A folding wooden camper

[S. Heisley]

Any step stool you make or get could have problems with uneven ground but those step stools with legs will be less stable so, yes, if you make yours, you'll want to make individually adjustable legs. The Vardo one (the two legged ladder style) that you drew might be the easiest to make and also the easiest to create adjustable legs for. You would need a way to attach the top to the trailer's deck, though. Once you did that, it would most likely be reasonably stable. Maybe some bunk bed hooks? In my opinion, however, ladder steps of any kind make it harder to carry loads into the trailer cabin and tend to be slippery in wet conditions.

I have had next to no problems with my purchased one because it has a solid base (but I understand your desire to make your Vardo look its best). The roughly 16" height has worked very well, whether the trailer was jacked up to 18" or sitting at 15". It also works well and is not damaged by rainy weather and soggy-boggy soil. Being a painter, you might be able to incorporate it by painting the sides of it with a Vardo-like design and make it a feature!

You showed us a picture of what looked like a handmade step stool, so I thought you'd already decided. Were those somebody else's work or used for another purpose?

[Paintsalot]

You showed us a picture of what looked like a handmade step stool, so I thought you'd already decided. Were those somebody else's work or used for another purpose?

I made that folding wooden stool for my wife, she uses it in the kitchen to get to the top pantry shelves. She definitely will not loan it out.!!

[Paintsalot]

Swivel bracket could work to attach stair


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[Paintsalot]

I’m thinking through
ROOF LIFTING OPTIONS.
Roof is completely independent.

Option 1:
4 wood posts that go in trailer stud pockets, uses pegs to move roof up in stages. See sketch for stages. Stable in wind. Inexpensive. Requires muscle power. Roof weight to be determined. Around 60-90lbs.



Option 2
External pop up camper arms. Spring loaded. Helps lift and quick. Easy to set up. Great if raining. I checked with manufacturers- they think it will work. C&R lift kit. Here are some for sale: https://www.canvasreplacements.com/prod ... 200e5bc438
Con- doesn’t go with Vardo aesthetic as well. Could paint it or not.


Option 3:
1 pole each end, with boat winch and pulleys. A little bit of set up each time. Pulleys center on roof. Poles disassemble into 2 pieces, go in car, made of fence rails. A Braked boat winch doesn’t back up if you let go of handle.
Roof might sway a little in high wind.
This was original plan from months ago.
Relatively inexpensive except winch.

Con: bracing posts tricky.




Current roof load calculations below. 92 lbs. Okay with mechanical boat lift, or spring arms, but too heavy for hand lift.

I was going to build the roof using cedar frame and trim, with cedar interior arches, and 1/8 inch Baltic plywood over that, with 6mm cork for insulation, then canvas that is painted like PMF. I may have to redesign if I hand lift roof. Possibly remove cedar trim and cork, etc. I am using cork for sound insulation and condensation prevention.



Probably a no brainer spend a little extra to go with pop up arms- option 2- but I’m concerned the arms don’t match the Vardo wooden aesthetic. In the end it has to work. It’s an upgrade from tent camping.


What do yall think?


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[Paintsalot]

Example Lift arms on Flickr:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/kitphanto ... otostream/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/kitphanto ... otostream/


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[OP827]

I personally think those lifting arms or lifting posts are too bulky. There are lifting roof caravans from Europe called Gobur and Esterel that use gas struts on front and back walls to assist with the roof lifting. These caravans have same design concept as your vardo. I would study them as their design is well proven over many years. There is also home build design from Ukraine that has similar to Esterel gas strut assisted lift design. Here is the video that shows the trailer build with the lifting assist gas struts.

Struts detail start from the above video

Did you know about this kind of design? Maybe you can build a lighter roof, not with 2x2s and with thinner skins?

[OP827]

Found Esterel video with good detail of the lifting struts. hope it helps.

[Paintsalot]

Found Esterel video with good detail of the lifting struts. hope it helps.

Thanks so much. Yes, I’m familiar with the Esterel. I also read the earlier build posts of making a fold up Foamie by TinkerTailor and saw the dialogue with your input and his video with strut and strap. That came out great. It’s probably too late though to go the Esterel route because my end walls don’t reach the top of the roof where a track would go.

I originally wanted to hand lift the roof. I’m going for a handmade look, more so than a precise machine aesthetic. I want it to look similar to a traditional Vardo- so the struts don’t fit in with that look. The pop-up arms don’t fit either- but they are fairly simple in functionality. Quick to set up. It’s not too late to add them. Even though they don’t match the aesthetic, the ease of set up could be worth it.
For now I’ll try the four post route. They can be removed. Also it occurred to me that I could use pulleys with the 4 posts. 2 sets of pulleys- going across. That will cut the lifting or pull weight in quarter, and less than that if I run another block or pulley on post. It will take longer to set up than pop up arms or gas struts- but I kind of enjoy setting up camp.
Once the roof is up the posts can be taken off and support an awning… maybe I can find some of those posts that have a steel pin sticking out of the top. The kind they used on old-fashioned army tents.
I will store posts in camper during travel.

[S. Heisley]

You will need to be very careful with your weight. Your lifting roof will weigh a lot. because you are lifting not just the top but also part of the sides, I expect you could exceed 90 pounds. Mine is just a roof with small side lap-overs and it weighs 70 pounds.

Your over-all weigh can be decreased by using 1x1 lumber in the roof and minimal 1x2 lumber in the sides. For the roof top, if I remember correctly, I spaced 1x1 boards every 1 foot. For plywood, if you're using it, use nothing thicker than 1/8". It might be better to use Styrofoam and PMF as the roof is very heavy to lift from inside/underneath. I like the idea of 4 removable posts with a peg system, at least it's a good thought. Be careful, though, because the lifting roof could become stuck on the end you are not lifting, if you lift it wrong. Yes, lifting one end at a time is best because it can reduce the weight in half.

I have found that lifting from the outside is much easier for me and, because I'm only lifting one end, it reduces the weight to 35 lbs. Something you need to be aware of and I don't advertise is that the lay of the land can come into play. If you are on a hillside, you may need to lift the first corner of the up-hill side first because that side will want to rub against the wall. Just to be on the safe side, you may want to add an alternate method of lifting. If you put on some marine pad eyes or small, ornate handles that are in keeping with your Vardo, you will be able to adjust for the land's slope a little with a pole that fits in the pad eyes or handles. I suggest you put wood blocking at set points in the lifting roof framework to accommodate those pad eyes or handles later, maybe in the center of the front and back, near the roof line and maybe in the corners, in case you need to add lifting points later. Small pieces of 1x2's glued in will probably be enough and won't add much to the weight. You could use a marine push-pull pole or possibly an expanding painter's pole. I store mine inside, using broom clips set against the wall. I hope this all helps.

You've probably already got this figured out, but you will need to overlap the lifting roof walls against the stationary walls so that rain doesn't get inside.

[Paintsalot]

You will need to be very careful with your weight. Your lifting roof will weigh a lot. because you are lifting not just the top but also part of the sides, I expect you could exceed 90 pounds. Mine is just a roof with small side lap-overs and it weighs 70 pounds.

Your over-all weigh can be decreased by using 1x1 lumber in the roof and minimal 1x2 lumber in the sides. For the roof top, if I remember correctly, I spaced 1x1 boards every 1 foot. For plywood, if you're using it, use nothing thicker than 1/8". It might be better to use Styrofoam and PMF as the roof is very heavy to lift from inside/underneath. I like the idea of 4 removable posts with a peg system, at least it's a good thought. Be careful, though, because the lifting roof could become stuck on the end you are not lifting, if you lift it wrong. Yes, lifting one end at a time is best because it can reduce the weight in half.

I have found that lifting from the outside is much easier for me and, because I'm only lifting one end, it reduces the weight to 35 lbs. Something you need to be aware of and I don't advertise is that the lay of the land can come into play. If you are on a hillside, you may need to lift the first corner of the up-hill side first because that side will want to rub against the wall. Just to be on the safe side, you may want to add an alternate method of lifting. If you put on some marine pad eyes or small, ornate handles that are in keeping with your Vardo, you will be able to adjust for the land's slope a little with a pole that fits in the pad eyes or handles. I suggest you put wood blocking at set points in the lifting roof framework to accommodate those pad eyes or handles later, maybe in the center of the front and back, near the roof line and maybe in the corners, in case you need to add lifting points later. Small pieces of 1x2's glued in will probably be enough and won't add much to the weight. You could use a marine push-pull pole or possibly an expanding painter's pole. I store mine inside, using broom clips set against the wall. I hope this all helps.

You've probably already got this figured out, but you will need to overlap the lifting roof walls against the stationary walls so that rain doesn't get inside.

Thanks. Just a quick note- The walls are not attached to the roof, it’s completely independent and roof will be lifted without pulling up the walls with it. Then the walls get folded up once the roof is in place.
Yes, I have the upper walls overlapping of the low walls when they’re up, yay.

[OP827]

... It will take longer to set up than pop up arms or gas struts- but I kind of enjoy setting up camp.
Once the roof is up the posts can be taken off and support an awning… maybe I can find some of those posts that have a steel pin sticking out of the top. The kind they used on old-fashioned army tents.
I will store posts in camper during travel.

Thanks for the explanation, now I get what you are aiming for: a historical vardo look and feel. It is important to make the lift a reasonably safe to operate and boat winch with safety would help. Can you think of a system in which the winch is pulling all (2 or 4) posts ropes at the same time/speed like it is in tent trailer lifts? That would ensure smooth lifting operation. Central or single point pull will require some routing of the pulling force under the trailer, but it is not too complicated to design and build(speaking from my experience as this is how I designed my roof lift concept).
Below is a schematic sketch to show the concept.
Maybe two posts will suffice and then be re-used as awning supports? I like this multipurpose idea of yours. You could also re-use the lifting ropes as tie downs for the tent awning once the roof is up.

[Paintsalot]

Maybe two posts will suffice and then be re-used as awning supports? I like this multipurpose idea of yours. You could also re-use the lifting ropes as tie downs for the tent awning once the roof is up.

Thanks for you input. A four-way system sounds a little complex to me, but thanks for offering a sketch !!
The moveable pegs may be simplest route- very stable. And can be positioned exactly at top of wall connection.
If I go pulleys, then going across between 2 posts seems easy enough, and going up a little at a time. I have a sailboat- so I probably have some extra cleats and blocks (pulleys).
I think I can get the weight of roof closer to 70 lbs.

[OP827]

I have just added a schematic sketch in my previous post.

[OP827]

..
The moveable pegs may be simplest route- very stable...

Agreed, they are simple to build and if something does not work you can improve later.

[S. Heisley]

..
The moveable pegs may be simplest route- very stable...

Agreed, they are simple to build and if something does not work you can improve later.

I, too, agree. However, I would still add the small 1x2 rectangles inside your roof overlap while you can. This might give you an alternate route or an assist, should you need it, and costs little in time or money or weight.