Suburban Wood Conversion Camper

[SpyingOnMyKeyst]

For the last year or two I've been noticing some pretty low prices on used Chevy Suburban 4x4s, and wondered if anyone has converted one, or knows someone who has, into a pop-top or hard top camper.

Seems like it could be a good way to get ahold of a relatively inexpensive 4x4 / camper combination.

I thought about:

- Cutting a hole in the roof, starting just behind the front seat area, and around to the rear section of the back, with about a 6-8" clearance from the sides of roof.

- Riveting or thru bolting a 2 or 3 layer thick series of overlapped 1x3's, maybe steamed and then attached so they would dry to match the roof shape, with a rubber or nylon underlayment, that you could make from used bike tires, or similar.

- The camper top would have cross beams of some sort at the very rear and very front, attached / possibly scribed to the 1x3 sole plate. I want to create an overhang that would accommodate a 6'4" bed laid out sideways in the camper top.

- Runner beams would sit atop these, spanning from ends of cross beam at the back and cantilevered forward over the front cross beam to create a cab-over structure for the bed.

- The remainder would be a light-weight 2x2 or 1x2 internal frame, insulated, and sheathed with ply interior and thin osb exterior, or fiberglassed both sides over hard foam insulation and internal frame.

Anybody:

Seen a conversion like this already?

Have ideas for a good shape? Is it good in a camper top to have an inverted wing shape, or is it better to just push the air up over the top?

Does the gap in the cab-over section between the truck roof and the camper's cab over make a lot of noise on the highway?

Know how much distance you need from a standard van pop-top from edge of roof to cut line to maintain some load potential?

Have suggestions?


Thanks for any help or information.

I'm almost done turning my 2016 Kia Soul into an ultra mini surf-chaser RV. I made a wooden cargo box for the top, in the spirirt of the mellow classy Woody wagon. I plan to attract some groovy chicks with that one, when I'm not out in the west coast winter swell with the big dogs.

Conversion like the one above up next.

Happy RV'ing everyone!

[SpyingOnMyKeyst]

I was hoping to find some people who had already done one here, and be able to ask for any suggestions they might have from their own build process. But yeah, Youtube is the best thing on the internet, hands down, for learning about any subject. I knew it would be 20 years ago, before it came to be a thing. I have 2 friends I would have recommended that kind of thing to as cinematographers or a startup crew. They both now have professional careers in cinematography / film making, so I'm glad I didn't. LOL.

[gbopp]

Did you do a Google and Youtube search for Chevrolet Suburban Camper Conversions? There is a lot of information available.