Open Source Pop up camper design/build

bahndo

Supporting Sponsor: Bahn Camper Works
I have been lurking for a a while and watching most if not all of the builds over the last couple of years. Now it's time to get serious about my own build. I would like to try to treat this as an open source design/layout and see how it goes. The idea is if you have an idea for a system/part of a camper you can submit it on this thread and I will use it/modify it to fit my goal of the ideal camper for my family and our activities. I will build the camper and document it here and everyone can see what works and what doesn't.

Let's get started with my base vehicle and what I have in mind:
The base vehicle is a 2007 Dodge 2500 mega cab, 4x4 diesel with a soon to be picked up UTE flat bed. I am building this camper with the 3-5 day camping trip mainly with some longer (2-3 week) trips in mind. I have a family of 3, but soon to be 4. We surf, ski, mtn bike, kayak (ww), hike, camp. The idea that I have been wrestling with is a pop up camper that sleeps the 4 of us has a cook top, sink, fridge, heat, and battery power to run some lights, computer, dvd player. Other ideas that have surfaced over the years are: outdoor shower, awning, and a clothes/boots drying closet. I would like the kids bunks to stowable, either fold up to the wall or be suspended from the ceiling and stowed against the ceiling. The main thing is to have enough space to get in out of the cold and get changed for whatever activity we doing. We don't have a microwave at home so I def. don't want one in the camper, we will use this thing for weekend warrior type trips so ease of packing/unpacking is important. We have tons of recreation gear that we take with us (kayaks/bikes/surfboards/kites) so a rack will be important (maybe roof, maybe on the back). We are not super clean so ease of cleaning will also be important (ie: hose down ready).

So at this point I am obviously in the design stage and I am planning to start the build at the end of the summer. I am a mech. engineer with CAD/CAM experience, I own a CNC router with a 6'x12' work envelope, I have a fair bit of experience with composites and mold making and I am learning about woodworking. There are lots of decisions to be made and this is where I think getting tons of input will result in a good build that others can use as well.

Thanks and let the ideas flow....
 

ed604

Adventurer
Hello Bahndo,

I wrestled with that very thing how to sleep four friendly people in one pop up camper. Having recently purchased a Provan Tiger with the pop top, I have to say that I find the floor lay out close to perfect. It really seems to be a nice blend of useable space with enough windows to make it seem bigger than it really is. I would highly recomend sitting in one to get a feel maybe try looking at the floor plan on line to use as a base.

thats my 2 cents.

Ed
 

pods8

Explorer
Firth the biggest question is construction style I'd say over layout planning. I'm doing a foamcore with hand laid fiberglass skins, its time consuming... but will probably yield the lightest structure. As you open up the weight options you can do different things. Wood, fiberglass, aluminum all have pros/cons but if done properly all will function.

If you're thinking monocore composite based take a good look around to see if rhinocore or someone will do the panels because the handmade ones are taking me far longer than I would have expected and unfortunately with the growing family means my project is dragging out. Having commercial panels would have been a ton faster. Another thought that has crossed my mind the other day is building a frame with fiberglass pultrusions similar to a traditional aluminum framed camper, bond prefab FRP skins over this and do a little hand fiberglass work on the corners to close the seams and smooth it all out. Mock up your interior and chase your wires on the inside then cut tight fitting foamboard for the gaps and glue them against the skin and framing which should stiffen it all up further. For the inside panels I was thinking double sided foam tape (that 1/16" thick x ~1" wide stuff) maybe with some perimeter fasteners might be interesting because that tape is pretty sticky and would let the inner panel add some structure but still should be able to be peeled off if really needed for chasing a new wire or something.

If you can weld aluminum you can obviously go the more traditional route there.

A final thought, unless you're doing something far different than what the current manufacturers are making getting a shell from them may be a good bet unless you have a fair amount of time. ;)
 

bahndo

Supporting Sponsor: Bahn Camper Works
ed604- Do you have any pictures of the interior of your tiger? which model is it?

pods8- Thanks for the input, I have been watching your build from the beginning- keep up the good work. I also have a growing family and I am not planning on rushing through this build. This is one reason I want to have solid design and plan in place so that I can use my time most efficiently. I can weld aluminum but I am leaning towards a composite shell because I would like the shell to have some curves to it to match the lines of the truck. If I go this route I will cut the mold pieces on the CNC. The main reason I am not going with an "off the shelf" shell model is I really don't like the ones that are available. The exception of course is the XP shell but it is a bit spendy for just the shell. I am not totally ruling it out but right now I would like to see what we can come up. Once the design is done and I have a good estimate of the overall cost then I can make that decision.
 

pods8

Explorer
Are you wanting a soft side popup or overlapping hardwalls?

When you say mold pieces are you thinking you'd build a fully smoothed out female mold that you'd then build your camper into or you mean core pieces that would be incorporated into the actual structure?

Talking about pultrusions more some common sizes are box in 1"x1/8", 1 1/2"x1/8", 2"x1/8", 2"x1/4". Angles in 1"x1/8", 1 1/4"x3/16", 1 1/2"x1/8", 2"x3/16", 2"x1/4". Channel in 1 1/2"x1 1/2"x1/4", 2"x9/16"x1/8". If looking at those I'd probably shoot for a 2" thick wall camper personally but 1" or 1 1/2" would also be feasible. For building you could "tack" things together with quick set epoxy/adhesive on the butt joint. Then add a fillet or some gussets to the inner wall areas, finally hand lay fiberglass around the whole thing and across outside/inside faces the joints that don't have a fillet/gusset (a well bonded exterior skin will also help on that side as well). That is what was kicking around in my head, obviously getting a couple pieces to play around with, put together, and test would be required before going full bore to make sure the strength of joint is there and the time it takes to make a joint isn't too prohibitive.
 

bahndo

Supporting Sponsor: Bahn Camper Works
Pods8- Smooth female mold but that's just one idea. I have been leaning towards a soft side pop up but I am not totally sold one way or the other. We live in the NW so we see lots of moisture. I had originally been think hard side with no pop up but after seeing bullet XV build (also an Oregonian) I have been swayed.
 

pods8

Explorer
Pods8- Smooth female mold but that's just one idea. I have been leaning towards a soft side pop up but I am not totally sold one way or the other. We live in the NW so we see lots of moisture. I had originally been think hard side with no pop up but after seeing bullet XV build (also an Oregonian) I have been swayed.

Hmmm, for a one off a female mold is quite an undertaking but could get passed on if someone else was interested? Don't let it discourage you on that just keep in mind building a smooth mold is going to take time/supplies.

Soft sides in the NW never bothered me in terms of moisture issues, I just thought my FWC looses too much heat for efficient winter camping so I wanted to go 2" thick foam walls all around. Hopefully that'll mean I can keep a warm camper all day long at ski slope parking lots for the kids to run in/out of in the future w/o cycling the heater constantly.
 

bahndo

Supporting Sponsor: Bahn Camper Works
Joaquin- No offense taken- I have been questioning the thread title myself the more I think about it. I have to say that for the most part most of the build threads on this and other internet forums are basically open source unless the OP has finished the build and is posting up the whole thing after the fact. The other challenge with a purely open source build is everybody wants something different. For myself and my family I want a pretty bare bones minimalist setup- basically an insulated tent that I don't have to setup or take down.

I hear you on the larger base vehicle and I have looked into it a little but for right now I drive the truck everyday and I don't really want a 3rd vehicle if I don't have to have one. I need to look at the numbers again and see how heavy I need to go but I don't want to haul tons of water and I don't want a black/grey water setup anyway so that frees me up a little.

Hadley- Like I said before, I go back and forth on the XP shell.

The most important part of this thread is flushing out a bunch of ideas and getting lots of opinions before I get committed to anything. Thanks for the help!
 

TomH

Adventurer
I am not sure how far it is from Hood River to Chehalis, WA, but I would greatly recommend a trip to Alaskan Campers there. They build pop ups for both pickup beds and flat beds. Go to this link, and explore all windows and sub-sections in the .org .com and .net pages. You will find floor plans and lots of photos of custom builds they have done. I don't think it would be wrong to go there to get ideas, after all, you might decide to buy their product.

http://alaskancamper.org/

It can be difficult to locate their photo galleries, so this next link will take you to them. Note that the link to Page 2 is at the top of P1 and can be difficult to see, also that it's easy to miss the 4th column of pics on the right.

http://www.alaskancamper.org/Desktop.html
 
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bahndo

Supporting Sponsor: Bahn Camper Works
I've looked at the Alaska stuff and I have to say that I just can't stand the look of them. They are bit on the bulky side for me. If I was going to buy an off the shelf unit I would go with the XP.

I have been reading over the build threads again and again and trying to really wrap my head around what I am going for. I am right in the middle of putting some finishing touches on a friends Sprinter that is headed South next year but as soon as that wraps up I will get some sketching done and post it up for some feed back.
 

ed604

Adventurer
Hello Bahndo,

To answer your question, my model is the cxt by Provan. I am not sure but I think all the layouts are similar. The pictures that I have don't show the interior as good as the ones on the website do. On a side note about the top I actually don't like how the pop up system works, its a little heavy to lift by yourself. However the interior layout is perfect for me and my family ( two kids and wife ) And the pop top does help with not catching wind, I got 15-17 mpg at 80mph coming back from the states.

I am sure you can find lots of pics and maybe some floor layouts if you google Provan Tiger.

I quite like the layout as I have already said.

can't comment on much else as far as your shell goes. Good luck with the build I will follow along.

Ed
 

bahndo

Supporting Sponsor: Bahn Camper Works
I will start a new thread on this build as it becomes more of a build but I thought I would post some pictures of what I have in mind:
PS View.jpg
Here is what it will kind of look like on the truck- I don't have photoshop nor have I ever used it so I have not gotten rid of the bed and replaced it with a flatbed- I will be picking up my flat bed in about a month. the highlight blue section is the pop up section. I am not sure yet if it will pop straight up or be hinged at the front.

Here are some shots of just the shell. I have not done any work on the pop up section yet but something else I would like to do is make the entire rear of the camper a door as well so I can load bikes/sled/etc. in a la toy hauler style. You can see two fold down kids bunk on the back wall (just the frames) that will be able to fold up flush with the rear wall(door).
ISO DS View.jpgISO PS View.jpg

Obviously there is a ******* ton of work to do but this is basically what the outside is going to look like. The inside will be layed out much more like sprinter build from outside van then what I normally see in the camper builds here and on the interwebs.
 

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