Foamie Jeep Camper Hardtop

[KCStudly]

I'm in a "pay it forward" mood after Maureen M sold me her Coleman stove yard sale find at cost.

I have an extra set of soft top door surrounds. You're welcome to them for the cost of shipping. My next door neighbor's son rolled and totaled their Jeep in a road accident and after it was gone he found them cluttering his garage, so now they are cluttering my garage. I have both soft and hard tops, but I don't need two sets of surrounds.

Still, I think hacking a hard top would be the better plan, since you are building with glass composite anyway. The soft top surrounds are plastic (ABS?) and probably would give trouble trying to epoxy to them (?). I wonder if anyone knows if the factory HT is polyester or epoxy. Not sure on the compatibility of stacking those two materials either.

[redveloce]

Wow, thanks! That's awesome!
I also think the hard top option would be ideal. I'll probably wait a week or two before taking you up on the offer in case I can locate a hard top to cut up. I actually think the soft top parts are fiberglass. They look plastic, but one of mine has a small scratch where you can see white fibers.

[KCStudly]

Yeah, they're defintely a glass layup. My guess would be polyester resin; cheaper than epoxy. Somebody out there in Jeep land must know for sure.

[redveloce]

That would be ideal for keeping cost down, although it would keep me from using foam anywhere if I decided I wanted somethin to get a specific shape.

I doubt many Jeepers have put any thought into the material. Does anyone know how it can be tested?

[GPW]

Red, seems we’re all stuck with doing our own testing .... If you believe in it , go for it ...

[redveloce]

I meant, does anyone know of a way to test which resin was used in a part?

[wagondude]

Sand on it and smell it. If it has a chemical smell, it is most likely polyester. Cured epoxy will give off almost no odor. My vote is polyester both because it is cheaper and because body filler will stick to it (it won't stick to epoxy). Also, epoxy will stick to polyester, but poly won't stick to epoxy(not for long anyway). Any one doing fiberglass repaires on poly production boats will use epoxy for the repair as a poly repair has a tendancy to fail much more quickly (or so I am told).

Bill

[redveloce]

Ok, so if I decide to use Epoxy it basically won't make any difference what was used in the original parts?

[wagondude]

You will still need to test somehow, but that is my understanding from boat building forums. You might also consider some light wood framing or hard points with som mechanical fasteners for extra piece of mind.

Bill

[redveloce]

The boxed structure of my design should provide plenty of support, but it will also be supported by the Jeep tub around the entire perimeter, and by the roll bar from the windshield nearly all of the way to the rear. It will be mechanically fastened to those in multiple locations. If I decide to go ahead with the rear bathroom, it will be fastened to the rear of the tub where the tailgate would normally connect, and to the taillight mounting holes. I may also make a support frame from my bumper or hitch, but I'll wait until I have some of the construction complete before deciding if that's necessary.

[Wobbly Wheels]

I wonder if anyone knows if the factory HT is polyester or epoxy.

It won't be epoxy.
The benefits of fiberglass come out big in production work. Epoxy takes more time and skill so it's not used for production layups like hardtops, hottubs, etc. Were it epoxy, that would be shouted pretty loudly in the advertising.
It doesn't really matter though, epoxy will bond to cured polyester layups just fine. Like any mechanical bond, the surface prep is the key.

I've been kicking around a similar idea ever since Chrysler brought the Sprinter to the North American market - sort of like what Itasca has done with the Navion....only lighter.

But I digress: this sounds like a really interesting build !

[GPW]

For mass production the regular FG resin is much Cheaper than the Epoxy ... Sets harder, quicker too ... Had a friend that made FG moulded skiffs, sprayed in a big mold with a “Chopper” gun and foam blocks (urethane foam , resistant to FG polyester resin).. They popped a boat out every 4 hours ... Nice boats too !
One could conceivably , make a Cardboard cabin and just spray it with a chopper gun in and out .... Quick , but the finish would be “textured “ and require sanding for a smooth finish ... Probably more work in the end than just laying up the cloth ...

What about just cardboard alone , waterproofed with the mix and just painted ? ... Cross laminations of the flutes should make it strong enough ... That would be a dirt simple structure ... Maybe not the prettiest , but certainly easy and thrifty .

[redveloce]

I'm hoping to get to Costco tonight to pick up a bunch of cardboard slip sheets for the mock up. I may take a short drive whenever I get the mock up done, but I definitely need to skin it in fiberglass, because the bunks are going to be part of the structure.

[redveloce]

I took over 30 measurements on the Jeep tonight and figured out that I can actually fit within the width of the Jeep, but because of the slope of the windshield, it puts the rear of the bunks back much further than I had expected. It looks like I'll be building the version with the rear bathroom! Here is a rough sketch up I threw together.

It will be a pop up with approximately 2' of canvas to make over 6' 4" of headroom (I'm 6' 2" and not the tallest in my family). Also plenty of room in the back for a port-o-potty and some kind of shower setup. I haven't worked out the bathroom setup yet, but it will be extremely simple and light weight.


Here you can see the swing up section of the bunks. It's full width to the rear of the sound bar, then splits to narrow bunks. I tested the shape, and it's more comfortable than a mummy bag. I'll probably put a bar along the edge of the swing up section to help keep people in the bunks. I left just over a foot between the bunks so my dogs can get up and down without having to lift the bunk.

[redveloce]

After revisiting my drawings this morning I realized that I probably should have been sleeping instead of drawing. I found areas that were off by several inches, and the bed is actually about 2 feet longer than it needs to be, so I don't actually need as much rear overhang. I did some tweaking this morning, and here's an example of the camper without the bathroom. Keep in mind that the measurements are likely still off by a bit. I need to go over the whole thing, and double check some measurements against the Jeep.