Wedge Style GFC Camper build with all wood frame

[lacofdfireman]

Just getting ready to build a GFC style wedge camper to go on top of my 24 GMC 2500. I’m hoping before I get started to get some ideas from some of you on here about ways to keep it light but strong. I’m thinking of 2x2 construction glued and pocket holed screwed. Not sure if i’d be better just buying 2x4’s and cutting them down to 2x2’s or just buying 2x2’s. Sometime‘s it’s hard to find straight 2x2’s. Or do you think I should go smaller dimension lumber and if so what type of lumber? For the exterior I may sheet it in 1/4” plywood and glue screw it all to the frame for strength then use 3mm ACM as the exterior skin held on by trim. That how I built my last Off-road Squaredrop trailer and it worked well. But it was way heavier than I wanted. Also planning on all square sides as I prefer that look and no side swing up doors as my truck bed is very high and I won’t be reaching anything in there anyways. I may however put in windows for ventilation On the sides..


I will keep my tailgate on as it has a built in step for getting into the truck that is pretty nice and most likely just secure the camper down to the bed rails with camper clamps. But will consider drilling through the top of my bed rails if necessary If needed to make it more secure.

I have a tendency to overbuild when I build so hoping some of you can help me with ideas to keep it light and strong. Also being 6’5 I’m planning on doing a full queen size bed up top with a total length of 10 ft for the total roof length. I’m planning on about 7’6“ for the bed length from front to back. Gives me some room for my size 14 feet to fit under the lower wedge area.

This will be my first Camper build but I’ve built 3 Off Road Squaredrop trailers that I have documented the builds threads on this site. But like I said I always tend to overbuild when I build. I need to learn how to keep it light and strong.
Any tips appreciated before si get this started. I’ll document this build also.
Pic of my last squaredrop build.

 

[dstefan]

Never built a camper, but I’m a long time woodworker, so strictly opinion here based on woodworking background:

Since you’ve built several rigs with wood, you likely know it’s the structure that provides a lot of the strength. That said, soft woods are never the best for strength/longevity and especially screw holding. Personally, if I was doing this, I’d use 1 1/2 x 1 1/2” that I ripped down from good grade boards. Poplar is a relatively light hardwood, sort of between typical pine/white woods and really dense hardwoods in density. It’s usually very straight and pretty strong with good resistance to tear out and splitting . It’s used a lot for cabinet structures, etc. It’s a good in-between solution and pretty easy to work vs things like oak.

To the structure and making lightweight point, a lot of the shear strength will come from the skin. Also, I noticed in your second image that you had no visible diagonal bracing in your frame. Incorporating some can go a long way to more strength to weight ratio and reduce the amount of wood frame in large flat walls and when you’re making the box headers.

Are you doing an extended cab-over? That’s going to take more support and structure than what you’ve built in the trailers, and maybe reinforce with some aluminum or steel braces?

Good luck with the build, and show us how it’s going!

Edit: Here’s a wood frame pop-up build in case you missed it: https://forum.expeditionportal.com/threads/home-built-pop-up.234830/page-3#post-3226899