Total pop-up material replacement - purchasing to finishing

L

Living The Dream

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2015
Messages
470
Location
Front Range, Colorado
Hi All.

I am sure many of you have seen my post in the FWC section of this site, but I wanted to cross post this particular project and I thought folks besides just FWC owners might find the information useful.

I wanted to share a few videos with you all that follow my progress replacing the canvas material on my 84 four wheel camper fleet. This was a major project for me and I wanted to make these video to try to help the next person come along and figure things out a little quicker than it took me. Through reading countless post on this site and others I slowly planned and purchased all the different materials I needed. Total cost of materials was only $280 so I am pretty happy with that. The first video covers the different materials and planning stages of the project.

[video=youtube;h7Uk65unuc0]


Then the next video is the real meat of the project. All the sewing and assembly is shown in detail. I tried hard to get ever seam included so the next person could follow along. I am sure I did not do everything 100% perfect but it seems to be working so far! The windows were definitely the most complicated part. If you wanted to really speed up this project, a canvas without windows would do that.

[video=youtube;j_JjgVkDb-Y]

And finally, I show the install of the canvas. Again I tried to cover as many details as I felt where relevant. The install was actually not too difficult considering what a big deal I made out of everything. You will definitely need some extra hands to get it all together. One point I did forget to mention was that having the canvas off the roof means the roof can float all over the place. You need to figure out a way to rig up the roof to remain in place while you center everything on the camper and install the canvas.

[video=youtube;YumX0jrEBQg]

Hope you enjoy the videos and find them helpful. Please let me know if you have any questions about all of this. Good luck with your project and thanks for following along.
 
Thanks! That will be a great one for the archives. Will be useful for me in a few years likely.
 
That's an incredible amount of work, even if you hadn't fabricated your own canvas piece. Good for you. Nice to know how your camper is put together. Makes it much easier to identify issues when then arise and while they are small.

I noticed you just used a bead of silicon and then screwed through it. Did you use butyl tape under the metal strip as well? I know the factory does that on the bottom strip in the nose piece, but I never noticed any butyl tape used the strip portion the comes into contact with the canvas material.
 
Casa Escarlata Robles Too said:
Thanks for sharing your pop up liner installation.
I am sure there are members who will find these videos very useful.
Frank
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That the plan. Glad you enjoyed!

Taku said:
Thanks! That will be a great one for the archives. Will be useful for me in a few years likely.
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Great! Looking forward to seeing what you do.

kmcintyre said:
Wow! That's awesome! I had ATC do mine and they took the roof off entirely.
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My roof was entirely off at one point in time too. Surprisingly light :)

Bill D said:
That's an incredible amount of work, even if you hadn't fabricated your own canvas piece. Good for you. Nice to know how your camper is put together. Makes it much easier to identify issues when then arise and while they are small.

I noticed you just used a bead of silicon and then screwed through it. Did you use butyl tape under the metal strip as well? I know the factory does that on the bottom strip in the nose piece, but I never noticed any butyl tape used the strip portion the comes into contact with the canvas material.
Click to expand...
What do you mean issues when the arise???? I hope not!! Joking of course. I am sure I will find issues and ill tackle them as they come.

I did not use any butyl tape under the metal trim. When I took off the trim, no tape, so I decided to keep it that way. No idea if I made the right choice or not. Do you know what is standard today?
 
Wandering Sagebrush said:
I am truly impressed! Not only in your work to replace your vinyl, but in the pro documentation! Well done!!!
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You are too kind. First I think I started to enjoy building the camper more than using it. Now I think I am starting to enjoy making videos even more than building. It's a lot of fun! I'll keep them coming. Video of the door rebuild is in the works, it was a smaller of a project.
 
Tim, your videos are fantastic! I'm writing this on the last day of 2017 and it's a good time to reflect on all the great things that people contribute to this site. I'm not trying to exclude all the many contributors who help keep our older campers going, but I have been following your rebuild and very informative videos and just wanted to pass along a big THANK YOU! Enjoy your continuing ski season.
 
Wildcat said:
Tim, your videos are fantastic! I'm writing this on the last day of 2017 and it's a good time to reflect on all the great things that people contribute to this site. I'm not trying to exclude all the many contributors who help keep our older campers going, but I have been following your rebuild and very informative videos and just wanted to pass along a big THANK YOU! Enjoy your continuing ski season.
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Thank you so much! I am truly honored people find them so useful. I truly enjoyed making the canvas and the videos! New videos on the galley build are in the works! Happy new year to you too.
 
Think I saw some video on YT with those lifting bars instead of panels. Was that once in use by FWC? I like that better than the panels. No rivets in the vinyl and potentially the ability to have front and rear windows on the vinyl as well.
 
ETAV8R said:
Think I saw some video on YT with those lifting bars instead of panels. Was that once in use by FWC? I like that better than the panels. No rivets in the vinyl and potentially the ability to have front and rear windows on the vinyl as well.
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To my knowledge, no the metal lifters where never used by FWC. I actually wrote them once and showed them the emt and whoever responded thought it was pretty neat. I have seen some other videos about the lifters and even made one myself:)


Let me know if you have any questions about it.
 
Another advantage to tubing rather than panel lifting & roof support would be access to the solar wiring & possibly less chance for wire breakage over time.

Paul
 
Looking at it more closely I can understand the piano hinges. What are you doing for a mattress? It looks like where the lifting bars are in your design is lower than where the piano hinge is located with lifting panels.
 
Tim,

Did you shorten and round over the bottom brackets holding the EMT tube?

In the video it appears that they extend an inch or two into the sleeping area and have 90 degree corners which would be a potential hazard to skin or an easy place to snag things.

Nice job on the vinyl siding replacement! Also the videos are good - thanks for sharing.

Regards,

Craig
 
ETAV8R said:
Looking at it more closely I can understand the piano hinges. What are you doing for a mattress? It looks like where the lifting bars are in your design is lower than where the piano hinge is located with lifting panels.
Click to expand...

ckent323 said:
Tim,

Did you shorten and round over the bottom brackets holding the EMT tube?

In the video it appears that they extend an inch or two into the sleeping area and have 90 degree corners which would be a potential hazard to skin or an easy place to snag things.

Nice job on the vinyl siding replacement! Also the videos are good - thanks for sharing.

Regards,
Craig
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Both of you are asking very similar questions. Yes I did shorten the bottom brackets bit to not intrude as much as initially. Still they poke out about an inch or so. Its actually no big deal at all, I did file the corner and they just kind of poke into the mattress area. No real issues. you can see their final length at this point in the video. https://youtu.be/7U8R8nm84Q8?t=323
The tubes do kind of push into the mattress when lowered. I have a simple two inch foam mattress and the tubes just smush into it. So far it seems to be working okay. I do believe the piano hinged panels fold more flat and do not stress that mattress at all. I'll report back if it introduces any premature wear or anything like that. So far so good!
 
Looks like I'm going to be redoing the canvas on my new to be 83 Fleet. Couple questions if you don't mind.

-What's the arctic liner?

-Do you get much cold air coming in through the window where it velcros? Since you did a real window that can open for air versus just a clear plastic see through window. I'm thinking I'll make it easier and do a window for light. I'll be camping mostly in the winter so wanting to limit any air flow into the camper. If its not much of an issue maybe I'll copy your window design.

-Did you buy the 61" x 1 Yard rolls? Looks like the only way to do it but wanted to check.

Thanks so much for putting these videos together, Massive help. Once I get going on the complete rebuild I'll start a thread on it. Just trying to put the pieces together for now but I'll be watching a lot of your videos many times over. VERY much appreciated Sir!!!
 
HI Berts

The article linear is a second layer of fabric or cloth that you put up around the canvas to make a second barrier against the cold, It traps a bunch of air between the true outside canvas and your inside wall. That being said, I never actually did make an artic linear. Search the term on here and you will find many that have made on themselves though.

Cold air through the velcro is actually not a major issue. Certainly a bit coming through, but honest not much worse than the rest of the canvas. With my buddy heater I can keep it warm in the camper, but you never really get the entire thing just warm and toasty. i think if I switched to a diesel heater it would be a different story. Your biggest issue in the winter caming is the condensation rather than the cold.


I cant recall the exact rolls I used, but it should be listed in the google sheet listed in my signature.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KaWqHc2AMFDyHSRG8PYySMS27Vr1nNJMynf4IkcWRMw/edit#gid=0


Likely thr 61 wide but not sure exactly. I did the 22oz, in hind sight I think the 18 would be a better choice to have a bit less 'bulkiness' when dropping the top.

Glad you are finding the videos helpful. I have a ton of more four wheel camper stuff on my channel so keep clicking around. And feel free to grab a sticker, all details are on my website. tgmorrissey.com

best of luck with the build, send over any mor questions you have. - Tim
 
If you are redoing it along with the panels, you could raise the height too. I think that's an option either on FWC or ATC's. I think 6"?
 
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