1 Bored Clerk's Garage Built Camper

First half of the day update:


Epoxy coated the through hole as well as the recessed area of the plywood to help seal it up. Then pulled all of the T Nuts into place.



Then go back in and make sure all the bolts are in the t nuts and are flush with the back of the t nut flange. Put some mold release wax on the end of the bolt so that it covers the end of the bolt and fills in around the threads so no epoxy gets in there. Then mix up some thickened epoxy and cover everything up. Once this cures, I’ll sand it all flat and glass over all of the discs. Then the mounts for this box will be done! That should happen tomorrow.

 

Mid day report:


The first roof L track backing plate is epoxied in place. I’ll get the second one in place tomorrow.

I’m hoping to get the front window hole cut and the rear aluminum box mounts done...crossed off the list this weekend. The roof L track mounts will take a few days of tinkering to get them finished. In between all of this work, I can start to sand/fair various parts of the camper because that takes a long time to do. I imagine the camper finish will look “fine” and that’s probably just great. I plan to take it out and get it in the trees and brush so it’s going to need scratch and ding repair I’m sure. No need to make it pristine, I think.

 

Last update for the day...I promise.


I hauled out the front window to measure to cut the hole for it in the camper.


Measured, drew some lines and stuff...then drilled starting holes for the saw.


Zippity do da and I’ve made a hole!


Did a little clean up sanding...


Boom! Slides right in! Though just barely. I’ll open up the hole a little bit to give the window and the camper room to expand and contract. But this all took about 30 minutes...tops.

Loving the progress! It feels good to be knocking stuff out. That’s it for tonight. My wife and I have some plans tomorrow but I’m still planning to put some decent time in on the camper.

Oh, and here is my setup for cutting these sorts of things in this panel material:



That blade just keeps going and going.

 

Those blades are the shit

 

Nothing else cuts fiberglass like these (or at all). So good.

 

Nice little bit of work today.


I got the second roof L track plate epoxied into place. It’s a fine art finding enough heavy things to balance on stuff. There’s a fork seal driver, some scrap metal, a few small sledge hammers, a vise, and some rubber wheel chocks. Haha...whatever works. I got tied up with a few things that I didn’t plan on today but I’m really happy with my progress this weekend. Looking forward to kicking more butt this week!

I just had to edit this post because autocorrect changed ‘kicking’ to ‘loving’ in the last sentence above.

 

All I seem to be doing is cutting holes in perfectly good panels. Here’s the roof vent fan hole!


There it is. Vent fan. I wish it wasn’t where the roof rack will be but it has to go on the roof and here’s the spot!


Here it is from the inside. I’ll need to cut a spacer out of fiberglass panel as a spacer. It seems to be the perfect thickness to take up this space. No biggie, I’ve got a ton left.


Sanded and glassed over all of the rear box mounts. and that means...


First thing to be fully crossed off the list! I could technically cross the front window hole cut/fit off the list but it’s such a perfect slip fit that I feel like I should slightly enlarge the hole so there is some room for expansion/contraction between the window and the camper wall. What do you think?

 

1) You couldnt get a smaller vent fan and mount it on the side? Just asking.

2) Agreed, I would allow for expansion/contraction. 1/4" all the way around should suffice and get a gasket to fill the void or backer rod and sealant if its a flanged window.

 

1: side is a no go for me...truck is wide enough already. Don’t want a very vulnerable element sticking out. Though, there may be interesting options I haven’t seen?

2: it’s a flanged window and has seals. I don’t think it’ll need 1/4” all the way around but I do think the fit should be a little sloppy. I don’t have any experience with this so I’ll be guessing but that’s part of the fun? Haha. I could always just call the window manufacturer and ask them.

 

^^^^This

As for the vent, they do make low profile hinged louver type discharge sides that are virtually flat with the surface and only extend a 1/2" or so when in operation which yours wont be. You already cut the hole though so fuck it. Stick with your plan.

Something like this, but I have seen them lower profile than this. The vanes are floating hinges and they open with the force of the air.

 

Yeah, not bad. I think the giant powered fan will be nice so I’ll stick with it. If we put kayaks up on the rack, the rack will have to be quite tall or we won’t be able to open the roof vent much...or we’ll have to take down the kayaks. Who knows. We’ll figure it out!

 

Beauty of a one off build. Problem comes up, figure a work around.

I have confidence you'll sort it out.

 

Started the build for the spacer for the fan inside the camper.


The plywood on the edge is there because it’s the easy way to make a smooth edge to route and fillet and glass over. Totally the way to go. There are three strips on the one end because I decided last minute to make it wider and because I want an even reveal around the flange for the fan, I also needed to make it longer. So, I made it longer! I wouldn’t do this when building the space shuttle but it’ll be WAY more than strong enough for the practically no load use it’ll be in.



Mmmmm...epoxy fillets. I got all the fillets done around the edge of the L track rails on the roof. Next step is to glass over them and then I’ll cross them off the list! I’ll likely do that tomorrow. Should be able to get the vent fan spacer in place too!...another thing off the list.

 

This is literally all I did on the camper last night: pick at this piece of tape. Not tonight, baby. I’ve got a headache.

 

You could rout the roof to set the fan slightly lower into it. Might save some room so you can open it with the kayaks.

 

DO NOT suggest that I add more work to this project. I will have you kicked right out of here!

 

Sigh. I hate paying for stupid decisions.



Epoxy filled all the torn out areas to make the surface more or less straight again. I’ll sand this down and re route the edges so it’s clean again.


I did get the front window hole clearanced just a tad. So that’s off the list! I also sanded down the roof L track mounts. I’ll need to wipe them down the. I can glass over those and get those off the list too.

I’m planning to dive into the other aluminum box mounts this weekend!