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Re: saDgit's flat-faced pop-top

Posted: June 27th, 2016, 11:51 am
by saDgit
TrueDink wrote:Great build. Thanks for sharing it with us. I've really enjoyed reading your posts and looking at the pictures with envy.
You're very kind, thank you.

Re: saDgit's flat-faced pop-top

Posted: June 27th, 2016, 3:42 pm
by zildjian
Think we'd all like to have a retrospective shaped camper like Martin's, we'd certainly love to see it here in UK


very much

Re: saDgit's flat-faced pop-top

Posted: June 27th, 2016, 4:19 pm
by saDgit
zildjian wrote:Think we'd all like to have a retrospective shaped camper like Martin's, we'd certainly love to see it here in UK


very much
Thank you Zildjian. Hopefully next year's gathering?

Re: saDgit's flat-faced pop-top

Posted: June 30th, 2016, 7:52 am
by derestrictor
and when is the maiden voyage then sadgit? its been such a long time it seems since starting it 8-)

Re: saDgit's flat-faced pop-top

Posted: July 7th, 2016, 9:50 am
by saDgit
derestrictor wrote:and when is the maiden voyage then sadgit? its been such a long time it seems since starting it 8-)
Not exactly a maiden voyage, more a sort of shakedown and snagging trip, but we took the camper up to the Verdon and the Lac de Ste-Croix to give it a bit of a go and see if anything dropped off, fell apart, or didn't work. Parked up in one of our favourite spots on the lakeside in the shade of the oaks. Sadly at weekends it's everybody else's favourite spot as well but mid-week, or better still mid-winter, it's a beautiful place to be!
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We made sure our route included a fair number of bumpy roads, hairpin bends, roundabouts and speed bumps (all of which are in plentiful supply around here) and I'm pleased to say the outfit drove beautifully - not fully loaded by any means, but with full tanks (diesel, water and gas) and some clutter. When I checked the chains and turnbuckles after a few miles there had been some 'relaxation' on the heavier side of the camper as it had settled into the bed - pretty much as you'd expect really and very simple to remedy by cranking up the turnbuckles. From then on it was rock solid. :D

Incidentally I'm trying it with three sets of chains and turnbuckles on each side at the moment. Two of those are tied down to eyebolts in the corners of the pickup bed, as is fairly standard. Although they pull forwards and backwards satisfactorily, because I've made the floor of the camper as wide as possible they don't apply a particularly strong pull outwards, especially at the front end. So I'm trying it with a third set of turnbuckles and chains running from the camper's front tie-downs to eyebolts fixed into existing threaded holes in the reinforced upper front corners of the bed. So they're applying a constant pull forwards and sideways. It's early days but they seem to be doing the business.
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As to the snagging, nothing dropped off or fell apart and, after a momentary confusion as to why the gas wasn't coming through to the hob (it helps if you turn it on! :oops: ), everything worked.

Re: saDgit's flat-faced pop-top

Posted: July 8th, 2016, 6:54 am
by zildjian
Hurrah then, must be reassuring to find you're on right track after all, do the gas taps come multi-lingual I can always run you off some big round stickers in both red & green if thats helpful

Re: saDgit's flat-faced pop-top

Posted: July 8th, 2016, 7:03 am
by saDgit
zildjian wrote:Hurrah then, must be reassuring to find you're on right track after all, do the gas taps come multi-lingual I can always run you off some big round stickers in both red & green if thats helpful
No, the taps are quite clear. It's the mind that's a fog! :lol: :lol:

Re: saDgit's flat-faced pop-top

Posted: July 8th, 2016, 6:08 pm
by keeflester
saDgit wrote:
zildjian wrote:Hurrah then, must be reassuring to find you're on right track after all, do the gas taps come multi-lingual I can always run you off some big round stickers in both red & green if thats helpful
No, the taps are quite clear. It's the mind that's a fog! :lol: :lol:
Oh bugger, you sound just like me! No good can come of this. LOL

Re: saDgit's flat-faced pop-top

Posted: February 11th, 2017, 2:45 pm
by saDgit
Spending my day removing the aluminium trim, Sikaflex and butyl sealant from the front of the camper to find and eliminate the source of this discolouration of the ply. Water's obviously got in somehow.

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Depressing job but I guess it serves me right for not doing it properly first time :-( No Apollo jokes please! ;-)

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Re: saDgit's flat-faced pop-top

Posted: August 12th, 2018, 1:51 pm
by saDgit
Well, it's more than 18 months since that last depressing post in February 2017 so I figure an update is probably overdue.

Having got rid of all the sealant and Sikaflex and the aluminium trim - which of course, once stuck, is impossible to remove without seriously distorting it and so rendering it useless :x - I got that front corner completely dried out. But, even then, I couldn't get rid of that discolouration of the ply which was a bit of a drag. Once wood has been wet you can't hide the fact!

Anyway, undaunted, I carefully resealed the camper's front panel - new Sikaflex, new butyl sealant and new aluminium profile - and then got on with life confident that I'd fixed the problem. But sod me when we got back here in May having been away travelling since February (not in this camper obviously) that discolouration had spread further, presumably because more water had found a way in. :x :evil: :twisted: None of these emojis are angry enough!!

So there was no option but to go at it with a hammer and a wrecking bar! Off with the all the trim, the sealant and the Sikaflex again but also, this time, off with the whole front panel as well. And, oh boy, was that stuck well! I ended up having to pry it off in dozens of small, splintered pieces. But, in the process, I did discover the source of the leak and all the subsequent problems - "every cloud" as they say.

It was that marker light. I had assumed because of the shape of the discolouration that the water was getting in further up the joint and then settling down in that corner. But the opposite seems to have been true - it was getting in low down in the panel and then creeping up the joint. What a pain!

Anyway, this is the result ...

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... completely new panel and, once again, new trim, sealant, etc. But no front marker lights. Needless to say, I'm keeping a sharp on the rear ones now - same design but, so far anyway, no problems. (Note, I'm blaming the design of the light - nothing to do with the way I fitted it! :lol: :oops: )

Sadly it's going to take about 2 years of bleaching in the sun before the new panel matches the rest of the camper. It all started out that colour.