1 Bored Clerk's Garage Built Camper

Excellent.
I’m following with enthusiasm.
One of my thoughts was to eliminate the side windows on the Flippac - interested in your process for the fiberglass.

 

Is the side of a flip pac completely flat where you want to fill?

 

Pretty much. There’s a slider window on both sides now & they’re obviously not curved in any way.
The windows are pretty useless so I’d like to eliminate them and use like 6” on either side for storage.
I could simply just replace them with a panel of aluminum but it would be nice to make them disappear completely...

 

Flat is way easier! I’d probably remove the window and whatever liner there is inside the camper (carpet on the walls?) and clean any adhesive or anything else that may be on the inside or outside surface. Then take a piece of Some sheet good (Formica, signboard, thin plywood...something that has some stiffness and body to it but is smooth as possible on one side) and coat it with mold release wax. Several coats like waxing a car 6 times. Then put some PVA (water soluable mold release) over the wax. Then tape that piece to the outside wall of your flip pac with the PVA side in. Tape the heck out of it so it doesn’t move or flex or anything like that. Then move inside and seal the edge where the PVA coated surface meets the camper window opening. You don’t want resin making its way between the camper wall and your PVA coated board! I’ve used modeling clay before but there may be a better option out there. You may be able to wax the exterior camper wall really well and caulk the PVA panel to the camper...it may release? Anyway, once you have that panel secured and edges sealed for leakage, start laying on the glass from the inside. Be sure to overlap the existing camper wall by several inches. Once you’ve made a layup about as thick as the existing wall and it has cured, work the outside panel off and clean any sealant/wax/PVA off of the camper and your new fiberglass. Then go in with thickened epoxy and fill in the edge gap that will exist between your new glass and the old window opening on the outside. Sand and fair with epoxy thickened with fairing beads...makes it easier to sand. Then prime and repaint. That’s a VERY condensed overview of how I’d look at that project. The specifics of what materials I’d use at every stage and the specifics of the prep have been glossed over massively. I’m happy to answer more questions though. I’m a noob at fiberglass but I’m always ready to dive in and try new stuff so take my advice with a boulder of salt.

 

Dude, I would hardly say your a newb. 99% of us that are following this thread are the newbs. You just put together a bad ass camper that we are all following in earnest, you have gone from newb to over the last year.

 

Haha, thanks. We’ll see how it holds up before we go too crazy.

 

So why not mix you own, pour it into an icing bag with whatever tip you like and you should get a similar result?

 

It’s possible. Hands might get wicked tired but it could be worth a shot. If I need to do more of this kind of work, I’ll definitely look into that!

 

You can also get extra long tips used for filling pastries.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0728B9FLV/ref=sspa_dk_detail_3?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B0728B9FLV



Then there are these...

Funnytoday365 4Pcs Stainless Steel Nozzles Piping Syringe Cookie Icing Cake Decorating Tool Set

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GAR34LI/ref=sspa_dk_detail_6?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B01GAR34LI



https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073DZK5YP/ref=sspa_dk_detail_7?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B073DZK5YP

Stainless Steel Cookie Press Kit/Icing Decorating Tools Set for Biscuit/Cake Decoration (22 Pieces)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D3TJ5X...&pd_rd_r=3152a812-0d61-11e9-909f-2fe01a604df2

 

As many things as I’ve built, I’ve never made a punch list. A big part of this project has been managing the project! I’ve tried not planning anything, micro-managing every evening, planning a week out and a few other things. What seems to be working is setting tasks to be done within a general timeline (before feb 1 and after) then spending an hour a night during the week working on whatever gets me closer to done. More hours will be spent on the weekends of course but planning for only an hour on the weeknights keeps me motivated. And not having a list of things to finish each night keeps me positive. I was finding that if I didn’t finish everything on my nightly list, it was demotivating. So, tonight, I pulled tape and sanded the backing discs for the aluminum box. Then, instead of working on the box mounts more, I just carried on with sanding. I sanded strategic areas to get me closer to finishing other pre-feb 1 tasks like the L track plates for the roof and starting the fairing process. We’ll see how this holds up. I’m hoping to have the camper on the truck on feb 21. Fingers crossed!

 

Oooooh shit, thats aggressive considering how this has been a slower project thus far!

We are watching in earnest buddy!!!

 

Yeah, no kidding! This thing just needs to end. Seriously, it’s just too much and taking way too long. I’ve never really set a deadline, not to mention actually writing one down so that feels like a good step. It feels doable if I really focus. My biggest worry is keeping the garage/camper warm enough in February to paint. I may have to get creative.

 

Tonight was all about getting the rear aluminum box ‘bed’ to the camper. The camper walls are not square...let’s just accept that. So, there are gaps in various places between the box and the camper. Those need to be filled. I decided that I would fill that space with too much thickened epoxy and squish the box into it thereby forming a perfect mounting surface. I did this by wrapping the box in plastic wrap which I then coated with mold release wax. Then I put a giant glop of thickened epoxy over each hole location for mounting the box. Then squished her into place and strapped her solid to cure. Hopefully this actually works! I’m actually a little skeptical if we’re being honest. The theory is sound but my execution is completely unproven. I’ll know tomorrow!


Here’s the same mold wax tin that I’ve had for over a decade.


Here are the epoxy exposed surfaces of the box coated in plastic wrap, edge sealed with my favorite blue tape then liberally waxed.


And here’s the box strapped in place for the big cure! The 2x4s are there to help apply force in the areas that I needed to seat the box just how I wanted it. I’ll double check the straps later this evening to make sure they’re tight then let it cure over night. I’m excited to see how this works. It was actually pretty easy. If it doesn’t work, it’s going to be an unholy mess to clean up. That’s my general concept of what cleaning that mess up would be like communicated completely by emoji.

 

Just like glass bedding a rifle - should work just fine!

 

Exactly!

 

Pulled the box off tonight. The epoxy blobs worked great! Not perfect but, honestly, better than I though. I’m pumped!


Put the box back in place once I removed all the plastic wrap and tape. It’s gonna be so frickin sweet! I did this to mark the holes to drill. Used a pencil trough the holes I already drilled in the box a few steps ago.


This is a good trick for drilling holes in a vertical surface: put an eye bolt over the drill bit...as you drive the drill motor, the eye bolt will walk back and forth giving you a good idea of up/dn angle then all you have to do is watch the left/right. Works really well but be sure to keep your eye bolt off of the chuck and the cutting area of the bit. It needs to ride on the smooth part of the bit.


Then I recessed the back side of the wood discs to set the T Nuts into and have them be flush so I can glass over them later.

Going well!

 

So what are you putting in the box? Camp shower? General Storage?

 

General storage at this point. The initial idea was wet/dirty stuff that we didn’t want in the camper or truck cab until we found a spot to clean and dry it. That’s why this box has a sealable drain hole in the bottom. The plan was to include a way to hang stuff (wetsuits and jackets) in the box. It may turn into something else...who knows!

 

That's the way things go. You plan on one thing and end up with another.