It's certainly a possibility...you would just need to work it through to sort out the engineering of the piece to ensure it was strong enough and how it attached to the remaining structure in a secure/reilable fashion.

strip canoe techniques and all the craft on this site are really just 'good looking' composite materials construction with the wood as the coring material and the epoxy/fibreglass (or other materials such as carbon fibre) as the skins.   it's very common in commercial boat and even high tech-one off aircraft construction.   so while everything here looks like wooden boats here at CLC, that's really not the case....they are composites with wood cores.

while not a pop-up camper, CLC's teardrop camper demonstrates that this tecnhique can be used for campers/vehicles beyond boats https://www.clcboats.com/shop/boats/recreational-vehicles/clc-teardrop-trailer.html

that said, if i was doing strips, i would stick with cedar strips and if i wanted to use plywood, i would just do a panel construction and not strips.

i hope, as a starter, that that helps.

h

Tell us a little about the roof you're trying to replace.

No reason your concept can't work as long as you get the fastenings right. A sheet of 1/4-inch marine plywood is going to be at least as strong as the (presumed) aluminum sheet that makes up the camper top now. You might wish to add some ribs or stringers, depending on the design - a large, flat sheet of plywood is going to have quite a tendency to "flap", oilcanning up and down in the wind at highway speeds.

It's not clear why you would want to cut up plywood into 1/4-inch strips only to glue it back together - unless you're trying to follow a curve tighter than the plywood will bend.    Since plywood is a sandwich of veneers laid with the grain at 90º cross angles, each joint would have a fair amount of end grain. End grain soaks up a lot of glue and doesn't make strong joints. The strength won't be an issue once you get the fiberglass skins on, but all the epoxy that gets soaked up will add weight. Not to mention which, cutting up a bunch of plywood strips without tearout on the sides might be a pain.

The 3/4" x 1/4" cedar strips are light, easy to work with, and proven. The Gudgeon Brothers book on epoxy says that a panel made of cedar strips and coated, each side, with 6oz fiberglass and epoxy as the same strength and weight as the equivalent naked sheet of marine plywood. So if you make your roof out of plywood strips that are then fiberglassed it'll be noticeably heavier than if the core were cedar or if you were simply using painted plywood.

Depending on the roof design, you might consider a mix of flat (or gently bent) plywood panels combined with cedar strips for the tight curves. Could make for a visually interesting design.

Thanks, guys! Much to think about, so we'll see what I can come up with!

���I saw a pickup truck bed cover laminated from cedar strips and fiberglass. It was beautiful.

���I saw a pickup truck bed cover laminated from cedar strips and fiberglass. It was beautiful.

Not long ago I had a Northstar pop up truck camper. The first thing it did is strip out the pinion gear on the lift mechanism.  That thing was REAL heavy.  Five hundred dollars later (parts) it was fixed. Till the next thing.  The roof structure was 3/4" wood  box with a 1/4 to 3/8" plywood flat top covered by a prefinished tectured  aluminum sheet......think siding thickness. 

In this case you would want to replace the "box" and the top with the revised strip planking. Remember that the sides, and end would have to be thicker than the top. The top must support any installation,  roof top racks, vents, fans, interior lights,  and AC units installed up there. 

The key in RV renovation is that when you start the work always increases,  time increases and budget is blown. The question is are you willing to make that commitment? 

   ..................so just that I am clear. If you just attempt to add wood to the top. It will likely become too heavy for the lift structure. 

Well, contrary to what kind of work is normally done here, I don't think you are trying to create a work of art. 

So maybe you would consider this:

https://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=1592

End grain balsa with fiberglass skins. I don't see prices listed, but when I last bought some a dozen or so year ago a half inch 4X8 panel was $200. But it saves so much work. They said as strong as plywood and half the weight. It will allow a slight curve, but not a compound curve. I had to join two panels edge to edge, not difficult with fiberglass.

 It used to be called Decolite, but a search for that doesn't produce much. You might find something under Baltek.

Or this, but I've never used or even seen it:

https://www.boatoutfitters.com/coosa-composites-board

Both products would require drill-fill-drill for fasteners

Camper and boat built by a friend of mine   

   Hey, all! Thanks for all the great ideas and direction. I like to respond to people as quick as possible, but I don't get notifications on replies in this forum. Thanks for the links, too!!!

Dan, that looks pretty cool. I might try to look into doing something like that for the sides.