A folding wooden camper

[Paintsalot]

I ordered a large enough canvas that will cover the entire roof from Big Duck canvas. No seams.

 

[Paintsalot]

I’m planning to lift the roof up above the camper with a canoe lift pulley system. I have to put some framing in the garage roof though to attach it. I will only have to lift it one time hopefully.
This will allow me to move it up and down, and also take the walls back down if I need to.
After that, the spring arms will do the work.
Still a ways to go though before I can do any of that.
I’m building the roof inside my art studio. Hopefully I’ll be able to get it out the door ha ha!

 

[S. Heisley]

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

Oops! You're right! My error. In the above message, Titebond 1 should be Titebond 2 and Titebond 2 should be Titebond 3. So, that sentence above should read: The difference between Titebond2 and Titebond3 is that Titebond3 allows for more drying time.

Thanks for catching that!

 

[Paintsalot]

My wife, Margaret helped me carry the roof structure out to the garage where I have the camper stored. I wanted to make sure that the roof skirt ends don’t bind when I tilt it up. So far so good. The skirt covers the walls that are stacked up.

Above- one end wall up and roof resting on the other end wall.

We got the walls set up manually, but it was pretty difficult. I think I’m going to be really glad I got those pop up camper arms.

 

[S. Heisley]

You are doing a beautiful job!

 

[Paintsalot]

You are doing a beautiful job!

Thankyou! Exciting to see the roof in its place. I need those little bits of pizzaz to keep motivated. At this point, I’m ready to just buy something and go camping ha ha. So I thought putting the roof on the camper would be inspiring and motivating, and it was.

 

[Paintsalot]

Canoe lift going in late yesterday. But it was binding a bit.

Roof is up - took lots of adjusting- but was able to do it solo.

 

[S. Heisley]

Good for you! It's looking great!

 

[Paintsalot]

Good for you! It's looking great!

Thankyou!

 

[Paintsalot]

Inch by inch…
Working upside down- sealing the ceiling, no pun intended. I used GAC 100- it’s for art usually. I might paint some designs on the ceiling at some point. But for now, I’m just trying to get this thing put together. I left the sealer off of the spots where the arches go.

Flipped it over and started screwing and gluing plywood on. Got 1/2 done. Over 50 screws.

 

[FischAutoTechGarten]

you are making impressive progress!

 

[TimC-TNT]

Very impressive! I can't wait to see the finished product.

 

[swoody126]

GREAT CONCEPT !

WELL DEVELOPED !

NICELY PRESENTED !

sw

 

[Paintsalot]

GREAT CONCEPT !

WELL DEVELOPED !

NICELY PRESENTED !

sw

Thanks for the encouragement everyone. I’m just getting back from a camping trip in my tent. I’m a landscape painter and have been painting in the Ozark national Forest in Arkansas. I’m looking forward to having something I can sleep in that has a mattress.
I’m a little bit concerned about the weight of the camper so I think I will get some bathroom scales and lift the chassis with my stabilizer jacks on top of the scales.
The camper roof is in my art studio, and the rest of the camper is in the old 50’s garage behind my studio. I can weigh them both separately.

 

[Paintsalot]

To get a rough weight estimate I jacked up my trailer and slipped a bathroom scale under the tire on one side, and then multiplied by 2, plus weight at hitch. The tow limit on a 2021 Subaru Forrester is 1500 pounds but my manual says not to exceed 1000 If you don’t have trailer brakes.
When I add in the roof, mattress, etc. I’m at around 853 pounds.
My tongue weight looks too low though, so I may want to put a spare tire close to the hitch.

 

[Tom&Shelly]

I wondered about the capacity of your bathroom scale until I saw you were multiplying by two.

Tom

 

[Paintsalot]

I wondered about the capacity of your bathroom scale until I saw you were multiplying by two.

Tom

I slowly let the jack down at the tire watching to see if the camper would reach the 300lb limit of the scale- but thankfully it stopped at 255.
I was planning to buy four scales and put them in each corner, but then I read on here about measuring at each tire. My camper is almost identical on each side, so there wasn’t much point in measuring both sides.
I’m relieved to find out I’m still under the thousand pound limit and I have some room to spare!

 

[S. Heisley]

That is an awesome weight for all that you are doing!

 

[Paintsalot]

Cork laid out. Gluing shortly.

 

[Paintsalot]

Weighing down the cork with all my Art and Architecture books. One small strip left to finish. Then I will go around with the trim router to clean up any cork that hangs over. Canvas gluing next.