Flat pack trailer kit. pop top works, and we have a tent

[saltydawg]

Realized I did not post this here, first it has a name Tradgrans, its swedish for timber line. and I am going to put the below graffic on it. below the graffic will be gray and white above.

[saltydawg]

The continuing exciting, riveting .... snore

Sorry bored my self to sleep there. Ok all corners are faired, sanded, sanded some more, did I mention sanding, I still have a little tiny bit of filling to do of a few low spots but they will easy. Then its time to seal all the filler, then you guessed sand it again for paint.

just a few pics of the fairing, and my nice rounded smooth corners, that where sanded.

[tony.latham]

What are you using for fairing? Epoxy and microspheres?

Tony

[saltydawg]

What are you using for fairing? Epoxy and microspheres?

Tony

Yup phenolic microballons and epoxy

[saltydawg]

Okay more pics. First I started the power wall, which is also the back wall of the pantry as well as some cubbys. Pics are pretty self explanatory.

Next 2 pics are of how the steel frame that will go around the edge of the pop top meets up with the rear of the fixed panel in front of the pop top. Basically its a big square rectangle made of 1x1 tube, with a fiberglass and foam panel bonded to it. I will be running some fiberglass skin down the side of it to hide the edge of the foam and the steel frame. The rear of the fixed part of the roof has an aluminum 1x1 tube built in to it ( see pics a few posts ago ). This will do a few things, one it will give the front seal of the pop up roof something solid to seal against, two the pop up roof will have a slop on the front that matches the fixed section in front of it. This is to stop wind driven rain from getting under the seal, and let it just go over the roof. If you look up above at the pics from when I did the edges of the roof where sloped to the outsides, to make the water drain away. I intentionally sloped the edges away in the front, so any water that gets thru the front seal just drains out the sides. you can kind of see it below. IF this is not clear enough just ask.

Still have a little fairing to do, gonna buy some good bondo type filler, using filled epoxy sucks because I have to wait 24 hours to sand it.

[saltydawg]

No pics just a minor update. Pop up frame all welded, and panel glued to it, and the sections of fiberglass are sealed to the steel frame that makes the opening for the roof. What that means is in 2 days when the teroson is cured enough I can trim the panel to frame and technically could put the pop top on the trailer. I have not made the hinges for the top yet but the latches will be here tomorrow so I could make the roof water tight. Now if the windows and doors where in the camper would be weather tight, but there are a few steps before that. I need to wrap the edges of the pop top to the steel with fiberglass and fair them in. Then I will need to finish the sanding and fairing so I can paint it, then the windows and door can go in.

I also cut the shelves for the pantry and glued and screwed the reinforcements to the shelves, they will get installed tomorrow.

edit I just checked the weather and I have a 30% chance of rain for several hours over night. The trailer is outside, with the pop top in the garage, which cant be moved. So I just used 3 of the fiberglass skin off cuts to make a temp roof domed in the middle, if it leaks it wont be enough to matter. Thank god for water proof building materials.

[saltydawg]

Oh my upon further review of the weather, see below. Now I just installed all the windows and door and taped them in place. Then added weight to the temp roof.

I figured it was worth a few pics with the windows and stuff installed ( kind of ).

[aggie79]

Looking great! Can’t wait to see your pop top design. Been thinking about a build with a pop top my self but I can’t get my head around the design.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[saltydawg]

Haha let it rain. Apparently the extra humidity let the teroson cure over 18 hours, I tested a big glob of it, and it was cured all the way thru. or at least enough I could move the pop up roof panel. Well I moved it all right, right on to the roof.

Let it rain all its wants to now, with the windows and doors put in ( lots of tape ), it is basically weather tight. My roof design does not need seals for just falling rain, the inner frame of the opening is higher than where the roof panel frame sits. So any water than leaks in right now will run out. so soon I will need to make the roof hinges.

[saltydawg]

Okay 3 hours of rain, some of it pretty heavy and NO leaks and the roof does not even have seals on it yet. Another pic of the side of the roof because I realized the other was hard to see whats going on. The brown is the fairing compound on the wall, the steel is next going up, that is bonded to the panel that is the actual pop up roof. You can see the very white line of the teroson between the steel and the roof panel.

[saltydawg]

Okay I started the kitchen pull out. The "stove" is a blackstone griddle, I went back and forth on this. But I decided for the way I cook while camping it makes more sense, and I have a single burner butane stove I really like, I will just bring it for when I want a stove burner. I will have about 24 inches or so between the side of the griddle and the camper to put a sink. I plan on wrapping the sink top in aluminum for easy cleaning, I though about fiberglass but decided not to.

[saltydawg]

Power wall/pantry rear well underway. Its all cut and finished with two coats of poly, radio mounted, main switch bank wired up, power meter, internal speakers installed, speaker switch for inside or out side speakers wired. The transfer switch is wired and so is the inverter remote switch, but I am waiting on the switch holder plate for it.

on the pic at the top right you see a circle/fan, it is a 120 volt volt fan that is feed from the common of the transfer switch. What that does is any time the power is on, be it shore power or inverter that fan runs. It draws air out from behind the power wall, where the battery charger and inverter is so heat build up behind the wall wont be a problem. The fan is meant for stereo and other equipment racks so its very quiet and low/no rf noise.

horrible pic, but a pic none the less

[aggie79]

[saltydawg]

Minor updates, the roof panel is trimmed to final shape, and the front edge is cut to flow in to the front fixed sloped roof section. There are two pics below that I hope give a good idea of how the lifting roof mates with the sloped roof, It still needs to have skin applied and be glassed in but that kind of helps picture it. The sloped roof flows in to the lifting roof so any wind driven rain for the most part just goes up on the lifting roof and off the back of it. The seals that will eventually go on the lifting roof will seal it, and the design for the rest of it works based on the rain I had a few days ago.

Also the rear lifting hatch is cut to final size and the linear lifts are ordered. The lifting hatch hides the rear door and then works like an awning for the rear when open, pics on that in a few days.

I am working towards doing the glass on the edge of the lifting for this weekend when i get warmer temps. Then more fairing and filling and sanding, but now I have some good body filler that wont take 24 hours to cure in the cooler temps so that should go faster.

[saltydawg]

Edges and front slope of the pop top are skinned, Now I am debating just using al angle to finish it off vs glassing and filing. If I did aluminum I would be done the roof in an hour or so, vs probably 6 to 10 hours of glassing and sanding filler, not including waiting a day for the epoxy to cure, then having to paint it when I do the rest of the paint.

so I think I an leaning to al angle but will still paint the top to match the flat paint I am putting on the rest of it, and I will paint the al too so it is less visible.