Project Love Shack

[Lippyp]

This is the camper top I bought on Ebay for the Chevy recently, went all the way up to Oban to collect it last tuesday.

Started the job of cleaning it and repairing some damage so its ready to fit to the truck. Here are some before and after pics. You can even see the mark where the thing was strapped to a pallet. This is what 12 years under a scottish tree on top of a shed does for you, plus it was right next to the sea so anything steel is a bit rusty.













Lathered up with Marine clean

[Lippyp]

After a good soak and a pressure wash











It was so frigging cold the water froze on top of the thing before I could leather it off, thank god I was wearing my fetching yellow marigolds!

It appears that it was painted cream when it left the factory (it was supplied new by a company in Lake Hopatcong, New jersey!) and it has gone through to the white gel coat in places so its a bit mottled. It still needs a good polish and wax although longer term I may well get it painted again, maybe colour coded to match the truck. I may need to hire a polisher for a weekend or buy a cheap one.

I managed to get the tailgate off, the hinge is two interlocking bits of ally channel and its held on with a small pop rivet in the middle so I drilled that out and it then slid it off sideways. The struts are not gas but basically two bits of tube that slide into each other with a bloody great big spring up the middle. One is seized solid where the two tubes have rusted together but once Ive figured out how to get it off the bottom mount I'll soak it in some deox-c rust remover for a couple of days and hopefully that'll free it up enough so I can get it moving again, coat of paint and some grease and jobs a good un. I stuck that end up on some axle stands so I could get underneath it to work and the bloody spring whacked me right on the forehead when it flew out, god knows how I get them back together! The locking mechanism is rusted solid so I need to get it apart and de-rust it and then source a new locking T Handle and inside handle. Its dead simple though, just a crank that shifts two steel rods out to lock behind the door frame. Then I just need to persuade the glass back into the seal and silicone up a small gap in the seal and the tailgate will be done.


Its got a built in light and both of the sliding side windows move freely and have pretty much intact mosquito screens. I need then to flip the whole thing upside down so I can hack out the strips of wood from underneath and glass new ones in. This is what the thing sits on on top of the bed rails. I'll also put a rubber seal along it too. The plan is possibly to upholster the inside longer term to stop condensation and make it warmer and maybe glass in some extra lights and speaker pods. Might have to get some curtain rails from JustKampers.com The truck bed will be allowed to dry out and then I plan to strip, sand and varnish the wooden bed floor, de-rust and paint the rubbing strips and then maybe ply line and upholster the sides and carpet the floor. I might even build in some cupboards and electrical points.

Project Love shack is up and running! (Not sure my wife approves of the name!)

[Sinister]

That's cool. Cleaned up nicely.

[jrdv]

It cleaned up nice! I would think that a camper that fits your truck is a pretty rare item where you live!
Have fun outfitting the "love shack".

john

[Lippyp]

Yeah, it wasn't easy to find as I've been looking around for a while. I was offered an aluminium one but it was quite ugly and turned out to be a wood framed one with rotten wood at the back end. This one does need the wood rails underneath replacing but that should only take me a weekend to do.

[big_al_71]

it cleaned up nice....

[Brad]

Looks great and should serve you well!



Did anyone else read this with an English accent?

[CG]

Originally Posted by Brad

Looks great and should serve you well!



Did anyone else read this with an English accent?

He kind of sounds like Austin Powers in my head...What are fetching yellow marigolds??????????

[BadgerTheFerret]

Wow. That cleaned up very well indeed!

[Senator350]

just how rare are "normal american sized" pickup trucks accross the pond?

caps (camper tops, etc..) in that condition are pretty much free for the having in the northeast

[Lippyp]

Marigolds = The rubber gloves you wear to do the dishes, in a fetching shade of yellow. Full size trucks over here are still pretty rare although they've been much more popular over the last couple of years, most of the new ones you see tend to be F150's and Dodge Rams, not many new Chevys and most of the older ones seem to be 50's so the 60's stuff is probably the least represented. I did only pay £50 for the cap which at the moment is about $75. I sound nothing like Austin Powers!

[bad6772]

Man you got that thing looking good again.....Great Job....Mate

[Bishops Trucks]

Nice job, cleaned up real good. I was in Oban for a week when I lived in England. It's a beautiful country.

[Lippyp]

Last time I was in Oban was 1975 and I broke my left arm on a camping holiday and had it set in the hospital there, fell off an old horse drawn hay rake they had on the campsite that we weren't supposed to be playing on!

[67-72crazy]

Nice clean up job.

[Palf70Step]

Man that thing really cleaned up nice. Can't wait to see you finiah and have it on the truck.