On Feb 9, 1:41 pm, John H wrote:
On Mon, 9 Feb 2009 08:18:41 -0800 (PST), Frogwatch



wrote:
I am building a version of Glen-L "Importer" slide in truck mounted
camper for my Nissan Frontier and I thought my experience with
building 4 boats would be helpful but the techniques are very
different. The camper has 1"X2" framing with 3/16 ply on the inside
and Aluminum sheet on the outside. From a boat building perspective,
structurally, this sounds like crap. I am desperately trying to
suppress my normal tendency to think "Hey, I've got a better way"
because my wife wants it to look good so I am really trying to follow
directions. I am liberally applying epoxy to all joined surfaces
instead of simply using wood glue as per directions but the whole
process seems "wrong" still. Unfortunately, the design is from 1972
before epoxy was available. I would really prefer a design similar to
boat building where strength is obtained from rounded shapes covered
with glass and epoxy, sort of a stitch and glue camper. I will glass
some of the joints that I think need it. I'd glass the whole thing
but weight is an issue.

PS. Keep in mind that the camper won't take near the beating that a
boat does. It's not like you're going to be pounding the camper into
the waves!

Are the plans available online? They'd be interesting to look at.

Floor plan is online on the Glen-L site.
One thing that really bothers me is that the framing is assembled
using those awful corrugated fasteners that seem to split the ends of
the wood and then the framing is glued to the 3/16 ply. I'd much
prefer to assemble the framing on the 3/16 ply with epoxy but the
first assembly seems sorta necessary to get right.