Recent content by rickgibbs

If I were to do it again, I would have gone from 3/16 to 1/8 aluminum since the purpose of the exoskeleton is to keep the panels aligned while gluing and provide some strength. The panels glued to each other paired with the internal cabinetry makes the thing rock solid. I don't see why...

Here is one picture of the completed camper from our trip this summer. I was pretty stoked that nothing broke, leaked, or caught fire.

Finished and went on a nice trip this summer. I got consumed with the build and let the posting die off. Over the holiday, my plan is to update the thread with the rest of the build and start posting again on the updates I am making.

This build thread has been amazing to follow, I am learning so much. Curious, what was the final weight of the 4x8 panel?

Wow, that's so clean.

I'm curious if you ended up trying this out?

Per side. We had to work hard to spread it thin enough and always had an extra tube laying around if we came up short on a panel.

I think I used 4 bottles total. We also glued the panels to each other but no joints on the inside

Thats amazing. A buddy called them butterfly rivets and I guess that stuck. They are tri-fold rivets that I got here:

The camper started to finally take shape (literally) after we installed the panels. Before installing each panel, we scuffed the gel coat on the FRP and primed it along with the aluminum with Sika 207. We used VHB to create a spacing for the glue (Sika 252) on each of the profiles then held...

Whoops. yeah, 1.6mm For gluing up the panels, I think we went through 2 - 28oz tubes of PL per 4x8 panel. For mounting the panels to the frame, I think we ended up in the 30-40 10oz tubes of Sika 252 but I lost count along the way. I ended up with multiple orders to mcmaster along the way...

I ordered a roll of FRP from Vetroresina and they were amazing to work with. I started posting about my build in a thread here

One of the more daunting aspects of the build was welding the aluminum exoskeleton for me since I have never welded before. Luckily, I was able to meet a local welding instructor that was willing to help with the frame and allow me to be an apprentice during the process. We had 3/16"...

Both companies were amazing to work with especially since I was a newbie working with these materials. The shipping is what will kill you in the end, but it was worth it to secure the proper materials.

Thanks. We are cranking along and hoping to get more posted in the next day or so. I think it was around $2800 for a 200ft roll that was 96" wide, it weighed like 900lbs on the pallet. My next post has the construction of the exo skeleton, then I'll post the glue up stage. We used 5052 and...