A folding wooden camper

[Paintsalot]

Roof frame started on my studio floor today. 1x2 and ripped 2x. K bracing corners to help prevent racking. There will be 1/8 inch plywood on the roof portion so that’s going to help too.

 

[Paintsalot]

94 degrees with the humidity of the southern states is not for the faint of heart!

I always think that if you're running into problems, it means you're doing something good. Take a breather if you must but don't give up. It looks like you may be close to 80% done with the hardest parts, and hopefully the rest will work well and shine. It may not feel like it but I think you're beginning the home stretch to realizing your dream.

Thanks! Yes- rolling along. Lift arms will arrive Monday.
I didn’t want to start the roof until I had the walls up and I could make sure it was going to fit properly.

 

[Paintsalot]

 

[Wolfgang92025]

At this point, I’m kind of wondering why I took on such a complicated project!! Frustrated.

Paintsalot,

Because it's your own design, you are bound to hit bumps in the road.
When I ripped out my underbed storage of my trailer 4 wheeling, I took me 3 tries over several weeks to get what I had in my head to reality.
Just the nature of home builds.

On the bright side, no one will have a trailer like yours and it will be as unique as you are.

 

[Paintsalot]

Paintsalot,

Because it's your own design, you are bound to hit bumps in the road.
When I ripped out my underbed storage of my trailer 4 wheeling, I took me 3 tries over several weeks to get what I had in my head to reality.
Just the nature of home builds.

On the bright side, no one will have a trailer like yours and it will be as unique as you are.

Thanks for the encouragement. It’s always better after a break. I’m looking at how to add the roof sides now.

 

[Paintsalot]

I decided I needed one more arch. Cut more cedar strips then glued with jig above. Will have 4 arches now plus end walls.

I found a stray lab dog this week. I posted all over that she was found, but no one replied. She may be part of the family soon. My studio helper, too

Spring arms arrived- they are nice but pretty squeaky loud. If you want to see how these work look up “C&R lift kit”.

 

[S. Heisley]

She looks like a sweet little lab. Either she got lost or somebody couldn't afford to take care of her anymore. You will. She's pretty skinny, so she's been alone for a while. -Can you spray a little silicone or oil in the tracks of those spring arms or would that defeat their purpose? Did you check with the manufacturer?

 

[TimC-TNT]

Beautiful pup. She needs some TLC!

Adding to Sharon's suggestions... work some hard wax into the pivot points? It might last longer than liquids.

Still watching your build. Don't worry about how long it's taking. It's going to be a great, one of a kind trailer when you get it on the road!

 

[Paintsalot]

She’s actually pretty healthy weight I think. That other photo just makes her look skinny because her head was in the front. I’ve had her a week now, and no one has stepped up, I posted her on next-door, some Facebook lost, and found groups. Etc. She’ll get nothing but top care with my wife and I. She’s already getting spoiled! Sailing today.

I will call the manufacturer about the squeaky noise in lift kit.

 

[Paintsalot]

Beautiful pup. She needs some TLC!

Adding to Sharon's suggestions... work some hard wax into the pivot points? It might last longer than liquids.

Still watching your build. Don't worry about how long it's taking. It's going to be a great, one of a kind trailer when you get it on the road!

Sounds are coming from springs grating inside the tube. I assumed the spring would be in the elbow, but it’s not, it’s in one of the tubes and there’s a connector that goes around the elbow, pulling it through the tube. They are very well built.

 

[Paintsalot]

Scraped glue off arches today with rasp tool and a Stanley plane.

 

[Tony Latham]

Scraped glue off arches today

Nice!

Tony

 

[Paintsalot]

Nice!

Tony

Thanks- I like my vintage hand plane.

 

[Paintsalot]

Adding cedar 1x8 to roof frame. I’m working upside down. The folding walls stack up so I needed a fairly tall side board to cover all of that.

Pic above-The roof extends about 12 inches out past the end of the camper. This gives a little rain protection at the door.

Above is piece I’m building now in section.

Next- I will flip this frame back over and add the roof arches.

 

[Paintsalot]

Arches are on! Yay.

 

[Paintsalot]

Slow but steady progress. I added the arched end panels, and the substructure for front arch.

I’m debating about whether to wrap the arch in PMF or canvas. As shown below, painted green:

Or to keep it all cedar. I’ve been trying to find a good way to terminate the PMF when it comes over the edge of the cedar. So one option is just to run it all the way down that facia board and arch.

The arched end panels were attached with pocket screws and face screws.

 

[Paintsalot]

Today I worked on the cedar end arch, and I would’ve needed a 1x10 cedar to get the arch in one piece, but instead I used a 1x6 and spliced and stacked it along It’s length.
It might’ve been easier just to get the larger board, but it was half the price to get the one by six.

 

[S. Heisley]

"I’m debating about whether to wrap the arch in PMF or canvas. "

Poor Man's Fiberglass (PMF) was originally done with roughly 50/50 Titebond/water and canvas. Later, they started using sheets and other such products. PMF was a 'take' on the original finish used on the exterior of boats back in the day, which was basically canvas and a few coats of oil based paint. But, you probably knew all that.

I'm not certain what you've decided to use as your base over your arches, but if you're curving thin plywood, there could be very small cracks in the plywood that you don't even notice. For that reason, I would definitely use canvas (or fiberglass) for the extra strength. You can used canvas drop cloths so you have less seams and because canvas drop cloths are usually thinner than some canvas material and less expensive. What you use for adhesive is up to you. Titebond is a plasticized glue that does penetrate wood to a certain point. The manufacturer claims it is waterproof, but I imagine that is if you use it full strength or only slightly watered down, maybe not quite 50/50. The difference between Titebond1 and Titebond2 is that Titebond2 allows for more drying time. But, if you're mixing it with water, the drying time will be extended anyway. In my opinion, making the roof waterproof is important and my personal preference would be at least one coat of epoxy on the wood, but that's just me. You do you, which you will anyway. You've put a lot of time and effort in and you will want it to last and be a testament to your abilities.

As far as whether to wrap it over the end boards or not, if you want your cedar edging to show, you could end it at the roof edge and add a small, thin prefab trim board where the canvas stops and the end boards begin. That might look nice. Trim boards can also be used to cover up seam areas in the canvas. Just another idea....

You're getting closer and closer to the finished product!

 

[Tom&Shelly]

Hi Sharon,

I thought Titebond I is for interior use, implying it isn't waterproof. Did you mean to compare Titebond II and III? Or maybe it's a bit different with this application? (I haven't tried poor man's fiberglass.)

Hope I'm helping clear-up confusion and not adding to it. If I'm wrong just ignore me!

Tom

 

[Paintsalot]

As far as whether to wrap it over the end boards or not, if you want your cedar edging to show, you could end it at the roof edge and add a small, thin prefab trim board where the canvas stops and the end boards begin. That might look nice. Trim boards can also be used to cover up seam areas in the canvas. Just another idea....

You're getting closer and closer to the finished product!

Hi Sharon,
I think I’m going to keep the arches in Cedar. So I will be doing something similar to what you said, and have a thin trim at the top of the cedar. The canvas will either wrap over the small trim or could even go under it.

I’m using 1/8” 5x5 Baltic for ceiling/roof- it’s not quite wide enough, so I spliced on a smaller piece and am backing it up with 1/4” thick lattice. The lattice strip is the same thickness as my cork insulation so it will disappear under the canvas.
I’m using Titebond 2 for the pmf.