A folding wooden camper

[S. Heisley]

Looking at your photo gallery, I can't tell if you will have room to stand when your lifting sides are down...?

[Paintsalot]

Looking at your photo gallery, I can't tell if you will have room to stand when your lifting sides are down...?

The upper wall sides will have to be lifted from outside. There’s no room to stand when they are down. I’ll have benches inside. The lifting or upper sides are around 4-6” tall. Trailer is 5’ wide. Maybe a boat push pole could help. Or they can be lifted from doorway, but too heavy probably for that.

[Paintsalot]

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

Thanks for the sketch, fun idea!


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[foxontherun]

Have you given any thought to windy days when setting up/taking down in your setup? Just curious

Harry

[Paintsalot]

Have you given any thought to windy days when setting up/taking down in your setup? Just curious

Harry

Thanks. Short answer is yes. Open to ideas though.
With the 4 wood pole option and pegs, it cannot move much side to side, although it could lift up. But then it should fall right back on pegs.
With 2 poles at ends and pulley or winch- as long as the connection to the roof is centered, it should be OK, because of gravity. It could sway a bit in the wind, but it will come back to flat once the wind slows. The roof is curved, so it has a high point.

[OP827]

Have you given any thought to windy days when setting up/taking down in your setup? Just curious

... Open to ideas though. ...

Did you notice in the video here the front wall has a metal strip connecting it to roof? In other similar builds I saw a webbing strap used to do the same. That could prevent the roof from lifting too much by wind. Some builds also had a webbing strap/rope attached to top of upper walls to help with lifting.

There is another, low cost idea for manual lift that will not require posts, just some rope and (optional)small rollers on top of back and front walls. Need to be strong enough to hold one end roof lifted with one hand and then pull the rope to lift back wall under the roof in upright position. Then fix/pin/bolt it there before walking to the front to do the same operation to lift front wall.



Four posts and peg idea would require similar strength to put the pegs in both sides while holding the roof with one hand.

[S. Heisley]

There is no perfect solution to a handmade lifting roof. The problem with many of these solutions is finding room for their attachment without impeding the movement and storage of the other parts nor disturbing the aesthetics of the Vardo. The idea of hinging the front and back walls to the roof is a good one, but it does add additional weight to the lifting of the roof, which could make it too heavy to lift easily.

Using a push pull pole from the outside helps eliminate the need for holding the roof with one hand while inserting the peg with the other. You do need to secure the bottom of the pole, though. I set the pole end in the anchored metal base of the spare tire on the tongue, which keeps the pole from slipping. To keep the roof from getting away from me in windy conditions, I use a long ratchet strap, minus the metal ratchet and modified with closing hooks at each end, plus another strap that the ratchet strap hooks onto. The other strap has a 'D; ring sewn into each end and that part slips through the pad-eye and then the two 'D' rings are attached to one of the ratchet strap's closing hooks which then comes down to the tongue/chassis where the other end of the strap is anchored with the other hook. Once the roof is properly secured, the strap can be unhooked and slipped out of the pad-eye and stored in the tool box. I haven't needed to use it in quite a while as it's usually only heavily windy in the desert or near the ocean. (I'm a forest person.) In fact, I haven't needed to use that setup in around 11 years. But, one time, in the desert, it was so windy that I left the strap on all night. It kept me awake with the wind strumming it like a guitar string, but I knew I was safe. Later, a trucker who had used straps while hauling told me that's why they twist the straps a bit. It keeps the straps from "singing". Just more food for thought.... Everything about building these things requires thinking plus effort. I spent a lot of time just perusing hardware stores. Haha! Oh...One more thing. I lock the roof in place on the inside with an old fashioned window sash lock. It works great.

[S. Heisley]

For the inside locks, you'll need to add blocking material before you seal up the roof and wall. You don't want anything (i.e. wind) nor anyone finding unintended entry. I don't have much to show you on that but here are a couple pictures of what I did for that.

gallery/image_page.php?album_id=1291&image_id=45996

gallery/image_page.php?album_id=1291&image_id=83298

Mostly, you're on your own for how you use wood blocking for attachments, but, if you don't think ahead and do it before you close up your walls, it becomes much more difficult. So, spend lots of time exercising that brain!

PS. Maybe it's just how my brain works, but I found that if I went to bed with a puzzle to solve, I would wake up with the answer the next morning.

[Paintsalot]

Thanks for all these good ideas and the sketch.
The end walls in my camper are on the heavy side, probably close to 40 pounds. So it will probably be too much to lift the roof and end walls at the same time by hand. A boat winch is entirely different- a strap could help with lift end walls if it’s being lifted with a winch.

I’m leaving all the structure exposed on the inside, I won’t have a finished interior layer. So I can add blocking later, but it’s best to add it now so I can hide screws. I’m still planning to use cork for the insulation and will just expose it on the inside.
I’m trying to get my sailboat ready to launch. It’s still in my backyard. I keep it beside a lake down in Mississippi.

[Paintsalot]

The roof overhangs the door about 12 inches. So if we try to lift it with a pole and winch on that end, the pole will have to bypass the roof. FYI. The roof overhang makes putting a pole a little bit trickier at that end. That’s why I started to think about putting the poles on the side. For now, I still plan to try the side poles with pegs first before anything else. The trailer doesn’t show up in this computer drawing, you have to imagine that it’s there. It’s all a work in progress. I feel like I need to get some more of the trailer built, and most of these things will resolve themselves overtime.
Here’s what I’m working on today, my other transport, this kind for water. Some of my rails rotted out and I had to replace them. I’m using Ash. Thistle sailboat.



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[Paintsalot]

There is no perfect solution to a handmade lifting roof.

Using a push pull pole from the outside helps eliminate the need for holding the roof with one hand while inserting the peg with the other. You do need to secure the bottom of the pole, though.

Yes- seems like a push pole could work. Once the roof is built it will be easier to try things. I have a ways to go.
The next big milestone will be screwing/gluing the low walls to the trailer. Before I do that, though, I want to put all the hinges on wall connections, using a flat table surface. Mounting hinges in the vertical position would be harder.
Adding the trim is easier too on a table.


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[S. Heisley]

I am so looking forward to seeing this!

[OP827]

I am so looking forward to seeing this!

+1

It was a bit scary how this morning I got the homebuilt trailer video in my YT feed and I did not ask or search YT for this. Not pushing any more ideas, just thought it might be interesting to share.

[Paintsalot]

I am so looking forward to seeing this!

+1

It was a bit scary how this morning I got the homebuilt trailer video in my YT feed and I did not ask or search YT for this. Not pushing any more ideas, just thought it might be interesting to share.

Thanks yall!! Funny about video.
Trying to get sailboat to lake today. Major effort.

[Paintsalot]

Hardware installed on one window today.
Margaret inspected too. This is “bow” upper folding wall.







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