Pop Up Surf Camper for PNW

[Surftransplant]

The use of the 80/20 for the top portion is a good idea. How long do you figure you can cantilever it out over the cab? Personally on any of these designs I'd personally like to see the portion over the cab as long as possible. With two kids and two adults we'll be squeezing four of us something like this.

Thanks! Yeah, I'm excited about that. The renders may be a bit deceptive, because the steel frame extends forward as well to provide a lip for the sleeping platform to mount to (see attached image). It extends past the upright support over the cab 30" at the moment. I'm torn about which steel bar to use for that. I was originally planning to use 1/4" x 2 1/2", but I'm wondering if using that thickness for the entire top of the frame is excessive. Switching down to 1/8" bar would cut approximately 32 lbs up high where it counts. If I took that approach I would add a welded piece of bar oriented 90 degrees to the extending portions to give the overhang more stiffness making a T profile. More welding - less material.

I'm using 80/20s 15 series 1.5" x 3" Light Smooth Extrusion : https://8020.net/1530-ls-black.html

In my design that overhanging portion is the foot area of the sleeping platform. Setting it forward up there gives me 24" of standing space behind the sleeping platform for getting up and down with everything still closed up. The sleeping area measures 52" x 78" so there is room for a full size mattress. For your application I would go wider and a bit longer overall. One limitation of using 80/20 is they don't ship lengths over 102" that drove the maximum length of my top frame but I'm sure there would be some way around it.

 

[plh]

not sure how well that 8020 hinge system is going to work with the gasket. I believe the gasket needs a minimum gap when closed of 0.25", and the way I understand the hinge is they make are designed for no gap. I'm building something very similar as yours, opted to go with 3 aluminum standard type hinges (McMaster 1609A1), with drill my own holes to get location correct to properly gap. I am making top and bottom 8020 sections flush to each other all the way around. 1530-LS top and 1545-LS bottom. 0.08" thick aluminum sheet for roof and sides. 1.5" square x 0.065" wall steel tubing for the lower unit.

Did you source the Plascore locally? How many square feet? looks like 110 according to your google sheet. So ~$9.59 / sqft. Locally, I have bought cut to size 0.08" thick aluminum for $6.03 / sqft. I am at 95 sqft for aluminum sheet.

 

[Surftransplant]

not sure how well that 8020 hinge system is going to work with the gasket. I believe the gasket needs a minimum gap when closed of 0.25", and the way I understand the hinge is they make are designed for no gap. I'm building something very similar as yours, opted to go with 3 aluminum standard type hinges (McMaster 1609A1), with drill my own holes to get location correct to properly gap. I am making top and bottom 8020 sections flush to each other all the way around. 1530-LS top and 1545-LS bottom. 0.08" thick aluminum sheet for roof and sides. 1.5" square x 0.065" wall steel tubing for the lower unit.

Did you source the Plascore locally? How many square feet? looks like 110 according to your google sheet. So ~$9.59 / sqft. Locally, I have bought cut to size 0.08" thick aluminum for $6.03 / sqft. I am at 95 sqft for aluminum sheet.

Hey there, I'm planning on using some .25" G10 spacers under the hinges to allow for the necessary gap for the gasket. I liked these pivot arm assemblies because I could mount them with one arm going back along one side of the extrusion and another arm going 90 degrees along the other side.

I didn't get a square footage quote for the plascore, but ordered all of the panels custom from Plascore in MI with freight. It was pretty reasonable but I would rather not share their quote just to be cool to those guys. If you reach out to them they were really helpful in quoting out the material. The other thing I liked Plascore for was the insulation. The sides and roof are 1/2" honeycomb and the sleeping platform panels are 1" thick. Going with them just matched up with my goals.

 

[shirk]

Looks like you're using full square tube for most of your frame?

With panels bonded in to the structure I think an L profile would be sufficient and much lighter.

Have a look at how Cartech in France does it.

https://www.facebook.com/cellulecartech/

 

[plh]

This build inspired me:

https://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/custom-build-pop-up-camper.200540/

 

[Surftransplant]

Looks like you're using full square tube for most of your frame?

With panels bonded in to the structure I think an L profile would be sufficient and much lighter.

Have a look at how Cartech in France does it.

https://www.facebook.com/cellulecartech/

I'm using 1" x 1.5" x .12" Rectangular Tube for the uprights on the frame but doing the rest out of .125" x 2 1/2" flat bar. The flat bar makes a lip for the sleeping platform to rest on and provides a base for the 80/20 extrusions to bolt to. You are probably right that I could go with angle for the uprights, the weight of the steel frame should be around 110lbs right now as is and I'm pretty happy with that.

 

[Surftransplant]

This build inspired me:

https://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/custom-build-pop-up-camper.200540/

Thanks for sharing that is a very helpful thread with a lot of the same challenges! Seemed like he didn't have issues with the flex of the 80/20 in the overhang over the cab... I'm leaning toward welding some 1/8" x 2" steel bar under the overhanging part of my steel frame to make a T profile and add some rigidity. Trying to balance weight with rigidity. Ordering the steel this week, weld up is scheduled for 7/20

 

[plh]

Thanks for sharing that is a very helpful thread with a lot of the same challenges! Seemed like he didn't have issues with the flex of the 80/20 in the overhang over the cab... I'm leaning toward welding some 1/8" x 2" steel bar under the overhanging part of my steel frame to make a T profile and add some rigidity. Trying to balance weight with rigidity. Ordering the steel this week, weld up is scheduled for 7/20

80/20 in a 1.5" x 3" profile isn't going to flex in the over hang section. I'll be overhanging 24". Not worried. Their books have bend moment calculations for every profile if you care to calc it out.

 

[Surftransplant]

80/20 in a 1.5" x 3" profile isn't going to flex in the over hang section. I'll be overhanging 24". Not worried. Their books have bend moment calculations for every profile if you care to calc it out.

Thanks for the helpful input. I’ll look into that further.

I was thinking with the distributed weight of the top frame, the extrusions on the bottom frame, the roof, anything mounted to the roof rack (multiple surfboards or paddle board), and 2 people in the bed might be enough to flex it.

Will do some calcs but it’s nice to hear how other people are approaching it.

 

[Surftransplant]

Thanks for the helpful input. I’ll look into that further.

I was thinking with the distributed weight of the top frame, the extrusions on the bottom frame, the roof, anything mounted to the roof rack (multiple surfboards or paddle board), and 2 people in the bed might be enough to flex it.

Will do some calcs but it’s nice to hear how other people are approaching it.

80/20 in a 1.5" x 3" profile isn't going to flex in the over hang section. I'll be overhanging 24". Not worried. Their books have bend moment calculations for every profile if you care to calc it out.

They now provide a deflection calculator on their website that is very helpful. You're right, it's only .09" with a 30" overhang and my maximum expected load. Shouldn't have any issues. https://8020.net/deflection-calculator

 

[Surftransplant]

I apologize for the radio silence but my summer has been insanely busy. I also didn't have a computer after turning in my work one mid July until last week when I bought one before grad school. I am happy to say that the camper is complete enough to be used and I have stayed in it a few nights over the last couple weeks up in the PNW. A lot of ground to cover in these posts but I'll start in the beginning with the welded frame.

My original design for the frame was much closer to GFC's - using round tube and lots of sexy angles. After discussing the complexity of cutting all of those birds-mouth joints with the welder I was working with I simplified it down and went with a rectangular tube and flat bar frame - trying to distill it down to it's simplest form. It ended up looking a lot like a wimpy version of a lumber rack with gusseted corners and thin bar on top.

All of the rectangular tube was 1.5" x 1" x .125" the bar was 2.5" x .125"
I had never worked with steel before, am lucky enough to have great friends, acquainted myself with my buddy Marcus' portable band saw and got to cutting. I finished the angles on the cuts using his bench grinder - setting the rest to the desired angle and grinding (close as I could) to the finished angle.





The uprights and flat bar needed holes drilled in them to mount them to the extruded aluminum frame. There were 16 holes for this purpose in the flat bar, 12 additional holes for mounting the sleeping platform panel in the overhanging portion of the frame, and holes in the uprights for mounting the gas struts. I got pretty familiar with Marcus' drill press.

I got started on Tuesday and had all of my parts ready by Friday. Saturday was the day Craig (welder friend) and I agreed to meet up. We started at 7 am and had the frame welded up (with a couple minor hiccups) by 1pm. I decided to mount it to the bed with some camper mounting clamps for tacoma rails from Amazon, ditched the top portion of the clamp and we welded some bar that I had cut lengthwise hanging off the inside of the frame. Drilled a hole for the bolts and used the nuts that came with the clamps to clamp the welded frame onto the bed. I had to stabilize the overhang with some wood because it was so flimsy (without the extruded aluminum frame) so it looked goofy but lasted the drive down to OR to start etching, priming, and painting.



Once down in OR I was working at my buddy Andrew's place in Seaside. We built a spray booth in the garage. Acid etched the frame outside (Craig's awesome suggestion) then I primed it with 3 coats of epoxy primer and painted it with 2 coats of paint. I was brand new to using a HVLP spray gun and it was a lot messier than anticipated. Some things I learned:

Set up is crucial - getting the angle of your part hung correctly so you can coat it without tilting the gun too far is key, be sure you're well protected for overspray, and get as good a ventilation solution as you can. Even with a recommended respirator, goggles, and tyvek suit this was one of the hardest parts of the whole project. It got easier as I got better at it but I have a new respect for anyone who does automotive painting for a living. It is not easy. If you build your own paint booth for automotive spraying I highly recommend putting cardboard down on the ground, this will help prevent your suit from sticking to the ground and pulling up your drop cloth while you're trying to paint - which is not a good time.

I used Fibreglast's Black High Solids Epoxy primer with their Duraglast Single Stage Polyurethane Paint as a top coat.

Really happy with those products, I think my process could still improve ha. Once I completed the frame I was stuck for about a week waiting on the panels and extrusions to show up. Will start that in the next post

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

Great job thus far! I look forward to following along.

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

Watching

 

[Surftransplant]

Thanks for the feedback and encouragement guys. To keep things going, after about a week the Plascore panels and 80/20 extrusions showed up. Had to ship the panels freight because of their footprint.


To give a quick overview there are two rectangular frames made from 3" x 1.5" 80/20 extrusion with internal brackets, one that mounts to the welded steel frame (with bolts and stainless M8 T Nuts) and one that mounts to the first with pivot joints from 80/20 and gas struts from Guden. The Roof panel is mounted to the top frame with uneven aluminum angle that I etched and painted black to match. The top panel is mounted with the bolts going down through the angle, through the panel, through neoprene foam tape, and into t nuts in the top frame. The goal with this method was to compress the foam tape adequately to ensure waterproof-ness, ensure that the foam tape wasn't exposed to UV, and get a nice clean low profile visual.

Andrew's dog Cali napping on the assembled roof panel above.

Aside from the main camper, the sleeping platform required building up 3 1" thick Plascore panels trimmed with 1.25" x 1.25" x .125" aluminum U channel. I had a hard time finding any aluminum edge cap or trim to fit 1" panels, I am actually very happy with the additional strength from the Uchannel, there is little or no flex with 2 people up on the sleeping platform which is great. You can check out one of the completed panels below.



Building up the panels that didn't need any painting was much easier than building up the panels for the outside of the camper. I set up another paint tent (a week after the first one, built with 2x4s this time). Something I didn't realize when I built a paint booth with 2x4s and clear plastic is that you could also call that a greenhouse. In July with hot weather this made it almost impossible to spray for 30-40 min at a time without my goggles fogging up with sweat and feeling like I had trapped myself in a "glass case of emotion".

I learned that with any metallic paint SHAKE FOR A LONG TIME. Some of the panels have a bit more sparkle than other but in general I was happy with how they turned out for my first automotive painting project. I initially didn't realize this paint would require a clear coat but after painting it I realized how delicate it was and ended up deciding to pick up an acrylic automotive clear coat locally and slap that on to give the panels a lot more durability. I realized this after already mounting the trim to the panels so I taped off the trim for the clear coat which is the blue tape you can see. I wanted to mount the camper on the truck in a relatively light form because it was just lifted by Andrew and I so we lifted the steel frame up on there with just two panels mounted in, the front panel (too hard to install later) and the front sleeping platform. The sleeping platform is mounted with 1/4" x 20 machine screws top down through the panel then the steel frame with washers and nylocks on the bottom. I did this to try and keep sharp edges or protrusions that might tear the mattress down but overall I think it looks fine. The pictures below were taken when I was test fitting the those panels.



After mounting the trim and mounting the frame on the truck the next step was to mount the continuous plastic hinges to the panels, mount the latches, and mount the aluminum gas strut plates. I judged from GFC's approach and just what looked right that the hinges needed a fastener about every 1". Which meant 60-80 fasteners per panel. The method I figured out to drill all of those holes was mounting the plastic hinge to the trim with weatherproof mounting doublesided gorillatape then building a fence on and drilling those on my friend's drill press.



Out of images for now. See next post.

 

[Surftransplant]

Once the hinges were mounted to the panels, the other half of those hinges was mounted to the painted steel frame with neoprene adhesive tape from McMaster Carr. The aluminum frame was then mounted ontop of those hinges (with all of the nuts already paced to align with the holes). Some of these pictures were from when I was test fitting the panels. I didn't take as many as I wished I had while mounting the next frame ontop of the hinges.



Here are some shots of the roof already mounted ontop of the bottom aluminum frame with the side panels mounted. At this point there weren't gast struts mounted to hold the whole situation up, but it was good enough to drive down to CA to the sail loft I used to work out where I could build the tent and take it to the next step. Please let me know if you have questions, happy to answer.