1968 Fiber-Top camper

[Weldman]

man she is looking good.  highdesertranger

Thanks, who needs a $100k diesel pusher when you can build one yourself with basic tools and will turn way more heads.

 

[maki2]

I call those not so random pieces of wood that are bonded to the fiberglass "furring strips.  They are there not just to install the cabinets but also to give some depth for installing insulation behind the interior wall paneling.

If they are rotted then you will need to saw and grind them out and replace the bad ones or else take them all out. It is quite a task.

I just put some cedar furring strips into my vintage fiberglass trailer renovation so that I could insulate it and have places to fasten the cabinets to. Also the edges of the new interior paneling fasten to the new blocking. Plus I have wood trim surrounding the windows to allow me to easily attach window coverings.  The trailer had no insulation when new, the inside of the walls were covered in non-woven indoor outdoor carpet.

 

[Weldman]

I call those not so random pieces of wood that are bonded to the fiberglass "furring strips.  They are there not just to install the cabinets but also to give some depth for installing insulation behind the interior wall paneling.

If they are rotted then you will need to saw and grind them out and replace the bad ones or else take them all out. It is quite a task.

I just put some cedar furring strips into my vintage fiberglass trailer renovation so that I could insulate it and have places to fasten the cabinets to. Also the edges of the new interior paneling fasten to the new blocking. Plus I have wood trim surrounding the windows to allow me to easily attach window coverings.  The trailer had no insulation when new, the inside of the walls were covered in non-woven indoor outdoor carpet.

I do know they aren't just for installing cabinets as no cabinets would go in that spot, though seem to be just for giving the wall more structural integrity. I figured they spaced them randomly for something I wasn't seeing. Easy to replace with oscillating tool from Dremel, as between me and my girlfriend we ripped out 2 stringers in the floor in matter of minutes, hardest part was removing the construction adhesive they put behind them. Don't know if your floor is same as mine, but I have stringers running entire length of my floor. They are strips of wood fiberglassed over like in a boat.  Going to remove many as I can on the boards and see what if any effect on rigidity it may effect after all this was built before computers were around. Be nice to see more of the project you are working on, plan on spraying closed cell insulation in this one.

 

[Weldman]

Somewhere...

 

[Weldman]

Been awhile though not easy to do so on the road and while living in it, but I finally got a chance to work on the camper. The interior is ate up as everyone has seen in previous pictures and non functional for what I need it for so here we go... :idea:
Made Montana it's nice here...

 

[highdesertranger]

just looking at those pics makes me itch. LOL. highdesertranger

 

[Weldman]

just looking at those pics makes me itch.  LOL.  highdesertranger

Nice cool weather and it's snowing off and on with long sleeves on, gloves and breathing filter mask it's not bad. It's not cotton candy you don't eat it or roll in it

 

[Weldman]

Haven't gotten a picture yet, though all the wood braces/wall stiffners are now gone, about 90% of them were rotted. Going to depend on closed cell spray insulation to take the place of them. The girlfriend got them all out while I cut furring strips to make the wall cavities deeper. Currently only inch deep going with 1x2's, though fun part of following the radius in the walls going up to the ceiling. Construction adhesive and rivets will hold them in place.

 

[Weldman]

Three hundred plus 3/16th aluminum rivets, 24 sticks of furring strips and 3 (28) oz tubes of Loctite constructive adhesive later the wall cavities are now 2 inches deep. My hands are sore from hand riveting all these in...
Didn't have large enough boiling pot or wanted to build that big of fire to boil water for these furring strips so I could bend them to the curvature of the camper, so I soaked them over night after I kerfed each one.
Need to do the lower half towards the floor but stopped due to two floor stringers needed replacing. Though I replaced all 4 4x4's that the camper tied down to, those were so rotted they crumbled. Epoxy resin on all 4 plus all the furring strips under each window and added furring strips into the floor stringers of the bedroom area, that was fun beating in...

 

[Weldman]

Sprayed closed cell insulation for the first time and I have to say, not bad for a first. Supposed to yield 620 board feet at one inch thick but that wasn't even enough to do this camper, oops. Going to buy another 210 board feet as I love the results I got from it.
Tested the area with laser thermometer after I sprayed and it was 140 degrees outside on the green surface, then tested on inside and it registered 98 degrees in thin areas and around 86 degrees in thick areas. Outside temperatures at time of the testing was 80 degrees. There is about one inch of thickness of spray foam in the wall cavities and  I will fill in with fiberglass insulation for the other one inch to prevent thermal bridging, absorb sound and extra insulation.
Yes I know white paint will help but it would get dirty really quick with offroading I do, thought about taking up a desert tan color to match the clay dirt on it.

 

[B and C]

Great progress!

 

[ByeBye]

just looking at those pics makes me itch. LOL. highdesertranger

I've had the fiberglass itch everyday for almost two months now. Hardly notice it now except for the incessant rubbing between the fingers.

@Weldman, I'd like to suggest the name "Quasimodo"

 

[Weldman]

Great progress!

Thanks, been fighting constant rain occasional snow and now it hit mid 80's I was able to spray, let it bake next 3 days in 90 degree temps to off gas.

I've had the fiberglass itch everyday for almost two months now. Hardly notice it now except for the incessant rubbing between the fingers.

@Weldman, I'd like to suggest the name "Quasimodo"

Well it is feared by the uptown high dollar campground/RV parks, it is a monster on the back of the semi with it looking deformed as there isn't one like it, and it's green like the Disney version of him. So yeah that sounds about right, Quasimodo it is.

 

[highdesertranger]

nice, looking good. highdesertranger

 

[Weldman]

Looking at top of this camper and looking at my Renogy solar panels and looking at the brackets and came to conclusion, I don't want to drill any holes in the roof. Was thinking of bonding them with 5200 and I figured to see if anyone had any experience doing this. I could always buy a tube try it and see what happens on test piece, but figure save few bucks and ask here first.
My other thought was to fiberglass some wood stringers up there, put some 5200 down then screw them down with construction screws or fiberglass over some architectural channel aluminum and rivet them with stainless steel rivets to it. Or is there a another option I'm over looking?
Not particularly fond of the Renogy brackets of how small of foot print they are versus pounds per inch of uplift and any snow load that might end up on them.
There is no reason or rhyme on the braces in the camper when it comes to spacing distance in the ceiling (i.e. 12" O.C. 19.2" O.C. 24" O.C.), already tried lining the brackets up on solar panels and it misses them.

 

[B and C]

I just used industrial strength velcro to hold my flexible panels down. I didn't want to drill holes in my fiberglass either.

 

[Weldman]

I just used industrial strength velcro to hold my flexible panels down.  I didn't want to drill holes in my fiberglass either.

Welp these aren't the flexible ones they are pretty solid aluminum frame ones though thought about your idea for some flexible ones if I ever decide to go over 800 watts. Then again I thought about the flexible ones for shutters over the windows too, not for primary charging but great for secondary charging for JIC (Just in case). Mounting them on aluminum shutters with velcro is my thoughts...

 

[highdesertranger]

I understand not wanting to put holes in the top. on my trailer I am going to build a rack that attaches to the sides and mount the panels to that. I am not even going to feed the wires through the roof, I will route them to the front and feed them in there.

as far as the brackets they are plenty strong enough if mounted correctly.

highdesertranger

 

[B and C]

You could use your rigid panels for shutters. Get flexible for the roof.

 

[Weldman]

I understand not wanting to put holes in the top.  on my trailer I am going to build a rack that attaches to the sides and mount the panels to that.  I am not even going to feed the wires through the roof,  I will route them to the front and feed them in there.

as far as the brackets they are plenty strong enough if mounted correctly.

highdesertranger

Yep they are strong enough, just the substrate they sit on might not be since there is so much pounds per inch on uplift and down force by wind/snow could possibly crack the fiberglass is what I'm worried of. Going to feed my wires through a existing refrigerator vent that is no longer in use and go down the inside the wall cavity. Problem with sides on this camper is they are radius corners nothing is square right angled.

You could use your rigid panels for shutters.  Get flexible for the roof.

Problem with rigid solar panels is they are too small for the windows. and I think the flexible ones are too, might buy my own solar cells and custom make them for the window shutters.