Demountable camper group

Life keeps getting in the way but finally I've made some time and some progress on the camper. In the last couple of days I've completed the floor, so that is now insulated and skinned inside as well as out. I'm perhaps being over cautious but I decided to give the inner floor a coat of epoxy sealant as well. It obviously seals the wood, as the name suggests, but it is claimed that it also improves bonding. I don't know whether that's true or not but, as I'd got it, I thought I'd use it anyway. Once that was dry I glued and screwed the lower side walls and benches, that I'd skinned with aluminium a couple of weeks ago, to the floor. (Benches? Anybody know the proper name for the bit of a demountable that projects horizontally over the pickup walls?)


And then the framework for the front and rear walls which have been sitting around now for the best part of two months.


We're not living with bits piled up in the house any more but it's becoming a significant obstacle just outside the front door instead! That's progress!

Loving that car port/pergola want to see camper finished
or at least interior

zildjian wrote:Loving that car port/pergola

It's supposed to protect me from the blistering Mediterranean sun not the sodding rain!!

want to see camper finished

Me too.

See that Southern French lifestyle's really shaping up for you Martin




/envious

I've completed the framework of the camper body and, remarkably, it looks just like the original drawing. That's a surprise and a relief!


So yesterday I started on the elevating roof - these gently curved ribs of ply are for the roof's shell. It's the part of the design that I'm least sure about, both aesthetically and technically.


Aesthetically my misgivings are that it adds another 120mm or so to the camper's height (and to its wind resistance, although it will have a spoiler fitted in front of it) and that looks like quite a slab on top of what is already a pretty boxy design. I'd kind of anticipated it - this early SketchUp drawing showed it in about the right proportions ...

... but, when it's actually a chunk of wood standing up there on the roof, it looks much bigger than I would like. I'm still trying different ideas but, so far, I can't get the roof any lower without sacrificing the thickness of its insulation and I'm not prepared to do that.

The principle of the design is based on an idea for a pop-top on Andrew Gibbens' website but in its detail and execution it's a long way removed from that. The most notable difference is in the direction of elevation. In Andrew's design the roof elevates front to back which, being the direction of travel, makes it simpler to seal against the weather. In my design though, in order to maximise the usable space in the camper, I need the roof to elevate sideways. In itself that's nothing new of course, it's been an option on VW campers for years, but those are all soft sided roofs with a continuous wall of waterproof fabric or plastic but comparatively little insulation. What I'm trying to build is a well insulated, hard sided roof consisting of a hinged shell which opens sideways to reveal three 'wall' panels, also hinged, which fold up to create the roof space. It sounds straighforward enough but working out how to create weatherproof seals between all those panels, when they're elevated and when they're folded, is turning out to be quite a challenge.


As has been the case throughout this project so far, SketchUp is helping me visualise the problems. Sadly, it's not so good at providing me with the solutions!

Hmm, I think I see what your referring to,
Andrew's solution of some form of weather-strip at the two faces, and a barrel lock doesn't seem very comprehensive somehow.

Is a form of linear locking what you had in mind, as if to 'zip' it closed when raised?

Yeah, self-adhesive weather strip is a definite no-no for me. I'm hoping to figure something out from the extraordinary wide range at Seals Direct. I like the zip idea a lot though - that'd be neat.

saDgit, got anywhere further on this since this post?

an actual zipper might be a bit fragile of course, is there a proper commercial type

derestrictor wrote:saDgit, got anywhere further on this since this post?

No, not really. Still searching, still thinking.

Keep up the good work Martin, you're making me think I should build a box for my truck so I can carry my bikes around and use it like a van.

Out of interest do you plan to put a layer of Ali over all of the outside of the camper? Also the epoxy sealer you're using, can it painted over and if so what with and how do you go about it? What sort of finish are you having inside the camper?

Cheers
Clive