IHDiesel73L
Adventurer
So one of the reasons that I came to ExPo in the first place was my (and my family's) desire to roam. I'll be selling my regular cab F-350 in order to trade up to a crew cab when the time is right so that I can make room for the one on the way and the few more that will likely follow. The main thing that fueled my wanderlust in the beginning was, well, free fuel-in the form of vegetable oil that is. As has been discussed in various threads before I run my truck on vegetable oil and have been doing so for nearly three years and 100K miles now. I've been to the Allegheny Mountains, Downeast Maine, and many points in between with very little fuel cost. My wife and I want to gear up to take the little ones to see a lot of this great country and free fuel is crucial to that. The other crucial part is a place to sleep. Running on vegetable oil and camping in the truck will save us quite a bit of money over buying hundreds of gallons of diesel fuel and paying for a campground or a motel. Unfortunately, these two things (truck campers and auxiliary fuel tanks) don't play well together. Every camper I've found requires and empty bed, and there are no options (besides custom built) for an underbody vegetable oil fuel tank that I know of. I could probably have one fabricated for around $1000, but I have a perfectly good 60 gallon tank right now. Besides, I find that many of the campers I see have features that I don't see us wanting or needing. I'll run through my desired list of specifications:
-"Bumpout" for 19" H x 20" D fuel tank
-One queen and three single beds
-Air conditioning
-Toilet one of these would work
-"Stuff" storage
-Water storage
-Detachable awning, tarp, etc...
We are summer campers because my wife is a teacher so we can only take time to travel between late June and early September anyway. Even up in northern Maine we've done just fine with heavy sleeping bags at night. I don't see the need for any kind of kitchen really-we can cook outside over the fire or a campstove-if it rains we could put the awning up. As for showers I was thinking of permanently mounting a portable shower system like this one in some kind of locker on the exterior-that way you could simply open the door, turn on the shower, and go to it! Of course I'd have to come up with some kind of curtain too. Basically though, as long as we had a place to sleep, the ability to use the toilet and shower, and store our stuff, we'd have all of our needs met. Of course there would be lighting to wire for, some plumbing to be done, etc...but I think that could all be addressed with some creativity.
My first question is the shell. I see that some manufacturers use wood and some use aluminum. I don't have access to a welder that can handle aluminum, nor do I have the skill required, so I would go with wood. The frame is one thing-what about the skin? What is typically used for aluminum sided campers? Just aluminum siding attached directly to framing members or is there some type of sheathing involved? My concern is that while I could certainly build something that would be strong enough, it would likely be much too heavy. Also, could someone direct to a catalog or place on the net where you can buy specialty items like windows, jacks, 12V electrical supplies, etc...? I'm still very early in the planning stages on this and likely won't even start for quite a while, but I figure now is the time to do the research.
-"Bumpout" for 19" H x 20" D fuel tank
-One queen and three single beds
-Air conditioning
-Toilet one of these would work
-"Stuff" storage
-Water storage
-Detachable awning, tarp, etc...
We are summer campers because my wife is a teacher so we can only take time to travel between late June and early September anyway. Even up in northern Maine we've done just fine with heavy sleeping bags at night. I don't see the need for any kind of kitchen really-we can cook outside over the fire or a campstove-if it rains we could put the awning up. As for showers I was thinking of permanently mounting a portable shower system like this one in some kind of locker on the exterior-that way you could simply open the door, turn on the shower, and go to it! Of course I'd have to come up with some kind of curtain too. Basically though, as long as we had a place to sleep, the ability to use the toilet and shower, and store our stuff, we'd have all of our needs met. Of course there would be lighting to wire for, some plumbing to be done, etc...but I think that could all be addressed with some creativity.
My first question is the shell. I see that some manufacturers use wood and some use aluminum. I don't have access to a welder that can handle aluminum, nor do I have the skill required, so I would go with wood. The frame is one thing-what about the skin? What is typically used for aluminum sided campers? Just aluminum siding attached directly to framing members or is there some type of sheathing involved? My concern is that while I could certainly build something that would be strong enough, it would likely be much too heavy. Also, could someone direct to a catalog or place on the net where you can buy specialty items like windows, jacks, 12V electrical supplies, etc...? I'm still very early in the planning stages on this and likely won't even start for quite a while, but I figure now is the time to do the research.
). However keep in mind this is for the completed part (well aside from primer/paint costs), you shape the foam which is cheaper to the sizes you need and then glass them which cuts down on waste verse buying standard sizes. I'm also speaking in regards to a frameless design but one could always affixed a panel like this to a frame if they so desired.