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By Dave, October 5, 2007 8:56 pm

Fixing to start work. Just uncovered the front end to finish up the plywood.
Continue reading 'Inside Camper'»

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By Dave, October 4, 2007 9:24 pm

Didn’t get much done on the camper yesterday. Just too tired from the day before. Probably should have taken the day off today too but worked as much as I could between short showers.

Got the front left side conduit rib bent and installed and the left side finished up, wood wise. Also got the front two ribs bent and installed along with several of the front panels. Still got 5 (I think) outside pieces of plywood to cut and install on the front and then the curved part is ALL DONE! Still have some on the back/door wall to do as well as the door to build, which will get done but not till after the skin gets put on the top and sides.

Went to the storage area yesterday afternoon late and got enough of the plastic sheeting to cover the entire camper. Hope to get most of it put on tomorrow. Depends on the weather. Would rather have the rain than finish this up, as dry as it’s been this summer, but suspect from the weather report I just read that we won’t get much.

Will try to get some more pix tomorrow. Didn’t get any today. More as I get it done…

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By Dave, October 2, 2007 11:04 pm

Got some pix today before and after working on it. Started with only one section of roof decking on and finished with one half done and the other done to the last section toward the front. Still lacking the front top decking and 3 ribs. One will be a copy of the one on the other side. The other two will have to be formed to match the forward arch of the side rib. All the bending has been done by hand, foot, bender for sharper end bends, and mallet and hammer for that final fine tuning. 😉
Continue reading 'Popup camper into standup round topped camper'»

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By Dave, September 29, 2007 10:11 pm

Been working on the new/old camper. Started up with the walls from the front and decided on doing it a different way from the way I did the paper design. Not unusual for me at all.

Got the front/hitch and side walls up to 4 feet and decided on yet another method of building the top. So redid the back/entry wall and bent several pieces of 1/2 inch emt into 6 foot diameter half circles. These mounted on the top 6 inches of the walls about 2 feet apart.

Started at the entry wall and bent plywood around the outside of the conduit and screwed it to the conduit creating a half round top. Only got the first course or arch done so far. Will try to get the rest of it done tomorrow. Then will cut window openings into the plywood shell and then start covering the entire thing with plastic.

So far cost is under $5.00 and that was for screws. Will have to come out of pocket for caulk, glue and maybe some other screws, but so far all the materials are scraps laying around out here. Gonna use the tires off a boat trailer that we are looking at making into a teardrop trailer so that will make the only other cost of getting it on the road the tag.

Found the waterproof hinge for the teardrop projects back hatch on an old camper shell that I am taking apart for windows for the current camper project. I really like junk…

Slowly, slowly eats the elephant…

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By Dave, September 23, 2007 9:06 pm

Been working on a camper the last few days. Decided to go ahead and build one out of the crap I have laying around here at the ranch.

Started off with stripping an old popup camper that has been weathering since the mid 80’s. Got it stripped down to the frame and remaining good plywood decking. Cut two new front corners in a right triangle 11 inches x11 inches, out of old pallet corners made of 3/4 inch plywood. Ground off the remaining screws where the plywood had rotted, so am starting with a pad about 6 feet by 7 feet. Am going to have to add a piece almost 3 x 6 feet at the back to cover the entire floor. That gives me a total area 76 inches by 120 inches to work with. Below are scans of the drawings I made of the basic floor and elevation plan for that floor area on separate pages:

Both floor and elevation plans on same page:

Will try to get pix of the floor and frame and assorted materials asap.