1 Bored Clerk's Garage Built Camper

The chips/dust that the router and jigsaw make are SUPER itchy and they get thrown everywhere. I’m glad I don’t have a ton of that to do.

 

Hah - looks awesome! had a good chuckle at the blue tape straight edge. If you're doing major cuts, I'd just drill a couple of holes and bolt the straight edge to it. Way easier to fix tiny holes than wobbly lines. Another option is a ratchet strap around the whole thing - keep the buckle on the far side and strap a strip of 1/4" ply to act as a guide.

The vee-block + hole saw saved my sanity when i was running HVAC penetrations on my house - 6" hole saws through mixed materials [EPS foam, wood, tar paper, and voids] with a 18V drill would have otherwise driven me right over the edge.

If you can find 'em, the 3M full face respirators are totally worth it, especially if you're working / sanding overhead. they're a bit spendy [$160 CAD] but do a way better job of keeping shit out of your eyes - one of those cry once purchases. I find 'em pretty comfortable too.

 

Well, I used a router to clean up the straight edges on the door opening on Monday night. It didn’t go perfectly. But it went okay. I’m going to finish it off by hand, with a block. It’ll be easier and more controllable. This is one of those situations where a power tool did not make life easier.

I also got my quote for the two aluminum boxes. They ended up about $200 (total) under my ‘it COULDN’T POSSIBLY cost more than this’ guess. So, that’s cool. Still expensive but I knew that going in. They build the best boxes around. Mostly due to the seals. Anyway, probably around two weeks to get those.

 

Did some hand sanding and epoxy filling. I’ll likely keep at this for several rounds until I’m happy with it because it will be the most scrutinized thing on the camper because it will be where I go in and out. Having it look funky would be like having a dent on your drivers side door. Passenger door you can deal with a little easier but not the drivers side!


Fresh resin to fill in voids and low spots.


It’s okay but I want it as nice as my patience and ignorance will allow. I also messed up and epoxied this before I wanted to. I wanted to get the door hinge plate epoxied into the left side before I filled it all in. So, now my job there is much bigger than it would have been otherwise. Ugh. I knew the door would be the trickiest part. Also, filling in the exposed core material is a real pain! It doesn’t want to stick and there are all these little flaps of plastic to try to deal with...it doesn’t like to sand. It kinda sucks bad. Oh well, I’m in it now! Just gotta trudge forward and get it done.

Oh, and all of this will be glassed over for strength and sealing.

 

awesome!

 

I'll say it again, you my man has got some skills! And to be able to document it the way do is perfect.
Always enjoy stopping by to see what you're up to.

 

Thanks! I could be up to about 500 pages in this thread if I put EVERYTHING in it. So much to do and so much to learn. It’s crazy.

 

In your learnings you're sharing and teaching all of us! Hopefully some day for some reason I'll be able to contribute. So far not so much. I do/have enjoyed all your projects!

 

I know you have way more patience than I, lol.

 

I love it when this thread comes up on my watched list. I am all "Oooooh.....what did he do today?"

 

that looks great - really nice work. I know you'll be pleased with the extra time you spend on the details, even if you're the only one who notices them. Really enjoying the build thus far, can't wait to see components and hardware going in.

 

wow! This is quite the build! looking forward to seeing the progress.

 

I think I’ve got the camper mounting conceptually figured out. That’s been stressing me out for a year! I’m going to go with a simple ‘bolted to the bed’ mount in the back and spring mounts in the front. As stiff as the camper is, it will break if I don’t give it some way to move independently of the frame. I’ll start laying it out in CAD soon to make sure I have the room to pull it off and that all of the components will be easy to assemble/fabricate. I’m hoping, somehow, to only have to mount the camper twice to get it all dialed in. I’m going to call in a friend or two to help my wife and I lift it onto the truck. It’ll be light enough that four people should be able to safely load and unload it.

 

There is so much to get through in the first half of the build only to find out I’ve started over! Thanks for checking it out.

 

You will have it on your flat bed correct? I would guess that thing is super rigid and has 0 flex. So I would think you can solid mount it to that thing in 4 corners. Then the bed can flex independent from the cab, bit the camper is locked to it.

 

Correct. I’m not sure if I want the flatbed to take over all of the flex duties. I think I’d be more comfortable (in my ignorance on the subject) to build a specific flex element into the mounts that has more than enough travel. I would be afraid of fatiguing the aluminum bed over time. You do bring up an interesting idea though. I’ll think on that.

 

Hypothetically speaking if you boxed the frame, and re-enforced it that should take most flex out of the frame and prevent any fatiguing and damage to the bed offload? I know you are more concerned with the camper, but your bringing something up that I had not considered. Don't want to have to go through getting another bed again.

 

Correct. A fully rigid frame should negate needing any flex mounts on the camper. Also, a good suspension that flexes and can take up the terrain instead of forcing the frame to flex is part of that equation as well. It’s all too much engineering for me. I’m going to shoot for spring mounts up front and cross my fingers for the rest! Classic Bored Clerk approach!

 

Well I was planning on boxing my frame with the bed off. Hoping to prevent any more bed issues. Not a fan of doing things twice...Thanks for the tips! Pretty much looking at your build for guidance with mine. Flat beds for the win!