Build - Fiberglass & Foam Truck Camper

[underkill]

Your camper is super cool! Very nice job!
I really admire people like you guys who have a vision and can build it from scratch and stay motivated for continuous work!
How long was the actual build time?
Where are you guys from in Wa? I’ll be looking for this out and about!

Thanks!
The build only took 3 months from start to finish. The shell itself was actually the quickest part and only took about one month. We worked on it literally every day after work and every weekend all summer!
Yep we're from Washington! Up by Bremerton!

 

[underkill]

Now that the roof was practically done, I really needed to seriously start thinking about how I was going to sew the canvas pieces. It's one thing to say "oh yeah I'll just get some canvas and sew the edges together!" and another one entirely to have an actual plan for how to accomplish this... but that's another post entirely. I researched just enough to realize that my current sewing machine (stolen from my mom) was not going to cut it with the thick waterproof canvas. I needed something big and burly!

Since I also may eventually sew sails, that left only one option: the Sailrite!

I went with the top of the like LSZ-1. Figure I might as well get all the features for a little extra now instead of wishing I had them later! It comes with a fancy base and a test stitch panel to prove that it works.

Obligatory unboxing photo

This feels more like a lathe or something than a sewing machine. Very sturdy and high quality feeling. I love it!

Looks like she'll be up for the task of sewing my canvas!

 

[underkill]

Today I learned a valuable lesson about paint compatibility... :/

So, fun fact: just because it's in the shed and it's white, that doesn't mean that it'll play nicely with the other white paint... I wasted most of the day on this blunder. I don't mind work, but I hate rework. >:/ After pouting inside for a while, I made it back out and got the shelf under the sink installed.

The area under the shelf is going to the for the drain jug from the sink. I didn't want to deal with routing anything outside, so I'll just dump this out when it gets full! The size was completely arbitrary based on what would fit the space on Amazon. I'm actually pretty pleased with this thing!

The tank is 3.5 gallons so based on how many times we empty it we will roughly know if we need to refill the water tank! We will probably still keep our extra 7 gallon water jug in the back of the truck just in case.

We also found some rubber mat to use as a vibration damper for the battery so it doesn't move around.

Here is the final panel installed to seal off the propane locker!

Here's the locker from the outside! We will seal the seams with something to keep the gasses outside!

Also... it was Amazon Prime day... which means that I may have bought some solar panels and a controller on a whim... Instead of mounting them on the roof, we are doing a remote setup with a cable that will plug into the camper. So I got to drill another hole in the shell. Just when I thought I was done with fiberglass dust...

 

[coastalcop]

Awesome build, subbed, and frankly, a little in awe of y'alls build skills ! At first I was worried about the cab over section thinking about the lack of reinforcement (even knowing you and the XO are engineers), but just about everything ties in and distributes the stress (glassing in the dining seats, etc.). Wish I had the practical build skills for this, and also dont know how y'all get by with one car, but happy to see that you do!

 

[Leonmac]

Hello guys, good to see the progress moving on and I have to say a little shocked that it has only taken you 3 or so months to do this, that is impressive. I like the wheels on the truck, looks good. You encourage me to build my camper truck every time i check this build. I have built a car from scratch, it's a replica of an old racing car and has taken me 10 YEARS I hope to have it done by Christmas and start a camper build in the New Year. My wife has told me 1 year is all I'm aloud, she wants to use it before we die. Cheers Leon (NZ)

 

[underkill]

Awesome build, subbed, and frankly, a little in awe of y'alls build skills ! At first I was worried about the cab over section thinking about the lack of reinforcement (even knowing you and the XO are engineers), but just about everything ties in and distributes the stress (glassing in the dining seats, etc.). Wish I had the practical build skills for this, and also dont know how y'all get by with one car, but happy to see that you do!

Thanks! We definitely had quite a few drives home from work discussing all the technical details. We didn't want to overbuild it and have it be just as heavy as the ones you can buy, but some of it was based on assumptions. I've been trying to add information here as to what worked and what didn't so other people can learn from us!

The fiberglass and foam construction was actually the easiest part of the entire process. If you have a single garage bay you can build one of these things. The interior outfitting and pop up were the hard part!

 

[underkill]

Hello guys, good to see the progress moving on and I have to say a little shocked that it has only taken you 3 or so months to do this, that is impressive. I like the wheels on the truck, looks good. You encourage me to build my camper truck every time i check this build. I have built a car from scratch, it's a replica of an old racing car and has taken me 10 YEARS I hope to have it done by Christmas and start a camper build in the New Year. My wife has told me 1 year is all I'm aloud, she wants to use it before we die. Cheers Leon (NZ)

We definitely dedicated our entire summer to the project. Our original plan was to just build the shell with the mattress in it and put our tubs of camping stuff inside of it, but it kind of snowballed once we got started on it. The cabinets and seating sure is nice to have. It would have been even faster without the pop up part, but that does make it much more low profile!

 

[underkill]

Today we get to actually install the door and windows!! One step closer to making it a solid, waterproof thing!

Since most of this stuff is meant for actual campers, the thicknesses are a little wrong for what we're doing. In this case, the fan is meant for something like 3" thick and our foam is 1/2" so the fan sticks down a little bit. The fan came with a little beauty surround thing, but we never actually ended up installing it.

Now at least the roof doesn't have a large gaping hole in it!

The bigger window went in without a fuss. The little spacer we made worked perfect to take up the difference between the 3/4" window and the 1/2" foam. A little sealant and bolts and it was done!

I definitely have some lessons learned on the small window (the little boat hatch...). Mostly, it's not worth it. This thing is so tiny that it's pretty much useless for light and airflow and was pretty much a wasted hole in the fiberglass shell. Honestly, the "big" window is about the minimum I would bother with. I definitely overthought that airflow through the camper and my desire to be able to look out a window. When the roof is popped up there's a ton of light and the glass windows are so low that you can't really see out of them anyway. The big window's only real function is to be able to vent steam from the galley when cooking.

Also, the boat hatch that I bought was pretty much garbage. It functions and seals, but the huge knobs on the inside get in the way and the flange surround that came with it didn't have the same bolt pattern as the actual window piece. Amazon wasn't really any help when I brought this up so I just drilled some more holes and made it work. 0/10 would not recommend.

We bought a little vent and installed that on the door to the propane locker so if there is a leak, the gas can escape to the atmosphere. Extra safety!

It's really starting to look like something!

 

[shade]

Coming together nicely.

Since most of this stuff is meant for actual campers, the thicknesses are a little wrong for what we're doing. In this case, the fan is meant for something like 3" thick and our foam is 1/2" so the fan sticks down a little bit. The fan came with a little beauty surround thing, but we never actually ended up installing it.

Home stores often stock a variety of PVC trim that could finish that nicely.

 

[underkill]

We finished sealing up the propane locker. It will actually hold quite a few of the little propane canisters! It'll be nice to have spares, but not have to keep them inside the camper. It's also a good spot for towels and buckets and wet things.

Jason got the solar charge monitor and battery monitor installed in the faceplate of the galley. The LED light is to let us know if our ACR relay has tripped.

The battery accounts for most of the weight of the finished camper but we won't have to worry about our fridge losing charge and food getting warm!

Jason rigged up a "shore power" connection to the truck to be able to charge the battery and keep systems running while we're driving. Everything is fully waterproof and pretty darn slick. The plug on the camper goes between the cab and the truck bed and connects to a plug routed from the engine compartment.

There's some black magic going on inside this cabinet...

I was out in the garage doing something else when I get a text from Jason to come to the camper and bring a fire extinguisher...but it's fine because nothing is on fire. Um, what? I hurried over there with it just in case. It was actually time to turn on the camper electrical system for the first time! Better safe than sorry! IT WORKS!!!! (and nothing caught fire...)

 

[underkill]

Coming together nicely.

Home stores often stock a variety of PVC trim that could finish that nicely.

Good idea on the trim! I hadn't thought of that... I still have a list of little things that need finishing... I'll add that to it!

 

[underkill]

Jason worked on the wiring inside the camper for a long time... we've also learned lessons about having two engineers working on the same thing at the same time. (it's a fight to the death...) Since I didn't actually want to do the wiring, I left and began working on the spacers that we would need to install the cabinet doors onto the faceplate in the galley! It's probably sickening, but we used up all of our scrap marine plywood, so I dug around and found some mahogany to make spacers out of. yeah... legit mahogany from our old wooden boat. At least the screws aren't going to ever pull out, right?

We also needed some sort of bracket to hold the cooler in place and tie it down. Jason pointed out the old teak handrail from the boat that we replaced a while back. That's as good as anything. The extra holes in it shouldn't be a big deal.

I cut the teak into strips that will go on each end of the cooler to keep it from sliding backwards and forwards and then sanded off the old varnish.

I'd forgotten how beautiful fresh teak wood is... it's getting new varnish for sure!

I also finished the stain on the kitchen countertops! I'm finally happy with it so it's ready for gloss also!

It rained literally all day today so I spent most of my time in the garage and shed working on wood projects while Jason huddled in the camper with the wiring. Because of the rain, we couldn't get the door installed, but that's the last thing we need to make this a fully watertight complete shell!

 

[Third]

Really shaping up !

I bet it's put on a few pounds lately as well.

 

[Christian]

I just read your entire thread, very inspirational! We are planning something a lot bigger on an old Mercedes truck, and hate the conventional sandwich panel and prefab pultrusions look, it just doesn’t fit our truck. Your work makes me think that we can do better, thanks!

 

[The Artisan]

I just read your entire thread, very inspirational! We are planning something a lot bigger on an old Mercedes truck, and hate the conventional sandwich panel and prefab pultrusions look, it just doesn’t fit our truck. Your work makes me think that we can do better, thanks!

Put your exo cage on the inside and cover with trim. Outside can be seamless but you now have a perimeter structure.
Another good reason to have the exterior cage though is to protect the sips corners
Kevin