Відео

Real nice unit . You got me missing my truck camper days😕 Liking the gravity fed water jug . My camper was sized to retain a functional tailgate on my 8’ truck bed as well . Invaluable in many ways having that tailgate 👍

you are exactly right, I used to weld roofs for a company, and I welded everything like you said, and after the first ones I done, I got the jobs from then on until I got hurt, I don't know what happened after I quit, but the company didn't want to lose me, but my health comes before a job, and it's been downhill ever since

Air is actually a good insulator, but not fresh air…Condensation forms where warm and cold meet if there is any fresh air available. The condensation (moisture) stopped happening close to your studs when you made the foam tight to it because you removed the air gap. As another person posted, you can foam inside the studs. Problem is, you have to fill the void completely because any screw hole will allow fresh air in, leading to moisture/condensation. Replacing the square studs with a Z or U shaped stud would alleviate the issues, reducing your thermal bridging too.

This is a nice breakdown and comparison of two methods of constructing a camper shell, one example quite poor and one much better. I'm an architect and builder and really appreciate you using structural concepts in your comparisons (shear, moment arms, dymanic loading, adhesives, etc.). I prefer rigid foam as an insulator as opposed to fluffy varieties (fiberglass, cellulose, mineral wool, etc.). There are three major types of rigid foam, with polyisocyanurate and extruded polystyrene (XPS) giving much better performance than expanded polystyrene (EPS) aka "styrofoam". Polyiso tends to perform worse in cold climates and requires an aging de-rating factor, so I prefer to spec XPS for cold applications. At a glance, I believe I see a mix of EPS and polyiso in your builds, but I could be wrong. There is always a trade-off in wall thickness/R-value to interior volume. Three and four season models will do better with thicker walls and especially double-paned windows. Zero windows would obviously be best from a thermal perspective, but who wants to camp in a cave?! In residential construction, we are seeing and specifying lots of engineered wood products that are taking over joists, beams, and sometimes even studs and columns for their extra strength and stability over dimensional lumber. I hope it engineered wood makes it way into the RV industry soon. We all know that metals are superior to wood in almost every metric (with the exception of thermal), but material and fabrications with them cost more, as well as its dead weight are crucial trade-offs. It's perfectly acceptable to build a high-functioning structural shell out of wood. Haters gonna hate, though. Hat's off to a well-informed video and I wish you well taking on the "big boys" in the RV construction world where cutting corners and shoddy techniques rule the day. I'll subsscribe and keep an eye out for new uploads.

Use pressure treated plywood. Your goal is to prevent rot, for twenty years. . 🎉 Moisture can only occur in the structural aluminum boxes if the welds are not continuous. No condensation can occur where no vapour transfer can occur into interstitial spaces. Those two measures will provide a cure for 20 years. Also, you do not need a thermal break, these aren’t houses. There is a reason that Airtreams last a long time,

Great rundown. Where can I find a fabricator in the southeast who can make a quality custom trailer? These dudes are a dime a dozen and quality is trash.

That would be perfect for my lightning

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Years ago I was into dune buggies and playing in the sand dunes, a few aluminum buggies were produced, they were beautiful polished light weight works of art. The problem was they didn’t hold up and the welded joints would break from the stress and flexing. There wasn’t enough shear, and you can take an Airstream and rivet thin curved aluminum sheets and they have an amazing amount of shear. Another interesting aluminum structure is the Monocoque body, used in race cars and aircraft, and the Kimbo slide in truck campers.

I wonder, have wondered, and have seen the interior fasteners to wall posts and ceiling bows sweating and obviously bleeding water into the plywood, and wondered if the said fasteners could be the main cause of the thermal bridging? Aluminum and steel, same-same. Granted there is moisture inside the posts, bows - studs if you prefer, but how much does the fasteners contribute to the effect? And, to take it further does screwless construction lessen heat lose and lessen condensation? I have built-out several cargo trailers / campers and insulated with foam between metal structure (tight, tight tight), added furring strips at right angles (fastened to structure) with yet another layer of foam; then interior plywood fastened independently of the metal structure. There then isn't moisture on the interior fasteners, but I have never ripped one apart to see if there is signs of moisture on the hidden fasteners to the metal structure. There is only so much you can do with these thin walls and with an eye towards keeping weight at a minimum.

What kind of stapler/ staples was used for construction?

If you want to learn about aluminum composite construction, check out how the emergency van bodies like Crestline ambulances are built. Also better foam is what roofers use before torchon.

Humble Learning👍👍🏁🏁Im at retirement age, spent 20 years Precision Assembly Technician. In my experience.... Kicked out of work 5 years from retirement. I was forced to live in my truck ever since. I found a 1995 ish Pristine Callen Camper shell. 1 inch Steel frame, R6.5 fibreglass insulation. Aluminum skin. It Rocks But...... Curse the thermal bridging!!! Lol😂🤣Its been up to -10 here in Idaho, and this Old relic has kept me alive. Praise the Lord, but my plan is to remove All the thin ply walls and insulation . Clean , prep all the steel frame, and basically Raptorline the steel and interior exposed aluminum #1 #2 Install 2" inch Rigid pink foamboard like that stuff in yours. Then...... cut 1x1 inch hardwood strips to make up the added 1 inch of insulation foamboard. making my New walls 2". Between the steel and wood strips i am going to use the Eternabond Tape.Its Gnarley, i used it last summer to Re-seal the Callen Camper seams on the roof. It should be a Great Brake between the steel and wood , reducing thermal temp transferring in summer and winter. Then another strip to seal the Insulation board to the woodstrips basically creating a complete interior seal. Then replace my paneling with new stuff. Its been a trooper and it deserves a Resto. Maybe someday You can build me a Newer version of what i have , .. never know. I subscribed so i will watch your progress🙏🙏🙏Be blessed!

Try building the frame inside. 😊

OSB isn't plywood. It's engineered wood panel. If it was a marine plywood and properly sealed it would be fine. OSB is just a sponge.

Aluminum does NOT cause moisture in the wall. Aluminum may cause condensation. But the moisture is already present in the air.

Better video. I would suggest spray foaming the inside of the aluminum tubes. Warm air holds more water vapor because higher temperatures increase the air's capacity to retain moisture. When warm air touches a cold surface, it cools down, lowering its capacity to hold water vapor. If it cools below its dew point, the excess water vapor condenses into liquid on the cold surface.

Have you sprayed foam in the studs before

I’ve never built a camper, and never studied thermodynamics or physics in school. I’m one of those UA-cam Armchair scientists. Condensation happens when air containing water becomes too cold to hold the water it contains. If water condenses inside the aluminum frame, it means there is temperature changes happening there (likely due more to exterior day/night cycles than interior thermostat changes). So during the day the frame warms up and allows humidity to come in, then at night the frame cools down and the humidity condenses inside. Perhaps filling the frame with expanding foam would keep air out of the frame and fix the condensation problem at the source?

sure would like the know the manufactures name so I know what NOT to buy!

Had a tree hit the corner of my camperit was alum.framed bent whole bedroom striped it to subfoor rebuilt with cut down spruce for frame used 1/4 plywood foamboard and covered with fiberglass seemed to be more rigid than original but probably wouldn't try it again it was a lot o work

One mechanism by which moisture moves is known as 'vapor drive', and it is a bit complex. Vapor holds moisture suspended in the gaseous state until the vapor gets to the 'dew point temperature', at which time the moisture condenses into water. This usually happens when the temperature condition causes condensation at the boundary layer of the cold surface as that cold surface cools the vapor boundary layer. Think of a glass of iced tea in the humid summer. After the moisture drops out of the boundary layer onto the cold surface, the moisture just beyond the boundary layer moves into that boundary layer and 'replenishes' the boundary layer moisture that just condensed. In this way, even when the air movement is very slow or none, the vapor drive moves that moisture to condense on cold surfaces. The goal of vapor retarders is to slow down that vapor transmission. Closed cell foam, if sealed at the edges properly, can be a very effective vapor retarder. However, as taught to me by Joe Lstiburek, the founder of Building Science Corp., we rarely build a perfectly sealed assembly, so we should provide for what to do with moisture when (not if) that moisture finds its way into an assembly. So vapor retarders slow down vapor transmission, but don't completely stop the transmission because we sometimes need to give the unwelcome water an easy path out by weepholes and semi-permeable vapor retarders. This is why we build houses in the north with walls that allow the wall assembly to 'dry to the inside'. It is quite complicated, but if you find some videos by Joe Lstiburek (yes that is spelled correctly) you will gain a better understanding of 'vapor drive'. One interesting thing to note is that there is a temperature gradient within the wall materials, (think of many layers at different temps). One of those temps can be at the dew point temp, at which place the moisture will condense on any nearby surface, which can even be on fiberglass fibers at the dewpoint temp in a wall assembly. A really well insulated stainless mug (holding iced tea from Alabama) won't have the condensation on the outside because the steel outside is a vapor barrier that doesn't let the vapor into the air or foam that is inside the mug's two stainless walls. That well insulated mug just doesn't let the vapor near the place inside its walls where the dewpoint temp layer exists. A poorly insulated mug is cold to touch on the outside surface, so it can be at the dewpoint temp and have condensation. BTW, the term 'sweat' does not accurately describe condensation, because sweat comes from inside us (glands produce it) and serves a cooling function. Condensation forms from vapor, a completely different process.

Correction - Aluminum is NOT a vapor barrier. See the correction video here - video - ua-cam.com/video/cy4mChKypVk/v-deo.html I tried to rush that video and am new to video creation so I did not do a good job teaching. However, I believe I made a great video to respond to those who correctly schooled me. Lets make this channel a great place for folks to come for education and discussion. Happy to see your well structure comments! Thank you for watching.

As a retired carpenter of 40 plus years experience your product is excellent !!!

Hmm, haaaa , you should hire an expert, you should use "offset structure framing" transfer for thermal block .

Is it more like when you take a cold pop can out of the fridge. And it gets condensation. Warm inside your camper is your warm house. Outside in the cold is your fridge. Aluminum frame is the pop can halfway in halfway out of the fridge? And then the moisture collects on the dew point depending on temperature and humidity stuff. I'm not expert but trying to solve the mold problem.

Thanks for showing this stuff I was wondering how these things hold up. How do I find a camper that isn't going to have issues?

You need that pink foam on the outside of the metal. Especially if this is being used in a cold climate. The warm moisture laden air inside wants to move from warm to cold so every piece of aluminum is a thermal bridge aiding in its ability to do that. That means every piece of aluminum is a cold condensing surface. You need to keep the aluminum closer to the interior temperature than the outside in order for this to work.

Does coach campers have any interest in moving towards full composite panel construction?

Does this guy have a tim machine or did I go into a coma? June 2025? 😂

My toyhauler walls are sagging and other issues, 2015 Blazing, and i feel all Lippert chassis are under rated,

Very nice camper! Great walk through presentation 👏

Can you say misinformation? It’s obvious you know nothing about “physics” 🤣

I used to have an aluminum camper that had no wood anywhere in its construction. Frame was aluminum. The outer skin was sheet aluminum bonded to the welded aluminum skeleton. No substrate. Interior skin was Azdel. Floor was made of welded aluminum extrusions running the length of the camper. Bunks, cabinets & cabinet doors were welded aluminum skinned with sheet aluminum. Roof was sheet aluminum. I had issues with frame welds cracking & ended up having a few of the frame joints re-welded. But otherwise was a good camper. The company got bought by one of the big RV companies, who cheapened the product until it was junk, then shut down the brand.

Thanks for the information👍

What a terrible explanation of physics. It's not because it's a vapour barrior, it's because of warm (moister laden) air contacting a cold surface condenses that water onto the cold surface.

Beautiful rig!

Only SOME fasteners rattle out of aluminum. The commercial trucking and aircraft industries have been working on this problem since the 1950s, and the aircraft engineers have specified some good solutions: Aircraft rivets. There are traditional driven rivets for when you have access to both sides of the joint surfaces, and there are 'pulled rivets' that allow a good rivet to be applied even when there is a blind side, as in a tube. Brands such as Avdel, Cherry, and Huck make rivets with aircraft level engineering. Note that the cheap hardware store rivets are the worst, and there are very good solutions that cost more, such as CherryMax and HuckMax. Huck (Howmet) has a line of fasteners for building commercial truck bodies, and they are designed to solve the vibration problems as well as having good clamp force and good shear and tensile forces. This requires a little thought on designing the joint. Aircraft rivets also can be ordered with a countersunk head (note the 100 degree standard countersink angle), and there are some good videos from long ago on how to properly dimple thin skins and countersink drill the structural frame so as to get a well engineered countersunk head on a strong joint. Look at all of the fine aircraft that survive harsh conditions of temperature and humidity changes, and you can gain some valuable solutions both for production and for repair options.

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Steel studs in builds are the same.

O aluminum dosent rust you have a pice of metal there proly for suport of your toy door or wall or spring or hinge or fold down seat or some other dum a*** thing we just got to have lmao

aluminum build is aluminum tubing walls never see wood pounded in to a tube of aluminum that defeets the purpus of using aluminum built verses stick build, theses are trilers there not ment to last a life time and they do not theses aluminum builds are laminated pannels there glued to aluminum the cabnits add strenght to the build dependng how they manufacture them when you intutupt this design you defeet the integurity of that build hence you get a pice of plywood scabbed in to the rear of your toy howler to suport or they jam a shot pice of wood in the joint to be stapled yes stapled most stick built are much heavyer and stapled togather they are not even as weather proof as laminiate sides iv riped a lot of these thing apart an fab a lot of my own ... this is why you should never buy in to a extended warrantee

The more and more I learn about manufactured trailers is making me realize for what they charge for these things it just makes more sense to build your own if you want it to last more than a few years of weekend trips let alone living in one.

I'm thinking about buying a camper I was wondering what they're really made of. Now I know a little bit more thanks.

As someone who has had 3 different rv units, I can confidently say that rvs are complete junk when it comes to fit, finish, and construction techniques. Way overpriced, especially if buying new. Buy used, cheaper and someone else has already dealt with the warranty issues.

Bottom line is intended use and workmanship. On the repair unit, your solution using wood members was based on not being able to re-weld the aluminum with the interior intact. If fabricated competently, wood is not needed. Did I get that right?

Clearly, your pick up body is very well designed and very well constructed using high quality materials and construction techniques! Intended for the harsh life on a commercial pick up truck you have ensured that your body has the ability to more than cope with the demands placed upon it long after the base vehicles have been retired. The difference between that camper structure and your construction methods was that the camper was literally thrown together using the cheapest materials and labour, whereas yours was the exact opposite. Its great to see a manufacturer take pride in their professionalism and you certainly have a lot to be proud about. Subscribed.

Building science, watch the build show and a cup of Joe

Thank you very much for putting these videos out. It's very interesting and I'm learning a lot. Please keep them coming, if possible. I saw one of your truck toppers on a random Alaska UA-cam video a year or so ago, but the video didn't show the name or maker of the topper, so I searched for Alaskan-made truck toppers and found your website. I really like the looks of your "Cabinet Canopies" and "Classic Function Over Form Topper." Thanks again!

Could you fill those tubes with an expanding foam product?