Someone Stop me, Oops, too late!

[home skillet]

Well guys, the old top heavy Rodeo Camper finally tipped me over the edge. Either that or the last head bump rattled my last screw loose. Whatever the case I have sold my old camper and am headlong into building new setup directly onto the back of my Nissan Titan.

Brief rundown:
Carbon Fiber composite walls.
Aluminum Reinforced.
Pop-up Design.
Built directly onto the bed of the Titan.
Completely custom interior.
Addition of external storage.
All new systems and power supplies.

The goal is an ultralight off-road ready vehicle built the way I want it.
What makes me think I can do this? I really don't know, but I do know that I am sick and tired of missing out on WTW trips simply because I was hauling around a condominium on my back.

You can follow the build blog here if you are at all curious or have some words of sanity:
Hooked Up Films Adventure Camper Build

 

[K6ON]

Just went over and read and bookmarked your construction start page. This is going to be great watching this camper come together. Good luck
and please keep the page updated so we can watch the progress..

 

[craig333]

Can't wait to follow along to completion.

 

[DirtyDog]

Like I told Home Skillet the other day: "Well, when you are done, you'll have something!" You really better deliver now that you have announced it to the world!

 

[pods8]

I've always thought if someone was really going to go head first in that cutting a pass through door into the back if the truck cab would be interesting as well. Maybe when time and money are much more plentiful on my end...

 

[home skillet]

I've always thought if someone was really going to go head first in that cutting a pass through door into the back if the truck cab would be interesting as well. Maybe when time and money are much more plentiful on my end...


Ya I thought about that. Unfortunately it means Not only cutting the hole in the truck, but also some pretty significant mods to the interior of the Titan. Not to mention the cab to bed seal issue and not allowing for much cab to bed movement on those off roads. It would be nice, but maybe on version 2.

I will be doing my best to keep things updated, so stay tuned.

By the way DD, "something" that goes anywhere is better than the camper I had that went almost "nowhere".

 

[pods8]

Ya I thought about that. Unfortunately it means Not only cutting the hole in the truck, but also some pretty significant mods to the interior of the Titan. Not to mention the cab to bed seal issue and not allowing for much cab to bed movement on those off roads. It would be nice, but maybe on version 2.


Yup, definitely room for creativity.

 

[EdoHart]

Ya I thought about that. Unfortunately it means Not only cutting the hole in the truck, but also some pretty significant mods to the interior of the Titan. Not to mention the cab to bed seal issue and not allowing for much cab to bed movement on those off roads. It would be nice, but maybe on version 2.

I will be doing my best to keep things updated, so stay tuned.

By the way DD, "something" that goes anywhere is better than the camper I had that went almost "nowhere".

Rather that eliminating cab/bed movement, you might accept that it will happen and incorporate some kind of accordion style interface between the cab and camper. Just a suggestion.

 

[home skillet]

Rather that eliminating cab/bed movement, you might accept that it will happen and incorporate some kind of accordion style interface between the cab and camper. Just a suggestion.


With this being my first build I am really not interested in doing a walk through. I really think that this would be a great feature, but it also eats up some pretty valuable real estate in the front of the truck box. My plan is to center the weight (ie. water, fuel and equipment) right behind the cab. This keeps a low center of gravity and balances the load well.
Maybe on the HUF Adventure Vehicle 2.0.

PS: I am working on some new posts and will have updates on the site by early next week.

 

[brett13]

Like I told Home Skillet the other day: "Well, when you are done, you'll have something!"

Heh. I once bought a bunch of lumber to attempt a project. When I was done, I showed my wife and she said "you built firewood?". I'm not so handy it turns out. Anyway...

I can't wait to see this come together. I've had dreams of building my own custom someday. Keep us updated!

 

[craig333]

Heh, I'm the same way. I keep wanting to build a cabinet like Deltarats but I already have enough firewood. Otoh, my Jeep projects are coming along well. Those involve steel though.

 

[home skillet]

It's coming along. Iv'e got the aluminum mounts on the truck. The diamond plate tool box extension comes in tomorrow and I plan to mount it this weekend. Still cutting and shaping the foam too. I will post updates on Sunday or Monday on hookedupfilms.com.

I guess since there is no wood in this build I won't have the firewood comment. It will probably be more like "beer can scrap" or something.

 

[home skillet]

Hello everyone! Just an update on the Hooked Up Films Camper Build. We now have most of the lower section assembled and just about ready for the carbon fiber wrap. Very Exciting. So far no mishaps or dismemberment. Whew!

There are all new videos and blogs on www.hookedupfilms.com if you want to see how the project is coming.

Windows and materials are showing up daily. This is alot of work, but really fun too. I am starting to think the final product might be actually taking out in public. We will see I guess.

 

[chnlisle]

Very ambitious I like it.

 

[pods8]

Just caught up on your build, very cool.

Not ever having worked with carbon fiber before myself I'm wondering how easy it is to lay up the resin smoothly (or are you waiting to find out yourself? ;p)

In the future if I'm heading south (or vice versa) I'd love to check this thing out and discuss your thoughts on the whole thing.

 

[home skillet]

Just caught up on your build, very cool.

Not ever having worked with carbon fiber before myself I'm wondering how easy it is to lay up the resin smoothly (or are you waiting to find out yourself? ;p)

In the future if I'm heading south (or vice versa) I'd love to check this thing out and discuss your thoughts on the whole thing.


Ya me too. I started testing the carbon fiber/kevlar material yesterday. It's pretty tempramental stuff. It doesn't take much to goof up the weave. I think it will look pretty good in the end though. We will see.

I'd love to hook up sometime and chat. Maybe when I'm a little further along. Thanks for the interest.

 

[pods8]

Ya me too. I started testing the carbon fiber/kevlar material yesterday. It's pretty tempramental stuff. It doesn't take much to goof up the weave. I think it will look pretty good in the end though. We will see.

I'd love to hook up sometime and chat. Maybe when I'm a little further along. Thanks for the interest.


Very interested to see how the vertical applications go. The build definitely gets my tinkering side fired up and is giving me some ideas.

By the way you mentioned the color issue & heat retention so you went over to the carbon/kevlar blend. I take it your currently aren't planning to paint the camper? Otherwise the color of the material wouldn't really matter once covered by paint.

 

[DanoT]

I plan on having Coyote RV build me a custom pop-top some time this winter for use in ski area parking lots. From the research I've done: most rigid foam insulation is R5=1" and doubling the thickness does not always double the R value. If you plan on any extreme winter use then 10,000 btu furnace may not be adequate and 1 10lb. propane bottle won't be either. I think the 10lb. tanks are hard to find and very expensive.

 

[home skillet]

Very interested to see how the vertical applications go. The build definitely gets my tinkering side fired up and is giving me some ideas.

By the way you mentioned the color issue & heat retention so you went over to the carbon/kevlar blend. I take it your currently aren't planning to paint the camper? Otherwise the color of the material wouldn't really matter once covered by paint.


This has been a very interesting learning experience. The information on CF and Kevlar is really poor when it comes to thermodynamics. I made a test piece on the foam and then went about testing heat tolerance. Started with open flame = no burning, but got pretty hot. No resin breakdown though. Then I set it in front of a wall heater for about 30 min. cranked up on high and it again got hot, but no resin softening. Then I set it out in the direct sun for 2 hours and again, it got hot to touch, but no resin softening or delamination.
I have found a resin that is tested up to 180 degrees F. I may use that on the outside and the the west system epoxy on the inerior. Also I plan to shoot the whole thing with UV protectant clear coat. That will help with the yellowing effect.
At some point, I just have to go ahead with this and see what happens. If I have problems with heat or with resin breakdown, then I can always paint it. Problem is that the CF has bumps and the paint won't look good, so I would have to either skim coat it or lay some fiberglass over it first..........we will see.

 

[home skillet]

I plan on having Coyote RV build me a custom pop-top some time this winter for use in ski area parking lots. From the research I've done: most rigid foam insulation is R5=1" and doubling the thickness does not always double the R value. If you plan on any extreme winter use then 10,000 btu furnace may not be adequate and 1 10lb. propane bottle won't be either. I think the 10lb. tanks are hard to find and very expensive.


Correct. Most insulation is R5. The foamular is R6.3 and while you are right in that each inch doesn't nessecarily = equivalent R value its pretty close. Many of my walls are 3 inches thick and that is why I expect R value of around 12 or better.
It was interesting to test the carbon fiber in the sun. While the outside of the wall became very warm to touch, the inside stayed as cool as the shaded temps.
As far as really cold temps go, I have used a 10,000 BTU heater in my old camper in the winter and it was pretty cold still. But that was with only 1 inch of soft insulation.
All that said, I may decide to go to a forced air furnace yet. DD has a line on a nice heater out of Germany that I might go with.
10 lb composite LP tanks are not much more than buying a 20 lb metal tank and not that hard to get. Again, you might be right and I will have 2 10 lb tanks, one for the heat and one for the rest of the systems. Making decisions as we go.....