Loadmaster '47 COE

[youngrodder]

The camper is coming along nicely...

Marc

[oldman3]

Sweet...Jim

[flashed]

Love it ,cant wait to see more .

[mud.man.rj]

Wow, what a whole different look, an improvement, sure looks good.
Mudman.

[joedoh]

the mpg answer is in your last picture behind your truck, see the semi with the air deflector on the roof? get some styrofoam and carve some wedges for all that frontal area on the camper, then wrap fiberglass on them and make them screw on/off! or just run it like it is, it sure does look cool!

[99 to Life]

soo cool. sux about the gas though.

[lower50's]

Looks very nice and 61k is amazing. What kind of water proofing are you using?

[47 Fasttoys]

For the roof I'll be doing paint/cloth/paint (PMF, poor mans fiberglass) and corrugated galvanized for the siding. Now I'm using wood filler on the outside which I will follow with primer. I've haven't worked out the windows yet.
Still a bit of learning process as I've never done anything like this before.
Rob

[solidaxel]

FYI, here in the Southwest we use a Rubberized roof coating for our roofs on houses, and I think the same PME which is Rayon cloth.
Some of the new coatings even have very small glass spheers which act as insulation.
I used some Lizzard Skin on my shop steel door which faces West and then a coat of paint, and it is holding up great. The temp on the outside in summer was 164* and it cooled it down to 105* on the inside

[47 Fasttoys]

So after 3 tubs of wood filler and a few hours with a sander, most of the outside wood is done. I even got started on primer sealer. I also made a change in the outer cover plans. I have decided to skin at least the roof in aluminum.
Rob

[99 to Life]

looks great. you gonna overhand the roof or make a drip rail?

[47 Fasttoys]

Don't think so, I'm looking at using a aluminum skin for both the top and sides. I think I will just leave the top about 3/8" overhang and fold this lip down the side. I've been looking at a few builds on a tear drop site and that seems to be a descent solution for the edge. I will be holding the aluminum on with a ton of rivets. Now, I may do some type of an rain gutter over the door and windows. A lot of this stuff I just figure out as I go.
Rob

[lower50's]

Great looking camper. Good idea to cover the plywood I have had trouble keeping the wood on my trailer from pealing due to the sun, and I am way north from you.

[47 Fasttoys]

OK, so after much back and forth I have made a final decision on the outer skin, Aluminum for all surfaces. Dropped over $800 today for a new roof skin for a semi trailer. 102" wide and 54' long. It worked out cheaper getting a full trailer top then the 46 feet I really need. With that I also got 1000 3/16" self sealing rivets. Just for the heck of it I hit a small spot with metal polish and a buffer wheel. That was way to easy.
Rob

[lower50's]

Oh good job on the roll. There should be a coating on that aluminum that prevents oxidation. I assume your going to polish the outside? That should be amazing.

[Dieselwrencher]

Very nice work on the camper! The frame work came out awesome, and the wood work looks sweet too! As far as picking it up and loading/unloading it, maybe you can build 2 gantry cranes to do the work. I have a really heavy in bed camper and those jacks just are too sketchy for me IMO. They are ok on perfectly flat concrete. But I never have had that option. It's always un level, and windy when I want to load or unload it. I built some wood gantry cranes out of 2x6s and made them like a laminated morton building pole. I used 2 atv winches, 1 on each gantry. It worked slick and was safe and relatively cheap.

[47 Fasttoys]

I actually made some changes with the jacks. I put some concrete anchors for the base and then added 2 support bars which are mounted to the top and also anchored to the pad on each jack, making a triangle to the ground. The only other thing I may do is to add a pin to the jack shoe and a hole to the bottom tubing on the camper, this would allow for zero movement. I have put it on and off 2 times now with this new arrangement and things seem to be very solid. Thanks for the idea just the same.
Rob

[OutlawDrifter]

Very cool so far. I followed the build over on ls1tech when you got started, I absolutely love the flatbed!

[Rods57]

This is going to be really cool. the truck is already wicked cool but with the camper on it its like double the cool...

[47 Fasttoys]

Thanks all, the camper is still progressing but a bit slow. I'm waiting on some warm weather to continue with the skinning of the outside. That being said, I have been working. One side is ready for skin with all the holes cut on the wall. I have also started the wiring and the insulation. Now for the tough part: I have 30 days to have this thing water tight and ready for camping, not finished mind you but ready for a long road trip. Oh, and other news, I had the engine and transmission programs retuned for a more solid shift feel, some performance adjustments, I also got the tow/haul mode working.
Rob

[Bad Apache]

Slowly but surely!

[lower50's]

Getting the trans tuned like that will make a world of difference.

[47 Fasttoys]

Actually, it has made a noticeable difference. 0 to 60 time went from 8.54 seconds to 8.23 seconds and it is not shifting out of torque converter lock up every time I hit a hill. Fuel mileage seems to be about the same at about 16 highway and city. The mileage had dropped when I converted to the steel bed. City and highway mileage have always been very close (the driving a barn on the highway effect ).
Rob

[47 Fasttoys]

More progress on the turtle. I now have both sides attached. Lots of trimming and riveting to say the least.
Rob

[oldman3]

Looks good, ah air shears, nice...Jim