Rooftop tents fall into a similar category a bit IMO; for a whack of $$$ you get a tent on your roof that goes up and down quicker for sure, but it's still a tent.
City-living practicality around low parkades dictates something removable for the inevitable 97% of the time that I am *not* camping in my van. Plus, I am not keen at all on the idea of cutting into my roof; the van spends a fair amount of it's life outdoors in the rain as it is and my experience with leaky/rusty vehicles makes me swear "Never again".
Lastly, I don't want to tow a trailer if I can avoid it.
Picky, picky, picky!!!
So my current plan revolves around making a lightweight fibreglass pod that attaches onto the roof; throw some bedding up there when travelling, arrive onsite, pull sleeping bags inside the van for Mom and Dad, kids climb upstairs; everyone's happy. My plans do not involve severe cold, so huge levels of insulation is not my top priority; keeping it lightweight is. I want my wife and I to be able to lift it on/off without too much trouble.
Now fibreglass itself is great stuff, and I have ideas on ways to make hard points and attach it to the roof, but you still need a core over which to lay the glass to provide the real structure.
Lots of core material options out there (foam/metal/plastic/wood/etc...) but the one that stuck out in my mind was one I'd never considered - corrugated cardboard (of all things).
Apparently some folks have had great success with either single- or double-walled cardboard structures; buy 4'X8' panels of the stuff, use a knife to cut the shapes, hot-melt glue them together (perhaps over a sparse metal frame to hold the correct shape) and fibreglass over the lot for an end result that is stiff, strong, lightweight and while it may not survive for years in a fully-immersed marine environment like a boat, it is more than adequate for keeping the rain out for occasional usage.
Never having worked with fibreglass before, I'm curious if anyone on the forum has ever...
- Tried fibreglass over cardboard with success?
- Tried fibreglass over cardboard and failed miserably?
- Had much experience with fibreglassing at all to point me in the right direction and avoid major newbie pitfalls?
Plenty of internet info out there; I am pretty much sold on epoxy instead of polyester stuff, and the standard-issue 5-1 mix should be OK for me (no stringent marine or aircraft specs here), but I'm aggressively seeking good advice before I drop $500 on supplies only to have it go horribly wrong.
I imagine I'll try a really small project first to get the concept down, then go from there.
Thanks in advance!
and I am not that confident in my abilities to create without destroying so I have been lurking and looking for a Boler or something like it to pull behind. I really like the idea of putting it somewhere and driving away to do stuff to come back and have it all ready to go. I have an 85 Westy and while it is awesome and a great camping vehicle, it can be a PITA when you want to go do something after you have set up. Taking down the awning, stashing everything, un-popping the top, putting car seats back in, etc. Here is a link to a trailer that has caught my eye:
