Removable Foamie camper. New Build

[zzzizxz]

I'm coming down to the wire, so I've been working on this every spare minute. It has been some late nights, but I'm making good progress.
I'm aiming to have it done and ready in 6 days, since we leave on our trip in 12 days. I want to have a week to take it out and drive around and tweak whatever needs tweaking.

The roof was completed, , and I started working on cleaning up the joints.



I got the foam cut out for the stargazer window in front.



In between all this work, I've been gluing on the corner bead, priming, putting on vinyl spackling, and lots of finishing work.

I got the interior cabinet doors installed with self closing hinges and tension latches.



As I need the canvas, I'm wetting it down in sections and letting it dry to preshrink it.



I've also just finished the main part of canvassing the hatch. I still have to glue the edges down, but the main sections are done.



Next will be canvassing the roof, so I can smooth the edges of the canvas on the sides before I install the side canvas.

[GPW]

Getting close now !!!

[zzzizxz]

Hoooo BOY!!!

I've been up past midnight since my last post working on this thing.

We leave the day after tomorrow, and today I got it buttoned up. Final coats of paint, doors and window installed, lots of last things. It is road-worthy, although it isn't "finished" finished. I know we always say our trailers are never done, but there are a couple bigger things I want to do. I have a shelf to build and install inside, the roof rack parts that I'm waiting to arrive to finish the roof rack, and the lights in the galley that came yesterday but I don't have time to wire up and install, I still want to play around with painting on wood grain in the middle, but didn't have time for that either. Maybe after this road trip...

There are so many things in between that I have take pictures of, and plan on posting once I get the time, but for now, I'm done. It should be waterproof, but it is definitely road worthy. I had it up to highway speeds, and it rode great!

I promise I will update, but now I have to pack for a 10-day road trip with the wife and 4 kids.

[John61CT]

man that wagon brings back memories,

lying down all the way back imagining the highway lightpoles were UFOs flying in formation overhead

my mom called it The Boat

[GPW]

That looks Great !!! Good Luck !!!

[rjgimp]

man that wagon brings back memories...

Yup. We had a 74 Ford station wagon and took several cross country trips. Usually we would fold down the rear seat and all five of us kids would just pile in and roam around on the acre and a half or so of wide open space back there.

[Postal_Dave]

The camper looks great. I like that you matched the color of the station wagon on your build. Great job.

My first car was a hand-me-down 1972 Chrysler Town and Country Station Wagon. Got it at the height of the gas shortage of 1980. I hope your wagon gets better than the 8 mpg that my wagon got.

[RJ Howell]

I'm new to this group (and late to this party). Please excuse the basic questions..

First off, Nice Build! Well documented for folks like me, learning.

I gathered you joined your foam to foam with Great Stuff vs. Gorilla Glue. Is this something I should be doing vs. Gorilla Glue?
I've used Gorilla Glue on wood many times, but have never worked with foam this way..

I really like the 'corner bead' you used. I'm assuming (didn't notice a close-up picture) that this is instead of over lapping the canvas?
If so, that should make a very nice looking corner.

[GPW]

Unless I’ve missed something the corner beading is usually used Under the canvas , serving as a Hard edge , against “dinging” , but that rarely happens anyway , and usually fixes itself out in the hot summer Sun … The beading makes a great Drip edge too, a necessity in wetter climes …

[RJ Howell]

Unless I’ve missed something the corner beading is usually used Under the canvas , serving as a Hard edge , against “dinging” , but that rarely happens anyway , and usually fixes itself out in the hot summer Sun … The beading makes a great Drip edge too, a necessity in wetter climes …

Probably mis-understood me.. I searched a bit and found Tac's build, he this edge as well. I can't tell from his photo's either, but I think (he used a bull-nose) he wrapped the nosing (side first cutting at roof line) then possibly over lapped just on the nosing (cutting at side-wall line). I can see the same being done on the corner-bead, but it makes a very small over-lap.

I'm believing (from what I've read so far) this overlap is very important..

[zzzizxz]

I'm new to this group (and late to this party). Please excuse the basic questions..

First off, Nice Build! Well documented for folks like me, learning.

I gathered you joined your foam to foam with Great Stuff vs. Gorilla Glue. Is this something I should be doing vs. Gorilla Glue?
I've used Gorilla Glue on wood many times, but have never worked with foam this way..

I really like the 'corner bead' you used. I'm assuming (didn't notice a close-up picture) that this is instead of over lapping the canvas?
If so, that should make a very nice looking corner.

Thanks! This was my first, so I definitely learned some things.

As for the Great stuff (GS) vs Gorilla glue, (GG) I did not use any GG. I haven't really used it for any other projects, and I'd read here enough people using GS without issues, that I was comfortable going that route for the foam-to-foam gluing.

I didn't have any issues with paint not drying on the GS either, although I often would paint a coat on right before bed, and by the time I came out in the morning, it was totally dry.

For the corner bead, I glued that onto the primed foam, then used vinyl spackling to smooth out the edges of the corner bead. After that, I glued the roof canvas on, and overlapped the edge by about two inches.
When I glued the canvas onto the sides, I ended up not overlapping the canvas onto the roof, but cut it off flush at the edge. It was still overlapped by the two inches that the roof canvas came down, but it made it so I didn't have to deal with trying to get the canvas neat on the roof. With three coats of primer and a couple coats of paint, you can't even see the edge of the canvas.

I'll work on putting up the rest of the pictures now that we're back from our trip.

2600 miles in 12 days, with no issues from either the car or the trailer!

[GPW]

"2600 miles in 12 days, with no issues from either the car or the trailer!” …. COOL !!!

[zzzizxz]

Alright, alright, alright!

Lets see if I can catch up on what I frantically knocked out in those last two/three weeks.

I canvassed the roof, so I could smooth out the overlap before putting canvas on the walls. I made sure everything was primed a couple coats, and then used the vinyl spackling to get it mostly completely smooth. It was a little rough doing it myself, but I got it. I'm pleased that I don't have any bubbles on the roof sections, even now.





Next, I cut and installed the hinge on the hatch, leaving about 1/2 or 3/4 overhang on the sides.



Sometime in here, I used an old crib, dismantled the sides, and used those pieces to build rails on the shelves in the galley. I built one side with a low rail, but after using it, have found that that isn't really useful, so I'm going to have to raise that one up to match the other side.





I also finished wiring up the fuse box, and getting those wires looking decently organized.

[zzzizxz]

I had been trying to figure out the best kind of handle and latching system to use on the hatch, and finally decided to go with a T-handle on each side. That would allow each side to be somewhat independent of each other, but still pull the whole hatch closed tightly.

The handles are meant for truck topper, so the shaft isn't long enough. I was able to find a longer replacement square shaft, so swapped them out.



As for the actual latch on the wall, I put in these L-brackets, and chiseled out the wood. I put them at a slight angle, because I had concerns that the handles might wiggle themselves open while driving. I shouldn't have worried about it, especially since I keep the locked, but better safe than sorry.



The hatch went on, and the handles got installed.





I don't know if I have any closeup pictures of the seal I have in the hatch, but it is a modified version of what someone else did. GHCoe, maybe? Anyway, If you look at the sides of the hatch in this picture, you'll see the two edges. They're on the inside of the hatch.



And in this picture of the rear of the trailer, you can see the cut-out, where those edges will go, providing a kind of double sealing edge that water would have to get past to get into the galley area.



Anyway, since I was dealing with that outer edge not meeting up well, I put the rubber sealing gasket I was going to use on the hatch, taped over it, and latched it closed. Then, I used a can of Locktite foam and filled the gap between the hatch and the trailer.





When I opened the hatch, I trimmed off the excess, and had a perfectly matching seal!

[tac422]

This looks great !

I searched a bit and found Tac's build, he this edge as well. I can't tell from his photo's either, but I think (he used a bull-nose) he wrapped the nosing (side first cutting at roof line) then possibly over lapped just on the nosing (cutting at side-wall line). I can see the same being done on the corner-bead, but it makes a very small over-lap.

I'm believing (from what I've read so far) this overlap is very important..

Too late for you, but just to clarify for others …
I used several types of plastic corner molding, Bullnose and regular.
I glued them to the foam using Glidden Gripper. I wrapped the side canvas over the bullnose about an inch beyond the edge of the bullnose.
The top piece of canvas went to the detent in the Bullnose.