Offroad popup camper build (4 Viewers)

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I was also concerned as I approach the finish of this thing and it approaches it's final weight that the suspension could compress enough on a bump where the tires would come in contact with the underside of the floor. If this happened, it could remove the finish on the wood, thus exposing raw wood and having the potential for water damage. So I had some stainless sheet metal kicking around the shop that I cut up and buttoned on the underside of the floor above the tires. This way if such a compression were to happen, it'll polish a little stainless rather than damage the camper.

Road gravel picked up by the tires will also cut into exposed wood.
 
Nick,
This thing looks amazing! Nice work! Where ya headed b4 CM? Also, u staying at BFE?

Ray, we're headed to the Maze District of Canyonlands NP. All the way out to the Dollhouse going in through Hite. We leave Tuesday and get back next weekend. PM me yer email, as I never got those pics from you from Golden Spike last year.

We haven't settled on where we're camping yet for CM09. We're going Tuesday and doing an Aspen run Wednesday with a bunch of the Snowmass fire guys/Mountain Ambulance guys. Let me know if you want to go out with us.

Hope all is well with you and yours. See ya soon!

Road gravel picked up by the tires will also cut into exposed wood.

10-4, but I don't think it will expose the wood on the underside as that is sealed, primed, and covered with spray on bedliner. I just don't think the bedliner would hold up to tire rub, especially at speed.
 
Crunch time...

On the interior I wired a 12V outlet into the front PS cabinet to power my thermoelectric cooler ( or other appliances, accessories, or my inverter). I wired this into it's own circuit on the Blue Sea fuse block.



I also mounted my CO/explosive gas detector on the PS bench nearest the rear bunkend. This just runs on a 9V battery which I will hook up and disconnect for each trip.
 
Now for the big stuff...

I hung the canvas.:grinpimp:

:cool:


This was the only vinyl window that needed repairs, which I completed.


I also cut down the ladder so it allows the door to open freely, I installed snaps to hold the flap down (the old ones in this location were broken), and I installed the RV "certified electrical, plumbing, heating, blah, blah, blah plate outside the door.;p


The two front corners on the double bunkend need repair.


Here you can see one of the snaps on the DS as well as the hatch for the shore power.


There was one small hole about the size of a quarter on the rear PS bunk canvas that needed repair. Here's my patch.


Lastly, a bubble level just inside the door to ensure we're flying straight.
 
lookin good
how did you patch the windows

The thickest vinyl tape I could find inside and out. I'm rethinking this though, and thinking I should find a clear pliable adhesive and use a clear vinyl inner tube from Wal-Mart for my patch material.
 
sounds like a better plan i dont know if i would trust the tape im sure if you check an rv store they could come up with some suggestions.

I actually got the tape idea from a popup forum. It seems to be the norm, but I'd like something beefier. There were four small holes in that one window that needed to be repaired, so that would only be like 1/8 of an inner tube.;)
 
The two corners of canvas on the front bunk were split at the seam from 30 years of being slung over those relatively sharp plywood corners. I rounded the wood a little first then I cut two layers of duck canvas, glued them together to form a thick patch, then glued them onto the corners. Now it's like a super-reinforced corner, which is exactly what it needed in the first place.

Here are the two corners after repair.



Since my only water usage is the sink, and since I don't have room, there is no grey water tank. I installed an evacuation flange and plumbed it into the sink p-trap.

You can see it here to the bottom right of the furnace exhaust.


Lastly, I finished my alder cabinet doors, my laminate countertop from Lowe's, and the rest of the upper galley. I'll try and get a better shot of the cabinet door hardware, but it is kind of a retro chrome look like you might see in a diner. All in all, I'm happy with the way it turned out. The stove and sink are original, but the faucet is a laundry faucet from Lowe's. It swivels and has a hose adapter aerator. The hot line is capped as I do not have a water heater.
 
That counter looks great! I can't believe the top notch work i see on this site so often! I know you will but I can't wait to hear the road report!
 
Way to go. You've been flying on this project.
 
simply amazing how quickly you got er dun.... love the cupboards/counter.. when do we get to see an outdoor pic and one hooked up to the rig....
 
The thickest vinyl tape I could find inside and out. I'm rethinking this though, and thinking I should find a clear pliable adhesive and use a clear vinyl inner tube from Wal-Mart for my patch material.

headlight film? Motorcycle Headlight Protection Film - webBikeWorld

sweet build- I had the beginnings of something similar but offed it in a moment of frustration, glad I can live vicariously through this thread.
 
Looks like fun!
 
awesome job-----looks great
 
Thanks guys for the kind words and encouragement. It was a real labor trying to get this thing done in time for our trip. As you can see from Will's video as well as well as a couple of mine on my youtube channel ( YouTube - Atoyot1031's Channel ), the trailer performed very well.

I only ran into two hiccups. The first one was before we hit dirt. With the camper loaded down and the water tank filled, the suspension was going to be bottoming out more than I was comfortable with. So I took swampman's suggestion and made some bumpstops. Will & I drove around Hanksville, UT going through trashpiles and hitting up random people, and came up with some 2by scraps. Add a little duct tape and you've got functioning bumpstops.:hillbilly:
bumpstop.jpg

We had to replace them a couple times as they fell out, but we had spares, and these things worked like a charm. Once we got back on Tuesday I ordered some urethane bumpstops to permanently and in a slightly more aesthetically pleasing manner address the bumpstop issue.

The other small issue I ran into was that after we wheeled into our first camping spot, my Lock N Roll trailer coupler looked like this.:whoops:
locknroll.jpg

After another three days of towing it around like that 100 miles from nowhere, my hitch looked like this.:eek:
locknroll hitch.jpg

All things considered, the thing performed better than expectations, but as I had planned. Camping in such a remote spot with the comforts of a camper made the whole experience great for my young family. We're prolly gonna take it out this weekend, although no real wheeling, just camping and fishing.

:cheers:
Nick
bumpstop.jpg
locknroll.jpg
locknroll hitch.jpg
 
That Lock-n-Roll looks like all the ones I've seen that have been jackknifed. The trailer end will tip vertical in some jackknife situations and then you lose the roll axis (or part of it). If you continue to back up it twists like that because it has bound up.

I haven't had any problems with my Lock-n-Roll yet, but I haven't ever been forced to jackknife the trailer hard. Until my Lokc-n-Roll gets mangled it's gonna have the starting roll, but the day it looks like yours will be the day I order a Max Coupler from Adventure Trailers. Pretty sure they've addressed this problem in their design.
 
I should have mentioned more about this issue. I was aware of the jack knifing twisting that some have experienced. When I ordered from Lock N Roll I spoke to them about this. They said that they are addressing it in a new design, but that the design is not in production yet. Furthermore, they said if I had any issues with it, they'd replace it.

I think the thing got twisted up on the spot that Will posted above. As you can see, I didn't jack knife it, but perhaps the rotation limiter played into the equation.

At any rate, I called them Tuesday on my return and told them that I pretzel'd the thing as well as the hitch. They said the replacement will be sent out today at the latest.

For the replacement, I had them send me the receiver hitch type as I'm gonna add a 2" receiver tube to the trailer. That way if there are any further issues, it will be super easy to address. Also, the receiver tube type does not have a rotation limiter.

What I was thoroughly impressed by was that even though I F'd up this coupler and hitch rather royally, I was still comfortable towing with them in their current state. As a matter of fact, I'm taking it out this weekend like that as we will just be doing pavement and some forest service roads.

Adam, you'll be able to check it out in person in a couple weeks if I catch up with you at CM10.:cheers:
 
I was super impressed with how this trailer handled the 100 mile offroad journey and the craftmanship is top notch. Great work

The McGyver award clearly goes to Nick, the guy that can dig through some random trashpiles while risking being bitten by some local dogs, get the gas station attendant to lend him a circular saw and then use duct tape to fix a suspension issue.
 

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