The Dirt Sherpa Build

[redthies]

Where are you that is foggy all the time? Central west coast?

[GCecchetto]

Coastal mountains 20 miles south of San Francisco.

[riveroceanandmountain]

As I have read many times on this forum

If there are no pics..... did it really happen?

Love to see pics of the build progress

[GCecchetto]

While I made good progress over the weekend, I didn't get everything done I had hoped to. As it turned out, installing the fiberglass siding on the cabover section was much more of a pain in the ***** than I had thought it would be. The cure time on the adhesive forced me to forgo installing the floor of the cabover. In addition to the siding on the cabover, I got most of the radius corners installed in the openings. This would normally be an easy install but with the frame being built of 1/8" wall aluminum, I cant staple them in like FWC does. Each corner has two 6-32 screws drilled, tapped, and countersunk to fasten them in place, so it took a while to install them. I also dropped off the aluminum armor for the back of the camper at the powder coater, and picked it up today, so I'm looking forward to installing it for good. I've abandoned the exo bars, as one other member called them, which really eliminates a lot of little pain in the butt things to do prior to installing siding. So, I think I am on track to start the siding installation this coming weekend, which kicks off a week off to work on the camper, so I hope to have all the siding installed in the next several weeks. If all goes well, I'll get the teak paneling installed, routed and removed so I can install the windows and door as well.

Here's an uninteresting photo of the camper in my shop with the cabover siding clamped up.
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Been thinking about how to carry motorcycles with me and thought I might take inspiration from this sweet little setup. Everyone needs a little humor.

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[GCecchetto]

The cabover siding came out nice. Installed the floor of the cabover today but it was too late for photos. Really glad to finally be putting this thing together. Looking forward to starting the siding install this weekend.

[SLO_F-250]

The cabover siding came out nice. Installed the floor of the cabover today but it was too late for photos. Really glad to finally be putting this thing together. Looking forward to starting the siding install this weekend.

Keep it up! That is going to be one SWEET camper when you are done! I think I am going through picture withdrawal though!

[GCecchetto]

Okay, here's some photos for those of you with withdrawal symptoms setting in. These aren't overly exciting photos but they're all I have at the present. Should be posting better photos over the next week as I'll be off work and focusing on the siding installation. I still have a few misc things to do to be fully preped for the siding installation but I think I should get most of that done this evening and Saturday.

Here's a shot of the radius corner install.

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and the cabover siding

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Here a shot looking up at the bottom of the cabover, the protective sheet is still on the siding in this shot. I'm going to do more sanding and finish work on the bottom of the cabover (it's a long story) frame so I'm leaving the cover on the siding for now. The siding I'm using is Crane Composites Noble Select. It's a 3mm thick direct hang fiberglass siding with an extremely high quality gelcoat finish. Unfortunately the siding I've used on the cabover, which is also by Crane, does not have anywhere near as nice a finish. It looks like the fiberglass siding FWC uses and shows some fibers in the finish. You don't notice it from a distance, but up close you sure do. The Noble Select siding can't be bent around a radius so I had to use Filon on the cabover and I used the thicker .065 product which is supposed to make an 8" radius minimum bend but I managed to wrap it around the 5" radius on the cabover without fracturing the gelcoat. They also make a thinner .040 product called Flexroof that they say will do a minimum 4" radius but the fibers in the finish are even more visible.

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Look for more interesting posts in the next week.

[GCecchetto]

Started Installing the siding today. Here's a couple photos.

Front wall from the outside, the wrapper is still on and the window has not been cut out.

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From the inside.


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[AeroNautiCal]

This really is terrific!

[GCecchetto]

Here's some photos of the siding install and the start of the teak wall panels.

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