Pop up and Pop Out Camper

[johnr9q]

I built the camper displayed with the following features. (I guess you wouldn't call this an Expedition Camper but if it were on a 4WD PU it might be. I am into rock climbing and I do need to go, and often do, into areas where some of the rigs shown on this website would be nice but 99% of my travel is on high speed pavement so am happy with the 2WD and a winch, which has come in handy more than once) I wanted a dual purpose vehicle. So I built an aluminum flatbed for my truck. I made the flatbed sit at the same elevation as the original PU bed because I didn't want to lose the height required of a standard flatbed by sitting above the rear wheels so I made wheel wells that extend up into the flat bed so technically it isn't totally flat but works well. I made corresponding clearance areas in the camper to accommodate the wheel wells. When I put the camper on the truck, I have to not only slide it in but I also need to lift the camper about 5" to get it over the wheel wells. When I have the camper off I have stake sides which go on the flat bed. I can convert the truck from a flatbed pickup to a camper in less than 30 minutes. I have a cable hoist system I designed for my garage that lifts the camper off and on. I wanted solid sides not fabric and easily openable glass windows so designed the folding panels you can see in the erected position in the pictures. I also wanted a larger dinette so designed the slideout you can see in the pics. The slideout and the top all go up with electro/mechanical actuators. The unit is fully self contained with toilet (self contained), shower (The toilet and shower are in a 32" X 32" room and the toilet slides into the wall to make the shower very roomy) I have a stove and 3 way frig. I have one fresh water tank installed in the RV and another fresh water tank and a grey water tank installed under the flatbed. Total fresh water capacity is 60 gal and grey water is 15 gal. I have a solar panel on the top also. By building a camper that fits on a flatbed there is much more room for placing all the interior components. I completed the camper a few months ago and it has been operating nicely.

[Lynn]

That has to be the coolest pickup camper I've ever seen!

Got any pix of the inside?

What supports the upper walls of the slideout when they are folded?

Oh, and welcome to the board!

[johnr9q]

Lynn: Thanks for the welcome. I was looking for someplace to show off my camper and stumbled across this site. I'll post an interior pic. The Slider just folds down like the rest of the camper. I'll come up with a better interior pic. I forgot to mention that it has a catolytic heater which you can see in the picture

[Lynn]

I'm not sure how to phrase the question, but...

I know that the cab-over walls lay on the bed when folded. When you fold down the walls on the slide-out, how are they supported? Do they lay on top of the cabinets?

Thanks for the interior pic.

[Carlyle]

John,

All I can say is wow! I wish I had just a bit of your building skills. Please give us some more information and pictures on your awesome build. :bowdown:

[UHAULER]

Nice. I'm close by, maybe I can check it out sometime. Did you get your windows local ? I'll be in the market for some for my project.

[johnr9q]

Here are a few more interior pics.

[soenke]

very nice build John, :sunny:

what kind of hinge did you use for the fold up walls? You have some pics showing the progress of folding and sliding?

[johnr9q]

Answers to your questions: How are the slideout walls supported: The roof and largest wall (passenger side wall) are one piece and hinged at the base. The two small side walls of the slider are also hinged at their bases and fold down before the roof/passenger side wall is folded down. The whole camper is like Origami and was difficult to engineer. I built a full size prototype out of wood first to insure my ideas would work and made many modifications to the prototype. I purchased the windows from Kinro out of S Calif. I looked around for a window that didn't protrude very far on the exterior or interior cause I needed the low profile so the whole thing would fold down in as little space as possible. Wall construction and folding panel construction. I used 1" square alu square tubing as my framing material and filled in with 1" foam. On top of the alu frame and foam on the exterior I placed 1/8" Luan plywood then fiberglass (filon) over that. The interior is 1/8" luan plywood with Formica. Lift mechanism: So far It has been very reliable. I purchased the actuators from Firgelli. Hinges: I used aluminum piano hinges.

[suntinez]

Alot of great ideas here! It's clear that you spent alot of time on this, thanks for sharing - and welcome to the board. I'm a big fan of things that go POP. Do you know what the unladen weight of the camper is?

[johnr9q]

Suntinez: The Camper weighs 3000# wet

[allochris]

3 questions:

-How long was the design part of build?
-How long did the construction part take?
-Approximate total $ into camper? and flatdeck?

Thanks

[johnr9q]

Allochris: It took approximately 3 months working with the prototype and 9 months with the actual build. That's working 10 hours a day 6 days a week. I hate to say how much it cost but will say it cost way too much. Don't ever try to build something like this to save either time or money (at least from my experience). I enjoyed building it and came out with something that is unique. I don't know of any other solid sided (or canvas sided, for that matter) popup that also has a popout.

[Lynn]

John,

Thanks for all the pix and info. You have a truly unique ride.

The only other campers I’ve seen with pop-up and pop-out were trailers.

I ran across a write-up on the web of a home-built camp trailer a few years ago that has a hard-sided pop-top kind of like yours, and also a small pop-out to extend the sleeping area. At lease he mentions it in the write-up, (http://home.earthlink.net/~g.teague/index.html) but doesn’t have pix.

Also, I just saw the other day that Hi-Lo (http://www.hilotrailer.com/Trailers/2008/2008_28C.html) makes a camp trail now with a slide-out.

Not trying to bust your bubble, ‘cuz yours is still the only truck-mounted I’ve seen with both.

Very cool.

[Overland Hadley]

Welcome to ExPo John!

Good looking rig.

Quick question, do you have to have the pop out in the out position to get inside?

See you out there.

[breakinstuffzfun]

johnr9q

One of the best custom campers I have seen. Two questions, Is your toliet a RV or Cassette? Who did you get your door from?

Breakinstuffzfun

[johnr9q]

Sorry it took me awhile to get back with you all. Just been to the Bishop area to rock climb with the camper. Down to about 15 degrees at nite there. I need to do something about condensation in the camper for the nite. Had 3 people and 4 dogs in it all nite and Catalitic heater on all nite with a couple of windows cracked and created lots of interior moisture. Answers: breakinstuffzfun - you asked about the toilet. It is just a self contained Portapotty and I put it on slides that allow it to slide into the wall providing a clear 30" x 30" shower floor. (the toilet shares the same area as the shower and is a 30x30 dedicated enclosure with full standup height and a vent. The camper exterior door and door frame is actually something I got off an old camper that I cut down to fit. Overland you asked about access with the slider slid in. Yes, I can get into the camper with the slider in. I also made the camper so I can drive with the top up and the slider in. Lynn: I got on the site you referred to for HiLo and you are correct they make a solid sided popup unit that has a slider so I stand corrected.

[johnr9q]

someone asked about the slides for the slider. I built them out of plastic I purchased from Tap Plastic. The top of the slide is a "T" and the bottom has a slot with a cap that retains the top T.

[Funrover]

Sweet!

[randman]

(also emailed)
John,

sorry this took me so long to get to you but its elk hunting season here in colorado! I visited your page in the form and i have to say i love what you have done!!!! it's an inspiriataion to what i am trying to accomplish. i look forward to continued corespondence with you. and dont be suprised if i drop a note seeking advise! the form seems to be showing the 3d modeling pics now, but i enclosed them anyway.



best wishes and nice build to you.

[Icebox]

Well done!! I have had a similar idea in my head evolving for three decades from seeing countless vehicles with their strengths and weakneses and owning nearly a dozen. I am always drawn back to relatively small multi-purpose self contained durable units mounted on highway worthy 4wd chassis capable of towing a quiver of different toys (jeeps,buggies, bikes or boats). My diesel Sportsmobile is close which I stumbled upon by sheer luck. Had I not, I would be looking strongly at a similar unit to yours. I miss the easy servicing of a pickup vs. the tight confines of the van's engine compartment.
I salute you sir for your vision, skill, and tenacity.

[sarconcepts]

how do you like the firgelli actuators? any problems with alignment or pinching?
what model did you get, i ask because it looks like the stroke is about 24", but the base is about 36", still giving you about 12" of the upper rod in the base, when up, for alignment. the only models i saw on firgelli's site were 24" top & bottom.
or was this a 36" stroke with adjustable stops?

nice tight work

[johnr9q]

Sarconcepts: I have no problem with alignment or pinching. The actuators are model FA-05-12-30. I went into the actuators and reset the top stop cause my top lifts 28" not 30". I put an 80 pound spring on the bottom mount of the actuator to insure there is an even pull when in the top is in either the up or down positions. The only problem I have had is once, when it rained, one of the actuators partially filled with water and wouldn't go all the way down. The actuators arn't really designed for outdoor use. I tried putting greese where the rod comes out the top of the actuator and we'll see if that solves the problem. The actuators seem to have plenty of power to left the roof. I have two rods in sleeves in addition to the 4 actuators that are heavyer duty than the actuators to insure that the actuators don't bend and brake in windy conditions. If you don't understand what I have described, I can take a pic of it and post it.

[Carlyle]

I've used the Firgelli linear actuators in the past for a television lift and have been very pleased.

[FishPOET]

Incredible build. I love the flatbed.

You should share your build with the TC folks on RV.net
http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/listings/forum/27.cfm

and NATCOA
http://www.truckcamperforums.com/

[Bike_Mech]

This is awesome. I would love to see a video of the top lifting if possible!! I've been planning a hardsided poptop similar to an Alaskan, and would love to see how you accomplished your hardsided poptop. There seems to be so much headroom in the sleeping section yet it folds so flat and low, very nice.

-Chris

[johnr9q]

I wanted to add pictures of my truck without the camper on so you can see the sides of the flat bed and the wheel wells. The aluminum box at the rear drivers side, under the flat bed, is for grey water from the camper.

[Bike_Mech]

What is the height from the flatbed to the top of the cab? Do you find you have any issues with frame flex when driving offroad making your camper into a rhombus shape? Do you have notches in the bottom of the camper that the wheel wells fit into?

Thanks
-Chris


I wanted to add pictures of my truck without the camper on so you can see the sides of the flat bed and the wheel wells. The aluminum box at the rear drivers side, under the flat bed, is for grey water from the camper.

[johnr9q]

What is the height from the flatbed to the top of the cab? Do you find you have any issues with frame flex when driving offroad making your camper into a rhombus shape? Do you have notches in the bottom of the camper that the wheel wells fit into?

Thanks
-Chris

It's approximately 43 inches from the top of my flat bed to the top of my cab. I have never experienced any structural failure or cracking in the camper due to driving off road. I do have notches in the bottom of the camper that the wheel wells fit into.

[johnr9q]

the camper continues to work great. I talked about the actuators taking on water because they aren't designed for outdoor use so I enclosed the actuator with a plastic hood that goes up with the actuator. Hard to describe. I'll post a pic if anyone is interested.