Toyota Hilux - Rooftop Camper & Canopy Build

 The canopy was made from 9mm marine plywood with CNC finger joints on all edges bonded with epoxy resin.  The joins were then fibre glassed inside and out for strength and water tightness.

Panels for the canopy being glued and clamped in place.

Prepared corner joint ready for fibreglass.

Fibreglass cloth prepared

Laminating the corner joints.

Filling and fairing the canopy in preparation for paint.

CNC routing the panels for the roof top tent.

Gluing the panels together ready for glue filleting.

Using a common and simple boat building technique of "Stitch & Glue" using tie wire to hold the panels together while the glue sets.

Inside of the roof top tent nicely filleted and given a finish coat of clear epoxy resin.

Flipped over and ready for fibre glassing the outside joints.

Canopy fitted to the car ready for the roof top tent section and doors.

Side doors fitted.

Designing and fabricating the "pull type rams" using ropes, pulleys and a boat trailer winch to raise the roof of the camper.

Lifting rams installed.  (This is a difficult application for gas struts due to the pivot point location, geometry and the way the centre of mass changes with opening angle).

Leveraging my sail making experience and sewing the canvas for the roof top tent.

Main sections of the tent.

Installed and working on the solar panel fit out.

Installing the drop down fridge slide and starting on the internal fit out.

Electrical switch box ready for installation.

And here it is, in the Kimberly's W.A where it was our home for 8 weeks straight.