1 Bored Clerk's DIY Camper

[1 Bored Clerk]

Looks great, thanks for the detailed write up!

Any reasoning behind the order of the lights with the turn signal outside the break light?

No problem! I assume the lights are the way they are because turn signals have been on the outside edge on cars forever. But, no, I didn't have any personal reasoning...they just came that way. Haha.


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[rruff]

What tail lights are you using?

Is the Ute rigidly attached to the frame?

I think we will end up with fairly similar campers. I'm attaching mine directly to the frame (with poly cab mounts), and building the foam-fiberglass panels myself. It won't be fancy inside and the exterior will be "rough", but it should be light and hopefully functional. Which reminds me, I need to start posting in my build thread...

I see you bought some Carbon Core panels. Is your current plan to build the whole box out of those?

 

[1 Bored Clerk]

What tail lights are you using?

Is the Ute rigidly attached to the frame?

I think we will end up with fairly similar campers. I'm attaching mine directly to the frame (with poly cab mounts), and building the foam-fiberglass panels myself. It won't be fancy inside and the exterior will be "rough", but it should be light and hopefully functional. Which reminds me, I need to start posting in my build thread...

I see you bought some Carbon Core panels. Is your current plan to build the whole box out of those?

The taillights came with the UTE bed. They are Trucklite brand.

The UTE bed is bolted straight to the frame like a regular truck bed. No rubber mounts. I'll have rubber isolation mounts between the camper and the bed. I'm still working out which ones. It's a little hard to figure out which mounts to use because of all of the unknowns: how much does the truck frame actually twist (when fully loaded), how much will the camper box flex or not flex, how much stress can the camper box take? If you're using cab mounts, I would use OEM cab mounts. Poly mounts are likely stiffer and way more prone to squeaking.

I got the carbon core panels because it wasn't worth the time and effort to make them myself with foam. It didn't pencil out for me...that was a part of the process that I was happy to throw money at to fix. Wasn't really that expensive when you look at epoxy, glass, foam and, most importantly, time and effort. That being said, I got a few panels with a high amount of blemishes. Carbon core admitted they shouldn't have left the factory like that but were unwilling to give a refund (not even partial for the extra work I'll have to do to clean them up) or replace the panels. I also ordered them sanded on both sides to make my work easier. They showed up non-sanded and carbon core said "oh yeah, we actually don't sand large panels". That sucks so I told them I would like that amount refunded to me and they said 'well, we actually forgot to charge you for that so there isn't anything to refund'. Hmmm...yeah, okay. They don't give you itemized pricing for the panels and the sanding...you tell them what you want and they give you a full quote. So, I wouldn't order from them again because I didn't like the general two-step, song and dance around the issues I had. It all felt very shady. With my precious camper design, the 10' panels would make the sides one solid run. With the new design, I could have used standard 8' panels and saved myself some money and likely got them sanded. Maybe carbon core is better with their standard panels and can't really reliably do the custom lengths they like to think they can.

And, to actually answer your question, the walls and ceiling will be built from those panels but the floor will be marine grade plywood. Mostly because I didn't order enough panels to do the floor; my precious camper design wasn't going to use those panels for a floor.


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[rruff]

Thanks for the info.

Our trucks have flexy frames, but not as flexy as the bigger HD trucks. I'm banking on some body/cab mounts doing the trick. I didn't want a pivoting mount. I solid mounted a similar camper to a '84 Toyota, and it was fine, but that truck had a torsionally stiffer frame than the new ones. Sure, it's an unknown. But we can drive ourselves crazy worrying about stuff.

Regarding the mount material, the rubber ones I've seen seem to not use inner sleeves which I don't like. But I need to think about this some more. Really need to get the bed off so I can take good measurements and get the mounts sorted.

I considered Carbon Core, but I got some sample pieces with plywood skins not bonded properly, and some forum members had the same issue. FG skins are probably ok in that respect. I decided to make my own panels because I wanted a curved front and top and numerous hard points, and what the hell... I just wanted to try making my own. It'll be well insulated too, with 2" thick XPS. So far I only have the floor/base panel done. I used a layer of 1808 and 1700 biax on that, but the rest will use a double layer of 1700 on the outside and 1700+6oz on the inside.

Have you seen the Super Camper writeup? http://thesupercamper.blogspot.com/

 

[1 Bored Clerk]

Thanks for the info.

Our trucks have flexy frames, but not as flexy as the bigger HD trucks. I'm banking on some body/cab mounts doing the trick. I didn't want a pivoting mount. I solid mounted a similar camper to a '84 Toyota, and it was fine, but that truck had a torsionally stiffer frame than the new ones. Sure, it's an unknown. But we can drive ourselves crazy worrying about stuff.

Regarding the mount material, the rubber ones I've seen seem to not use inner sleeves which I don't like. But I need to think about this some more. Really need to get the bed off so I can take good measurements and get the mounts sorted.

I considered Carbon Core, but I got some sample pieces with plywood skins not bonded properly, and some forum members had the same issue. FG skins are probably ok in that respect. I decided to make my own panels because I wanted a curved front and top and numerous hard points, and what the hell... I just wanted to try making my own. It'll be well insulated too, with 2" thick XPS. So far I only have the floor/base panel done. I used a layer of 1808 and 1700 biax on that, but the rest will use a double layer of 1700 on the outside and 1700+6oz on the inside.

Have you seen the Super Camper writeup? http://thesupercamper.blogspot.com/

I've seen the super camper. It's pretty cool and has some helpful info.

OEM rubber cab mounts for a Toyota Tacoma have steel sleeves. I would bet pretty much all cab mounts would have a steel sleeve with big washers on each end to make sure they're fail safe. I have four new OEM body mounts sitting on my bench. I'm not sure if I'm going to use them on this build...still figuring it out.

I hear people complain about how flexy our frames are and I chuckle. Apparently, they've never driven a late 80's full size Ford! Im going to try to get some measurements on my flex once I get my rear bumper on and go from there. I imagine it'll be relatively small.

Good luck on your build! I'll have to follow along if you have a build thread.


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[1 Bored Clerk]

Here's an updated photo:

With bedsides and 550lbs of fence building fun in the back. I may have to add airbags and daystar cradles or an uprated spring pack when the camper is on and loaded. We'll see. Loving the flatbed so far!

Here's a good photo that shows how much more floor space you get with a UTE flatbed. The rubber mat is from Toyota for the standard 6' Tacoma bed.


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[1 Bored Clerk]

Will be building the floor of the new camper next week. Need to pick up some marine grade plywood first. I'll be back on this very soon! Working on knocking out my new rear bumper this week so it doesn't take space/time while I'm working on the camper.


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[rruff]

What is your current concept since you got the Ute?

 

[1 Bored Clerk]

What is your current concept since you got the Ute?

It'll be a simple box on top of the flatbed. There will be a few cool things that go on with it but I can best show that with an image or in real life.


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[Silverado08]

Will be building the floor of the new camper next week. Need to pick up some marine grade plywood first. I'll be back on this very soon! Working on knocking out my new rear bumper this week so it doesn't take space/time while I'm working on the camper.


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Fwiw Ive heard someplace that marine plywood doesnt accept epoxy coating very well as its very oily..not sure if thats true though..
I use exterior plywood everywhere even inside just in case of a water leak..even uncoated will not deteriorate or rot for a long time..

 

[txnavychief]

If you plan to build a box on bed will you still do the Hanover which rounds the nose to reduce wind resistance?

 

[1 Bored Clerk]

Fwiw Ive heard someplace that marine plywood doesnt accept epoxy coating very well as its very oily..not sure if thats true though..
I use exterior plywood everywhere even inside just in case of a water leak..even uncoated will not deteriorate or rot for a long time..

I didn't see that on my last camper base. Though, I did have to coat the plywood in epoxy then let set until it got quite tacky, then add another coat, then glass over that. If I didn't do that first coat, the epoxy would soak into the wood and glass and wouldn't bond. Once I got that figured out, it seemed like a good bond to me. I was recommended by several people to se only marine grade plywood. But, whatever has worked for any individual, that individual should keep doing! Thanks for the input. I'm always happy to collect more knowledge.


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[1 Bored Clerk]

If you plan to build a box on bed will you still do the Hanover which rounds the nose to reduce wind resistance?

Im not planning to do a cab over. I'll be adding a rack to the front of the camper. So, it'll be like a cab over skeleton. The wind resistance is likely to be considerable because the sides go straight up from the widest part of the truck and the top will be about 12" above the headache rack. Because of how I want to build the camper, I can't radius any of the front corners more than about 3/8". I may put some skins on the cabover section to help wind but I've got time to decide on that. I could even do a full enclosed cabover...it's not too late until the cutting starts!


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[changingground]

Do you mind, why did you go with Ute instead of one of the other US based aluminum flatbed manufacturers, and do you have a ballpark cost, shipping included to your PACNw area.?

 

[1 Bored Clerk]

Other quotes I got for flat beds were way more expensive...like double. Most were sort of a custom deal as they really only deal with full-size trucks. Not a huge market for midsize truck flatbeds. Especially ones that cost $6k. My flatbed was $2495 and I picked it up in Seattle. There is a distributor there. They were 'on sale' at the time and I got another 5% for paying in full before the flatbed arrived in the states. I got lucky though. The flatbed was already in transit and was due in the week after I asked about it. The fuel fill is kind of lame on these beds though. Unless the bed is much higher, I imagine most flatbed fuel fillers would probably be like mine. You rotate the factory filler forward and it ends up at a pretty low angle facing forward. You end up filling between the cab and the bed. It fits and it works fine except you can't leave the pump handle in...you have to hold it in. Minor inconvenience but it's still an inconvenience. I haven't filled it in Oregon yet (mandatory for the attendant to pump your fuel). They let you pump your own fuel on motorcycles and most will let you pump your own fuel if you have a special/rare/really expensive car. So, I think they may let me do my own fuel because it's a PITA for them.


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