"Free Willie": A camper build

Here are 2 pics of my aluminum frame. Sorry I did not get them up sooner as I have been under the weather. Looks like your making great progress.

Tom
 

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alot of campers nowadays are constructed with alum. frames.
good looking work. the best part is, now alot of it will be done better than it was when it came dn the assembly line. and now you understand why most people run from campers with water damage. you have to stay on all the silicone seams. or these things will rot dn right before your eyes.
I have a 40ft park model I bought to repair after being flooded. never got to it. and a smalll roof leak has about gotten it to a point of no return. but i still figure its fairly small. and really doesnt take that much work top repair it. and the end results are worth while
 
Well I promise when I'm done ot won't leak! Sourcing the metal for my roof now. I need to post some more pics. Right now I have the bed area completely removed waiting to get the metal so I can seal ot back as fast as I open it.
 
I stopped by yesterday, the seating area looks good. Hurry up & finish that thing. I need to borrow it:)
 
Been pretty busy lately plus the fact that the next step is to remove the roof so I haven't done much. I did make a deal with a friend to use his barn so I'm bracing things up for a short 3 mile ride.
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One of my other problems is taking the fiberglass topper off of my truck by mysel so I can load the camper. Had to make a stand to keep it off the ground and allow me to do it with no help.

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I'll get some more pics up when I get it moved.
 
Dylan W. said:
that aint plumb, square or level...looks good from here.:gitrdun:
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It is if you're looking down from the top. You're seeing an optical illusion, being 3.5 feet tall I bet everything is a little crooked...:flipoff2:
 
I guess you are right..I mean, you must have set up the ''5 dolla- win- a - 5 cent gold fish booth'' a million times right? You know your stuff fo sho.:flipoff2:

lol or was it the ole' 3 milk bottles with magnets soft ball toss?:lol:
 
was the Pushem-up, I used to help the shorties win. :) "Look at the size of the prize" I used to yell when somebody one:D
 
Haven't updated in a while but I have made some progress. I got the camper moved to the barn before Halloween. I can only go back so far, so I'll hang a tarp off the barn to cover the 1 foot of the nose that hangs out.

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Now I am able to easily access the roof. There are a million screws that hold the edges of the rubber roof on, not to mention the screws that hold the vents and such that are covered in years of hardened caulking.

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All of the vents and a/c have been removed and now begins the removal of the rubber roof and frame work. No surprise, its rotten!

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wow.... that thing was rotten LOL Looking better though.... I woulda cut my losses after seeing the overhang
 
I had the day off so I employed the help of a couple friends.
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Nice weather and a day off from work allowed me to do a little work to the camper. I worked on cleaning up the front, removing the "Big Fish" window qnd preparing for the new framing of the roof.

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RatLabGuy said:
I'm w/ this guy

and this too
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It's really not that bad if you are a decent carpenter. A good camper will cost you at least $5k, and you still don't know what you have. When I'm finished I'll have less than $1200 in it and it will be better than new.
 
GotWood said:
It's really not that bad if you are a decent carpenter. A good camper will cost you at least $5k, and you still don't know what you have. When I'm finished I'll have less than $1200 in it and it will be better than new.
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Hurry up, I want to borrow it :D
 
Worked on cleaning up the front sides today and reconstructing the structure. It was missing a lot of the original structure when I got it, and of course the other half was rotted off. Once I made one side, I just reversed a copy for the other side. Again, glued and pocket screwed together along with a couple extra tie in boards for additional strength.
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How do you eat a whale?? One bite at a time!


Took another bite out of the camper today but this time I put something together instead of tearing it up. Yesterday I prepared the sides and today I rebuilt the front nose.
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Its nice to finally have something worth covering and protecting again.
 
More rebuilding this weekend. Starting to look like a camper again.
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