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| 2010 TOUR: Outfitter Manufacturing |
| Gordon White | Friday, 11 June, 2010 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Truck Camper Magazine visits Outfitter Manufacturing in Longmont, Colorado and finds an elite team on the line building pop-up campers. Juno what else we saw?  When we walked in the front door at Outfitter Manufacturing, our attention was immediately drawn to the 2010 Outfitter Juno in their lobby. Brian Ward, Owner of Outfitter Manufacturing, explained that it was supposed to be his camper, but his father, Bob Ward, had sold it to a customer. According to Brian, this wasn’t the first camper he had designed for himself only to have it sold to a customer before he could hit the road to adventure. While the Juno was still there, we took the opportunity to take a few photographs. It’s an impressive camper as you’ll see in today’s blog, “2010 Outfitter Juno 8.5”. As we documented in our 2007 tour story, “Outfitter Manufacturing: Pop-Up Mavericks”, Outfitter is a very forward thinking company. Their aggressive push of pop-up camper materials, manufacturing processes, floor plans, and features, has made a name for their company. Their niche can be defined by three features; aluminum frames, vacuum bonding, and basement model floor plans. If you’re looking for these three features in a pop-up camper, you just found your manufacturer.
During our visit, Daniel Mercer was completing a roof for a new Outfitter Apex 9.5. Daniel told us that building an Outfitter roof is lengthy and involved process that can take up to two days to complete. In the photo on the left, Brian Ward has stopped by to lend a hand as Daniel lays the soft wall into position for installation. The center and right photos show Daniel installing the soft wall throughout the day.
LEFT: We found Larry Mosley, Outfitter’s welder, right where we left him in 2007; welding aluminum camper frames, and listening to talk radio. In this photo, Larry is completing an aluminum roof frame for a custom Outfitter truck camper. CENTER AND RIGHT: Adjacent to Larry’s welding area is where Outfitter’s roofs are constructed. In this photo you see Tyrone Mercer and Daniel Mercer, father and son, working together on a roof. Most of the time, Tyrone is building the roofs and his father is part of a two-man team that assembles and finishes the campers.
LEFT: Before the completed aluminum frames get their foam insulation, Tyrone Mercer staples corner gussets where the windows will later be installed. These gussets are plastic and can break during installation if not first heated with a blowtorch. CENTER: The foam insulation installed into Outfitter campers is carefully measured and cut on a table saw. It’s always amazing to us how fast these experienced team members use a table saw. Watch those fingers! RIGHT: Once the foam insulation is cut on the table saw, Mike Lee assembles the insulation into the aluminum frame like a puzzle. Each section of insulation is precisely cut to size and fits tightly into place. In this photo you can see that it takes some force to get the insulation to pop into place. Once installed, the insulation is so tightly placed that Mike and Tyrone can lift the frame with the insulation in place without having the insulation fall out.
LEFT: With all of the foam insulation cut to size and placed into the aluminum frame, the next step is to prepare the sidewall for vacuum bonding. Here you see Mike Lee pouring adhesive directly onto the aluminum frame and insulation. CENTER: Immediately after the adhesive has been applied, Mike and Tyrone use rollers to spread the adhesive over the entire frame and insulation. RIGHT: Once the adhesive has been rolled and applied evenly, Mike sprays the frames with water to activate the adhesive. At this point, Mike and Tyrone need to move fast because the adhesive will cure in a short span of time.
These three photos were taken in very quick succession and show how Mike and Tyrone line up the side wall onto a precut and carefully positioned sheet of fiberglass before setting it down.
LEFT: With the sidewall assemblies now completed, Mike and Tyrone begin the vacuum bonding process. First a layer of plastic sheeting is pulled over the entire table. CENTER: With the plastic now over the table, the plastic is now pulled tight and tucked into the sides of the vacuum bond table. Once pulled tight, the table has horizontal clamps that run the length and width of the table to firmly hold and seal the plastic in place. RIGHT: Here you can clearly see the sidewall sections inside the vacuum table with the vacuum applied. The side walls will stay on the vacuum table for at least ten hours while the adhesive cures.
While Daniel Mercer completes the roof and the side walls are curing on the vacuum table, Mike and Tyrone continue their work on the inside of the camper. It's fun to watch these guys work because they have the entire camper assembly down cold. It's like watching a band play that's been jamming together for years. In these three photos they're in the groove installing the electrical and plumbing systems.
LEFT: As side walls and other components are completed, Mike and Tyrone hand carry them over to their production area and install them onto the camper. Here you see the team carrying an undercab nose fiberglass assembly. CENTER: Seconds after the above photograph was taken, Mike and Tyrone had the fiberglass assembly installed and a new camper began to take shape. Again it was impressive to see how tuned in these guys were to the task in front of them and how quickly they moved from one step to the next. RIGHT: Now and then, the Mike or Tyrone would go from one bay area to another as they needed to build a drawer or some other component. Here Mike builds a drawer for the camper they’re building in the bay next door.
LEFT: We were lucky to see a load out during our visit to Outfitter. Here you see Bob Ward, Brian Ward, and Tyrone installing a two inch lift on a new Outfitter Caribou 6.5 to allow the camper to better fit the customer's short bed Chevy truck. CENTER: Torklift Glowsteps come standard with every Outfitter truck camper. Brian Ward explained to us that they made the change to Torklift GlowSteps after installing their first set and being very impressed with the quality and value the GlowStep system offered. This photo shows a new set of Torklift GlowSteps ready to go for the new Outfitter owners. RIGHT: Bob is so good at loading a truck camper that Brian calls him, “One Shot Bob”. After seeing how fast and proficient he was at loading, Angela decided to document his loading method for an upcoming article. Here Bob is living up to his nickname and loading the new camper in one quick pass. When we talked to Mike and Tyrone, they were quick to state that they strongly prefer working with a small team and that the quality of the campers had improved dramatically as a result. As Mike explained, a smaller team means they can closely monitor every aspect of the camper build and there’s no excuses about anything. This is a theme we’ve heard at most of the camper manufacturers so far on this tour. As a production line worker, if you weren't 100% proficient at more than three or four stations, you didn’t last through the recession. That left smaller elite teams of camper builders on the production lines wearing all of the production hats. Again and again, these workers explain how they miss having more people to help, but they enjoy the improved quality and accountability of the smaller production team. With demand picking up, we’re sure that we will see more team members at all of the manufacturers next time we visit. In the mean time, it’s good to see another company survive the economy with their best people on the production line and campers moving out the door onto customer trucks. For more information about Outfitter Manufacturing, visit their website at www.outfittermfg.com. For more Truck Camper Magazine articles on Outfitter Manufacturing, visit www.truckcampermagazine.com/outfitter. To join the discussion about this article, go to our Facebook or Twitter page. |
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