickly... I'm building this because I wanted something completely custom which means I'd be looking at the cost verse something build new.

 

[DanoT]

It appears from the pics that you are not going to have a door header on the camper side door. I think this is a big mistake. Truck frames are designed to flex and the camper will too although perhaps less flexing on a side door. It may turn out that the door only opens/closes properly when the truck is level and there could be problems with a warped wall coming in contact with the raising/lowering roof. Or maybe I totally wrong as I am an experienced rver but not a builder.

 

[pods8]

It appears from the pics that you are not going to have a door header on the camper side door. I think this is a big mistake. Truck frames are designed to flex and the camper will too although perhaps less flexing on a side door. It may turn out that the door only opens/closes properly when the truck is level and there could be problems with a warped wall coming in contact with the raising/lowering roof. Or maybe I totally wrong as I am an experienced rver but not a builder.

As mentioned above I am going to a single door in the lower half so it will now be getting a header.

 

[pods8]

Some pictures to add. I had pulled down the taped up side panels and actually glued them together, put them back together one last time to sand where they meet each other flush, I'll sand the rest of the rough glued panel on the floor since its easier and round off the various corners/edges to different degrees depending on where they are. Better to do it on the cores now so the glassed panels fit better later. I also mocked up the two side flip up cabover panels and marked where the top of them would meet the upper shell when flipped up because I need to make a recessed pocket to install part of the retaining latch that will hold them up, the recessed pocket is so the latch doesn't interfere when the upper shell drops down to overlap the lower shell.

Also I added on some more material to the front panel and rounded it out for aesthetics of the nose. Rough shape:

Not completely done rounding it out but I'll finish the rest off the camper so I'm not trying to round out the bottom of it from below:

 

[Mark W. Ingalls]

Lots of work, but so far, so great. Keep on, friend.

 

[pods8]

Yeah but I'm in the deep end of the pool now so I better keep swimming...

 

[pods8]

Top is all sanded out ready for glass. I'll work on finishing up the side panels and probably start on those first though most likely. When I get to doing the top I'll need to move the main camper out of the garage because it's too high up to comfortably do the big layup sitting where it currently is but I don't have enough room in the garage to do it side by side. After I glass the exterior of the top I plan to flip it over and work on finalizing light placements and router in conduit runs which will be embedded.

 

[pods8]

Need to figure out a camper jack bracket, I picked up a set of 2" square tube jacks. The main bodies are ~50" and there is 32" of extension. The three main studs on the jack body are in the upper 20" and then there is one lower down maybe 12" off the bottom as a guess. Due to the overlapping nature of my camper build the brackets on my camper will be on the bottom 20" and after that the overlapping top of the camper will jut out about 2.5".

So due to the nature of things if I mounted the jacks straight up to the camper then the lowest I could drop it down is ~30" which isn't desireable. So below is one idea that popped in my head, looking for input if anyone is seeing another good idea. I figured I'd mount a 2"x2" angle down the side of the bracket using the mounting studs, the top part of this would attached to the camper in a similar vertical dimension as above (ie I'd only be able to lower it down to about 30", this would be handy for short term removal where I didn't want it dropped lower down or if I had to lift it higher up, also this orientation is best for the crank handle). Farther down on the jack I'd add a piece of 2"x3" angle perpendicular to the first one and the jack would be rotated 90deg to use this mount, this piece would off set the jack body ~3.5" from the lower camper wall and thus clear the upper wall when it's retracted and it would allow the camper to be dropped lower to the ground (target is under 12", final dims to be determined based on practicality) this one has interference with the crank handle (even though I'd use a drill more often than not) so it's mainly be used when required to drop that low.

 

[pods8]

LOTS O SANDING complete and shifting gears back into the resin spread'n mode. My memory of how long lamination work takes was optimistic, hopefully I'll pick up some speed going forward as I bang these out.

Cleaned up my bench a bit, laid out some new plastic on it and got my resin/harder(s), gloves, acetone, fillers, etc. all at hand. I did the whole lower half in 4:1 fast but started in the cooler weather, it was sometimes a bit of a hussle in the summer to keep working with that so on this round I've also picked up some 3:1 medium which I'll use in the warmer temps. I still got a bit of 4:1 again for doing cooler temp nighttime work or small stuff that I don't need the longer work time. Sanded out panel in the foreground.

Just finished up the lamination on the panel once it sets I'll trim up the edges. Working within the constraints on my space. I'll be able to do all the side panels like this but I'll have to move the main body of the camper out to do the roof.

 

[pods8]

Yesterday was a LONG day of laminating but I've hit a milestone in getting the exterior of the roof panel done. Now I'll flip it over and imbed conduit runs/fair it out and then need to glass that. The other roof side panels are already completed so after the interior of the roof is done I'll be assembling the top half once and for all. Still have the small flip up walls and door to build after that. Then fairing/painting. Trying to push hard to get to that point so I can install windows and it'll be weather worthy.

The garage is tight with the roof off the camper and both inside:

Once the camper is moved I can shuffle the roof to the side for more room to kick off what ended up being a long day:

The aftermath, now ready for trimming after sitting over night:

 

[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.

 

[Mark W. Ingalls]

Wow.

Just...

Wow.

Say, pods, what do you at work all week? Rest up for the weekend?

 

[pods8]

I've actually been making the bulk of this progress after about 7-8pm when the kids go to bed and I'll put in a couple hours. Then get up early and be sleep deprived. Haven't really been able to get good consistent time in over the weekends (ie much more than on a weeknight) with other family needs.

Pushing to try and get the shell wrapped up and painted. The FIL is visiting later this week, thinking we might build a trial/temporary interior in stand alone cabinet box form out of OSB sheets (cheap). Then once the shell is done I can toss those in to refine the design and temporarily use them if desired. Once I know how I want things and as time permits I'll swap them out for more refined pieces. My current thinking anyways.

 

[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.