Custom build - 1982 grandby ghost

I'm penciling out dimensions for my lift panels. I'm planning to use 8-32 rivnuts on the top and bottom where it connects to the camper making the lift panels serviceable/replaceable easily if needed versus drilling rivets. To account for this I'll order a top hinge with a 1/4" pin diameter so there is space for the screw head. I can order a normal 1/8" pin diameter hinge for the bottom because that one doesn't fold flat on itself.

I'm not really sure why the original hinges were drilled with the holes lined up on each side, even with low profile rivets and pounding the rear side flat that just adds to interference in the original design. I'm ordering undrilled hinges so I can place the holes offset.
i wonder if one could use rivnuts to attach the lift brkts to camper shell? am a big fan of rivnut, nutsert, etc.
 
i wonder if one could use rivnuts to attach the lift brkts to camper shell? am a big fan of rivnut, nutsert, etc.
The jack brackets? You could I'm sure but I'm probably not going to on mine. I have 2x1" tubing on each side of the corners on my frame so I'm inclined to run something like 2.5-3" screw all the way through those.
 
Realized I probably should have framed my vent openings in a bit further from the rear to give myself more space /flexibility in size of the folded lift panel and not overlap.
 
I’m working on a little low profile and accessible box to mount along the frame rails under the headliner with an access panel outside the headliner. This is to connect the strip lights wiring to since they’ll be mounted on the ceiling slats and they won’t conceal the ceiling wires like a traditional larger light.

I plan to use 3 slot wago connectors with a wrap of electrical tape.

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I'm not able to visualize how/where this will be used. My strip light wiring is hidden under the ceiling push boards.
 
I'm not able to visualize how/where this will be used. My strip light wiring is hidden under the ceiling push boards.
Think about the lights over your bed and how there is no board there, those larger fixtures hide the wires coming through the ceiling in your case. I'm planning to just run strip lights mounted on the slats that don't have a proprietary plug or such on them, they'll hard wire in and I want things to be serviceable incase a light burns out or I want to change out the size/lumen/etc.

So that box (other than the cover plate) will be mounted to the side of the roof strut in the zone the insulation is. I'll make a little slit in the headliner to sneak the wires in/out and then screw that little cover plate over top to secure everything and sandwich the portion of headliner with a slit in it is my thought. I need my headliner to show up to play with a piece of it to finalize things.
 
So on my lift panels I ended up harvesting the springs off the three ~70" hinges that were on the original camper. The hinge pins were somewhat rusted, the middle hinge was warped, the flanges were beat up from removing the prior rivets, etc.

I divided those up and used them to create 4 spring loaded hinges with a 1/8" pin size (like the original) for the middle and bottom hinge. Fresh hinges in that size were only $12ish and I needed to order and pay shipping rates to get the missing ones anyways. My upper hinge is a 1/4" pin to make room for using rivet nuts up top.

I marked and drilled the flanges first and then pulled out the pin and removed some of the hinge knuckles to make room for the springs. I just flexed them back and forth a couple times with vice grips to crack them off and then hit it quick with a metal file to smooth out the bit of leftover material. It went pretty quick since its aluminum. Then I reinstalled the hinge pin with the springs placed where needed. I loosely lined everything up using some 3/32" tig filler rod (in 3' lengths) and then chased in the 1/8" hinge pin pushing out the undersized rod I used to roughly align it.

I've got all the hinges installed on the panels, I need to add the stiffener pieces still. Then I plan to test fit them to the body and roof frame and assuming things are all good I'll work on drilling out and installing all the rivet nuts.

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Some things on the horizon:

-The trim profile I got from phoenix is 1.25" tall in the top section and my roof perimeter framing is 1" square tube. I am thinking of adding 1/4" of XPS foam to the underside of the roof (between the frame and headliner) to ensure the top of the trim is below the roof perimeter. The stack of materials with the roofing, wrapping the sideliner, etc. would probably be ~1.2", its likely better to have to top of the trim a bit lower I am thinking.

-If I add the 1/4" insualation noted above I'll likely skip the roof electrical boxes, I can just make a pocket in that zone under the slat areas for the wiring connections. I think I am going to screw down the slats rather than staple them so I can get the tension right while compressing against the 1/4" XPS (versus just being against the aluminum tubing), with that in mind I can back off some screws when needed to access the wiring.

-In the roof I am leaning towards using polyiso rigid insulation with the foil face towards the camper and then totally taping off all joints with aluminum tape so it will be a vapor barrier. The 1/4" XPS is perforated and so is the marine headliner so I would assume any condensation against that vapor barrier should have the ability to work its way back out either in liquid or vapor state. (Anyone more familiar?).

-Roof, I am likely going to go with a 2 piece corrugated roof (stiffness and some flexibility of the sheeting), I haven't decided on 2" raised/2" valley or 1" raised and 3" valley yet. I will screw it down with roofing screws and sealant.

-On the roofing framing ATC puts down what appears to be foam strips similar (if not the same) as truck cap foam tape which is 3/16" ($7ish for 30'). An alternative option I could use is off brand double sided foam tape that is .08" thick ($12 for 50') to add a bit of extra grip. If the bond fails its not a concern since its still screwed down. I'm not sure if this would cause and unintended issues, can anyone think of anything?

-Siding, I am thinking of going with a more subtle brake line reverse pattern like BBZ did with his siding on his project rather than the more aggressive mesa pattern with more taller protrusions.

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Little dicey solo but I got the lift panels test fit into place with a half dozen sheet metal screws on each hinge. I'll eventually pilot drill the remaining holes and then drill out the frame side of the holes larger and install the rivet nuts to work with the threaded screws I plan to use in the end.

I had to raise up the carport to accommodate all this, I put a cinder block under each leg and then strapped it all back down to sand bags again.

At this point I'm really trying to run through my mind on things to account for that need structure to screw to so I can go weld in the last bits and pieces to the frame.

After that the big push will be taking off the roof, wiring it, insulating it, headliner install, roof sheeting and then putting it back into place. Along with lower siding.

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I'm working on making the interior ceiling slats currently. I took a trip to Cheyenne menards to pick up some prefinished 1/8" plywood interior panels I had ordered in (they're the closest ones that could get them that I could find) and also picked up a 395watt residential solar panel from a distributor while I was up there.

Menards also carries nicer trim wood options, they had some door stop trim that was prefinished and radiused on each side but unfortunately they didn't have enough sticks that were in good condition to do what I needed, that would have saved some time. The backsides weren't sealed off though so I'd have still coated those I think since the ceiling slats deal with more moisture.

They also had 1/4" x 3" oak trim boards unfinished available that were in good shape so I grabbed some of those, ripped them in half and ran a 1/8" round over router down each side. I'll stain and then spar urethane them. They're 8' sections so I'll put the splices behind either the LED strip lights or the ceiling boards to push up on.

taping the foil to make a vapor barrier is a good idea.
Yeah that one is gonna happen for sure. What I don't know the effect of is having 1/4" of perforated XPS over the vapor barrier surface. Seems like moisture passing through is going to be a slow process so ideally minimal condensation. It just might mean slower to air out too I suppose?
 
sounds like a good way to trap moisture. I'd re-think that one. We have Reflectix over the rigid pink in our camper, and taped that to create the h20 barrier. Only the ceiling cloth is between free air and the barrier.
 
sounds like a good way to trap moisture. I'd re-think that one. We have Reflectix over the rigid pink in our camper, and taped that to create the h20 barrier. Only the ceiling cloth is between free air and the barrier.
Not sure its truly a concern since the 1/4" XPS is perforated on purpose to allow moisture to permeate and be used under siding on homes. But I can just sandwich it between two layers of 1" polyiso in my roof (which is 2" thick) with the top sheet flush with the frame and the bottom sheet protruding 1/4", I'll just cut some 1/4" thick strips to put along the frames to fill in the gaps and tape it all up. That'll have the foil of the polyiso directly against the perforated vinyl headliner.
 
Think about the lights over your bed and how there is no board there, those larger fixtures hide the wires coming through the ceiling in your case. I'm planning to just run strip lights mounted on the slats that don't have a proprietary plug or such on them, they'll hard wire in and I want things to be serviceable incase a light burns out or I want to change out the size/lumen/etc.

So that box (other than the cover plate) will be mounted to the side of the roof strut in the zone the insulation is. I'll make a little slit in the headliner to sneak the wires in/out and then screw that little cover plate over top to secure everything and sandwich the portion of headliner with a slit in it is my thought. I need my headliner to show up to play with a piece of it to finalize things.
or keep junction boxes like that visible. they are functional, and i like to have things within reach w/o going to a lot of trouble to get to things.
 

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