How to: DIY Wedge Camper

I wish I had gotten 6 on the floor more than anything. My roof is *huge* so it's heavy AF. 116" long. 62" wide. Had to split two sheets of acm over it, split in the middle, sealed on a 1x3 UL 8020 bar in the middle.

 

I haven’t done it yet but was planning on using silicone RVT black. Cheap, very water tight, easy to do a clean job and if for some reason I need to separate the parts later it’s doable.

 

So interesting, but I have a hard time thinking that'll solve our issue when we pop it 30"~ because it's connecting to itself still? it's kind of like connecting the middle hinge up really high.

Here's a few pictures of mine currently. Only have one side "together"




The mechanism will sit straight. Have to add a spacer in there. Tried to get these hinges to sit totally shut, but the hardware still contacts and won't close all the way.

Honestly, this whole part of it makes me feel dense AF. There has to be a simple, simple way to do this. Any thoughts on a clean way to add a kickstand? Do I need one, two, four?

 

Where did you got the panels and did you got them cut? I’m getting to that stage soon and would like to hear your experience.

 

I did the black GE silicone you get at home depot and some cork gasket inboard of that.

 

I saw ripcords original pictures with cork on the space frame to floor so is it the same for the floor to extrusion? Cork and some silicone sealant?

 

I'm not sure if that's how he did it, but our "sandwich" so far is spaceframe, cork and silicone, floor paneling, then we just did silcone after that. On our roof we did some foam but it made it a bit squiggly. If I did it again, I'd probablyyyyy just do silicone, unless the cork makes particular sense for some reason? IDK. haha.

 

Yeah I’m trying to think of the best way to go about it. I’ve got old carpet squares I was thinking about using or the insulation stuff you posted I was going to use liquid nails and roll it on like sound deadening

 

Hey I got the qomotop from Amazon and it’s very comfy. The only thing I dont like is you can’t plug in an electric pump and it doesn’t self inflate as wel as the exped. Some member posted another alternative up here that a couple used and liked but I can’t remember the name. A search for mattress in this thread should find it.

 

He issues that flat gasket for the floor and roof I’m pretty sure. I decided to leave them out and just use silicone. I live in Oregon and we also get quite a bit of rain and my advice is use more than you think you need. Do large bears and clean up. Once everything is bolted together, do a finishing bead on the outside. I have already figured out I have a couple weak spots of silicone and after wheeling things loosened up and then of course the rain came so it let some in... so now when it dries out and I hopefully get new corner brackets, I’m going to be resealing wherever I can

 

I ordered from here. https://www.nglantz.com/itemLevelFi...m+Composite+Panels"|"Foam+Board"&resultPage=0

Look them up, then call. They can make most straight cuts. Everything else I did myself. They day ship LA and orange county I believe. Straight to my door. Pretty cheap. I think I paid less than $350 for 2 5x10, 2 4x8 panels. Straight cut, then I angle cut what I needed for doors and roof/ floor

 

Been reading through this forum. What a big help it has been during my build. Thanks to everyone on here haha. Just wanted to share what I've got so far. Waiting on my extrusion at the moment which should hopefully ship out by the end of the week. Happy building everyone! Cheers!

 

What was your method for lining up and drilling all your holes? I found keeping things in line over such a long distance and so many holes super hard.

 

@Oyster Taco for all the dibond work,I used clicos.

 

Can you post some pictures of your hinge and floor piece for the lifting floor panel? I'm planning on doing the same.

 

@nanserb I'm using 1in square tubing. For the hinge I'm just using one I found at lowes. I don't think it has to be a thick heavy duty one because it will be supported by 4 angle iron pieces that I welded to the frame. I attached the hinges with countersink rivets then layed the dibond on top. Slight hump of the dibond will be soaked up by the mattress. When you make the lifting floor panel, make sure there is about a 1/2in gap on both sides to clear the keder rails. I also reinforced the rear of the panel with angle iron as there is some flex in the smaller tubing.

 

Looks just like how I did mine. I love the lifting floor, so freaking useable and having the standing room while inside and everything is closed up is great for shuffling things around the bed or getting changed. Not sure how removable panels are, but at least with this, you dont even have to shuffle things around or mess with the mattress.

1 pro tip tho is if you have the exped mattress, since its wider than the 50in width, make sure you lift it before you lift the floor or you risk pinching it against the keder rail.

 

@Jarman02 yessir I got the idea from you haha. Thanks for the tip, I got the exped too. I'm thinking of putting struts on the lifting panel. Might as well add some bells and whistles lol

 

I'm thinking about just making a rectangular frame 30x47 with hinges on bottom extrusion to fold up to top extrusion. Then add a hinged cross/support bar from my roof support. That way, when I fold it up, I can push the cross bar against the rectangular frame. I think this might work. But I'm weary if it doesn't because I'm tired of chopping extrusion lol. But that's the only way I will know for sure that it will support and not move. Thoughts? Possibly a middle support on the rectangular frame

 

I got an idea for you I’m trying out today. And then a back up idea. But we are thinking the same thing largely. I’m adding a support to my roof like the front of the OVRLND and the project M, but I’m going to do it a bit differently to add some rigidity. I’m trying it with some cheap bird right now, and if it feels sturdy I may tinker with the design and do nicer wood, or bend some conduit in a u shape and atttch to roof support. Same basic idea as you, but I’ll still have the compound lifting mechanism to form that rectangular frame.