Not sure if anybody is interested, but I thought I'd post a few pics of my project.
Last year I bought a 1979 Coleman Gettysburg pop-up camper for a few hundred bucks. There ended up being a few more things wrong with it than I thought. While some of it was just cosmetic, there were some things that needed attention.
The tent itself was in "okay" condition, but the zippers were falling apart. I have no pictures of them in their crumbling state. Luckily I found a seamstress in Santa Rosa named Emily who lives for this sort of thing. And her kid goes to the same school as my child, so getting the tent to her was VERY convenient. She did an amazing job and I can't wait to post some pictures of her work. If anyone needs tent repair or any kind of boat or RV cushion repair, I can't recommend her enough.
If it is acceptable, here is a link to her info: (please note, if this kind of thing is unacceptable, I will gladly remove)
http://cuttingedgedata.com/Picks/EmilySews.html
Moving on to the more structural aspects, the roof was WAY worse than I suspected. Originally, this model had a roof comprised of a "sandwich" of thin metal, +-3/8" foam and very thin ply. This sandwich was held together at the edges by a +- 1/2" groove in the inside edge of the aluminum that is the upper sides. Essentially you get a flat roof and a slight lip all the way around the edge. Or, when there is rain, a very shallow pool. If you let water sit above anything of value long enough, eventually the water will find its way in... There was water damage and the whole thing was de-laminating.
Unsure of the best way to proceed, I decided on a drastic course of action. I ripped the existing water damaged roof off of the camper.
I then cut some pieces of +-1/2" OSB into strips. Two strips were 8 feet long by 2" and two strips were roughly 6 feet long by 2". The longer strips were inserted and glued into the grooves of the aluminum channel on each side of the camper and the shorter pieces were inserted and glued into the grooves of the front and back pieces of aluminum channel.
Once the glue dried, I cut two pieces of OSB into 8 foot long curves, where the center was roughly 8" taller than the end. These curved pieces were drilled, doweled and glued to the strips on the side. I then cut some pieces of OSB to span from side to side. Hopefully, this picture shows the exposed OSB and the new roof line. I figure a curved roof will "look cool" and keep the water from pooling.
I then painted the exposed OSB to "hopefully" minimize dimensional changes due to exposure prior to completion.
Next, I used "Liquid Nails" to adhere 1" polystyrene to the sides. A cheap hot-wire foam cutter made quick work of cutting the foam to match the curve.
After the sides were foamed, I got several pieces white coroplast. A neighbor is a sign maker so I got lucky. I used liquid nails to adhere the coroplast over the OSB and using scissors, I manually cut the coroplast so that the seams would align with the OSB. The coroplast was then covered with "a heck of a lot" of Great Stuff spray foam and immediately with a layer of 1" foam. I used ratcheting tie down straps to pull the foam down tight to the coroplast while the expanding foam cured. I planned ahead and used almost no foam at the edges. That way I could use the hot-wire cutter to trim the foam. Then I used more spray foam on the edges and used straps to hold it while curing.
The edges didn't come out as nice as I'd like, so I added "A $41t load" of spray foam around all seams and edges:
I then used a hacksaw blade to trim things:
Once everything was either a smooth transition or had a nice squared edge, I prepared the foam surface for covering. I made a couple of these tools using cardboard and thumbtacks:
Using these tools, my girlfriend and I smacked the surface of the foam to perforate the outer "skin" of the foam with tens of thousands of tiny holes. My thinking is that this will give the paint more to which to adhere. Well, I guess we'll find out...
After "prepping" the surface, my girlfriend (she who shall be named "greatest girlfriend on planet".. "EVER") did SO much to help me get the PMF attached to the sides. I'll be honest. I wasn't sure the best way to do it. Together we applied paint to the sides, held the canvas (from Harbor Freight) tight and applied more paint to the outside. I think our best results were when we put what seemed like TOO MUCH paint on the surface and then quickly applied the canvas and used a moderate amount of paint on the brush to sort of push the canvas into the paint underneath:
So far, only the sides are done, but I think it came out really nice and I can't wait until we have time to do the top...
I'll try to post more when the entire top is complete and the trim is re-attached. Then, when it's open again, I'll show the interior and the tent.
While it has been a bigger project than I anticipated, it has been fun. I can't wait to get it out on the road!
