Vardo

[Ed Falk]

Work in progress. A photo is worth a thousand words.


Full pictures: http://www.efalk.org/Vardo/

It might not be obvious from this photo (but follow the link above for more photos), but the top half is supposed to telescope over the lower half, like a pop-up. Unfortunately, I still haven't devised a lift mechanism for it yet. Looking for advice in that area.

[Jim Matthews]

That's epic.

Does the top ride in on rails, or is it free-floating?
I'm thinking that you could carry two Johnson bars (or boating spars) on either side
and raise this with a lever action. Alternately, a scissor jack on either side would be steady.

If you carry a portable compressor, this could be lifted by a central air piston.

http://www.finewoodworking.com/item/...ight-workbench

http://www.harborfreight.com/catalog...=long+ram+jack

[Ed Falk]

Free floating. I'm thinking of putting big gas springs at the four corners to carry most of the weight, but that still doesn't solve the lift problem.

Thanks for the links; I'll check them out.

ETA: those jacks are very reasonably priced, and far more powerful than I would need. Dunno if any of them have a long enough stroke though; I think I need about 4'. Oooh, I bet I could incorporate one into a scissor lift and trade power for reach.

[Dan Valleskey]

What a great start. Looks gorgeous. Maybe, simple is best, just some struts you can flip up into position while lifting manually.

[Jim Matthews]

That's my inclination, too.

Less to go wrong, or get jammed.
If the struts act as a counterbalance, you need only lift part of the load.

I just wouldn't want anything that's buried in the works to fail, on the road.

I wonder if some sort of cable routing, pulled by the vehicle would do the trick?
Even a simple 12V winch should be robust enough to handle this.

[John Spitters]

This is probably one of the best solutions I've ever seen, once in the raised position simply prop some supports in place to hold it there. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=625LvecQRbg

However if you are looking for other ideas simply do a Google search for "pop up camper lift systems"

John

[Yonak Hawkins]

I'm envisioning a winch and cable system where the winch is mounted in the middle, under the trailer, with four cables coming off of it, each routed to the sides near the corners by way of pulleys. The cables could be routed up the insides of the walls, snaked over the top of the base wall, via rollers or pulleys, and attached to the bottom edges of the top wall. When the pulley is activated all the cables would move at the same rate. It seems complicated and fraught with pitfalls but might be a fun activity to try to work out.

I like those roof corbels. ..And those clerestory windows are brilliant. Good luck.

[Jim Matthews]

That's the idea.

My concern is that anything hidden in the walls will not be fault tolerant.
Anyone that's done lengthy outdoor treks knows that mechanical problems
can bring everything to a halt, in the least convenient possible place -
generally when it's raining.

And you're tired.

And it's dark.

Did I mention the rain....?