5x10 Rigid Pop-Up with Foam

[kipa]

Wireless camera and center marker/signal/brake light mounted (not wired).

 

[kipa]

After several hours of direct sun with the cover closed and similar outdoor temperature, the thermals don't appear to be a lot different, but unlike the earlier pre-paneled cover, I can hold my hand on the panels everywhere except for where the spacers are. The camera doesn't really pick it up well, but there is at least a 20 degree difference between the sections. You can also see that with the cover open there is a cooler area at the leading edges, so some convective cooling is clearly happening.

Will that make any difference at all?? I'm not sure, but it can't be worse than double sided taping them directly to the surface.
Before:

After:

It is definitely cooler under the cover though.

 

[kipa]

Main door panel built and mounting tracks installed. I still need to build the fill panels for the sides when turned as a door and trim/weather seal, but so far everything is working together as expected.

I enjoy the fact that it no longer appears to be a janky project from the rear. (Just don't pull up on the unpainted sides . . )

 

[kipa]

I've been plugging along mostly with panel trims and water sealing, but today I got the light and camera wired in. Both are EXCELLENT.

The camera is the Autovox wireless, with only one camera at this point. It will handle up to 3. Signal and picture quality are top tier, so no complaints, and it also records. While I don't really need the side cameras, I can imagine using them separately for security with a quick relocate of the receiver display which would be easy to do.

The light is the "True Mods 16 Inch 12 Red LED Trailer Light Bar Strip [Brake + Sequential Turn Signal][DOT FMVSS 108 SAE S2I6U2PS] IP67 Submersible Rear Running Center Marker ID Tail Lightbar 80" Marine Boat Trailer" according to the Amazon listing. It's top quality as well, made in the US, and very well sealed with a tight grommet at the wire entry as well as epoxy sealed assembly screws. It's shouldn't leak or fail from water, and the lights work great.

I left plenty of slack, including a mid-cover service loop for later connections. I'll likely use a transfer switch for my solar generator so I can use it for powering interior lights as well when not connected to the car.

 

[kipa]

Getting close on this. I just need to make the two upper side panels and install some buckles to secure everything once weather sealed.

The rear walls are 1/2" ply, luan, and prefab fiberglass sheet from Home Depot. Trim rails are 3/4"x1/16" angle and 3/4" channel. The rails are too tight a fit out of the box, so some sanding of the angle and tweaking of the channel to widen it was necessary, but now it's a snug-ish fit without being impossible to separate.

I will need to add some lower channel bracing on the deck for the door section to fit in so that it doesn't scoot around with flexing of the door opening and closing.

 

[kipa]

The upper panels are going to be 1" XPS core for weight savings as well as a little extra width to fill gaps at the corners that would be more challenging with the 1/2" ply.

 

[Pmullen503]

That is very clever using the door as the back gate and then turning it upright to use as a door. Looking forward to seeing how you button up the sides.

 

[kipa]

That is very clever using the door as the back gate and then turning it upright to use as a door. Looking forward to seeing how you button up the sides.

We'll certainly see the first time I deal with driving rain.

The vertical joints are what have me the most concerned about water getting to the wood. Everything else is designed to shed. I'll be doing an extended drip edge from the top panel, but that can only do so much if it's coming down sideways.

 

[kipa]

Worked on the final two rear panels today. All laminated from yesterday and added trim today. Still have work to do on them, but they seem to fit as intended when I set them loosely in position.

They are certainly a lot lighter than the 1/2" ply pieces.

The gaps will obviously go away as I add weather seal and buckles.

 

[Pmullen503]

We'll certainly see the first time I deal with driving rain.

The vertical joints are what have me the most concerned about water getting to the wood. Everything else is designed to shed. I'll be doing an extended drip edge from the top panel, but that can only do so much if it's coming down sideways.

Exactly. I always assume water is eventually going to get past any seal or joint and plan to get rid of as much as possible via drains or gutters. I also seal any wood that may get wet as well as I can.

 

[kipa]

Didn't work on it at all today aside from testing the fit of panels with weatherstripping installed. Spent most of the day trying to figure out if my garage door opener needs replaced or can be fixed. Going with 'fixed' for now. Will have to wait on the part to see . . .

 

[kipa]

Didn't work on it at all today aside from testing the fit of panels with weatherstripping installed. Spent most of the day trying to figure out if my garage door opener needs replaced or can be fixed. Going with 'fixed' for now. Will have to wait on the part to see . . .

View attachment 2486675

Side note: MD closed cell weather stripping adhesive ABSOLUTELY SUCKS. Gorilla Glue Clear polyurethane is the solution to that.

It was sticking worse than a Post-It Note until I tried the poly. Do NOT use VHB. It is ruined by the crappy MD glue adhesion.

 

[Pmullen503]

What kind of ceiling height do you have when the top is up? And do you think it's enough room to easily change clothes? That's the one thing about my old foamie I don't like.

 

[kipa]

What kind of ceiling height do you have when the top is up? and do you think it's enough room to easily change clothes? That's the one thing about my old foamie I don't like.

At the peak, it's 66", so tall enough for me at 73" to hunch just a bit while doing it. I'm satisfied with that. I shouldn't have to scoot and roll around to get my pants on and off.

 

[kipa]

99% buttoned up. My only real concern with water leaks now is the red area.

At this point any water running down toward the rear would just find it's way through that corner to inside. I don't think I will try to eliminate that so much as channel where it can go from there and plumb in some drain tubes.

The top brace I made today firmed up the door and panel joints enough that I am no longer worried about it all ripping apart with a door slam (though pushing to close is the rule).

I just used VHB to attach 1" angle and 3/4" channel under the 1.5" top angle. Not perfectly straight, but it's where the panels were when I set them and where the panels will be when in place, so hardly an issue.

Next up after channeling those rear corners will be the side windows.

 

[kipa]

Did some road testing today, and while not unexpected, I was a little disappointed in how much not having a nose box hit my efficiency. Best I could get today at 77F without the AC, rear windows and sunroof cracked, and dry roads was 2.3Mi/kWh. I think that's 0.4-0.5 worse than my first road test under similar conditions over the same nearly 30 mile stretch. Still not horrible, but obviously there are details that can be improved.

The only things that have changed are of course the tongue box delete, the solar panels added on, the rear buttresses have been cut off to a sloped profile, and it's on my 12" wheels from my smaller 4x8 trailer. So I definitely need to work on an aerodynamic permanent tongue box or fairing at least.

Other than that, it towed nicely at 65MPH and didn't show any weirdness with passing truck traffic.

 

[Pmullen503]

Here's an interesting and pretty thorough discussion of trailer aerodynamics:

Aerodynamic Travel Trailers Tesla Model 3 and Model Y EV | Polydrops

 

[kipa]

Thanks. I've seen that before. Nose fairings can obviously be important, but FAFO can sometimes produce unexpected results. (The whole shark skin/golf ball dimple issue . . )

I plan to replace the jack with a front winding one vs. the top winder. That will allow me an extra 10" of space to work with which would be very helpful to my long term plan of using that area for my composting toilet and a fairing that can get that much closer to the ball without anything complicated.

 

[kipa]

Just set in place with clamps, and glad I didn't buy anything larger!

These are double pane and made for 2" panels, and with the fiberglass+foam+luan+3/4"ply frame, will be a tight fit once I put some weather stripping and caulk in.

While the added weight and strut capacity are in the back of my mind, I'm not convinced it's a problem, as half of the weight is still carried by the hinge, and the most difficult part of lifting the cover didn't engage the cables until it started to lift itself before adding this one. I may need to help it a little more, but we are talking maybe 15 extra pounds at most to lift with two of these windows.

 

[kipa]

Got the other window in today, and as I suspected, the weight difference is not problematic. I just have to push it up a little harder from the point where the cables get tight.

Did some cleanup of debris, and also cleaned up the solar panel wiring on top. If the panel wires were just a few inches longer, it would have been easy to route them underneath the panels, but the mount holes made it so I don't have to mess with butyl tape or otherwise.