Our Camper build up to day 9

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Our Camper build up to day 9

Postby Buddy-and-Missus » Sun Aug 13, 2023 8:42 am

We only recently found this group, it would have been a great resource during the planning stage. I'm spending too much time creeping through all the great builds.
I've been designing houses and furniture and garden stuff for many years and am lucky to have a handy hubby who can put my visions to life. I've found the internet to cause another struggle, so many ideas and opinions often make us question our own, this can be good - and bad. There comes a time when you just have to dive in and do it, make mistakes - and fix them as you go or else there's no other way to learn. Before the interwebs we just did it - never put near as much thought into things and for the most part things worked out well, well they did work out well because we learned from our mistakes. I have found it great learning about new materials, most recently VHB tape which we are amazed by...But that we'll be testing in the future.

I spent the winter designing and making a cut list for hubby
So Here's what hubby has done to date on the build...(Youtube Playlist)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7hE0CR4skI&list=PL3xH6AKVUIyhKBBMhYYJ7pHxtnjzy8D0V

Now that I've found this forum and shared it with him, I'm sure he'll be posting more updates here as we go along. :)
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Re: Our Camper build up to day 9

Postby S. Heisley » Sun Aug 13, 2023 8:07 pm

This looks like it is going to be an impressive build!
Thanks for sharing with us!
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Re: Our Camper build up to day 9

Postby RBB » Mon Aug 14, 2023 4:56 pm

This looks great! I am interested in learning more about the material choices for the walls and ceiling... I am still trying to finalize my design and the exterior cladding is where is keep going back and forth...
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Re: Our Camper build up to day 9

Postby Bezoar » Mon Aug 14, 2023 10:26 pm

Enjoying watching the trailer come together - thanks for taking us along on YouTube!
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Re: Our Camper build up to day 9

Postby Buddy-and-Missus » Wed Aug 16, 2023 2:04 pm

S. Heisley wrote:This looks like it is going to be an impressive build!
Thanks for sharing with us!


Thanks so much. :)
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Re: Our Camper build up to day 9

Postby Buddy-and-Missus » Wed Aug 16, 2023 2:05 pm

Bezoar wrote:Enjoying watching the trailer come together - thanks for taking us along on YouTube!


You're welcome, glad you're enjoying :)
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Re: Our Camper build up to day 9

Postby Buddy-and-Missus » Wed Aug 16, 2023 2:13 pm

RBB wrote:This looks great! I am interested in learning more about the material choices for the walls and ceiling... I am still trying to finalize my design and the exterior cladding is where is keep going back and forth...


For the exterior walls and roof we opted for 3mm ACM (aluminum composite sign material) We looked at so many options but I wanted to avoid plywood and toxic adhesives and we're limited in supplies here on the island. The ACM is structural enough to not need plywood as we would have needed with fylon, aluminum coil or fylon. The ACM is a bit heavy but not any heavier than plywood + aluminum. the whole exterior skin will weigh about 300lbs. It's also pre-coated in polyester UV resistant paint so that saves a painting step and being sign material it should take well to a decal if we choose. The aluminum being bonded to a polyethylene core makes it more resistant to denting over aluminum coil.

We're not entirely sure what we will be finishing the interior walls and ceiling with yet but we're thinking FRP for the wet room and coil stock for the walls & ceiling.

Happy to help with any questions you have but we are newbies - first camper build :)
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Re: Our Camper build up to day 9

Postby RBB » Thu Aug 17, 2023 9:46 am

Buddy-and-Missus wrote:For the exterior walls and roof we opted for 3mm ACM (aluminum composite sign material)

Interesting! I like the idea of trying different composites! This is my first build as well, just finished cleaning up an old camper chassis...
How are you intending on attaching the ACM? Glue? Screw?
A quick search shows ACM is roughly $3/sqft. Sound about right?
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Re: Our Camper build up to day 9

Postby Buddy-and-Missus » Fri Aug 18, 2023 4:16 am

RBB wrote:
Buddy-and-Missus wrote:For the exterior walls and roof we opted for 3mm ACM (aluminum composite sign material)

Interesting! I like the idea of trying different composites! This is my first build as well, just finished cleaning up an old camper chassis...

How are you intending on attaching the ACM? Glue? Screw?
A quick search shows ACM is roughly $3/sqft. Sound about right?


We'll be using VHB tape and RV edge strips with screws. We're on an island so everything is more expensive here.
1 sided 4x8 ACM was around $2.80 sqft
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Re: Our Camper build up to day 9

Postby RBB » Fri Aug 18, 2023 12:21 pm

1 sided 4x8 ACM was around $2.80 sqft


Yikes!
Did a quick look around Chicago land and 4x8 gloss on one side, matte on the other... works out to roughly $3 /sqft...

After more thought I think I'm still sticking with Filon for walls/roof... only way I can think of without any seams...
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Re: Our Camper build up to day 9

Postby OP827 » Fri Aug 18, 2023 6:09 pm

Thanks for sharing your interesting build! I am interested to learn where did you source the ACM in Canada.
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Re: Our Camper build up to day 9

Postby Buddy-and-Missus » Mon Aug 21, 2023 5:11 pm

OP827 wrote:Thanks for sharing your interesting build! I am interested to learn where did you source the ACM in Canada.

EM Plastics
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Re: Our Camper build up to day 9

Postby mfischer90 » Fri Sep 15, 2023 11:03 am

Buddy-and-Missus wrote:
RBB wrote:
Buddy-and-Missus wrote:For the exterior walls and roof we opted for 3mm ACM (aluminum composite sign material)

Interesting! I like the idea of trying different composites! This is my first build as well, just finished cleaning up an old camper chassis...

How are you intending on attaching the ACM? Glue? Screw?
A quick search shows ACM is roughly $3/sqft. Sound about right?


We'll be using VHB tape and RV edge strips with screws. We're on an island so everything is more expensive here.
1 sided 4x8 ACM was around $2.80 sqft


What was the number of the VHB tape you used. Did it install easily?
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