TrailTestedMFG
Active member
Welcome to the documentation of our build!
Intro:
My wife Courtney and I have decided to make the move towards full time adventure. We currently live in a self built shipping container house:
To anyone considering tiny living I say go for it and never look back. Simplify your life and focus on what matters to you! Living tiny has helped us realign our life goals, expectations, and ambitions to focus on what is important to us. We plan to spend the next year or so traveling the US, snow skiing, mountain biking, and off road exploring. We would love to hear about your favorite trail or Overland destination so we can add it to our route!
The build:
The truck is a 2015 Ram 3500 CCSB 6.7 CTD.
Last summer I was shopping for a Lance 825 when a perfect combo came up for sale. Here is what it looked like when we bought it:
Sadly, that is not my picture. That was an adventure that the previous owner got to enjoy. A business decision forced the sale of the camper shortly after purchasing to help fund the remodel of an investment property. However, I felt like the overall size of the 825 was ideal for our needs many design decisions have been based off this camper.
So what's the plan?
We're building a permanently mounted hard side truck camper using lots of aluminum, foam, glue, and plywood! The basic build plan is to create an aluminum exo-skeleton and fill in with composite panels (major inspiration credit goes to the Everlanders). The goal is the build an expedition camper capable of supporting full time life for two (plus our dogs). We approached many many different build techniques. Ultimately it came down to: What can we build with the tools and materials available to us, in a time efficient way, so we can get this show on the road!?
Here is a rendering of what we plan to create:
Step 1 is to remove the bed and start laying out the sub frame. This is 2x2x.125 6061 Aluminum.
After tacking the sub frame I clamped it up as best I could to avoid warping and welded it out. I planned on TIG welding but my first attempt was awful. I discovered a mouse had chewed the liner on the lead and I wasn't getting any shielding gas at the weld. Rats! A new lead is on the way, until then I'm using my spool gun and having really good results!
This project is going to require lots of sheet metal bending. So when I discovered an 8' brake for sale locally I jumped on it. However, I have no place to put it. So for now it lives on my trailer.
Here I am using our 4x8 Arclight Dynamics CNC plasma table to cut out some of the first parts for the body.
We vacation rent our house out (part of the whole tiny living thing) which restricts access to the garage/shop sometimes. I decided to relocate to another spot on the property and keep making progress. The weather has been beautiful and working outside has been pleasant. Wheel well liners and the lower parts of the exo-frame are tacked together.
The structure is starting to come together. These parts are .080 5052 Aluminum. Just a few tack welds and this thing is starting to really stiffen up.
In between all this we've been gluing up our composite panels. We try to build one per day to let them cure for at least 24 hours. The construction is 0.050" 5052 aluminum laminated to 1" Foamular 150, laminated to 1/4" UV coated birch plywood. The aluminum goes on the outside, the plywood on the inside. For glue we are using Loctite PL Premium polyurethane. The key is to mist it with water to promote proper cure. When I supported our 2'x2' test sample on the ends and jumped on the middle there was no noticeable deflection. In order to make the panel fail I had to mechanically separate it with a pry bar. The foam failed, the glue bond did not. I know there are lots of much cooler composite panels out there but I think these will serve their purpose very well and we are able to make them ourselves with the tools we have and the materials readily available to us (still had to drive 3 hours to get the foam!).
If you want to see more, check out our first YouTube episode. Please give us a thumbs up or comment and subscribe, it will help us out!
Intro:
My wife Courtney and I have decided to make the move towards full time adventure. We currently live in a self built shipping container house:
To anyone considering tiny living I say go for it and never look back. Simplify your life and focus on what matters to you! Living tiny has helped us realign our life goals, expectations, and ambitions to focus on what is important to us. We plan to spend the next year or so traveling the US, snow skiing, mountain biking, and off road exploring. We would love to hear about your favorite trail or Overland destination so we can add it to our route!
The build:
The truck is a 2015 Ram 3500 CCSB 6.7 CTD.
Last summer I was shopping for a Lance 825 when a perfect combo came up for sale. Here is what it looked like when we bought it:
Sadly, that is not my picture. That was an adventure that the previous owner got to enjoy. A business decision forced the sale of the camper shortly after purchasing to help fund the remodel of an investment property. However, I felt like the overall size of the 825 was ideal for our needs many design decisions have been based off this camper.
So what's the plan?
We're building a permanently mounted hard side truck camper using lots of aluminum, foam, glue, and plywood! The basic build plan is to create an aluminum exo-skeleton and fill in with composite panels (major inspiration credit goes to the Everlanders). The goal is the build an expedition camper capable of supporting full time life for two (plus our dogs). We approached many many different build techniques. Ultimately it came down to: What can we build with the tools and materials available to us, in a time efficient way, so we can get this show on the road!?
Here is a rendering of what we plan to create:
Step 1 is to remove the bed and start laying out the sub frame. This is 2x2x.125 6061 Aluminum.
After tacking the sub frame I clamped it up as best I could to avoid warping and welded it out. I planned on TIG welding but my first attempt was awful. I discovered a mouse had chewed the liner on the lead and I wasn't getting any shielding gas at the weld. Rats! A new lead is on the way, until then I'm using my spool gun and having really good results!
This project is going to require lots of sheet metal bending. So when I discovered an 8' brake for sale locally I jumped on it. However, I have no place to put it. So for now it lives on my trailer.
Here I am using our 4x8 Arclight Dynamics CNC plasma table to cut out some of the first parts for the body.
We vacation rent our house out (part of the whole tiny living thing) which restricts access to the garage/shop sometimes. I decided to relocate to another spot on the property and keep making progress. The weather has been beautiful and working outside has been pleasant. Wheel well liners and the lower parts of the exo-frame are tacked together.
The structure is starting to come together. These parts are .080 5052 Aluminum. Just a few tack welds and this thing is starting to really stiffen up.
In between all this we've been gluing up our composite panels. We try to build one per day to let them cure for at least 24 hours. The construction is 0.050" 5052 aluminum laminated to 1" Foamular 150, laminated to 1/4" UV coated birch plywood. The aluminum goes on the outside, the plywood on the inside. For glue we are using Loctite PL Premium polyurethane. The key is to mist it with water to promote proper cure. When I supported our 2'x2' test sample on the ends and jumped on the middle there was no noticeable deflection. In order to make the panel fail I had to mechanically separate it with a pry bar. The foam failed, the glue bond did not. I know there are lots of much cooler composite panels out there but I think these will serve their purpose very well and we are able to make them ourselves with the tools we have and the materials readily available to us (still had to drive 3 hours to get the foam!).
If you want to see more, check out our first YouTube episode. Please give us a thumbs up or comment and subscribe, it will help us out!
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