Campers and Engineers, lend me your expertise...

Good luck. You are obliged to put up pictures of the finished product. Especially if it ends in disaster. :^)

Of course! If it’s truly spectacular disaster, there may even be video. :smiley:

WhyNot: after sleeping on the idea that you might be trusting your family’s well being to my untested design, I feel compelled to offer the following note:

The structure could be made stronger and more cheaply by eliminating the three diagonal conduits and using two wooden vertical uprights, each with a 4’ diagonal brace. It would look clunkier, and the base would have to extend further out to clear the camper’s extensions but it would be simpler and, again, cheaper and stronger. It probably wouldn’t need the crossbar that the turnbuckles were mounted on (not to mention the turnbuckles and wires.)

Well, as it turned out…

We arrived to find another group of people camped around our camper. Like, camped AROUND our camper. WTF? We had to persuade them to scooch a bit so we could open the camper, and after that fiasco, it seemed terribly un-neighborly to break out the lumber and saws. :smiley:

So we broke out the less than ginormous tarp (which I didn’t even know we had, but hey, it was in our gearbox!) about 12X24, and tossed it over the top and poled and staked it out “just for the night” and just for the night turned into “we’ll work something out tomorrow” which turned into “we all have volunteer shifts today, so maybe tomorrow” and… sigh

The good news is that the weather was much more neighborly this year, and there were only two nights of storms, five or six restakings and one mutilated pole (which we saved 'cause…hey, who knows, a pole with a 90degree bend might just come in handy one of these days.)

And the people who camped around us ended up sharing their mead, so we like them now.

We did come up with a non-lumber design, and got the Stuff needed for it for less than $80 (woo-hoo!) and it’s all set to try out when we go camping again this weekend. It’s essentially a canopy design with two smaller tarps going over just each slide out (yes, you win, GaryT) using 2"PVC tubing set on top across each camper end as an anchor point. The tarp is attached to the tubing with zip ties through each grommet, but we plan to keep 8 inches or so of the tarp wrapped around the pole so the tug is distributed evenly and not putting strain on the grommets.

The tubes are held in place, we hope, with some sturdy ropes to the ground and ropes through one tube, along the top of the camper to the other tube and back to the first tube and tied into a frame of sorts. We’ve got some rebar and some 3/4" PVC to cover it to make four sturdy poles, and I’ve even been doodling vines and flowers on the 3/4" PVC with colored Sharpie markers to make it pretty. Damn dirty hippie, I am.

We didn’t set it up because, in addition to an acute attack of Laziness, we didn’t know where to find ladders and such to reach the roof once the camper was raised. This weekend we’ll set the 2" PVC on top before we raise the camper, so no ladders needed. We hope.

I’ll post pics when it’s all set up, 'cause I don’t think I described it very well.

I do appreciate all the suggestions as it got the creative juices flowing and our thinking moving in new directions. If this doesn’t work and we end up needing something sturdier next season, we’ll definitely go with your design, Baal Houtham, with the addendum. :slight_smile:

To my recollection, the proper term is “dirty longhair hippie shit.” :wink:

Glad to hear of your progress. I gather it was overall a good outing, which I figure was your due.

Duly noted. Perhaps my next bumper sticker.

Very, very good, thank you. “Worked” about 20 hours each week sitting in the First Aid shack of the festival grounds, handing out band-aids and condoms and sunscreen. Only had to call for one ambulance the whole time. (Turned out she had a blood alcohol of .530, so that was a good call! I hear she’s okay, but got herself a complimentary 72 hour stay at the local psych hospital.) Got to make one “God call” when a diabetic took his insulin before he had his food - blood glucose of 32 (Yes, on the USA scale!); couple of tubes of icing gel fixed him right up. Those are good for the ego - frightening to witness, but no real harm done and lots of thanks and hugs after.

Otherwise, lots of catching up with friends and sitting around bonfires and napping. Lots of napping. I freaking love naps.

It was *very *hard going back to real work today! :smiley: