2020 Ram 5500 DIY Composite Panel Camper Build Thread

Victorian

Approved Vendor : Total Composites
Departure angles can be useful when going down technical trails. Most people won't...
Therefore a departure angle is mostly chosen because of the aesthetics. It looks cool and "off roadisch" . We had one on our Sprinter for the reason to get another 12" of length without making the box look to too boxy. In retrospect I have to say that I hated that feature! We lost too much storage space. The angle also made it nearly impossible to keep the goods organized as nothing really stayed "up" on the slant. Everything ended up jammed at the bottom. That brought us to our current Transit camper without departure angle. Huge difference!
 

tmacc

Member
Just out of curiosity, what are the dimensions of the camper box? What do the panels themselves weight? And finally, how high is the sub-frame from the ground?
This is a great build thread.
 

RAM5500 CAMPERTHING

OG Portal Member #183
Ok. Big Day!

Finally got the big girl (yes I assumed my
campers gender) home.

Stopped at the CAT weigh scale on the way home.

Heres all the stats everyone keeps PMing me about.

Y’all a bunch of Impatient school children, for real. ?????

10ft Total Composites Cab Over Kit

-Final Total Cost: $19,800 including Arctic tern euro door, shipping to San Diego, tariffs, and additional adhesive needed. Still cheaper than my very disappointing FWC and night and day better quality.

-Delivery time: 12 weeks, almost to the day from day of wire transfer to delivery

-Weight of assembled box: 2320lbs (AC unit is 96lbs and front wall has steel like the back wall, I’d guess that’s about 100lbs). So same box without AC or steel in wall would be 2100lbs +/-

-inside floor dimensions 114”L x 86”W

-bed is standard queen

-total height from ground to top of AC unit is 11’5”

-total length from front winch hook to back tow hitch is 23’7”

total width of outside of box is 90”

Goal was under 24ft in length and under 12ft height, boom, mission accomplished

One thing I was trying to keep track of with the wheelbase and where the camper was mounted was weight distribution. Super happy with today’s weighing.

I done did good this time, and I still have 6500lbs of payload buffer for beer, whiskey and hot pockets:

Attention will be paid to loading of said beer, whiskey and hot pockets to try to keep the weight distribution as even as possible

EE1DBB5F-7AAE-4718-999B-9295F94EF545.jpeg
 
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RAM5500 CAMPERTHING

OG Portal Member #183
That surely isn't the TC box alone? Or did you spec heavy duty skins?

10ft Cab Over TC box Alone, standard skins = 2100lbs

Was 2300lbs. I subtracted 200lbs for the AC and metal in front wall I had added.

Weight on my way to friends shop to build the box, and weight today once it was done:

227419CD-BDDB-4E9B-AC5E-B4537C8AC223.jpeg853ADB5B-F8B2-4D45-96A5-902BA9A6BE0C.jpeg
 

McCarthy

Is it riding season yet?
Any pictures? Also do you have a more in depth review of your FWC? Curious what you didn't like.
 

180out

Well-known member
just installed a new fridge in mine. went with the vitrifrigo DP 2600. bought it from your neck of the woods at southern California marine enterprises. great people. real nice unit. sips on the 12 vdc and switches back in forth from a/c to d/c real nice. took it out this past weekend ice stayed hard the whole time and the beer was perfect temp. oh yeah the food was good to. fought with the old unit every day from the time i got it. it was 8 years old but i only had it for two so i dont know what its past was like. any how nice job on build.
 

RAM5500 CAMPERTHING

OG Portal Member #183
just installed a new fridge in mine. went with the vitrifrigo DP 2600. bought it from your neck of the woods at southern California marine enterprises. great people. real nice unit. sips on the 12 vdc and switches back in forth from a/c to d/c real nice. took it out this past weekend ice stayed hard the whole time and the beer was perfect temp. oh yeah the food was good to. fought with the old unit every day from the time i got it. it was 8 years old but i only had it for two so i dont know what its past was like. any how nice job on build.

Nice! Those Vitrifrigos are darn nice. Couple friends have them and love them.

I’m going with the ARB ZERO 101 top load style and it will also double as counter top space. I ordered it last week. Still waiting

Fridge and mattress are my 2 main priorities to get out there and camp. The rest can wait

thanks
 
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RAM5500 CAMPERTHING

OG Portal Member #183
That escalated quickly...

Kept going back and forth with flooring, and what kind, am i going to do it all at once and just cut out as i build, or build on top of it, etc...

A ridiculous amount of #Vanlife, SchoolBus converting nerds and Home DIY folks on YouTube absolutely rave about the peel and stick vinyl TrafficMaster planks from Home Depot.

The reviews on both the Home Depot site and Amazon are pretty convincing so i figured i would try them out since they were cheap and if i didnt like it, not a big loss.

Got 2 boxes for a whopping total of $70. Cleaned and prepped the entire floor with denatured alcohol ran a centerline down it and away i went.

Took me about 2 hours. Stuff is amazingly easy to work with and get perfect and secure. My first time messing with flooring at all and i am super happy with how it all came out and it looks seemless.

I left about 1/8" gap to the edge of the extrusions all around for possible expanding/contraction in weather.

According to the intrawebs, its the cats meow for abusive use. Will see..

It is easy to cut and remove (did some testing in garage) so i can cut and remove in areas i install the heater, shower, etc... At a later date.

Tools need: Razor Knife, Long Straight Edge

Here is a link to the color and such i used: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Traffic...k-Vinyl-Plank-36-sq-ft-case-HP3197A/300827568

floor1_FORUM.jpg

floor2_FORUM.jpg

floor3_FORUMJ.jpg
 
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