"TrailTop" modular trailer building components

[jscherb]

Thanks to advice from my "go-to expert on tents/camping" Scott Chaney of Compact Camping (http://compactcampingconcepts.com/), I've made a change in the window design of the side panels. In my original design I had a solid flap on the outside and the screen on the inside, and Scott suggested the opposite, so that's what I'll do. The flap on the inside will zip down from the top, so it will be possible to open it just a little to let air in, or open it all the way down.

Here are two different shapes for the window - let me know which one you'd prefer, or please suggest something different if you've got a better idea.

[KCStudly]

I like the coverage of the larger one, but you may want to research min radius for whichever zipper you intend to use. You may want to round the corners over so that a single double ended zipper can be used.

[jscherb]

I like the coverage of the larger one, but you may want to research min radius for whichever zipper you intend to use. You may want to round the corners over so that a single double ended zipper can be used.

There would be two zippers, one up the back edge of the opening, and one up the front edge, they'd meet at the peak. There's a curve on the front edge to ease the zipper around the angle.

Here's a refined version - I made the front angle the complement of the back angle so the opening looks slightly more symmetric.

[lthomas987]

I like the yellow fabric. I also like yellow with black so to my mind it would go fine with the Jeep. Olive is my second choice for color.

I like the V2.0 c window

[jscherb]

Based on the feedback from here and a few others I asked, I'll go with the taupe fabric. I'll also do the "option c" side window style.

Here are a few simulations of what the fabric sides will look like





In case you want to see what's real and what's drawn in the image above, here are the original photos...



Tomorrow I'll be ordering the fabric and other supplies I can't get locally; hopefully I'll have everything by the end of the week and can begin sewing then.

[jscherb]

This morning I ran across some photos I took at the SEMA show in 2010 - it was a new clamshell roof-top tent a company from South Africa was trying to bring to the market. Here are the photos from the show, including me giving the tent a try at the show:





I posted this photo edit concept on my Safari Cab back in 2010 when I got back from SEMA:



I had completely forgotten about that SEMA tent until i ran across the photos this morning; it looks an awful lot like the TrailTop concept I did recently. I guess the clamshell idea has been on my mind for a long time .



I just checked my notes on the exhibitor of the tent, and they don't list the tent on their web site, so apparently they never got it to market even in South Africa, or maybe they did and it didn't sell so they discontinued it.

The canopy over the entrance seems to be supported by a pair of rods that insert into the base horizontally - I could probably make that idea work on the current project.

[aggie79]

I think that "rain fly" is a very practical addition.

[jscherb]

Side-by-side views of the two TrailTop proof-of-concept builds on the yellow trailer...

[jscherb]

In case anyone's wondering what's going on with my sewing project to make the side panels for the TrailTop pop-up camper, all of my materials arrived earlier this week, but I got sidetracked this week by a JK Wrangler fiberglass project and some necessary maintenance to my bicycle (new brake cables, freewheel cluster gears and chain). I did get a little bit of test sewing done with the fabric, and it sews very nicely, so hopefully I'll start serious work on the project next week. Some test sewing:



What it should look like when I'm done...

[djb_rh]

Maybe I'm jumping the gun and it's coming, but can you tell us what machine you're using and what materials?


--Donnie

[jscherb]

Maybe I'm jumping the gun and it's coming, but can you tell us what machine you're using and what materials?


--Donnie

My machine is a Janome New Home Double Duty model 532, vintage 1963. I'm told the "Double Duty" name meant it was intended to be a high-end home/medium duty commercial machine. It's a fairly basic machine with straight and zigzag stitch capability, and it's all metal - no plastic. There's a demo of a similar machine (differs a bit in trim and shape of controls) on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywG3eRKeYM8 it shows things like sewing through 8 layers of denim, 2 layers of leather, etc.

This machine has a family history - my father bought the machine used about 30 years ago when he was building a 36-foot trawler; he used it to do all of the canvas work for the boat - bimini top, side curtains, etc. He did a beautiful job and the machine was easily up to the task. My mother has kept the machine all of these years "just in case she needed to sew something", and when I told her I was taking up sewing, she passed it on to me.

These machines are regularly for sale on eBay for less than $100 (http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=ja ... 9&_sacat=0). A fantastic buy for someone wanting to do camper fabric work.

My materials came mostly from Sailrite (http://www.sailrite.com/); the fabric I got at Outdoor Wilderness Fabrics (http://www.owfinc.com/fabrics.html), and the local JoAnn Fabrics and the hardware store supplied a few things too, I'll write more about them when I get into the sewing.

Sailrite has lots of really excellent how-to videos on YouTube, I highly recommend them. Here's their "Learning to Sew" series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... 3iEMvTS7vk and all of their videos can be found here https://www.youtube.com/user/Sailrite1/videos A less-than $100 machine from eBay and watching these videos will prepare you for sewing your own camper fabric...

[djb_rh]

Thanks, Jeff. Hugely helpful. I look forward to the next installment. I've picked up one of those machines. That link to the sailrite stuff is another big help.

I'm going to get my feet wet making the enclosure for the tailgate of my camper. But my "grand idea" would be a small enclosed trailer just big enough for two motorcycles and not really tall enough to stand up in. So the aero profile would match a typical SUV pretty well. The rear would be a ramp door. That makes loading and unloading easy. You could have a pulldown screen -or- level the ramp door and do an enclosure on it. Then the roof would be a pop-top of some variety. I like the idea of one that raises straight up, but I like the simplicity of the tip-up like you show last here. I think ultimately that gets you what you need in the lightest and most robust package.

Then I'd do tip-out single bunks on each side. I poked around and I don't see any kits for that. Can certainly be done DIY, though. The one on my camper is bigger, but there's nothing terribly complex about it.


--Donnie

[jscherb]

Thanks, Jeff. Hugely helpful. I look forward to the next installment. I've picked up one of those machines. That link to the sailrite stuff is another big help.

I'm going to get my feet wet making the enclosure for the tailgate of my camper. But my "grand idea" would be a small enclosed trailer just big enough for two motorcycles and not really tall enough to stand up in. So the aero profile would match a typical SUV pretty well. The rear would be a ramp door. That makes loading and unloading easy. You could have a pulldown screen -or- level the ramp door and do an enclosure on it. Then the roof would be a pop-top of some variety. I like the idea of one that raises straight up, but I like the simplicity of the tip-up like you show last here. I think ultimately that gets you what you need in the lightest and most robust package.

Then I'd do tip-out single bunks on each side. I poked around and I don't see any kits for that. Can certainly be done DIY, though. The one on my camper is bigger, but there's nothing terribly complex about it.


--Donnie

Donnie,
Good luck with your sewing! I just learned to sew this year, I did my first real project about 2 months ago - a form-fitting tarp cover for my military trailer project. I used a Harbor Freight tarp for the material because it was about 6 bucks so the investment was very small in the event my sewing wasn't up to par. Turned out great though...





Before I sewed the full scale tarp, I sewed a model of it for my 1/4 scale model trailer, you can see that in the photos too. The model tarp proved my pattern and my sewing and after that I was ready to go full scale.

And now I'm ready to sew the pop-up tent panels.

[jscherb]

Unfortunately several family commitments that had me out of town for 3 days plus yardwork plus work on my JK Wrangler fiberglass project have kept me from making any real progress on the sewing project for the TrailTop tilt-up, but finally this morning I started to do the pattern layout for the side panels.

Here's what my sewing room looks like, I've got a large sunlit worktable and a very large floor area for laying out and marking material. In the room in the background I've set up my roof-top tent so it can be a reference for any sewing details I might want to check out. On the floor under the table is a roll of plastic lawn edging, that's actually part of the project - I'll cut strips from it to be sewn into the bottom hem of the side panels. Those strips will slip under the soft-top retainer rails on the tub to secure the botttom of the panels in place in the same way that the factory Wrangler soft-top side panels work. I'll show details of that when I sew it in place.



A few other things will probably have slightly higher priority than this project over the next week, so progress on this might be a bit slower than my usual rate of progress on projects.

[mgb4tim]

Catching up on this thread because I do a good bit of fiberglass word and love what you are doing. Don't you want the body of the strut on top to help maintain the oil on the seals?

The gas struts are installed.