Hi Matt - great idea for the guides and seal system. If you are planning to install a ventilation fan suggest you use a reversible model. Running it with the windows and doors closed drawing air in will pressurize the interior slightly to aid lifting the top. Running it “out” will help draw the top down.

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Жыл бұрын

interesting idea

Well done, Matt. It's really turning out great!

Good to see an update on the build, its looking killer!

Great!!! Glad to see a update on the progress!! Thanks for sharing.

Fantastic idea on that top!

So great to see yall are doing ok and great to see the camper take shape

Great job so far.

Incredible!! Wow, thank you for sharing all the details!

Very cool. I'm glad to see this project coming together and will love to see you two back on the road.

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Жыл бұрын

Thanks Walter. We're looking forward to getting back on the road too

Dude, you’re killing it! Absolutely love your build!

That's insane, great Job Matt

love the hand made quality, ingenuity, and originality.

Awesome update. Indefinitely admire hard sided pop-up campers. Your camper is awesome!

Glad to see your progress! Well engineered and thought-out design and process. Looking forward to see the completed product. 👍

Insane !! Nice work !!

Never seen a Pop Up before on a camper thats AWESOME!!👍

Wow, nice job. Very slick.

Just an amazing job of design and construction. Thank you so much for the video.

Really impressive work!! So many creative ideas to make it work.

Now I gotta few ideas floatin around, thanks for the inspiration brother

Its a real pleasure to see this outstanding camper coming to completion. Your meticulously precise attention to detail and superb craftsmanship are evident wherever one's eye rests. This will be one of the strongest and lightest pop top campers, reinforced and sealed on every surface, providing years and countless kilometres of comfort wherever you park. This is one of the best Travel Cabin's I have ever seen, thank you for sharing your phenomenal build.

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Жыл бұрын

Wow, thanks for all the kind and encouraging words Felix!

This looks awesome! Been following the channel a few years now and have enjoyed the different setups you've made

Sweet set up..excited to see the end result, not mention the coming adventures

very good progress!

Great work!

Nice job, your effort shows.

Sweet build so far!! I've been wanting to do something VERY similar!!

So impressive!

You guys create my dreams. I love every bit of this and every other video. Party on!

Super cool!

Bruh it’s soo good to see you again. Life happens I totally get it. Missed y’all!

Hola Matt, nice to see you again. Doing a great job. Keep up. Margarita y Luis.

Amazing job

Nice Job !!

So dope man!

Yes great job

looks great

Impressive! That’s some serious engineering. Looking forward to the finished product, best wishes.

Great work

Very impressive nice job!!

Brilliant!

Amazing design, planning, and workmanship Matt ! Looking forward to seeing the next phase!!

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Жыл бұрын

Thanks Mike

thats awsome good job with the build

This is friggin awesome

Hey, great video! Interesting build & well explained!

Excellent!

Nice job , thanks to sharing

Thank you so much for sharing your build. It's a great concept and one I've not seen done by an individual builder before. I'm looking forward to seeing more details as you progress. Thank again!

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Жыл бұрын

Very welcome

Really impressed with the draw slide idea.

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Жыл бұрын

thanks luke

Bad ass , you rock bro 😎 👏👏👏👏

Great video thanks for the lessons

Great thinking on using the drawer slides for the pop up top as guides.👍😎

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Жыл бұрын

Thanks Jack. It's working well so far. The whole thing is an experiment of course, so we'll just have to see how well it holds up once I finally get to start torture testing.

Making me think back to when I watched your first Fiberglass video!! Looks awesome, a new era for sure

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Жыл бұрын

Oh man... that feels so long ago. Thanks for watching

PERFECT!👍

looking good

Very clever use of drawer sliders, i love it. Gas struts are a super idea too, much easier to fit than a cable/pulley/hoist system.

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

7 ай бұрын

oh yeah, I wasn't about to figure out a cable-pully-hoist system 😬

I like this a lot, thanks for sharing!

amazing

I was planning on a very similar seal on a pop-up design i was considering and it's very encouraging / inspiring to see somebody actually pull it off so well with common hardware. I hope you're stoked and proud of the build.

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Жыл бұрын

Thanks Bernie. I'm feeling pretty good about it. Good luck on your build!

Holy cow welcome back

Very clever. I've been pondering converting an old motorcycle trailer to a hard shell pop-up square drop. Your designs inspire me.

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Жыл бұрын

That sounds like a cool project

Cool Stuff Matt. I am very keen to see how the whole structure holds up in a real world off road situation. Quite a heavy load on top. Enjoyed every bit of the video. Good luck in completing the project, can't wait to see in real world.

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Жыл бұрын

Thanks. I'm interested to see how it holds up as well. If there is one thing im good at its torture testing all my gear 😅

Impressive young man

Hey Matt, thank you very much for all the videos and detail you go into, it's really helpful. It's surprising how little info is out there about diy hard side pop up truck campers so that makes your videos even more valuable. Keep at it mate, you've got this 🤙

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

9 ай бұрын

Glad you like them!

Been thinking about a similar design for some time. Thanks for sharing your build!

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Жыл бұрын

Go for it!

I’ve watched this build probably three times every time I’m amazed how you figured that out but what you’ve done is something I want to do I just haven’t figured out that one thing until now. Thank you so much for sharing. God bless you and yours.

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

8 ай бұрын

glad to hear you found it helpful. thanks for watching and good luck on your project

Nice work. I am an old fan from the start of your Journal. Happy to come back and find this. I have my own project, similar idea, but very different execution. I really like your set up. Great to see different ways to solve the same puzzle.

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Жыл бұрын

For sure. The creativity is the best part of DIY builds!

very good your videos. I'm building a camper and the information is very important.

Gotta subscribe to see this come to fruition. Very cool.

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Жыл бұрын

welcome aboard

Nice!

That's a lotta work!

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Жыл бұрын

Yes it was!

Excelente, un trabajo sencillo pero muy bueno y efectivo. Los felicito, es una muy buena forma de expansión. Saludos desde Cali Colombia 🇨🇴

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Жыл бұрын

Thank you Robinson

Ohhhh definitely going to do this on my camper!

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Жыл бұрын

Nice. Good luck on your project

@MEASURETWICE

Жыл бұрын

@@TheTravelingTogetherJournal Thank you😁

Nearly Adventure Time again looking good

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Жыл бұрын

So tempting to rush things to get it useable 🤪

yey that's great ! 😃

Ingenious craftsmanship with bucu talent. Very impressive sir....

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

5 ай бұрын

Thank You

Look'in Good... 😁👍

Just a suggestion. Maybe look at adding another silicone seal at the top between the top pop up and aluminum trip and bottom under the aluminum trim base when closed. This will help with keeping ants, bugs, dust, and water intruding when traveling, etc. You can adjust the clamps on how tight you want the seals compressed. It should also help with the pop top from rattling around when driving.

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Жыл бұрын

Good call. I have the seal ready to go, but decided not to install it until after I paint that area

Love this. I was just conjuring up an idea like this, I might attempt to design and build a folding wall design like those instacrates

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

8 ай бұрын

That sounds like a creative project. Good luck!

Maybe a second D seal on top of the body's aluminum cap, so it seals when lowered?

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Жыл бұрын

I'm still considering it... Could always use more seals to try to keep that Baja silt at bay. For now, I am adding a seal around the bottom of the aluminum on the pop-up. It will provide a seal and a bit of cushion to sit on while it is clamped down.

@stevestogsdill5791

Жыл бұрын

@@TheTravelingTogetherJournal Makes sense. Looking great!

Nice. Just subd

Super !!!!🧠👍🏻

Hi Matt i guess you've never built one of these before ? but i take my Hat off to you mate its Bloody Awesome and i like how you have glassed everything in an attempt to keep water out you have inspired me to build my own now 😁😁🤘

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

10 ай бұрын

my 1st time doing something like this. Good luck on your project and have fun!

1st time watcher, new subscriber! Great information! You've answered/given me ideas on how to repair my Jayco Sportster 7. Absolutely love the drawer rail idea, the handles to pull the roof down, and the latches on the inside. Why did you place the forward struts where you did again? I missed that part even watching it again. Great video!

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

8 ай бұрын

Welcome aboard! I put the front struts where I did because that was as far forward as I could put them without encroaching on the width of the queen mattress. In hindsight this didn't work as well as I thought it would. I think mounting the struts all the way forward and using less forceful struts in the front would have made for smoother motion in the pop-up. Currently it wants to teeter-totter a bit with the struts as a pivot point when lowering the pop-up.

@guyh.4553

8 ай бұрын

@@TheTravelingTogetherJournal yes, I saw the teeter tottering in your video. Interesting fix using straps. Thanks!

That really a hard part

I loved this sistem! Can I use The same on my motorhome?

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

6 ай бұрын

I suppose you could figure it out

Drawer slides. How simple. Why hasn't anyone done this before?

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

4 ай бұрын

keep it simple 👍

Yoink! Looks like an idea worth stealing!

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Ай бұрын

good luck on your project

@sparkiekosten5902

Ай бұрын

@@TheTravelingTogetherJournal Thanks!

Freak'n speechless, dude. The ingenuity of this build is something to behold. I can't remember if I've asked this before, but do you have an idea of how much this is going to weigh when it's all done?

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Жыл бұрын

Thanks Scott. I'll get back to you on the weight. I know I have a guesstimate written down somewhere.

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Жыл бұрын

My best guess was an empty weight of 1200 pounds.

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

5 ай бұрын

I finally weighed it and go into detail in my latest video: kzread.info/dash/bejne/dKuWyMdxXbCveZM.html

So Awesome! Dang You Tube isnt sending me notifications when your new vids post even though Ive got the bell selected for all. What do you think that beaty of a camper weighs?

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Жыл бұрын

Dang KZread needs to get their act together haha My best guess is that the camper will weigh 1200 lbs dry once I finish the cabinetry. I'll have to try to find somewhere local I can weigh it once it's done.

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

5 ай бұрын

I finally weighed it and go into detail in my latest video: kzread.info/dash/bejne/dKuWyMdxXbCveZM.html

This is great. I wonder of the necessity of glassing the inner surfaces. I get glassing the inner and outer seams and the exterior surfaces but the inner ceiling? Would love to know if I am missing something in dealing with the importance of glassing both. Also, you should coat your wood with resin then set your glass. The glass will wick the resin and leave a perfectly filled weave with no resin pooling.

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Жыл бұрын

Is it necessary? Probably not 🤷‍♂️ I'm no engineer, but I'll try to explain my thinking. If you think of the roof/ceiling as a composite panel that is 1 inch thick and spans an area over 6 feet wide and 10 feet long, I'm asking it to have quite a bit of strength and rigidity for its thickness. Especially since it is a pop-up, so it doesn't have the advantage of being a complete box. Now if you think about applying a force to the ceiling (pushing the pop-up into the up position) most of this force is exerted on the upper most and lower most portions of the panel and less force is exerted on the core of the panel. In other words, the outer surface of the ceiling and roof take the most force while the inner foam core is relatively less stressed. By glassing the outer surface of each panel I am adding strength and rigidity where it is most valuable to the panel. of course this extra glassing adds weight, cost, and effort to the project, so it's a tradeoff for sure. If I was looking at my design and trying to cut weight, I would rather use a thinner plywood, but I couldn't source anything lighter of a decent quality without ordering much more expensive marine grade ply. Everything is a trade off i suppose

@brandonsummey2418

Жыл бұрын

@@TheTravelingTogetherJournal Understood, a hollow aluminun tube retains it's strength because the outer portions of the tube provide the bulk of the strength. Same principle applies here. I will be copying lots of your design. You are correct, Okoume MP would be the best plywood for the project, for the ceiling if no where else. I think I will glass inner and outer of the ceiling, like you. Thanks for taking the time to respond. Looking forward to the next video.

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Жыл бұрын

@@brandonsummey2418 cool. glad I was able to articulate the concept well enough. hoping to make some progress on the build this weekend and start editing the next video next week

I admire your skills and persistence here! I'm thinking of doing a similar project on my HMMWV, but with aluminum/aluminum, aluminum/wood, or aluminum/FRP composite panels. Lovin the home built panels, but one question... 3:13 ....what does this puppy end up weighing in total...and is the truck/tires rated for it at finish weight?

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Жыл бұрын

Thanks Unfortunately I don't have a way of weighing the camper. I plan to weigh it at a truck scale eventually, but there aren't any publicly accessible ones near me. My best guess is that the camper weighs 1200 pounds. The truck is rated for 1950 pounds of cargo weight capacity. Obviously getting rid of the bed and tailgate help out a bit, but I expect to be close to GVWR when I'm loaded up for a trip.

I have a similar idea but using foam and poor man's fiberglass. Only I want it on top of a SUV. Then the rear section would have a stand-up shower.

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Жыл бұрын

Seems feasible. I've seen some cool diy suv or van pop-ups, but never a hard sided one. Good luck on the project

Thanks for the detailed video, this is very helpful for anyone building a DIY camper, I love the pop up mechanism and the detailed explanation. I have been wanting to make something similar, do you think this type of pop up can handle strong winds every now and then?

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Жыл бұрын

Yes. once it is fully up and the aluminum trim/seal components are pressed together it becomes quite stable. Pushing on the side of the pop up while it is in the up position the entire truck rocks without any noticeable movement between the pop-up section and the rest of the camper.

@Nimesh222

Жыл бұрын

Hey Matt, what are the specs on the gas struts, do you happen to know the stroke length and how many inches the roof lifts upwards? Thank you!

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Жыл бұрын

@@Nimesh222 The 2 struts that are mounted at the rear of the camper are rated for 60 pounds of lift force each. The 2 mounted forward are rated for 80 pounds each. The roof moves 16.25 inches vertically. the stroke on the struts is 15.2 inches

@Nimesh222

Жыл бұрын

@@TheTravelingTogetherJournal thanks so much!

Incredible work--Congrats. Have you thought about using linear actuators to lift the topper? Subscribed!

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Жыл бұрын

I considered linear actuators, but thought this would be a simpler solution. I'm sure it could be done with actuators, but I have seen a number of DIY attempts go poorly as they had a lot of trouble syncing the actuators or having the actuators become un-synced if the batteries weren't fully charged.

@ozmanfidaar6311

Жыл бұрын

@@TheTravelingTogetherJournal What's interior height when the topper is down? Thank you!

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Жыл бұрын

@@ozmanfidaar6311 54.5 inches down 71 inches up

@ozmanfidaar6311

Жыл бұрын

@@TheTravelingTogetherJournal Thanks

I LIKE this construction! Did you by chance build boats and/or airplanes? It's that good.

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

11 ай бұрын

Thanks I've never built a boat or plane, but I've done a fair bit of repair work on boats and surfboards.

Question please? The ply & fibreglass = quite strong & thin *but* heavier that thicker ply?

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Жыл бұрын

fiberglass and resin is heavier than wood of equal volume. Combining wood and fiberglass gives you a good weight/strength balance

I like the idea of the design. But why not use actuators to raise the roof by just one push of a button? Just a suggestion.

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Жыл бұрын

I looked into them a while back and was seeing reports from other DIY builders that were having trouble getting all of the actuators to raise and lower at the same rate, particularly if their battery bank was running low. It seems like the actuators are getting more popular now, so I'm guessing that new products or new knowledge has become readily available to the DIY community to solve this, but I had already started building the camper with this mechanism in mined.

Great Build Matt, The height on your extension and the overall height at the bedroom floor too the roof when it is raised?

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

6 ай бұрын

Thanks. I'm not sure exactly what you are asking, but I'll try to answer. The extension is 16.5 inches. In other words the roof moves up and down 16.5 inches. The distance from the floor to the ceiling is 71 inches

@ThaiBob33065

6 ай бұрын

Thank you, That's what I was looking for. @@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

Hello Matt, How did you decide on what size Lift Supports you should use?

@TheTravelingTogetherJournal

6 ай бұрын

I wanted to mount the lift supports as vertical as possible, so I looked at the extended and collapsed lengths and tried to get the shortest ones possible that still extended long enough for my application.