View Single Post
Old 03-07-2012, 03:38 PM   #1 (permalink)
turbothrush
EcoModding Apprentice
 
turbothrush's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Canada
Posts: 133

2 x wrecked vx - '92 Honda Civic Vx
Team Honda
90 day: 62 mpg (US)
Thanks: 119
Thanked 54 Times in 30 Posts
My aero (hopefully) fiberglass foam truck camper

With lots of people on ecomodder building aeroshells , boattails,trailers,kammbacks etc. I thought i would try to build a truck camper and maybe incorporate in as much aero as I could since I am building from scratch anyway.

My goal is to maintain or maybe exceed the mileage I am getting with my old camper (14-16) and stay under 1000 lbs dry weight as well as include a small bathroom in the new one. I always wanted to try the fiberglass/foam thing like I have seen here on Ecomodder by 3-wheeler and others and since the camper needs to be lightweight I went for this method.


Any suggestions or comments or questions are welcome but please remember that certain things in the design are fixed like cabover height and the roof height at the very back.

I can still make some changes since the main panels are not glassed together yet.

Things I incorporated to hopefully help aero
Tried not to go past the windshield with the cabover.

Keep cabover to truck roof clearance as close as possible

Built in some taper when I glassed the sides. The front and back are 3 inches narrower then the middle. Not much I know but the windows still have to in and they are flat.

I am planning on a 6" or 7" radius where the sides meet the roof and the front cabover. Should be doable with foam. I am wondering about what radius should I use where the sides meet the rear panel should it be less ?

Going to build a hinged fairing to help with airflow at the truck rear door window area

I am looking for advise on the cabover length .I really would have extended further past the windshield but not sure how much it would affect drag.. I could still change this without too much trouble. Also the roof is really just a straight line as it is now as you can see in the picture . Is anything to be gained by giving it a curve ?

Hope the pictures show up
This is what I hope to end up with

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-tu...-base-only.jpg

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-tu...de-profile.jpg

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-tu...lamps-duct.jpg

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-tu...e-clamping.jpg

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-tu...icture-056.jpg

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-tu...retty-good.jpg

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-tu...ate-camper.jpg

Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	truck.jpg
Views:	2431
Size:	47.6 KB
ID:	10444  

Last edited by turbothrush; 03-08-2012 at 05:55 PM.. Reason: add photos
  Reply With Quote
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to turbothrush For This Useful Post:
KamperBob (03-08-2012), landsailor (03-08-2012)