2015 Rockwood A122S Pop-up Camper rebuild

Info on the lights by chance? Could use a pair of these in our trailer as well

 

I appreciate the praise, but I'm a rookie woodworker. I did this with a used Craigslist table saw, used Craigslist miter saw, tape measure, a couple squares, a corded grinder for the axle, and a cordless drill and a couple cordless impact drivers. I could have done it without the impacts.

 

They look like these, but I'm not sure if they're the exact same.

$13 TOMOL [New Version] Super Bright COB LED Portable Desk Lamp Travel Lamp :Foldable, Touch Sensitive Control, 3 Adjustable Brightness Levels, Battery and USB Powered

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0741BSG3R/ref=cm_sw_r_apa_i_.ijWEbJGH69FM

 

Close enough! Thanks!

 

You're welcome. I wish they had keyhole slots in the base so you could hang them on the wall.

 

Popping in for an update. No pics this week but there has been progress. But I'm starting to wonder if the camper is cursed. Or maybe it's me?

I finally towed it in to get some welding done on it. They did an OK job I guess. I expected better looking results for professionals, but I don't know much about welding, so it may be world class for the situation. They welded the ends of the crossmember in place like I asked. I also asked them to weld all the seams between the frame and suspension they could easily get to, which they didn't do. I only see about an inch that got welded anywhere on the frame. But I think the crossmember will bear enough weight that it will all be fine. I sure hope I'm right!

I ended up ruining the big skylight. We ordered a piece of flat tinted polycarbonate to put down. I ordered it from a local place and my wife picked it up Friday. I went to put it on today and it was 10 inches too short. I called the place and they didn't have any tinted stuff in stock until at least the 24th, so I just ordered clear, which they had in stock and cut for me today. They didn't radius the corners like I asked, but figured it didn't matter by that point. I put down two runs of butyl tape around the opening and put the poly in place. I'm gonna let it settle for the rest of the week, and then will caulk around the edge. I think this will work. It ain't the prettiest, but I'll live with it.

I decided to finish up my spare tire holder that I had tried to make once before. There is already a bracket on the back. With the bigger wheels and tires, I had to run longer bolts to hold the spare in place. I attempted this earlier in the project. I was in a hurry and used my impact to run a nut on and it was cross threaded and ruined it. I finally cut the messed up bolt off today and went and bought all new stainless hardware. I used wrenches to install it and I'll be damned if it didn't seize up for some unknown reason about 3/4 of the way down anyway. I have no idea how that happened, but I had to cut it off. Went back to the hardware store and they didn't have any more bolts of that length (4") and I couldn't find another 4" fully threaded bolt with the same thread pitch in the whole damn store, so I had to buy a 3" one. The 3" actually works better so I'll replace the other 4 with a 3 eventually.

This weekend, I'll seal the big skylight with caulk around the edges. Then we'll put the bed in. We have the maiden voyage planned the weekend of 6/19 so I'll have some action pics soon!

 

This is almost the day I've been waiting for. It is now ready to tow and camp in. Friday, we leave for its first camping trip. Here's what we finished up today.

Ended up breaking the dome skylight that was in here. It didn't seal right and I broke it trying to clean it up to reseal. We ordered a flat piece of 1/4" polycarbonate and put it in last weekend. I put down two runs of butyl tape and put the window down and let it set all week. Today, I sealed around it, the ceiling fan, and the two smaller skylights on the other end with clear Lexel. Waited a few hours and sprayed it all down heavily while my wife sat inside looking for leaks and it's all good to go. Finally!



Got the mattress installed.


And the bed made.

Made drawer pulls and installed them. Went with leather so we don't have hardware sticking out to snag clothes and such. The leather pulls are 7" long, doubled over and held in place with aluminum post connectors. They rotate back and forth by design since the ones on the shorter drawers hang down in front of the drawers below them. That way, we can swing them out of the way when getting into the drawers below. Just wanted you all to know I didn't hang that one THAT far off. Haha.


This was a little jig I made to get the holes in the leather consistent.


This is an idea I came up with for drilling holes in the drawer fronts with the drill pretty squared up. I used a 16" combo square, set it upright off of the drawer front, and then matched its thin edge up with the line running down the middle of the top of my drill. I eyeballed the drill bit to make sure it seemed parallel to the edge of the square, and it kept the bit pretty square in all planes. It ain't a drill press, but it worked for this project.




A couple final pics of the completed inside:

To the right:


In the middle:


To the left:


And one of it set up. The lift on this thing matches up almost perfectly with my truck's lift. It sits pretty well parallel. Its nosed up a bit when towing in the wife's 2019 4runner, but that's ok.

 

I left it set up last night and today. It rained all day long, pretty hard at times, and never leaked a drop. We are so ready for the maiden voyage this weekend. I'll post some pics from the trip once we're back.

 

We survived the maiden voyage. Took it easy for the first one. Ran down near Mt. St. Helens. Didn't take it off the pavement as I wanted to make sure all the lug nuts and axle bolts held their torque before I really test it. Also towed it with my wife's 2019 4runner. It pulls like a dream. I was worried there would be some hopping due to the camper being like 1200+ lbs lighter than the suspension is rated for but it did great. The roads to all the cool stuff near the volcano were closed, and though it was supposed to be nice, it was rainy and cloudy most of the trip. Only took a few pics.





This morning's breakfast:


A few pics of the scenery:

 

Got another trip in. Five nights in northern Idaho. We have a couple more local trips planned, then Yellowstone in September!

Did a 17 mile bike ride on the Trail of the Hiawatha in Montana. It's a downhill easy ride on an old railroad grade, with a shuttle at the bottom that brings you most of the way back. But you have to ride through this tunnel both directions. There are probably 6 or 8 tunnels on the trail, but this was by far the longest.




Our lunch guest:




Rented a Rzr 900 trail model and put 110 miles on it. What an incredible machine that thing is. This is a shot of the North Fork of the Couer d'Alene River from up in the mountains.


And one of Lake Couer d'Alene from up in the mountains:



Went up Mt. Spokane. This is the Vista House, which was built by stone masons in the 1930s from rock lying nearby. Really cool structure.



The views from Mt. Spokane are incredible. The views are like this on all sides, pretty much.




And, as your reward for sticking it out this far, I present to you my latest creation, the Dessert Burger:


That two Stroopwaffles, two toasted marshmallows, a thin Reese's cup, and a Ghirardelli fudge square.



I still have to get the wiring on the thermostat figured out so the heat and AC work. I also still have to order and install gas struts for the bed platform so we can readily access the storage under it. And I've decided to build a platform that rests on the rear bumper so I can bolt on a hitch receiver for the bike rack, and also use it as storage for the cooler and a cooking platform, if needed. I'll have to relocate the spare to the front but it'll be a much better use of this area than the current setup. The bumper is strong enough to support me, so it should be really stout once I tie it all in with pressure treated lumber.

 

I've done a few things to it after having some things come up that I didn't like after using it for a couple trips.

I put piano hinges on the bench tops. The tops are just long enough that they contact the roof and hold themselves open. When you drop them, they close like they're on soft close hinges because of the carpeting. Both are coincidences, nothing planned there.



I HATED the table I made. It kept falling because the rail mount on the back didn't hold tight. I think the wall off the camper is too flimsy to handle any movement and the rail just kept falling.



Then, I accidentally broke the other table. My only regret is that I didn't break it on purpose. Anyway, I made a new table today. Similar setup, but with two legs, and the top is a little shorter. I'll probably trim another 3-4 inches off of it but want to use it a time or two before I cut it more. I put the rail back on it, because the outside rail holds the table better and I may still use it out there. And who knows, the rail might work better inside with two legs on it.

Counter height:


Inside the camper height:


And the fated rail mounted back on:



I made the rear deck that I discussed in the previous post. It's mostly done but I forgot to take pics. I'll post some tomorrow.

I ordered the struts to finally make the bed lift so we can use the space when it's up and access the storage space under it.

I worked on the AC and am pretty sure everything is wired up right, but the thermostat doesn't work. I meant to test it today but ran out of time.

I'll probably work on it more this weekend. We hope to go to Olympic National Park in a couple weeks but some of the stuff we want to see is closed, so it's in limbo at the moment.

Until next week!

 

Got some done today. Lots of work but not a lot to show. Got the gas struts for the bed lift in. Tunes, coffee, let's get it.




Got tired of using the ratchet bars to hold the bed in place.



Did the strut on the right first. Took several hours just figuring out how to do it right. The geometry was easy due to an online calculator I found. But it took some doing to get the anchor points strong enough to not rip out. Left side went in in like 15 minutes because of all I learned on the right side.

You'll notice there is a strap in the middle of the bed. I must have underestimated the weight of the mattress and platform, because the struts don't quite hold it all the way against the ceiling. Thought about buying stronger ones. Still might, but the strap works for now. It doubles as a lift strap and buckles to an anchor on the ceiling.


I had to rework this lid over the big under-bed storage area to go around the strut. Since I was doing all that, I put hinges on it too. The black strip across the front is Velcro. If I need the hatch to stay open, I can just push it up against the carpet and it stays. I'm 6'1" and about 290 and I fit in this space with ease. It's huge.




I'll probably eventually cut a patch piece to fill this gap and clear the strut with tighter tolerances. But not today.



Did some more work on the shelf in the back.



I need to paint the boards underneath and might paint all the hardware too. This is for our bike rack and can also be used to strap the cooler down. Or an elk or deer . I put some angle iron down the sides. I think I'll mount some eye bolts through the back of the camper and run some steel cable between them and the corners to strengthen it even more. Sure don't want to lose the bikes or cooler going down the road.


Ended the day with my wife's pizza for dinner
Homemade sauce and crust. She spoils me.

 

Got another 3 nights in this past weekend in Olympic National Park. Our ceiling fan only runs on one speed even though it has a 3 speed switch. I ordered a replacement switch and it came as we were packing for the trip, so I took it with us and replaced it but it still only runs on high. Maybe it's the motor, but I'm just gonna upgrade the whole unit.

I tinkered around with the AC a couple weeks ago and could never get the thermostat to work, so I ordered a new one of those, too. Hopefully that result is more successful than the fan switch.

First, a few pics of the interior when packed.

The cooler fits under the bed perfectly. It's a 75qt cooler and works great under here.


Some stuff crammed under the seat bench:


And the real attractions:

From the road up to Hurricane Ridge, the Strait of Juan de Fuca with Canada to the left, and Mt. Baker to the right, 90 miles from this point:



We found snow on Aug 9, at about 6100 feet:



Rialto Beach:


A gigantic driftwood tree. The ocean makes me feel so small and powerless:



Saw two nice 5x5 blacktail bucks. In the national park, of course:


Better shot of one of them:


We were supposed to go to Yellowstone and the Tetons next month, but decided to postpone the trip because of COVID. Both trips we've taken to national parks this year have left us disappointed and we decided not to risk it at Yellowstone. Next year...

 

It’s been a while since I did any work on this thing but got back to it today.

I finally got the AC working. It was too hot today to test the heater but I assume it’ll work.

Ducted:


Thermostat mounted:


Rigged up a couple gear hangers to use as “closets.” They don’t show up too well against the curtains.

 

Took it deer hunting a couple weeks ago. A lot better than camping and hunting out of a tent!