A KIT Kamper Rebirth - Part 1 - A plan in the making

[RedneckExpress]

Well, as mentioned, my old KIT hasn't seen the road since her big adventure in 2012 and is showing signs in several spots of structural buckling due to injuries sustained during that trip and leaks that formed during the two years of idle time since her last time on the road.

I had originally planned to take her partially apart, and repair what's broken, but the more I look at it, the more I'm leaning towards starting over as many had suggested in the past.

Since I'm planning to build her from the ground up, I decided the best idea was to start with a well known set of plans, that come with instructions and full-size assembly sheets, that you basically lay the parts out on to help in assembly.

I will be using the plans for the Glen-L - Everglade 11' side-entry as the base for the rebuild. 

Exterior

Interior - Floor plan


Thanks for the heavy details and dedicated thread on the Amerigo rebuilds, I am also considering adding a Snap-N-Nap to the rear of the base Glen-L after making necessary changes to the design to allow of the additional leveraging load. 

The biggest expense will likely be in purchasing new aluminum siding to replace what I can't reuse off the original camper. 

I plan to glue and KREG join all the parts instead of using the stapling method that the camper was originally built with. 

Areas where changes in the design will likely occur are the corners for increase structural rigidity at the jack attachment points, and the placement of things like the propane tanks. 

I may utilize fiberglass wall paneling in some ares on the exterior to cut aluminum expenses down, as I'm not interesting in Filon and Fiberglass epoxy doesn't cure too well in the wet cool oregon winter weather.

[Rickf1985]

I am really interested in this since I have to do a major rebuid of mine also and mine is pretty close to that Glen-L design right down to the side entrance. Mine steps down inside before the door though, it does not look like that one does. Looks flat all the way back and across. I would rather have it that way.

Rick

[RedneckExpress]

Aye, it's a flat floor, I plan to get a three step folding step assembly similar to what you have on a Fifth Wheel or Travel Trailer and anchor it into the floor. 

Got the plans, just haven't had a chance to take any quick snap shots.

[Lefty]

If I was building one completely from scratch, I would do a few things different from an original. I would use aluminum structural studs in place of the wood framing everywhere. I would encase it in either aluminum sheeting, or smooth fiberglass panels... the fiberglass has the advantage of being structurally bonded to the studding for much added strength and rigidity, I don't know if aluminum can be bonded, or if it would cause it to buckle and warp if done that way.
After I routed all my plumbing & wiring, I would then use spray in foam insulation... which is far better at sealing every little nook & cranny... and has a tremendously high R value.
I would also attempt to find a salvaged pop up that had a complete slide unit in it... and install that on at least one side... two slides would be even better. In a slide in, those small slide outs make a huge difference... and all the large high end units have at least one for the dinette booth, and some also have an opposite one for the kitchen. If you get the whole unit, you could even use the crank up parts to make a roof that pops up. That would save a ton in fuel costs when driving, and also give you a lot of headroom. The same pop-up could also supply you with a smaller stove/oven, water holding tanks, water pump, water heater, and fridge... and whatever else you could strip.
I'd pre-wire it for solar panels on the roof, and also pre-wire in sat. TV, Internet, and wireless.
Lighting, I'd go 100% LED... and for A/C/Heat I'd use a modern rooftop heat pump... Same price almost as a regular rooftop A/C unit, but more efficient and has real heat (not just a dinky heat strip. Water can be heated traditionally via propane, but an electric option is nice when your at a campground hookup ... let them pay to heat it.
For a bed, nothing beats a tempr-pedic foam mattress, but you can actually buy the same foam in bulk blank sheets much cheaper... and cover it with a sewn cover. I did that once, and made two of my own twin mattresses for 1/4th the price of just one real temr-pedic twin.

You should look online at some of the new slide in's they are making now.. I almost bought one last year, to go in my 1-ton dually. I found one that we loved, it had two slides, a queen bed over the crewcab roof, and was far bigger inside than I knew was even possible. The downside is, the sticker price was $29,000 before any options! OMG!
http://www.lancecamper.com/truck-campers/1172/

[RedneckExpress]

My plan is to rebuild my old Kamper, not build a modern one.   My '74 served me well, but five years of being lived in, plus taking a heavy beating on a 10,000 mile cross country trip, plus that she had already been rebuilt once by someone with no wood working skills made it simpler to buy the plans and use them to rebuild the frame, then transfer everything I want over, reusing as much as possible to keep the rebuild cost down, but achieve a far more beefy structure.   

Most of the original siding is going to be reused, though the roof isn't reusable, which is fine, given it was a section aluminum roof, and was kinda in rough shape to begin with.  I may take a page from a Wilbur the Winnebago and do something else on the roof. 

Aluminum frames are fine and dandy, till something breaks, same with filon.   With a standard wood frame, if something breaks, I can take the siding off, remove the screws and use one of those fine oscillating saws to cut the glue, then make a new piece and put it back in place in about an hour.   

My camper gets used in very very few campgrounds and a whole lot of off grid, powered by my deep cycle bank and my little 1500 watt generator.   

I spent two months on the road, only paid to stay some place three times, and that was because I was staying in the area for an extended period of time. 

I have a fifth wheel with slides, I have no interest in slide outs in a pickup camper, especially on one that spends a lot of time on less than perfect roads. 

The only thing I'm possibly going to add is a tip out bed assembly on the rear, to add a second queen bed.   The nice thing about that is, I can still use my camper without having to extend a single slide, which is really handy when covertly overnighting somewhere. 

Gas mileage is a lost game, the truck it rides on gets 10.5 mpg on a good day with an empty bed, I crossed the country getting 7 mpg.

[Froggy1936]

I agree on the mileage statement .
Frank

[RedneckExpress]

Haven't gotten the pictures taken of the Glen-L plan set yet, but I am still working on this .

So far, located some potential holding tanks, still undecided on if I want to go with the original holding tank design (Combined, large single tank), or take a page from the blog entry on Glen-L from the fella that built one of these and uses two twin 20 gallon tanks side by side.

I located where the blogger got his, Ameri-Kart - Holding Tanks.   He used two of the H189Bs, side by side on the over hang.

I've also located a potential source for the shower pan for the wet bath (The original is too far gone to reuse, plus its the wrong size) Factory RV Surplus.

So far, I'm debating taking a page from the looks of the old Amerigo's and using a combination of Filon and the original siding, depending on the price of Filon sheets to cut costs, unless I can find smooth aluminum sheets for a better price.

Either way, my walls will be a sandwich design, with plywood on the inside surface and a layer of luan board on the outside of the frame (since filon will require the luan anyway), to make a nice durable truss.

The rear bed is still up in the air, I've been causally searching to see if I can find someone parting out an Amerigo, so I can simply steal the whole rear bed assembly, but I haven't found one within a reasonable distance.

To those that commented about structural weakening that would be created by cutting a giant whole in the rear wall, let me restate that my plan was never to have a large opening, rather a small door opening to facilitate entry and exit into the bed space, with the rest of the wall still solid around it, the rear bed basically being almost it's own little room.