by daveesl77 » Sun Nov 19, 2017 7:42 am
REALLY NICE JOB! That will be a great looking camper!
Something to really consider is how warm the inside of a small, enclosed camper can get. With ours, while camping last month in WV, nighttime temps got down into the upper 30s/lower 40s. No heat on, but we would need to have one or more of the wiley windows opened and the computer fans on, just so it would get not too hot inside. Granted, by morning we'd need to turn on the Little buddy heater for about 10 minutes to knock the chill out.
Wiley Windows are probably the best, most simplistic to operate, very easy to build and absolutely least expensive you can have. You can make then from scrap wood and a small sheet of acrylic. We kept two of ours open during Hurrican Irma, which tracked just west of our town, and not a drop of water got into the camper. Even traveling we leave anywhere from one to all four open during the trip. Never any water inside. That simply cannot be done with any jalousie or slide window. Plus, you can make the outside shape anything you want. The wiley design allows you to go full closed to partly open to full open.
Having two doors is a convenience, but also a ventilation and safety issue. Purchasing a door can be really expensive (as you have found out), but it is actually not that difficult to build a door. You talked about camping in Nevada and the dust. Nothing will get away from that problem. Window open = dust. Open a door = dust. It just happens. I bet you'll use the camper a lot more around where you live in VA than in Nevada. To build a door, when you cut out the opening do it in a manner that is very carefully done, with both sides of the cut being equal. In other words, don't use a drilled starter hole, unless you do it at the top, for the jigsaw blade. Instead, use a multitool blade or dremel cut to make the initial cut. The thicker the material used around and in the frame and door, the more dimensionally stable the door will be. So, if you use 3/4" for the walls and no insulation, then double up the area around the door cut-out (say something like 3-4" around the opening) and the same for the actual door, making it double thick. This helps keep it from warping or twisting.
Make an inside lip that follows the identical shape of the door cut out, but extends about 1/2" into the opening. I made my lips from poplar, it is inexpensive, hard and dimensionally stable. For the outside, make a trim piece that permanently mounts to the door, but covers the door opening and up to say at least 1/4" of the wall on the outside frame. I had a bunch of aluminum panels from a shelf that I cut mine out of, but wood can work too. This trim-door-lip design gives you a "z" type seal. You can then add in a piece of rubber window seal (i use the brown 1/4" self stick from Lowes or Walmart) and mount it to either the outside face of the lip or the inside face of the trim. The lip works best, as it is thicker.
You guys will have a great time with your camper! It looks fantastic!
dave
That little 4x8' was easy to move around!
