Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

About 4 years ago I posted some details of a pop top camper I had built inspired by Andrews original plans (now changed) for the Compact 2. The camper has seen a lot of use, 4-8 weeks a year on the road, a few problems with the original plywood and the desire for more space lead to a major renovation project last winter, I promised a few people some pictures, so here goes.

The original camper


The renovated and extended camper, the new top is made of foam and fibreglass and weights a bit less than the original wood frame and plywood version.


The top part way up, it weights 40-50lbs but I find it quite easy to push up providing I have a big pillow on my shoulders to prevent my neck taking the load.


All the way up and one off the side pieces nearly up


Completely up, this process takes about 2 minutes actually putting the top up takes a matter of seconds most of the time is spent taking the straps off and sliding the weather stripping plates forward.


A shot of the interior, it may be small but it's light and airy


Another shots of the interior


There are more pictures and details on my dis-organized website here http://poptopcamper.freehostia.com/index.htm and an album with some of the pictures taken during the renovation showing just how messy my workshop is http://s726.photobucket.com/albums/ww265/NorthernChinook/Poptop%20Camper%20Details/

Thankyou again Andrew for all your work drawing up the Compact 2 plans, without them this camper would never have got built and we would have missed out on a lot of pleasant memories.
Right now the camper is in the work shop for a few changes to the cupboards and re-finishing the interior, next year we are off to Newfoundland for 2 months about a 5000km trip and the year after a cross Canada trip is planned.


Colin

I like it! This pop top idea is a great way to get a standy with better fuel mileage!

Nicely done!

Your plan is one that I'm considering.

Can you post pics of your lift mechanism? In your pics there were a couple of peeks but it isn't clear from the pics.

Right now I'm trying to decide whether to go with a half ton or compact pickup. Since I'm 6'2 my plan is to build the bed up front and sleep crossway. That means extending the width. The basis of my build will be to remove the PU box and build a flatbed. Then I'll build a tray top with flat floors. I'm wondering if the extra width necessary would make a compact PU into a Frisbee or a Marilyn Monroe skirt raising type experience.

Tom

I'll see if I can get some better pictures in the next week or so, I have to take part of the cupboard apart to get at it, I'm redoing the cupboard doors so it won't be a bother then.

Basically the lift mechanism consists of a 5/8" steel shaft that some light steel cable wraps around as you turn the shaft, as the wire is wound in it pulls a 1.5" steel tube vertically up. The steel tube has a set of removable wheels on it that push on the underside of the lifting top roof.

The are some snags with this arrangement first the geometry is poor, the roof lifts easily at first but to get the last 20% of lift it is easier to push the rear end wall back by hand, even so it does all the heavy lifting required at the start.
It would be best if the single lift tube was on centre, I had it about 3' along a 7' roof and a foot off centre, it seemed to work OK
The is no brake in the system, if the removable handle that turns the steel shaft came out at the wrong time the whole thing could come crashing down.

With the new roof being a bit lighter I haven't bothered with it, the new roof measures 6'x9'

I guess the maximum width would depend on your truck ours is a Ford Ranger, our camper is 6' wide which gives 5'9" for the bed, I'm 5'8" so it works out good. On my truck I think I could probably go another couple of inches on the width without problems, try measuring a few commercial rigs some look quite wide.

Here's a lift mechanism that is clever:

http://www.kerryfullington.com/cab_lift/

I have some ideas in my head about modding it for a roof lift.

It's a good idea using the winch mechanism, maybe a winch of a boat trailer would do, it would have to be fairly small to fit though.

Once you have the winch figured out the rest is fairly straight forward if you can get away with one lift point. I once saw an older commercial system that consisted of a steel shaft with 4 wires leading to 4 lifting tubes for a really heavy top, it must have been a bit of a nightmare to figure out but the owner said it was perfectly reliable, unfortunately I didn't get a real close look to see what kind of brake it had, if any.

What did you do to seal it up in travel/closed position?

How weather proof is the gap between the top and body when traveling? Do you get water ingress due to the wind and highway speeds in a heavy rain?

On the top the is foam weather stripping 3/16" thick and 3/4" wide sold in auto parts stores to install canopies on the back of pickup trucks.

So far I haven't had any water ingress on the highway, the original securing straps weren't capable of compressing the foam and I had no problems. With the new top being a bit more flexible I now use straps that can compress the foam, normally I put minimal pressure on the foam.
The straps are the type sold in auto parts stores for securing loads and have a built in ratchet/winch.

very nice set up you have there.

Can you point me to details of how you hinge and/or attach the "top" sides to the top and the fixed walls please?

NEVERMIND: I found your build pics/animation...

The Compact design opens the door and mind to all sorts of possibilities. No two are alike, it seems. That's a good think. Congrats.

I too found inspiration there.

I finally got started on the camper so here are some pictures of the lift mechanism, as you can see it's pretty crude and as mentioned earlier the lack of a brake is a serious safety issue. I had an idea to couple the drum shaft to an old 12V rechargeable drill that's battery had died and rigging up a set of controls for push button convenience, but decided to KISS (keep it simple stupid) I just don't find it necessary with the lighter top and have now removed it.

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I see for some reason that some of the images are missing from my original post, they should be available and more at the URLs in that post.

this is a very interesting design it has some potential for one of the many projects that I'm trying to do...can't wait to see more

I saw a pop up Teardrop Trailer on my wife's Facebook account. I believe it was in a post at the Vintage Camper Trailers website.

I will try to post a picture but I am new here and not sure how.

Meanwhile here is a link to the site where I saw the pic.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =1&theater

[album][/album]

Wow I love it that's a work of art