Coast Resorts Open Roads Forum: Our custom true flatbed truck camper build thread

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Topic: Our custom true flatbed truck camper build thread

Posted By: AnEv942 on 04/23/13 10:53am

Steam and pre bend?

01 Ford F250 4x4 DRW Diesel, 01 Elkhorn 9U
Our camper projects page

Posted By: Jfet on 04/23/13 11:15am

AnEv942 wrote:

Steam and pre bend?

Yes, thinking about it...but I am going to try kerfing today on a scrap section to see what it might look like. I really don't want to have to build a 4'x8' steam box just for these 4 remaining pieces. Also I worry that the plywood would swell and warp in other ways.

But steam and pre-bend is definately on the table. I could also go with three or four layers of 3mm instead of the two layers of 5mm...but the 3mm is $57 a sheet and I already have a lot of the 5mm from an old project.

Cross fingers on kerfing...I will post results soon.

Posted By: bka0721 on 04/23/13 11:50am

Jfet wrote:

AnEv942 wrote:

Steam and pre bend?

a few ways I have done this work, on furniture.

1. Find a clothing supplier that has a hand steamer that is used for pressing pants and jackets. Slowly moving the steamer across the surface will slowly allow the wood cells to warp (bend).

2. Find thinner sheets bend them and glue them together. (This is how I have done stair banisters.

3. Find a small bathroom. Place the sheets vertically over a bathtub, or toilet (closer to ceiling the better), and run the shower repeatedly as hot of water you can (turn up the water heater temp), keep sheets away from the water stream and the bathroom door and windows closed so the air in the room is saturated with humidity. Keep this sealed and every couple of hours run s the shower often to keep room humidity up. (The surface wood cells will swell, but after a few weeks the will reduce and sand for smooth surface.) Immediately take a sheet one at a time to frame and slowly bend. Also, use weights at the end of the sheets, don't place pressure at bend location and don't attach anything until bend is achieved. Wood needs to spread like dough. Just like bendin a sheet around a large pipe. I have used this technique in building floor to ceiling bookcases and skinning canoes.

b

Posted By: Jfet on 05/08/13 08:31am

A little update.

We finished the roof plywood this past weekend. What ended up working was draping steaming hot towels over the plywood, then gradually bending it to shape over the roof frame (with plastic tarp between the new wood and the old wood/steel frame). I put a little boiling water on the towels several times over a few hours to keep them damp. After each piece dried for a couple of days, they kept most of the bend when the strap was released. It was quite easy then to glue and screw them to the frame with no cracking.

We have started on the bellywrap. We are using the same aluminum sheeting as the walls, 0.062 5052 alloy. It is held onto the steel base frame with Sikaflex 252 which is kept to a uniform thickness of about 1/16" by spacing with nylon tiewraps. We may get the belly coated with truck liner like Rhino.

Still undecided what to put over the plywood on the roof. We have recently read about a new Rhino coating called eco-coat, which has some aluminum particles in it. If I find that it is flexible enough, it could be a good candidate for coating the plywood. This seems like it would make a tough roof that you could just ignore for 10+ years.

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Posted By: dakonthemountain on 05/08/13 11:33am

I recently researched the Rhino Eco Coat roof. There are only a few "certified" installers in my area as they apparently need special equipment to spray it on. There is a YouTube video of the installation by an outfit in San Diego that Rhino Linings recommends down here and I spoke to him at length about it. It would be around $2,500 for my truck, providing no wood would have to be replaced and they actually go over the flanges, screws, etc. The only thing they remove is the AC and they replace the gasket for that afterwards. I asked about the replacement of vents, etc. in the future and he said they just use an Exact o knife to cut the Eco Coat around the item, then respray the spot afterwards. If I wasn't so cheap and putting a new metal roof on mine I would go with the Eco Coat. Good luck! Your project is looking good!

Dak

2018 GMC Denali "Extreme" and 23' EVO 2050T Travel Trailer
Escapee member #224325-Since 1992

Posted By: Jfet on 05/08/13 02:15pm

Thanks darkonthemountain. I called Rhino and they said the regular truck liner with some sort of tough paint they have is how they have been doing local RV roofs for several years..bulletproof. I am interested!

I was bored and decided to CAD up a very crude but dimensionally accurate (for important dimensions) drawing of how the camper is going to look on the Isuzu. She is mighty big! but I think it doesn't look too comical. Certainly room for toys behind the camper.

The overall height to the top of the camper roof as mounted on the truck is 11 feet 11 inches...but could be a bit less since the springs will probably sag a bit. The roof has nothing mounted on it currently.

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Posted By: Jfet on 05/08/13 05:17pm

Just a bit more playing with CAD. This is a tease of what we hope the second phase will look like. Phase two of our build is to construct a garage pod, with the same quick connect camper jack mounts and tiedowns as the main camper pod so it can be removed and placed on the ground. This garage pod will hold all of our toys like motorcycles and snowmobiles while allowing us to pull our sailboat (when we are not in the desert or mountains).

The garage pod build should go a lot faster, as it is really just a shell with a 8 foot ramp door. The question will be, how tired am I after building the main pod. Hopefully I will get some boost of energy on completion of the main pod.

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Posted By: Bedlam on 05/08/13 07:31pm

Move the ramp to the curb side wall to allow you load and unload without unhitching the trailer

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Posted By: Jfet on 05/08/13 07:45pm

Bedlam wrote:

Move the ramp to the curb side wall to allow you load and unload without unhitching the trailer

yes, we talked about that and it would be a good idea, except our snowmobiles are 10 feet long (the pod as drawn is 8' inside wall to inside wall and 10'8" foward wall to rear door). The snowmobiles would thus not fit crossways and you would have to somehow maneuver them 90 degrees after driving them in from the side.

I have racked my poor brain trying to figure out a way to make the garage pod work better when towing the boat, but I think the solution is we unhitch the boat when we need to get our toys. It sucks though, because what if you just need to get one motorcycle out so you can scout a questionable road...have to unhitch the boat, fold down the ramp door and drive out.

Could do a side door and the rear ramp door....more doors, more $$$, more welding. Perhaps RV'ing full time it just won't be that big of an issue to spend 2 min unhitching the sailboat.

Posted By: Dan L on 05/08/13 08:01pm

Instead of a ramp, how about a "Tommy Lift".

Dan

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