my truck camper

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Re: my truck camper

Postby Philip » Sat Mar 25, 2017 4:36 pm

Time for another update.

I have been working on a shelf/ A/C vent. Here is a pic of the shelf. That's just the frame work.

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My climate right system came in. So I started doing the ducting I needed. The first pic is the position I mounted the inlet air. I would have preferred it lower in the body down in the lower storage area. It turned into to big of a problem. This way was faster and easyer.

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The inside position.

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This is the finished pic's of the ducting inside the camper. I used ice damn with aluminum foil on it to provide a barrier to the wood.

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Now if your wondering what I am going to use for air flow control on the A/C and heat from that location. Here is a pic.

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These are the dash mounted A/C vents used in a 84 to 93 Dodge truck. I had some laying around from my cab swap.

Right now I am back to putty in brad holes and the panels I installed on the ends of the bed. I am waiting for a overhead DVD player to come in so I can finish the details on the rest of the shelf.

That shelf is for A/C venting, inside lighting controls, DVD player and CD storage.

When the shelf is done I'll be ready to start painting the inside.
Last edited by Philip on Sun May 06, 2018 3:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: my truck camper

Postby Philip » Mon Mar 27, 2017 6:01 pm

Did some more spot putty work today. I sure am getting tired of that. :lol:

Then I decided time to move on to another place to work. I finished the foot well section of the bed platform.

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That cap board is still loose. It is going to be stained so I just set it there for the pic. I'll finish the install after the inside is painted.

Tomorrow I'll install the return air vent into that section.
Last edited by Philip on Sun May 06, 2018 3:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: my truck camper

Postby Philip » Fri Mar 31, 2017 9:00 am

I started on the lower A/C air return the other day. I had one of climate right water proof outside kits. This had the inside fittings with it. Here is a pic.

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This fitting had a problem. The wall I was going threw was 2" thick. There was not enough length to the fitting to put a hose on it when installed. It also didn't have a 90 degree bend to aim the hose in the direction I needed. So I made a trip to HD. I came back with these two items.

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The return air fitting and that 90 degree elbow didn't fit to each other. With both parts being PVC. I grabbed the heat gun and warmed the 90 up and made it a slip fit onto the return air fitting.

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Then I punched a hole for the air fitting.

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Here is the 90 in the lower bay.

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When I do the final install. The return air fitting gets installed. Then the 90 gets glue to it.

The overhead DVD player came it. It was DOA, wouldn't power up off remote or manual controls. So the self is still on hold. Still doing spot putty work. Also been doing some epoxy work on corners and the rain gutter around the upper opening.

If someone needs those climate right air flow fittings let me know. You can have them for shipping. I have two of them.
Last edited by Philip on Sun May 06, 2018 3:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: my truck camper

Postby Philip » Wed Apr 05, 2017 2:25 pm

The replacement DVD player came in a couple of days ago. With my normal luck it was another DOA item. So sent it back. With all the spotty reviews I am seeing on all brands except Apline. (I am not paying that type of money). I am not even going to try another one. I ordered a 12 volt 13" HD LED TV with built in DVD player and a under cabinet mount to go with it. So I hope this one works out of the box.

I did get some painting done. I didn't do much around the shelf. When its finished I'll spot paint it in.

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I also did some work on the driver side outer wall. The line where the lower and angled panel came together was a little off. I sanded that line in close enough. I have some fairing work to do where the angle panel and roof come together. Front to rear there is about 1/4" sag in the roof panel.

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The passenger side is going to need quite a bit of fairing work. The lower and angled panels both have a bow to them.

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I have 1/2 gallon of epoxy fairing compound on the way and a 8' straight edge. So time for some more body work. :cry:

Sure glad I bought air powered body tools many years ago. :lol:

I also put fiberglass tape around the outer edge of the drip edge around the upper opening. Sorry I didn't get a pic. I have sanded out the rough edge on the flat area of the roof so the next layer of fiberglass lays down against it.
Last edited by Philip on Sun May 06, 2018 3:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: my truck camper

Postby Philip » Thu Apr 13, 2017 6:48 pm

After a few days of doing fairing work on the passenger side. I am at this point.

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The outer wall is straight and level now. Don't let the ragged line bother you. I will work that out when I do the angled wall. The angle wall needs work around the top edge. It has two low spots plus the bow in the lower part. I am going to start at the top of that wall and work down towards the lower line.

I haven't seen anyone talk about using boat fairing compound on this site to build up low areas with epoxy. Now my thoughts. I could have used epoxy and micro balloons. I tried that is a few small spots. Does not build up fast. In this app it would have taken many coats to come up the little over the 1/8" I needed. I also tried silca filler. Cuts real hard with air sanders. I mean real hard.

Now for the boat epoxy fairing compound. Mixes easy. It is two part mix by volume. It spreads like a thick body putty. You can't use a cheese grater on it like body putty. So put on as smooth as you can. Any excess you sand off. "Sanding impressions" In small areas any sander will work. On larger areas I would highly recommend the most aggressive sander you can find. The electric hand held vibraters will take a long time. You need coarse sand paper. It laughs at fine sand paper. It will cut it but takes for ever to do much work.
Last edited by Philip on Sun May 06, 2018 3:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: my truck camper

Postby Philip » Sun Apr 16, 2017 8:21 am

Well after waiting for two weeks for the LED TV to come in. I hooked it up yesterday to test it. After 5 minutes of playing a DVD. The DVD player died. All it does is spit out any DVD you put it in it with the message no disk. :x

That's three DOA electronic items in a row from amazon. Time to find another supplier. No one anywhere near to being local has small TV's with built in CD players.
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Re: my truck camper

Postby Philip » Wed Apr 26, 2017 9:16 am

Well time for a update.

Had a med issue that took me out of the garage for a few days.

I finally got a working TV now. So yesterday I mounted it and worked on the A/C vent and the cross self. The open area to the right of the A/C venting will have the interior light controls and switches for power to the TV/speakers. The built in TV speakers are not very good. So I am going to use a set of amplified computer speakers. Sound quality is a lot better. I'll have to provide a USB plug for the speakers. The TV USB ports will not power the speakers. I tried that. :lol:


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On Monday I made a trip up to Vintage Technologies and picked up the rear door for the camper. The opening size is 34" x 40". That should give my old body enough room to get in and out. :lol: I also picked up a roll of byutel tape and hatch seal and the alumium channel for it.

I have been working on the right side roof where the angled wall comes into it. At this point in the pic. (The unsanded area is the darker green color). That unsanded area should bring the surface level. When I get it sanded out. Then I'll start on the angle wall itself.

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I hate doing body work.
Last edited by Philip on Sun May 06, 2018 3:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: my truck camper

Postby KCStudly » Wed Apr 26, 2017 2:19 pm

Philip wrote:I hate doing body work.

Amen to that , brother, amen.
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Re: my truck camper

Postby Philip » Mon May 22, 2017 8:49 am

Time for a update. Haven't done much for the last week or so. The monsoon season slacked off for a few days and I was outside working on the house on a small project. I did get some work on the angled wall done.

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I also worked on the frame work for the back door. I still need to make the corner blocks for that and do the 1/4" ply inside and out.

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I got most of the TV storage area done. All it needs is some putty work and its done.

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I also came down with walking pneumonia late last week. Gotta get that taken care of then back at it agin.
Last edited by Philip on Sun May 06, 2018 3:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: my truck camper

Postby Philip » Mon Jun 05, 2017 8:13 am

Still working on the angled wall. Ran out of fairing compound late last week and had to wait for the delivery to show up. Also still doing small jobs around the house so the camper work has slowed down some.

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Work will be slower this week for sure. I have a trip to make this weekend in the truck. So that means I need to address a couple of small items and give it a good cleaning.
Last edited by Philip on Sun May 06, 2018 3:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: my truck camper

Postby Philip » Tue Aug 15, 2017 8:41 am

I haven't done anything on the camper sence the last post. Been working on the house some more. Also had pace maker go into power saving mode. Well that sure put a crimp into things. With the heart rate set at 65 BPM. That slows down doing anything. Got that replaced last week so. Now I'll start on the camper agin.
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Re: my truck camper

Postby Philip » Sun May 06, 2018 4:09 pm

Time to play catch up and let everyone know where I am at in this project. I have almost all of the body work done on the main cabin. There is just a couple of corners left to do a little work on. I do have some primer on about half of it. I'll finish the body while I am glassing in the top. Then prime and paint everything at once.

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I had to ditch the raising top. Just couldn't get the lift system down into the size I needed. I changed to a hurricane hinge mounted on the front. That meant going to canvas. When I framed in the top I decided I better do the canvas work before enclosing the top in. That would have been a bear laying canvas with the top enclosed. So the canvas is done now.

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In this pic I layed the solar panels up to find location for wiring. That is a pair of 120 watt panels. The mount for the fantastic fan is done also.

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I have done the inside cabinet lighting. They are under cabinet type LED. I had pic's of both inside cabinets. One didn't upload for some reason. The cabinets will not have dimmers on that circuit. I plan on the same lights in the kitchen and cargo area also.

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Tomorrow I am stting the wiring in the top and starting to sheet it.
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Re: my truck camper

Postby Philip » Fri May 11, 2018 5:54 pm

The last couple of days I painted the lighting panel and built 2 of the four doors for the cabinets. I also installed the main cabin lighting.

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The doors have spot putty on the sides facing up. I'll sand that out tomorrow and then do the other sides.

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Today I installed the plywood on the top and rear of the top. I'll trim out the overhang tomorrow and then start doing the side plywood.

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Philip
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Re: my truck camper

Postby Philip » Thu May 24, 2018 7:50 am

Time for another update.

I have gotten the top wrapped in plywood now.

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I then removed the top and applied the first coat of glass and epoxy.

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I also finished those two inside cabinet doors and made the other two and installed all four of them.

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Going to flip the top over today and get the inside finished before I do anything else to the outside of it.
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Re: my truck camper

Postby Philip » Mon May 28, 2018 7:00 am

I didn't get anything done on the inside of the top. I couldn't round up a helper to flip it over. My son was on vacation out in the Yellowstone region. So I started working on the mounts for the Drawer slides. The drawer slides are 36". I mounted the slides on 2'x3' aluminium angle. Then I installed the doors on the three compartments that will have slides.

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Here is the slides setting inside two of the bays. I forgot to take a pic of the ketchen area. The slides are just setting in position. I'll call my fab shop tomorrow and get the pans ordered.

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Philip
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