Friendly Neighbourhood Slidavan

[MattLV]

Hi All,

I'm a fan of music festivals which I used to travel to in my trusty old 1985 Bedford motorhome, but a couple of years ago the poor old thing finally died and I started casting about for an alternative.
I'd always been intrigued by the little teardrop campers, but living in the UK the limited headroom would be an issue for me on the inevitable soggy summer weekends.
Then I stumbled across the brilliant boat, bike and camper designs by WoodenWidget and I was particularly struck by the clever thinking in their Slidavan telescopic camping trailer. Here was something that would potentially tow like a teardrop (kind of), but still provide plenty of headroom in 'camping mode' .
https://www.woodenwidget.com/Slidavaninfo.htm
The only drawback.....I had to build it myself. At that point the self doubt kicked in and I hit on the alternative idea of converting an old Rice horse trailer instead, which seamed like an easier challenge. At Christmas I came within about 5 minutes of purchasing a candidate horse trailer on ebay, but realised in the nick of time that there was no way my car would be able to legally tow it. Ooops!
With coveted tickets for Glastonbury 2020 in hand, I had to bite the bullet and revert to Plan A hoping I could find the supposed 200 man hours required to build it before June 23rd.

So I'm a couple of months in to the build now, Glastonbury's been cancelled, but I'm cracking on with things and thought I would share my progress with you all and maybe inspire (or possibly deter ) future builders.

I've never done anything quite like this before, so bear with me

[MattLV]

Now...these campers are supposed to be built on bare aluminium trailer frames. It makes sense as they are strong and light.
But that's not what I had.
I had an old mild steel trailer that had been used with my garden tractor to haul garden rubbish back and for. As weight wasn't too much of a problem (It will still easily be inside the UK legal limit for an un-braked trailer), I decided to grant this trailer new life as the basis for my Slidavan project.
So after a good rub down, a bit of grinding, a good lick of rust-prevention paint, new hitch/jockey wheel, and some added wood. this is the base platform.

[MattLV]

The slidavan is constructed of diy SIPS, an insulated sandwich of ply and foam insulation with some internal battens to allow them to be joined together and to provide anchor points for the internal structure (bunks, worktop etc). Strong, light and insulated.
With the plywood ordered it was time to get cutting, following the detailed plans purchased from WoodenWidget.

[MattLV]

Internal battens are then glued/screwed to the ply. For the floor the battens are spaced to line up with the beams on the trailer frame.

[MattLV]

With the battens all fixed...



The next step is to cut and glue in place some xps insulation (i.e. the type used for underfloor heating)



Then, the top sheet of ply is glued in place, weigthed down, and left to dry...



and now I have a completed floor (not to mention a very very very messy workshop)

[MattLV]

So that's the first panel completed....only 8 more to go. The flat floor panel makes a good platform on which to build the others

[MattLV]

Lotsaglue

[MattLV]

The slidavan has a curved fabric roof that is supported by roof beams constructed from laminated stripwood.
To make the beams you have to make the appropriate sized jig, glue the strip wood, then clamp in to the jig to create the curved beam.

upload images to url

[MattLV]

The end panels for the top section of the camper need to follow the same curve as the roof beams.
Here's the door panel under construction...

[MattLV]

Having completed all the panels, the next stage is to paint the underside of the floor panel and then attach it to the trailer frame...



A little neoprene tape to provide some protection against vibration



And finally bolted to the frame



That's where I'm up to as of today. It's going OK so far but the test of my construction skills will come when I try and assemble the panels....that's the next step (gulp!)
I hope you enjoy following my journal

[AeroNautiCal]

This build is fantastic!

The first Slidavan build thread since the Designer introduced the Slidavan to the Internet!

I fell in love with the design on first sight and from an engineering perspective I love the simple, strong, lightweight and inexpensive composite panel construction.

No other camper has such functionality in a small size and weight category.

Your build thread is excellent and has already inspired me to look for a garage to rent as a build workshop.

Many thanks for sharing your build and being the Slidavan Pioneer Builder to whom all of us whom love the design will look to for guidance and inspiration.

So, no pressure there, then!

Your build is coming along really well, you're getting through the more challenging phases quite rapidly.

[drhill]

There is a guy in Edmonton, Alberta that built a pop up foamy that looks pretty similar to this design. You might find his build journal interesting.

http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=66816&start=255

[MattLV]

Panels Assemble!



I did the first test assembly of the lower panels, just screwed in place in the first instance.
Having checked the fit, I will remove them and and then re-fit with a good bead of sealant on each join.

[aggie79]

Thank you for documenting your build. You are doing a fantastic job!

[OP827]

That is very interesting, subscribed and thanks for sharing it here! Another lifting roof build , Yesss!
Was there a specific need for the wood on the steel frame before you attached the sandwich floor to it?
I used 5/8" exterior grade plywood in my build with two hardwood stiffeners in a heavy traffic area to span between steel cross members and it was adequate to my needs. In my next build I will consider sandwich floor similar to yours, but first I will test various insulation methods to my plywood under and above the floor and see how that works.