Thinking about fabricating custom aluminum telescoping camper box...

[peneumbra]

:sombrero:Well, my welder would build it, not me. Would mount on my 1.5 ton Chev 3500 HD 4x4 with 10 foot flatbed.

The box, as I envision it, would be like an Alaskan non-cabover, made out of diamond plate aluminum, with all the internal trimmings. total length about 9'6", and 8' width.

I'd use the best windows I could get, mount an A/C on top with APU in a box under the bed, maybe 40 gallons water, etc etc.

More to come...:sombrero:

 

[Haf-E]

8 foot wide seems pretty wide.

 

[thisoldcamper]

How about one similar to those built by Airstream for their world tour?(1 of 2)

 

[adam88]

:sombrero:Well, my welder would build it, not me. Would mount on my 1.5 ton Chev 3500 HD 4x4 with 10 foot flatbed.

The box, as I envision it, would be like an Alaskan non-cabover, made out of diamond plate aluminum, with all the internal trimmings. total length about 9'6", and 8' width.

I'd use the best windows I could get, mount an A/C on top with APU in a box under the bed, maybe 40 gallons water, etc etc.

More to come...:sombrero:

Seems not too difficult to do. The only questions I would have would be:

1) What will you use to lift it?
2) How would you build the door (two piece like Alaskan?)
3) How would the windows work, if on the outside part, without interfering with the inside slide? Would need special windows or have them mounted outwards a bit

I also agree 8 foot wide is too wide. Even with thick walls it could be done for 90" wide (7.5') and still have 80" of width inside easily (to fit queen size bed).
Your welder should be a very good fabricator too because making the 2 piece doors is not easy. Even Alaskan, I believe after all these years, still hasn't totally 100% perfected it and there's small cracks here and there. It's very tough to get a 2 piece door like that to seal properly. Marc at XP camper had a lot of trouble and I heard a lot of the same complaints from some owners about leaks, dust/mosquitos coming in, etc. Those are production campers, not "one-off" builds too. So keep that in mind and what your standards are. A small 1 piece door would be much easier to do. It would only be 42-48" tall (like a four wheel camper) but would save you a lot of trouble and you could have a screen door. Also, it would be safer since the unit could not be accessed unless popped up (good for when parked in dangerous areas like Mexico or South America or Atlanta... and you can store all your crap in the back pop up, lower it, and not worry about it being stolen.)

 

[peneumbra]

The only part of the box that would be 8 feet would be the side-opening compartments (hinges along bottom).
And the whole thing might be mounted on the same sort of air bags that after-market Class 8 sleeper builders use to reduce vibration transmitted from frame to sleeper.

I want to use an electric mechanism to raise/lower the telescoping section, with a hand-operated backup.

 

[nick disjunkt]

Is this the truck? I remember it looking pretty tough

 

[peneumbra]

Yes! That's it. I want to set this up so that I can simply (hah!) back under the telescoping aluminum camper, set it on the bed, tighten the esoteric locking devices, hook up the quick-couple water/electric/propane hoses, and---
Go back in the house, lie down, and spend the weekend watching television and grooming my pet badgers. CAMPING IS HARD WORK!!!

 

[pappawheely]

 

[Freebird]

Generally the exterior is light weight sheet aluminum on various types of campers, including Airstreams. Anything in diamond plate I have ever seen is heavier gauge than I would want for a skin......
But hey, keep us posted on your dream, soon to be project.

 

[peneumbra]

Even with the diamond-plate stuff, I think I'd be way under gross (15K). But who knows - maybe I'll build the whole thing out of pocket lint...

 

[35xj]

Check out chris at joint offroad. He has built a really slick pop up

 

[wyocoyote]

Keep me posted, I have an Alaskan on a 8-6 wide flatbed that suits my needs, but have also thought about a diamond plate aluminum pop-up. Ideally for me the roof would be walkable.....and one could travel with the top up or down. I love my Alaskan and the overhead clearance it affords me in forests and the superior on/off roadability with it down esp. in high winds. I have had a FWC Grandby in the past also awesome much lighter and insulated well enough for some snow camping. I really love the real windows of the AK camper up top vs. the plastic of all other lightweight pop ups I know of. AT. Northstar, etc.