Pro-Rig V2.0 - Home Built Compact Composite Pop-up

CoyoteThistle

Adventurer
Got another trip in up a Mammoth a few weeks ago. Three days of good snow and some more cold nights in the camper. Everything worked as expected. Roof lifters held about three inches of wet snow without coming down. Slept with the new braces in place though and felt nice and safe.

One interesting event for the trip: I was parked up near the resort one morning on a steepish snow-covered hill. I was getting ready in the cab when the truck unexpectedly moved. Got out to see what was up and found a Mercedes SUV/station wagon thing had slid down the hill and bumped in to the back of the camper. Hood of Merc hit the door of Pro-Rig. Left a teardrop shaped scuff and a slight indent on the lower door. Looked like this:



Guys in the car were apologetic and had a (likely very expensive) dent in their hood. Door still worked so I told them not to worry about it. They decided to go park in a flatter area. I think the minimal damage to the door (fiberglass over the plywood skins) is a good sign for the toughness of this construction method. Didn't expect to test it this way though.

Also, got a new accessory for the truck:



Roof racks! Expensive buggers but they will give us lots of new storage options. Expect we'll add a half-width storage basket on one side and use the other half for either bikes or skis.

Getting to work finishing the shower. Got the drain installed. It's just a thru hull type thing with a hose thread on the outside and a cap.



Water will drain out to the ground directly, through a length of hose further from the door or in to a bucket.

Inside I cut and sanded the fitting flush and glued it in with thickened epoxy.



Need to re-paint the shower pan and seal around the flange on the outside still. Shower grate and curtain on order.

Felt good to work on the camper again, even if it's small progress.
 

CoyoteThistle

Adventurer
Been getting a little work done on the camper...

Shower is coming along. Glued in some guides to keep the teak grate in position and got a couple coats of paint on it.



Grate in position. Just fits under the trap door. Grate comes right out to use for outdoor shower option as well.



Next up is something to attach the bottom of the shower curtain - Velcro or snaps maybe?

Drilled another hole in the camper. This time for a plug.



This will be for external solar panel(s). I have a 50w foldable panel for now. May or may not go bigger depending on need.

Another minor thing, finished off the inside part of the hole in the roof where the solar wires come through.



Also doubles as the worlds smallest skylight :p

Getting motivated to get some little (and bigger) things done here soon. We got invited to be a display vehicle in the DIY section at Overland Expo West in about a month. Should be fun. Hope to see some of y'all there!

matt
 

rossvtaylor

Adventurer
Nicely done! May I ask you about the shower pan? Did you build that from scratch or mod one you found? We're in the position (very soon) of needing a custom shower pan, so I'm definitely looking at all the options. And, we also plan to have a teak grate in ours, so I like your thinking.

Thanks, Ross
 

S2DM

Adventurer
We r going to be in the showcase area as well, SB and Ventura counties represent! Hopefully yours is a little closer to ready, I've got a crazy rush going the next three weeks to get everything back working again, been some long days over here.

Been getting a little work done on the camper...

Shower is coming along. Glued in some guides to keep the teak grate in position and got a couple coats of paint on it.



Grate in position. Just fits under the trap door. Grate comes right out to use for outdoor shower option as well.



Next up is something to attach the bottom of the shower curtain - Velcro or snaps maybe?

Drilled another hole in the camper. This time for a plug.



This will be for external solar panel(s). I have a 50w foldable panel for now. May or may not go bigger depending on need.

Another minor thing, finished off the inside part of the hole in the roof where the solar wires come through.



Also doubles as the worlds smallest skylight :p

Getting motivated to get some little (and bigger) things done here soon. We got invited to be a display vehicle in the DIY section at Overland Expo West in about a month. Should be fun. Hope to see some of y'all there!

matt
 

CoyoteThistle

Adventurer
Nicely done! May I ask you about the shower pan? Did you build that from scratch or mod one you found? We're in the position (very soon) of needing a custom shower pan, so I'm definitely looking at all the options. And, we also plan to have a teak grate in ours, so I like your thinking.

Thanks, Ross
Thanks! Yeah, shower pan was built from scratch. I did look around for off-the-shelf units but I had strict size requirements and quickly settled on doing it myself. I just did one layer of 8 oz fiberglass/epoxy over plywood. Sanding, fairing, sanding, primer and boat paint. Teak grate was a lucky find - almost a perfect fit.

We r going to be in the showcase area as well, SB and Ventura counties represent! Hopefully yours is a little closer to ready, I've got a crazy rush going the next three weeks to get everything back working again, been some long days over here.

Sweet!! Will be good to meet you guys and check out your rig (finally). Are you planning any pre or post Expo camping?
Oh man, I remember the chaotic rush to get ours together before our first trip. Wasn't fun but I did find my usual tendency to over-analyze every little decision point disappeared and I actually got a lot done in a short amount of time. Stressful though! Good luck with it.
 

S2DM

Adventurer
Its gonna be a little dependent on how much I destroy myself getting ready :) but would be cool to meet up for a night on the way there or back if you guys are up for it. I think we are going to leave on wednesday.
 

CoyoteThistle

Adventurer
Its gonna be a little dependent on how much I destroy myself getting ready :) but would be cool to meet up for a night on the way there or back if you guys are up for it. I think we are going to leave on wednesday.

Yeah, for sure. Just talked through travel logistics with Sheri, she has Wednesday stuff to do so looks like we'll drive all the way out Thursday. We'll break the return trip up and camp somewhere Sunday night though, no ideas yet on where.
 

hoptroll

Pool Boy
Can you give me a run down on the thickness of the panels that you used? Sorry, can’t seem to find it mentioned anywhere. Thanks!
 

CoyoteThistle

Adventurer
Can you give me a run down on the thickness of the panels that you used? Sorry, can’t seem to find it mentioned anywhere. Thanks!
Pretty much everything inside and out was made with 1-inch thick panels. They seem to be plenty rigid for my design and offer a little bit of insulation. If I was making a big full size camper I'd go at least twice as thick for the outside walls and roof though.

The bed platform is the only thicker bit at about 1.75 inches.
 

CoyoteThistle

Adventurer
Oh boy, hectic week, packing up and getting some last little things done before heading to Expo! Hope to see some of you there. We'll be in the DIY "Area 2". Long drive tomorrow, early start, should be asleep already...
 

CoyoteThistle

Adventurer
Well, we did Expo 2018 in the all new DIY section. Overall, Expo has grown a bit since we last attended in 2012 (understatement of the year!).

- Saw enough converted Sprinters to fill a lifetime. Still like them though.
- Maltec campers from Germany look simply great.
- Enjoyed some good discussions with Lance of EarthCruiser on design philosophy. They make nice rigs if you have the $$
- We really enjoyed seeing the widening range of vehicle options out there. Not convinced they are all ready for prime time, but there are some creative ideas out there coming to market

All that being said, I have to say the absolute highlight was meeting some of our fellow DIY folks. Bevin did a great job bringing it all together. Our fellow "DIY Area 2" folks made the trip.



On the left is Pete's really sweet ambulance conversion - he's got a whole RV's worth of kit in that thing and can run some serious trails. Sheri fell for his two little dogs. Had great fun chatting with Pete all weekend.

At center is Francisco's Land Rover FC101 with a chassis-mounted modified Hallmark pop-up. Really cool rig. We had lots of fun chatting with him and look forward to following his family adventure to South America in the near future.

And for whatever reason, not in the DIY (but in the featured vehicles), is Scott's "Adrift" rig (strangely I took no pics but look for the build thread near here) that is as good as (or better than) any of the large "professional" 4X4 campers I saw all weekend.

Lots of amazing stuff and great people.

On the way home we did a night at Mojave National Preserve. Wildflowers still blooming. Peregrine falcons nesting on the cliffs. A two hour walk/hike without seeing another soul. Brilliant way to end a fine weekend.



-matt
 

java

Expedition Leader
Thats Awesome, I wish I could have made it down, love that they are doing a DIY area now.
 

CoyoteThistle

Adventurer
Thats Awesome, I wish I could have made it down, love that they are doing a DIY area now.

Yeah, wish you could have too, would be great to see your rig in person - maybe next year if they do DIY again?

I hope they do it again and I hope they do a better job with some aspects of it. We were kind of off in the forest without any signs pointing our way and pretty isolated from the main foot traffic (especially those of us in Area 2). As a result, we didn't see very many visitors - kind of a bummer. I think it just looked like some lucky SOB's got the quietest campsite at the whole event (which I think was probably true :)). And, while there were some super-cool trucks and great builds, there were also some that made me go :unsure:. Either way, seems there might be an opportunity to get more of the super-cool rigs like yours in there next time. I might pitch some unsolicited thoughts to the organizers for next year...
 

sandyvan

New member
Saw the rig at the Expo, looked great! I poked my head inside and was really impressed with the quality, it was great to see a composite camper in the DIY area. I agree about the signage, I walked in circles trying to find the DIY area but spent a bunch of time there once I found it! (The forward control Land Rover was awesome). I feel like DIY rigs should be a bigger showcase and better included in the actual expo as a lot of people like me are there for that kind of inspiration.
 

java

Expedition Leader
Yeah, wish you could have too, would be great to see your rig in person - maybe next year if they do DIY again?

I hope they do it again and I hope they do a better job with some aspects of it. We were kind of off in the forest without any signs pointing our way and pretty isolated from the main foot traffic (especially those of us in Area 2). As a result, we didn't see very many visitors - kind of a bummer. I think it just looked like some lucky SOB's got the quietest campsite at the whole event (which I think was probably true :)). And, while there were some super-cool trucks and great builds, there were also some that made me go :unsure:. Either way, seems there might be an opportunity to get more of the super-cool rigs like yours in there next time. I might pitch some unsolicited thoughts to the organizers for next year...
I hope to go at some point, but honestly it may just be too big for me at this point. Maybe a day trip? I love poking around trucks, but that much event/advertising may be a little overwhelming.... The DIY area would be a huge attraction me to (I didn't even know they were doing it :( )
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,544
Messages
2,875,706
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top