"Pork Chop Express"

[SLUG36]

over a year ago, I scored a Dutchman pop up camper from my Uncle. It has been submerged in "storm surge" during Hurricane Ike. After bringing it home, and stripping all of the salvageable appliances, I trashed everything down to the frame. I finally have all of my other projects caught up. and after 9 months of working 50 hour weeks, and driving 2 hours round trip to work. I feel beat down and have visions of camping with the family. Today I pulled the chassis around to the front of the house and parked it in front my little work shop. I decided it was time to start cleanup on the frame. I started to remove the rest of the lift gear and spray the surface rust with phosphoric acid to kill the rust.



the box on the pop up was 13'x6'-8". and that is the dimentions I will use for the "Canned Ham" I plan on building.

[SLUG36]

Here are some screen shots of my 3D model I have come up with in Autocad. I am a Structural Designer and have had some down time at work lately. Box dim's are 13'-8"x 6'-8" and 5'-8" inside height.

[Greg M]

Looks like a good beginning. Keep those pictures coming

[KCStudly]

What are the angled panels at the front and rear ceiling-to-wall transitions? Are those folding bunks?

I like the work that you have done and the profile looks like the right mix of style and practicality; not much interior space wasted.

[SLUG36]

What are the angled panels at the front and rear ceiling-to-wall transitions? Are those folding bunks?

I like the work that you have done and the profile looks like the right mix of style and practicality; not much interior space wasted.

yes, they are folding bunks.

[SLUG36]

A snap shot of the side profile, broken into sections for plywood layout. the outside corners are 12" radius, the inside corners are 3" radius. with the actual structure being 4". the sheets will be biscuit jointed and epoxied together with 2 ton or stronger epoxy.



it looks like I can get both side profiles done with 5 4x8 sheets. I am still debating 1/2" or 3/4" ply

[SLUG36]

after examining the pop up camper chassis I have. and seeing how some of the steel framing is rusted through. and the fact that the torsion axle is toast. I am considering building a chassis from scratch.

by building a frame, I will be able to have a longer box. I am thinking a 17' box would be ideal for the size family I have. and I may be able to have a more traditional "tear drop" look.

[KCStudly]

Is it bad all over, or just a few rough spots?

Rough spots can be spot sand blasted, cut back and a new piece patched in, either by scabbing over or grafting in.

A hell of a lot less work than starting from scratch.

If it has cancer all over and lots of thin areas, then maybe new is better, but don't be discouraged by some rough areas that can be fixed.

On the other hand, a new chassis would give you a better opportunity to design a drop floor to your preference, if you decide to go that way.

[SLUG36]

its rough all over. and the thin members mostly have a lot of pitting. and there are some rusted through spots. and some of the "C" channels will be impossible to get inside of and kill the rust.

[SLUG36]

well, after thinking about it a little, I decided to give the Chassis another try. I will replace the thin, rusty cross members with some 2x2x1/8 angle iron and bring the over all width down from 6'-8" to 6'-4", the rear flanks of the frame starting behind the wheels will "boat tail" in.

here are some rough models i have been working on while sitting on my hands at work.

[KCStudly]

That looks pleasing to the eye... very ambitious and complex to build. How do you plan to form the compound curves?

I'm thinking foamie, perhaps epoxy and fiberglass cloth?

Hammer formed aluminum smoothed out on an English wheel?

Stringer wood strips, or carved wood?

Heated plastic slumped over a form?

I would really enjoy watching this come together!

[SLUG36]

i doubt I will use the compound curves. If I do, it will most likely be glass/epoxy over foam. with a wood skeleton. But, I will most likely go with the first profile I came up with and still "boat tail" and narrow the chassis by 4" by replacing the cross members.

I found a ad on Craigslist in my area where a guy was selling some 2x2 square tubing. maybe I can do some bartering.

[SLUG36]

here I have the frame stood up on the side. Holes plugged with some modeling clay, filled with water and baking soda used as a electrolyte, and 12v DC battery charger hooked up. the frame is hooked up to the Negative terminal, and I have some steel rods with rubber hoses at each end (so they will not contact the frame) hooked up to the positive terminal of the battery charger.

you can see the funky foam gathering above the electrodes, the electrodes were new, clean steel rods. all that crud is coming off the frame.

I thought of this after pondering how to remove the rust behind where the "dove tail" ties into the main frame rails.

[KCStudly]

Nice.

[SLUG36]

I spent my 3.5 day weekend working on cleaning up the Chassis. and brain storming in the process.

here are some screen shots of what the exterior will look like.