Attaching the sheet metal skin was satisfying and sometimes a challenge. Back at the lumberyard, the sheet metal on the toppers was very thin and could be cut by simple scoring and flexing on the scored line. In trimming the curves and cutting out window or door openings, the router was used with a paneling bit. Quick, simple and neat. The sheet metal I was able to get was .0375" thick, or about 20 gage. This is pretty stout stuff, and I learned that my router and paneling bit wouldn't touch it. I had to cut the top curve and the door openings the hard way, with a shears. I did not have an air compressor and air nibbler, but I did have a couple of different types of tin snips or hand shears. None of them were offset or curved types, though, so it was slow and sometimes difficult to do a neat job, avoiding "tinner's lice", those little sharp nicks in the cut edge at the end of each stroke of the snips. I tacked the sheet metal in place with a couple of brads and traced around the plywood shell with my Sharpie marker. I laid out a couple of blankets on the driveway to protect the sheet metal and then cut what needed to be cut. For the door opening, I used a hole saw to make a preliminary hole in the metal, and then with my smaller snips worked out a rough opening within about 1/2" of the desired line. This was a real wrestling match, and no real effort on my part to be very neat, just avoid being cut. After the opening was rough cut, I could make a second pass around the opening and do a neat, workmanlike job of the cutting.

Wooden blocks clamped in place along the bottom edge of the camper, the sheet metal is nicely positioned and I begin tacking it in place along the edge, using small brads. I have to punch each hole first, as I cannot pierce the sheet metal with the tiny brad, my fat fingers, and a big hammer. As it is, I have to use a needle nose pliers to grasp the 1/2" brad. The only other way to avoid hitting my fingers is to use both hands on the hammer. With a brad every 3 or 4 inches along the outside edges and around the door opening, the sheet metal is securely in place.

The roof was an interesting little puzzle of its own. How was I going to hold it in place neatly, so I could tack it down? I used a nylon strap with a ratchet device to tighten the strap. I ran the strap fore and aft, and drew it plenty tight. I had also slipped a few boards or strips of wood crosswise under the strap at intervals, to hold the metal down across its full width.

Ten feet was certainly a convenient dimension for me. The camper body is ten feet long. The roof from bottom front to the hatch hinge was just under ten feet. The hatch lid was just under five feet, and so I was also able to get material for my doors from the other half of the 4th piece of aluminum sheet.I got my sheet metal in ten foot lengths, four feet wide. As I said before, this metal was pretty stout stuff, so it took two men to roll this metal up just enough to get it into the back of my vehicle, an old Explorer Sport SUV.

After the main body was sheathed in mill finish aluminum, it was time to start applying molding to doorways, doors, and roof edges.

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first page the frame the floor the sides the roof the flooring the shell wiring and insulation sheet metal molding the hatch lid doors fenders light fixtures cabin cabinets solar panel tanks other stuff

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