my truck camper

[bdosborn]

This shaping up to be a really nice camper. I can tell you've thought about the layout a lot. Well done.

Bruce

[Philip]

This shaping up to be a really nice camper. I can tell you've thought about the layout a lot. Well done.

Bruce

Oh you have no idea the amount of hours I spent reading on this website. Before I even picked up a pen. I went threw many different designs in a 6 month period before I settled on this design. Then trying to fit what we need into the little space I have. The design is just as big of challenge as the building part is.

[Philip]

Time for another update. The last post I was ready to pull the top off and sheet the inside with plywood. Here are two pic's of the sheeting work. At the point when these pic's were taken the inside was ready for glass and resin. The green strips is the epoxy fairing compound I used on the warped side walls. Rather than try and buildup the corners with regular epoxy and thickners. It was faster to use the fairing compound. One pass and done.





These next two pic's show the inside with all painting done. I forgot to get pic's of the glass work I did. I have cut the exhaust fan opening on the inside of the top. I'll cut the outside after the top has all the glass work is done.





Now for a few other pic's of other things I was doing while glass or paint work was drying. These two pic's are two of the slide outs with the pans installed. I have the other two pans. I haven't got them drilled for mounting yet. The slide outs have not been mounted in yet. I'll do that after the body is painted. I don't want to gum up new slides with sanding dust.





I also have the main body in full primer now. I'll be sanding it out while I am sanding the outside of the top. When both are done I'll do all the outside paint on both parts. It now looks like an odd sized refrigerator setting there.





I have also painted the bed area. I put the second coat on it today. I didn't get a pic of it yet. I'll get one the next time I take the camera out there.

[Philip]

Here is a pic of the finished bed area.



I ran into problems with my epoxy in the high temps we had here early last week. So I didn't get the top finished off. I did get all the primer sanded on the main body. Today I painted the main body.





Now for the members that wondered why I went a long time without posting while I was doing the body work. The work on that warped side wall was something you couldn't get good pic's to show progress. Here are two pic's showing the finished slanted walls. The first pic is the drivers side wall. That one had very little work. The second pic is the passenger side slanted wall. That one had a lot of work that wouldn't have showed till paint was applied.





Just a note here. Do not use Sherwin Williams micro fiber rollers on dark colors of paint. The one I used today left roller lint on all panels I painted today. The paint I used said to use 1/4" nap roller. I couldn't find any local. I found a 3/16" nap roller that was micro fiber. So I gave it a try. Wish I hadn't.

BTW I turned the camper into a large heat sink now.

[Philip]

Time for a update due to the amount of work I have done so far this week.

On Monday and some of Tuesday I installed the storage bay doors and the seal for the top.







Then I moved into wiring work. The rest of Tuesady and all of yesterday. I was doing wiring and lights in the lower bay area. All four lights for the bays are done. Wiring just needs terminated at the fuse panel. which was not mounted at that time. I also installed a USB plug and a cig lighter plug for the cooler. Here are a few pic's on that wiring. First pic is passenger side switch and USB plug.



This pic is the light strip for the drivers side bay and some of the wring for the right side.



This pic shows the passenger side cooler bay LED strip and switch. The driver side bay is the same setup.



Today I was working on mounting the solar controller and the fuse block. The first pic shows it in the stored position.



This pic shows the controller and fuse block swung out into a workable position. Wasn't even going to make that setup stationary in that small area.



I also started running the wiring into the cabin. Didn't take any pic's being a work in progress. Its a mess right now. Next update will show finished wiring.

[Philip]

Sorry about not updating sooner. Here are a couple of pic's with the top primer sanded ready for paint.





This next pic shows the top in paint.



This pic shows the solar panels installed.



While the paint was drying on the top I installed the door for the cabin.



Then I installed all the slide outs. I didn't get a pic of the kitchen side. I'll get a pic and post it tomorrow.



At this point I was pushed for time due to a planed trip out west. I didn't take any pic's of the top install or vent fan install. I installed the top on the box. then finished the wiring and threw it on the truck and we took off on vacation. The wife and I have been gone for two weeks enjoying the camper. I will get finished pic's tomorrow showing it on the ruck and the step setup I use to get in and out of the camper.

[Philip]

Here are the pic's as promised yesterday. The first one is to top down.



This one it the top up.



This pic shows the set I am using. The long tube coming out of the class 3 receiver has a cross bar that bolts to it to hold the third step properly. The is no wiggle or give in the steps when walking on them. The support can be taken apart and stored in about a minute. I store it beside the slide out 12 volt cooler. The steps I lay inside the camper in the standing area. The camper is to tall. Need steps just to get in. So storing them in there isn't a problem.



This is the kitchen area. That micro wave was a last minute addition. I will need to redo the slide out pans and make that one wider and narrow the other on. I want the colman stove to be behind the microwave. That will be a winter project.



This is the 12 volt cooler/ freezer we use. Its a Engle MT35. So far it has work good, once we figured out the temp to set to keep milk unfrozen. LOL



This is the Climate right A/C we have. The bay will store the hoses. Currently have the colman stove tucked away in there after the micro wave was added. After I added the hose adapters to the climate right I lost the space I had planed for the generator. That's why that bay has extra room. We did all camp grounds this trip so no generator wasn't a issue. I'll just figure out some way to get the generator onboard.





Driver side storage bay. The blue tote is for canopy tie downs, extension cord, propane bottles. There is also a small folding table behind the two chairs.



WE were on the road for 12 days and 4,000 + miles traveling to Yellow Stone. Loved the scenery out that way. If it was half way warm out there in the winter. I wouldn't mind moving there. But I know that doesn't happen.

Only problems with the camper during the trip was the solar controller died the second day on the road. So I hit a wallie world and picked up a cheap AGM battery charger to keep the battery charged up for the trip. I installed a group 31 deep cycle battery. With no more power than we used I charged it every couple of days.

I did find a very small amount of water around two doors after driving threw a heavy rain. The butel sealer looks good around those doors. I think I need to adjust the door latch mounts inward a small amount.

[Philip]

Here is a pic of the inside. The bed has been stripped down before the pic. We have a bed cover from the same material as the door cover.

[DaddyJeep]

It looks great on the truck. I'm glad the first trip was successful.

[KCStudly]

Real stealthy, too. Blends right into the theme of a work truck, almost looks like a utility box with all of the locker doors. Probably won't get hassled much for sleeping in Wallie world parking lots or rest stops when making those bee line long haul runs.

[Philip]

KC in our travels we didn't get carried away. No long hard days of OTR running. We made no plans or reservations before leaving. We were open to any road sign that showed a promise of something interesting. We also talked to every camp ground host to find interesting items in their local area and tourist traps to avoid. About the hardest run we made was the last leg home. It was a 8 hour jump on a road with very little of interest. I have driven that road many times. All other days we did around 5 or 6 hours or a tank of fuel. We also stayed on secondary roads if possible. When your not pushed for time. You can stop and smell the roses as they say.

[Philip]

It looks great on the truck. I'm glad the first trip was successful.

We were glad to. I had a couple of minor issues crop up on the truck. Third day out I had a hole in the discharge line of the air compressor and passenger side door lock knob stripped out. Easy fix with a 1/4" air brake union, didn't worry about the lock knob for now. Fourth day plugged the drivers side wiper nozzle. The 11th day lost rear brakes due to leaking M/C cap I forgot about, also had fuel pressure gage started doing full gage swing with needle and ticking noise. I was at a friends house that night. So the next morning we bled the brakes and I bypassed the fuel pressure gage. The last days trip the passengers side window started getting spotty if it wanted to go up or down. Got a loose connection some where. I'll find that problem in a few days.

Over all not bad for a truck old enough to vote.

[Philip]

Well I removed the camper and put it back into the garage Friday.









For winter rework projects. I need to redo the kitchen slide out pans due to the microwave we added.

Also have the driver side cargo bay door needs some work. That door leaks bad when it rains and the truck is not moving. When the truck is moving not much leakage at all. The leak is coming in right at the top of the door. I had my son use the water hose while I watched from the kitchen side with a flash light. I have adjusted the door and can't stop it. So I am thinking about doing a drip rail above both long side doors.


We ended up with about 7,000 miles camping this summer. Total time was a little over three week. Enjoyed every second.

[OP827]

Congrats on completing the build, it looks great. I am still working on mine. Did you put bondo on epoxy sealed plywood and then painted, what kind of painting system?

[Philip]

Congrats on completing the build, it looks great. I am still working on mine. Did you put bondo on epoxy sealed plywood and then painted, what kind of painting system?

I used epoxy fairing compound for the filler for body work. I used Total boat brand. Here is a link.

http://www.totalboat.com/product/totalfair/

I did all body work before the finish coat of epoxy and glass. This could go over a coat of epoxy and glass. This compound you need aggressive sanders for. I don't think a electric model sander would work it down very fast. A lot of my starting grits were 40 on a air file. That is a straight line body sander. That is a aggressive sander with that rough grit. On that long side passenger side wall. It took about 30 minutes to work it down before D/A work started. Unlike bondo which you can skin down when soft with a cheeze grater file. This compound you have to let dry before any work.

For primer I used total boat high build primer. It is not a epoxy primer. Just a high solid primer. I did two coats of primer with a D/A smoothing between coats.

http://www.totalboat.com/product/topside-primer/


For paint I used Total boat topside paint.

http://www.totalboat.com/product-category/paint/page/2/

This paint flows very well. You need to be picky with rollers. Lint from a roller showed very easy on my dark paint. Another thing I noticed was the paint hazed after 4 months in the sun and 7,000 miles. After a good washing the haze was still there. A coat of wax removed the haze. I had not waxed before hitting the road. With out wax the paint looked like a 10 year old unwaxed boat.