Custom build pop-up camper

[andy.and.beyond]

Here are a few more shots of the camper

Another shot of my set up to lower the roof and bring the shocks forward. I forgot to make sure I could reach the top to close it. But the 80/20 has been very forgiving with stuff like this.

I don't think I ever showed too many shots of how I mounted the canvas so here you go. There was probably a better way to do it where I didn't have a million little parts to make but it's done. I really hope the gaskets I used work out well

Here is also a shot of how I got the ~65 screws for the roof aligned. I placed some 2x4's under the roof and slowly pulled they out and aligned the screws along the way. The corners were longer to rough it in.

 

[justbecause]

I love seeing stuff getting built on a frontier.

After you work out the bugs and get ready to make another one I'll be ready to make a trip out west.

 

[revbillyg]

Great work. Would love to know how much you have into it by the time you are done. Going to guess substantially less than a GFC.

 

[02rangeredge]

Was your interior shot taken before installing the shocks? If not what are you putting in in place of the 2x4 and bottle jack?

 

[andy.and.beyond]

I love seeing stuff getting built on a frontier.

After you work out the bugs and get ready to make another one I'll be ready to make a trip out west.

Something other than the Iphone of trucks is always nice huh? lol

hahah Not sure I'm quiet ready to go into the camper business.

 

[andy.and.beyond]

Great work. Would love to know how much you have into it by the time you are done. Going to guess substantially less than a GFC.

I haven't kept great track of this but if you don't count the stuff I bought and then decided to do something different I'm in it for maybe $3000 and probably 150+ hrs of build time....but my shop manager is pretty relaxed and lets me watch TV while I work.

 

[andy.and.beyond]

Was your interior shot taken before installing the shocks? If not what are you putting in in place of the 2x4 and bottle jack?

That interior shot was taken while I was moving the shocks forward to lower the roof height so I could reach up and close it. I jacked the roof up enough to disconnect the shocks, slid the mounting plates forward, lowered the roof in place with the jack and then hooked the shocks back up. I've done this entire thing without an extra set of hands so I have to get creative sometimes.

 

[plh]

Great work. Would love to know how much you have into it by the time you are done. Going to guess substantially less than a GFC.

For sure labor hours at GFC are not free, so OP says 150 hours... Shop rate $60/ hr (that would be cheap), that is $9k in labor. I am sure that GFC has a lot less hours into it.

 

[revbillyg]

For sure labor hours at GFC are not free, so OP says 150 hours... Shop rate $60/ hr (that would be cheap), that is $9k in labor. I am sure that GFC has a lot less hours into it.

I'm not arguing you get a deal on the other campers. But I figured that person that can do it themselves would certainly love to save a few thousand dollars. Time is money, but money is money too. Not everyone needs to pay a shop to build for them. Usually the hardest part of building isn't the actual labor, but the process of designing a decent solution that works.

Anyways, I love this build so far and looking forward to seeing it completed!!

 

[andy.and.beyond]

For sure labor hours at GFC are not free, so OP says 150 hours... Shop rate $60/ hr (that would be cheap), that is $9k in labor. I am sure that GFC has a lot less hours into it.

I'm not arguing you get a deal on the other campers. But I figured that person that can do it themselves would certainly love to save a few thousand dollars. Time is money, but money is money too. Not everyone needs to pay a shop to build for them. Usually the hardest part of building isn't the actual labor, but the process of designing a decent solution that works.

Anyways, I love this build so far and looking forward to seeing it completed!!

If I was getting paid to build it I'd probably fire myself lol, I'm on my phone all the time, I watch TV, I never clean up after myself and I work sorta slow. That's just cause it should be semi relaxing since I've put a ton of my free time in this the last few months. given some different equipment and tweaking the design I'm sure you could get the hours down a bunch and its easier when you aren't doing one off parts all the time. Even if I break "even" when you factor materials, and my labor (as what I make at my day job) it is worth it since i'd get it 6-10 months faster than a GFC. I'm just a little antsy since I wanna get it functional before it starts hitting 100+ out here in southern AZ

 

[revbillyg]

I'm just a little antsy since I wanna get it functional before it starts hitting 100+ out here in southern AZ

Bad idea to give your location! We will be asking a show and tell!

 

[andy.and.beyond]

Getting a calm drizzle so I had to check out how it's holding up. Looks like no roof leaks and the lower portion of the tent is dry, side panels, and plexiglass front are dry as well. I'll still have to see how it holds up to driving in the rain and camping in windy rain. So far so good!

 

[02rangeredge]

Getting a calm drizzle so I had to check out how it's holding up. Looks like no roof leaks and the lower portion of the tent is dry, side panels, and plexiglass front are dry as well. I'll still have to see how it holds up to driving in the rain and camping in windy rain. So far so good!

I missed something-where'd you use plexi? How'd you go about holding it in? I replaced an aluminium truck cap window with plexi- and just as food for thought if you're unsatisfied with your mount, they come apart really easily, the frame is very easy to work with, and they're practically given away anymore

 

[andy.and.beyond]

I missed something-where'd you use plexi? How'd you go about holding it in? I replaced an aluminium truck cap window with plexi- and just as food for thought if you're unsatisfied with your mount, they come apart really easily, the frame is very easy to work with, and they're practically given away anymore

I have plexiglas for the entire panel at the front of the camper. This is the best picture I got of it. I just used a bunch of double sided tape. ignore the crack.....i got a bit aggressive with the jig saw.

Side note: you can see the EPDM foam rubber strips I used as a gasket between the 80/20 and steel frame.

 

[02rangeredge]

I have plexiglas for the entire panel at the front of the camper. This is the best picture I got of it. I just used a bunch of double sided tape. ignore the crack.....i got a bit aggressive with the jig saw.

Side note: you can see the EPDM foam rubber strips I used as a gasket between the 80/20 and steel frame.

I looked through the pictures and that was one of the only locations I could think of- no worries of the double sided tape failing?