I decided to build my own Pop Top camper

97heavyweight

Active member
Whilst getting ready for my trip to Utah and to the Mountain West Overland Expo, i've been doing some interior organizing. Eventually most of these items will be attached to the exterior via t-track, but for now i'm working with what i've got. So far it's looking pretty good inside and with the tire table up out of the way it's a much needed improvement. The traction boards will be put on the passenger side wall.
 

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97heavyweight

Active member
And now the organization is done. Don’t worry the gas can is only in for this one trip. This winter it will get mounted to the exterior.
 

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97heavyweight

Active member
I just got back from a 10 day roadtrip. I covered 3500 miles with 600 miles off-road. I went through 7 states, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Idaho, and Wyoming. 5 National Parks and 1 National Monument, Great Basin, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, Arches, Rocky Mountain and Colorado National Monument. The last weekend was spent at the wonderful Overland Expo Mountain West where my truck and camper was featured in the Showcase and DIY section. I also completed Beef Basin to Elephant Hill trail in Moab which was amazing! The only issues I had along the way was two deflated air mattresses. One was an Exped which made me real sad and the other was a coleman from wal-mart which was no surprise. I ended up spending the majority of my nights on a 3" mattress topper and I have to say that a foam mattress for a camper is way better than fooling around with an air mattress. While at the Expo we experienced up to 50 mph wind gusts and I was super nervous about the canvas of my camper, but it needed to get tested at some point and it surpassed all expectations. While some of the cheaper chinese made RTTs were busy pretending to be airplanes my camper roof and canvas stayed exactly where I put it! Overall this camper is superb and amazing and I might even build a flat-bed model later on (once I get a flat-bed that is).
 

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97heavyweight

Active member
More pictures from the trip.
 

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97heavyweight

Active member
And yet even more!!
 

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dstefan

Well-known member
You did a really great job on that camper build! Ambitious project, but well executed.

Question on your trip: I have some asthma issues and the smoke around the West has kept me home the last two months. How much smoke did you encounter, and how hard was it to dodge the fires and particularly the bad smoke areas? Your pictures don’t seem to show much, and Im wondering if I‘m being too cautious.
 

97heavyweight

Active member
You did a really great job on that camper build! Ambitious project, but well executed.

Question on your trip: I have some asthma issues and the smoke around the West has kept me home the last two months. How much smoke did you encounter, and how hard was it to dodge the fires and particularly the bad smoke areas? Your pictures don’t seem to show much, and Im wondering if I‘m being too cautious.
Thanks so much!!

I encountered very little smoke on my trip down. Most of it was in Nevada and it was minimal. Southern Utah was clear and Denver area was clear. However, on the way back I hit smoke west of the Rockies all the way until I hit the north cascades on my way back to Seattle.
 

RJ Howell

Active member
Good for you dude! You built it and now travel in it! I do hope to meet you somewhere along the path of exploring!

Side note: I have a Toyota the wife says I can't play with yet.. Nice platform to build from and awaiting her okay. Till then, she just has to deal with my 2004 Overlander.. LOL!

Safe travels!
 

97heavyweight

Active member
Good for you dude! You built it and now travel in it! I do hope to meet you somewhere along the path of exploring!

Side note: I have a Toyota the wife says I can't play with yet.. Nice platform to build from and awaiting her okay. Till then, she just has to deal with my 2004 Overlander.. LOL!

Safe travels!
Thanks! I finished her up in May and I have about 1000 miles of off-road travel and maybe 5000 miles on-road with it attached.
 
Well done. This was such a great build from the start. What a great trip report and pictures. I need to get back into taking more photos. Glad to see you are putting miles on this rig, it seems to be performing great. Ive been in Utah lately as well, maybe we’ll see you next time through.
 

VanIsle_Greg

I think I need a bigger truck!
Hey there Heavyweight... love the build!
I have not been following this (I wish I had been) as I have not been on here much lately, but man this looks pretty great! I have a question for you about your roof design. It appears from the pics that I saw, that you have a small lip all the way around the edge of your roof. The thickness of the aluminum 'L' edge you used. Do you have any problems with water pooling on the roof or does your truck naturally have a bit of built in rake to it (or from being loaded)?

I put a thinner gauge aluminum drip edge/edge around my roof on my build and had some concerns about pooling. Just curious and thought I would pop in and say "Nice work"!
 

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