DIY Aluminum Hardside Popup Camper

Took it camping last night. The walls aren't done so I just had to throw a tarp over the top. But it worked. Truck drives great with it on. A little rattling before I put the mattress up top. But that's it.
I finished the frame gap panels. That took absolutely forever because each one had to be hand fitted by cutting and sanding.

Added a few latches you can see in this photo


Got some rain during the night. There's no weather seals anywhere yet. But surprisingly little water intrusion.




Already abusing it hauling trees to our annual Christmas tree burning.

 

I've been thinking I may have to do this for a while. But I had to remake all the lifting struts. The Aluminum ones just weren't stiff enough, had too much play, and all the screw joints kept shifting. I thought about just adding JB weld to every joint. But after taking them apart I realized there's just no way that will hold up.


So I remade them in the same dimensions with steel. Luckily the hard part was figuring out where to mount everything and experimenting with the Extrusions let me figure all that out already. So I just had to transfer everything over.







They turned out pretty good. WAY stiffer than the aluminum and no screw joints. I Rust Blued them before paint to add additional protection to the pivot joints and since they will inevitably get scratched.


Just connected two turkey pans pans with tinfoil on my camp chef.






And now I wait for the paint to dry. I plan to mount and test them on Monday.

 

They work! So much more stable. Now to get on with framing in the walls.

 

This is such a cool build

 

Hella subd. I came across some guy who did similar, non pop up but a full sized slide in using rivets and angle brackets. Inspiring as a shit welder whose not even going to try working alu.

 

Beautiful. Well done!

 

OP do you have any concerns with vibration/flexing causing the aluminum frame to fatigue/crack? Thoughts?

Build looks great and I'm looking forward to seeing more.

 

Yes, but most of the cracking problems on aluminum trailers are from welds with an indent at the end from improperly terminating it, from a weld with inadequate penetration, or from a weld that was ground down too aggressively. So I'm leaving as many of my welds unground as possible. I may also add reinforcing brackets at a few high stress joints.

 

This is awesome! I’ve wondered what it would take to build something with hard sides instead.

 

Big update! The main structure is done. Still need to add the windows and make everything look nice. There's a lot of filling and painting left to do. But It's usable.
I added window frames to the walls.


Then I filled in the spaces with XPS foam.


I added poor mans fiberglass and real fiberglass on top of that.


I also added these springs to help it close softer.


And put some parachord under the bed as sort of a box spring.


Here's the final result!

Camped in it last night. Setup was so easy! As a bonus we got to see the northern lights all the way down in GA.


My dog was a big fan of the vantage point.


Will get started on the window frames next. Then paint, Then all the interior finishings, systems, and wiring. I'm gonna try and leave it out in the rain soon to identify my main water intrusion areas before I start adding seals.

 

Looks nice! I'm a fan of the hard side style campers, especially if you tend to camp where it can be windy.

Seeing where you rust blued the supports made me think of the Eastwood spray hose/nozzles for spraying inside frames and hard to reach places if you're looking to paint the inside of the tubes (there are other companies that make them too). I've found rust inside the supports of my VW Westys (back when I was into them) and even inside my Yakima rack tubes (old round bar style that are supposedly galvanized); as much work and pride as you'll have in that it might be worth it to take the extra steps to coat it.

Ex: https://www.eastwood.com/search/?q=frame+spray+tube

 

That’s cool. Hadn’t seen those before. I was thinking I may just pour some thinned paint down there and roll it around with a paper towel in the end. But those may be worth a look.

 

Painted the frame and made some improvements.







Looks so much sleeker and low profile in black. I plan to color match the doors to the truck and add some TRD stripes soon.




The rear supports just weren't working very well. I added bars that stabilize the roof as it goes up. The downside is that you have to put them in manually. I really wanted to avoid doing anything like that. But I was spending more time trying to carefully put it up and align it coming down than it takes to slide the bars in.
They go through the eye bolt and into the tube below.



Gotta finish up the walls and paint the rest of the brackets soon.

 

Painted the doors and primed all the walls. Still some work to do before I can finish the inside. But it's Starting to look pretty finished on the outside.

There are many things I am good at. Apparently installing large vinyl decals is not one of them.

 

Very sick build

 

Interesting lift mechanism. I’ve not seen that before. Why did you go this route instead of the usual struts that push it up and provide opposing forces to keep it steady?

 

I wanted the roof to go higher to allow for a drawer system in the truck bed and comfortable sitting height in the loft/sleeping bed. I couldn't find gas struts that were long enough to lift it that high. And I wasn't sure how easy it would be to get it to come down. The original goal was to be able to push one button and have it all come up. But that is clearly not happening for a while.

 

Interesting. Seems like a cool idea. Hope it works for you. The straight up pop tops are sure nice. Lots more usable room in them than a wedge like I have.

 

Definitely lots of room. Feels huge in there when its up.


The pop mechanism is working awesome now that it has the rear stabilizing rods.

 

What is the thickness / dimension of the top section (red arrow)?