Coleman Laramie Popup Conversion

[angib]

Dave, I'm going to have to take exception to your last sexist statement! The whole hebang NOT shebang.

Thread hijack: on this subject there is a superb novel that is full from one to the other with reversed-gender words: "The Daughters of Egalia" by Gerd Brantenberg. The original is in Norwegian, so the translator must have had to do a lot of head-scratching.

Best word: testerical, as in "You mewim*, you just get testerical when anything goes a bit wrong."

*'mewim' = males, a variation of the word for females, 'wim'.

A truly superb read, if you're that way inclined.

Andrew

[daveleb55]

time for another update, things went swimmingly until my compressor gave up the ghost. That's what I get for being "thrifty" (means really really cheap!) at least we got the extended warranty. I think the thing is a few days old, I'm hesitant to get another just like it but I do want to finish this build...


Here I am setting ribs in place for the front profile.


View of the clamp jungle. I had to stop because I ran out of clamps.


Skinning the hatch. Looks a lot better in the photo than in real life.


Clamping the hatch skin. I had to remove the hinge to attach the skin to where the hinge will attach. I built the hatch frame in place, then skinned the bottom 3/4, removed hatch, glued the top of the skin. I'll seal it with West systems epoxy sealer, and the top skin as well. Then reattach the hinge. Hopefully it will all go back together.


Here's the top skin being attached, water bottles for weight until the glue dries.


Dave & Kathleen

[Miriam C.]

You can never have too many clamps and the gravity clamps are great. I used cases of water bottles and pop. Looking great. I can't wait to see the finished product.

[daveleb55]

Time is running out!! We leave for Death Valley on saturday! I still have to finish wiring the tail lights, get it registered and insured, and wire up my truck.

I broke the cardinal rule of hobbies - I put a deadline on a project. I didn't mean to, I thought I could get this done easily by Thanksgiving! yah, right!! That didn't happen. I used West system epoxy as a sealer for the outer skin. Maybe if you build boats for a living or something, it's ok, but I had nothing but trouble with it. It's impossible to apply smoothly, it runs, it sags, it drips and bubbles. It sets up hard as glass and is almost impossible to sand. The putty additive crap makes it so thick you can't stir it, yet it runs and sags too! NEVER AGAIN!!!!

In spite of all this, the finished product doesn't look too bad, (if you don't look too closely!)

Here's a few pics:

End view of the hinge. Got a nice hurricane hinge from Grant at Little Bear.


With the primer on it, looks like a giant marshmallow.


Salvage window, the hatch is visible in the rear. The final paint color is sort of a brownish grey, now it looks like a giant mushroom.


Wiring the tail lights on the hatch.

Barring any unforseen disasters, we'll be seeing you all in Death Valley on New Years Eve!!

Dave & Kathleen

[Miriam C.]

What I have seen so far is fantastic. Now if you could just get it outtta the garage so we can see the whole thing. Great build and use of existing stuff.

Have fun at Death Valley

[Mike C.]

Hey Dave, looks real good.

Can't wait to see it completely finished.

Have fun in Death Valley.

[jdarkoregon]

Dave,

U R WeRy Doin Good!

Nice Job!

John

[daveleb55]

It's out of the garage and we had our maiden voyage around the blocK!



Off to Death Valley in the morning!
Dave & Kathleen

[Miriam C.]

You guys have done a great conversion/build. Now for a few requests:

Pictures of the inside, please

Final dimensions please.

Oh and lots of travel pictures

[daveleb55]

The mission was a complete


SUCCESS!!!

Pics coming soon!!

Dave & Kathleen

[daveleb55]

Here's a few pics and commentary on the finished build:



Here you can clearly see the "add-on" walls. The popup is a little over 8 feet long, I added around 16" to the rear for a galley, and around 12 inches or so to the front. We originally planned another window for the front wall, but we may wind up just using it for storage.
The tongue weight with it empty is around -30 pounds (That's minus thirty pounds, it's butt-heavy!), consequently all the iron and whatnot has to be in front. Adding a tonguebox and battery to the front will help with the weight distribution.





The galley extends out to the end of the bumper. I biscuit joined the floor extension and the walls for strength, as well as the bulkhead behind the counter.
The poles to support the hatch and the slide out for the cooler are salvage from the pop up, the counter trim and gasket around the hatch are from Grant at Lil Bear. Where the vintage milk box is now, we are installing some drawers for dishes and silverware and stuff. The milk box is the perfect size for half dozen small propane tanks.






More views of the finished trailer. Total length is around 11 feet or so, width is 79 1/2", to fit a queen size bed lengthwise. Inside height is 54 inches, you can sit up in a chair, but you can't stand up. (I may add a popup feature at a later date, we'll see how many times I bump my head before I can't stand it anymore)




Stopping for "coffee." Yes, that's "Bessie," my little 4 cylinder Toyota. She hauled it the whole way out and back without too many complaints. She was a little under powered on a steep grade, but fortunately there weren't too many. In the foreground you can just make out Kelly's Mustang, and Joanne's Desert Dawg is in the background. This is taken at the last gas station before Death Valley, in Armagosa. In Death Valley gas was around a dollar more per gallon. (yes, it was OVER FOUR DOLLARS!!!)

Had a great trip, nothing broke, everything worked!!

Dave & Kathleen