Homemade Camper – Converting a 2000 Jeep Cherokee into a Pop Top:
The second episode of the Pop Top Builder Series documents custom fiberglass plug work – hot wire cutting, foam shaping, and more.
Stay tuned in as a the bulk of the custom work is carried out. A tired Westfalia pop up transforms into a new base precise to the Jeep XJ camper.
The builder series is a multi-part Youtube series that documents DIY fiberglass mold making as a method for homemade camper builds.
Pop-Top Builder Series – Episode 2 Details:
- Fiberglass Moldmaking
- Pour Foam Trimming and Shaping
- DIY Hot Wire Cutter
- Fiberglass Mold Framing & Measurements
- Fiberglass Moldmaking Plug Creation
- Bondo & Final Pop-Top Bodywork
- DIY Fiberglass Shaping Booth
- Continued: Jeep Cherokee Camper Conversion
Subscribe For Episode 3 – Dropping Soon!
Pop Top Builder Series: Episode 1 – Design & Prep
More Details, Content & Connections:
Read More – DIY Pop-Top: Westfalia Retrofit
Read More – DIY Pop-Top: Finished Mold & Part (Fiberglass)
Homemade Camper: Questions & Answers:
Questions on the Pop Top Builder Series Process?
Comment Below!
Pop-Top Builder Series: Episode 2 Transcript
The Pop Top Builder Series:
How a homemade camper came to life with fiberglass mold making.
Episode Two: Covering the details behind the Cherokee Camper Build.
On the first builder series episode, A Westfalia top was trimmed and the rear profile was redesigned specific to the XJ platform.
The foam pour was now ready to trim, shape and keep on keeping on.
The design was working as intended, but the foam pour had its snags. The first setback was running out of foam and making a last minute run to the local marine supply. The second: An unexpected rainstorm that threatened to damage the foam integrity further.
Pouring in two batches made for some odd divides in the foam, but was manageable in the long run.
The first rough cut started with the use of a homemade hot wire cutter.
I’ll link more details on building this essential shaping tool.
The gist of it is running 12 volts of DC current through a heavy-gauge piano wire to slice right along the stringers and through the pour foam.
Before going straight to hot wire chopping, I located each of the stringers and used a shop rasp to expose it.
Side Note: The fumes from this polyurethane foam are no good to breathe. This was all done with a full respirator mask and proper ventilation.
The hot wire allows for the bulk of the material to be trimmed so that fine sanding and shaping can be fast tracked.
Now that the profile started to show I went at it with a sanding board.
I found a drywall hand sander to work quite well with some 80 grit.
This stage of sanding focuses on evening things out to be as structurally symmetrical as possible. Of course, this included plenty of measurements off camera.I would later laminate this foam with a thin skin of fiberglass weave and bondo over that to a perfect surface.
Stay tuned in for that process.
I designed the rear profile to be removable and set it aside.
In the meantime, the upcycled Westy top needed some serious measuring and framing to stay square.
Measurements had been taken down to an eighth inch along intervals of the Cherokee’s upper profile with a makeshift jig.
Seeing as a full fiberglass mold would be cast around it, there’s little room for error.
With measurements in hand, central crossbeams were added as the first reinforcement. You can see here just how far the Westy top would need pinched inwards.
Back to framing:
Fiberglass mold making holds many opportunities for distortion if not framed right. The redesigned profile already brought stress to the natural Westfalia shape. Add some in-depth shaping, sanding and finishing work. Then, to top it all off, the shrinkage and distortion thick plies of fiberglass layups will see.
This full grid of sub-framing would keep everything true to spec – or so I thought.
Once assembled, I realized I’d overlooked a key point of framing and took a step back. With the Westfalia top pinched inwards, a greater level of distortion surfaced between each crossbeam. The solution: Two vertical running rails were added between the cross beams and the fiberglass sides to kick this distortion to the curb. The original framing was then trimmed to fit and secured back in place. Additional reinforcements were added to the sawhorse base, and it was custom shaping time.
Once things seemed to be going in the right direction, I noticed how uneven the roof’s sagging concave was and made the call to re-profile it further to a slightly convex upper profile.
Progress slowed in this phase as nights got colder and the level of detail took its toll.
I ended up moving the plug back into the garage and built a simple shaping booth around it: Complete with shop vac hook ups and the works.
The cross-channels of the plug were measured down just for precision’s sake. Every sharp shaped edge was feathered down to eliminate any nooks the mold casting could catch on.
This stage could drive just about anyone crazy with its daunting level of detail. It’s a small step down from auto body work – in that you can slather on the Bondo with no hesitation, seeing as the plug itself will never face the elements. At the same time, any missed defects will be cemented into the mold surface until the end of time.
Things better be exactly how you want them by the time this stage is done.
A fiberglass mold will copy down to the smallest scratch or swirl – so the first order of business was perfecting the decades old gelcoat chips, cracks, and distortions. To give you an idea, I think I used somewhere between two to three full gallons of Bondo by the time it went to glassing.
Somewhere in the midst of reshaping the existing top, I had secured the new rear profile and went to town with Bondo again. At this point, I had pieced together a handful of unique shaping tools for different concave and convex points and saw the end in sight. I would take a break for a few days and then come back to find a new section to work on perfecting.
Looking back, I likely could have made a suitable product by fast forwarding through this and losing some detail…But it was another case of: “If I’m already doing it, might as well do it the best it can be done.
This foam face still needed a bit more structure to keep from getting any pressure dings in the mold casting process. A lightweight fiberglass weave was laminated into place and feathered into the existing top.
Some final skim-coats of Bondo later and everything was just about perfect. The project could go on towards final prep and mold-making.
We’ll leave that for the next episode.
Let me know what you think in the comments below.
As always find more build references, links, and content in the description as well. Until next episode, subscribe and turn on notifications to stay in the know.
One Handful of a Project – Signing Off.
Related Content:
DIY Pop-Top – Finished Redesign (Fiberglass Mold & Production)