saDgit's flat-faced pop-top

[saDgit]

Sadly it only comes in white PVC, which is a real bummer, but one that I'm going to have to live with it. I think if I tried painting it it would look good for about a week and then start to look really tatty as the paint got scratched and the white showed through.

You could possible stick black signmakers vinyl onto the outside, probably a bit more robust than paint?

Good plan, thanks Clive.

[saDgit]

Finally the Seitz window that I've been waiting for arrived and dropped straight into place in the side of the camper. It took more than three weeks to get here and not much more than three minutes to fit. But at last the shell is complete and watertight and so today I've begun dragging it out from under its gazebo in preparation for tomorrow when, with a bit more muscle power around, we'll be able to get it shifted up that step. Then we can put on the jacks, crank it up and see if it fits the pickup. If this thread suddenly stops, you'll know the answer!

[Bookend]

The camper looks fantastic. Hope it fits the truck do you have any idea of its weight?

[saDgit]

The camper looks fantastic. Hope it fits the truck do you have any idea of its weight?

Thanks very much. Hopefully there'll be pics of it on the truck later today. I was keeping a very careful record of the weight of everything that went into it to begin with but, inevitably, as the thing progressed the system broke down. For example, it included the weight of all the polyester resin I bought but I didn't actually use all of it, ditto with the plywood, and it doesn't include any weight of glues, screws, sealants, etc and there are a lot of all those things. But based on that record as far as it went, and a rough estimate of what's gone into it since, my guess is that it's at around 250kgs - it's just an empty shell of course. It's only going to be on the truck briefly today but if I get a chance I'll try and get it weighed.

[saDgit]

Tah-dah! It fits.









I didn't bother taking the tonneau cover off, which I would normally do, so the camper would usually sit another 3 or 4 inches forward but while it was on the truck I did take it and weigh it. Camper shell comes in at 230kgs which is pretty much on target - I'm hoping that the camper's dry weight when finished will be around 500kgs. Well pleased!

[zildjian]

Hmmm good day eh Martin seeing it working out

[zildjian]

Straight away there's something I meant to ask about, the legs,
are they a fixture or do they stow somewhere?

[saDgit]

Straight away there's something I meant to ask about, the legs,
are they a fixture or do they stow somewhere?

Front ones are fixed, rear ones travel in raised position (as in the pics) but then drop to lower position for de/mounting.

[saDgit]

The contents of our bin this afternoon. Among other stuff, 2+ square metres of ripped up vinyl tiles which I had laid, nicely I thought, on the camper floor - the first stage in fitting out the interior.

I was a bit dubious about going down this "self-adhesive" route but they were cheap and I only had to drive 30kms to get them. So I prepped and primed the surface carefully and as instructed and they looked OK when I left them last night. This morning though they were all over the shop - some stuck, some partially stuck, and some not stuck at all. Horrible! Needless to say where they were stuck they were really bloody stuck and have been a pain in the arse to remove but now they're all where they belong, in the bin, and tomorrow I've got to drive 60kms to get some much more expensive vinyl on the roll which is what I should have done in the first place. Serves me right for being cheap I guess.

[zildjian]

Is that a fire extinguisher? I'm slightly alarmed at the (and I have to say this) Gallic approach to 'Healthysaftey'

thats a banana skin in the shot too, I don't need to point out the connotations here