ITTOG's Truck Camper Build (was 6' x 12' Trailer Conversion)

[ITTOG]

6' x 12' Trailer Conversion

I thought by now I would be dismantling my trailer to customize it some. Unfortunately my surgeries have me unable to lift heavy weight still. Thus, only one small change that I completed last November. My vent, which was only about a year old cracked so I bought a new vent for it. When taking the old vent out they had made the cutout in the roof too big by about 1". So I had to correct it. Right hand side. Notice you can see the screw hole.


After reframing the hole and inserting the MaxxFan.


I then put in two larger LED lights.


After that it was time to hit the road. It rained about 2" overnight. Two people slept in the trailer. With the vent open and the fan on there was absolutely no condensation inside. The fan worked great.

 

[ITTOG]

Unfortunately it looks like I need to sell the trailer. If anyone is interested in it let me know and we can work a deal. It is located in the Houston area and I will sell for $3,500. I have over $5,500 in it with the insulation, scissor stairs, maxfan, etc. I may get a sell post up soon.

 

[ITTOG]

After four 1000 mile trips I wasn't enjoying towing the trailer with my F150 3.5L ecoboost. I didn't like getting 8 mpg and while the truck had plenty of power towing it, I just felt like the turbo's were always spooled up. I couldn't imagine towing in the Rocky Mountains because it would have been much worse. So when my cowardly neighbor turned me in for having a trailer in the back yard, which was completely hidden from the street, I decided it was timed to make a change. This was all I needed to push me off the fence and helped me decide to sell the trailer. Given that, I needed a new solution for my camping. I was thinking about a utility trailer that I would modify so that when I was at camp, I could quickly assemble a box to camp in. Given it is a flatbed trailer I am not too worried about towing it because it doesn't have all the wind resistance of the cargo trailer. I would use it to haul my ATV as well since it won't fit in the bed of the truck. Since it is low, I could put it in the back yard and get away with it. But then I saw a post by @Ripcord_ about building your own truck camper which is based on the Go Fast Campers. That got the mind racing and I begin to write down requirements and then transition to drawing it out.

Requirements
1. Low profile to reduce wind drag.
2. Prefer a door over a tailgate and rear dropdown panel.
3. Must be able to stand up fully in the bed of the truck. Easy for me since I am only 5' 6".
4. Be able to store propane on the outside, rear of the camper.
5. Be able to build minimum requirements to sleep now and slowly build the rest as I feel like it.
6. Prefer hard sided pop top over tent.
7. Prefer space in bed of truck for almost 6' tall son to sleep. This is a difficult one because my truck bed is only 5' 6".
8. Be modular. What I mean by this is it will allow me to easily add and remove different components based on the trip I am taking. Thus, I can build things like a sink, bench, dressers, etc and easily use or not use them.

Based on Ripcord's post and the requirements above, I came up with this design.



I haven't spent as much time yet on different arrangements for the bed but this is one idea.


Some of the notes are just thoughts but you should have a clear idea of what I am thinking. I would love to get your thoughts, both good and bad.

Most importantly, I hope I will actually be able to build this. I didn't get to do much to the trailer. But I have ordered the metal to build the frame. I hope to pick it up Monday.

 

[ITTOG]

I decided to build a scale model to help me visualize the build. The main concern/questions is with the front of the camper. As you can see my vertical posts in front slant in to match the cab. The next post is vertically plumb. The plan is to help push the air resistance out instead of being a blunt wall as if the front post was vertically plumb as well. This of course makes it more difficult to put siding on the trailer. I haven't decided if I want to use aluminum or some composite material. The material for the pop up walls will either be composite or fabric.

I picked up my 1.5" tubing on Monday. I hope to begin building the frame this weekend.

 

[ITTOG]

I bought some steel and began building the frame. I am using 1.5" tubing with 0.065" wall thickness. Hopefully I will be able to finish the frame over the next two weeks. I do have a couple questions.

What is the best method to prep raw steel for paint once the frame is done?

Anyone with a F150 and a bed cap or similar top? I would like to see pictures of how it is attached to the bed rails. I read about the ones that flip over into a very long tent indicating they drill holes into the top rail. I would prefer to not do that. I wish these had rails like the Tundra's so I could use tnut. Instead I guess I am going to have to use clamps of some sort.

I had to build it in my garage because it was raining outside. Given the lighting isn't very good it made it a little difficult to see at times. Thus some ugly welds but it is not coming apart. Or it may be because I am just now learning to weld.

The bed frame should be about 2.5" above the cab.

 

[ITTOG]

Unfortunately I am learning the hard way with being a new welder. I discovered all four corners are at different distances now between top and bottom. They are all supposed to be 22.5" apart but I have everything 22" to 22 3/8". So none of them are where they should be. I guess I will have to straighten them out. I didn't figure the steel would bend like that when you are just welding on one of the four sides. I will have to change it up a little. Maybe if I only weld one side of the vertical post at a time I won't have that issue. Go to another area to weld and then come back to get the other three sides, of course with just one side at a time.

Hopefully I will start to get some thoughts from some of you and some answers out of you. It is more fun if interactive. Below are a couple questions I previously asked but haven't had any answers on.

What is the best method to prep raw steel for paint once the frame is done?

Anyone with a F150 and a bed cap or similar top? I would like to see pictures of how it is attached to the bed rails. I read about the ones that flip over into a very long tent indicating they drill holes into the top rail. I would prefer to not do that. I wish these had rails like the Tundra's so I could use tnuts. Instead I guess I am going to have to use clamps of some sort.

 

[Deleted member 9101]

After four 1000 mile trips I wasn't enjoying towing the trailer with my F150 3.5L ecoboost. I didn't like getting 8 mpg and while the truck had plenty of power towing it, I just felt like the turbo's were always spooled up. I couldn't imagine towing in the Rocky Mountains because it would have been much worse.

8 mpg and spooled turbos are 100% normal when towing a trailer like that with an EcoBoost. It would have had no problems in the mountains.

 

[ITTOG]

I wasn't indicating it wasn't normal or was an issue with the truck. I am just indicating it sucks and I prefer a V8. When this engine blows I will replace it with a V8.

Unfortunately I didn't get to work on the camper but about four hours this weekend. Most of that was spent cleaning up some of the welds and grinding them smooth. I hate this process, it takes too long. I guess that may be an indication of my welding abilities. I have learned it is easier to weld with background lighting. Hopefully I will be able to begin building the top this week.

 

[Grassland]

My topper just attaches with four C clamp sort of clamps. I wouldn't trust that with something heavier like what you are building.

Also, what's wrong with a trailer in your backyard?
One of those HOA sorta things??
Have you considered spraying your neighbor's yard with round up?

 

[highwest]

Have you considered spraying your neighbor's yard with round up?

handle/post!?!?!

 

[highwest]

This build looks awesome.

Love the scale model, what did you use to build that?

 

[Todd780]

Wow! I didn’t think the eco boost would be that bad on mileage while towing. I think I get better then that and I tow a 23’ holiday trailer with a 2015 F-150 with a 5.0 and 3:73’s. I was debating a max tow F150 next time around cause my truck hovers around 2,500-3,000 rpm towing and I thought the eco would be better when combined with a 10 speed and 3:55’s.

 

[ITTOG]

5.0 vs 3.5

View attachment 568619

So I wanted to quote multiple posts and somehow this came up. Not sure where it came from but I decided to leave it because it is so true. It also cost me mpg's while towing.

My topper just attaches with four C clamp sort of clamps. I wouldn't trust that with something heavier like what you are building.

Also, what's wrong with a trailer in your backyard?
One of those HOA sorta things??
Have you considered spraying your neighbor's yard with round up?

I don't like the clamp idea either. I am leaning towards drilling holes through the camper frame and top rail. Three on each side and two in front. I may do this by removing the plastic cap so the holes are hidden when the camper isn't on, which will be 90% of the time. Another thought is to tie it into the four cargo mounts or the bolts tieing the bed to the frame. I may not know for sure until I get it completed and know how much it weighs.

Yes it is an HOA thing. My yard is over an acre and you cannot see the trailer from the neighborhood. I hide it behind a large grove of trees. The neighbor went outside of the neighborhood and took the picture. Of course the HOA has their rules they have to follow regardless if you can see it from the neighborhood. The neighbor said he would sue them if they didn't make me comply. He is a real winner. He is an idiot though because he kept two jetski's on a trailer in his yard so I turned him in and he had to remove them. Unfortunately I have to be careful because it bothers my daughter and wife so I try to not make it worse, which is so, so hard.

This build looks awesome.

Love the scale model, what did you use to build that?

Thanks for the compliments. I used 3/16" roundbar from Home Depot. It helped me visualize what I wanted better than just drawings.

Wow! I didn’t think the eco boost would be that bad on mileage while towing. I think I get better then that and I tow a 23’ holiday trailer with a 2015 F-150 with a 5.0 and 3:73’s. I was debating a max tow F150 next time around cause my truck hovers around 2,500-3,000 rpm towing and I thought the eco would be better when combined with a 10 speed and 3:55’s.

It is horrible. My son's, used to be mine, 5.7L Tundra can pull it at about 13 or 13.5 mpg's, I can't remember exact number because it has been a while. It gets 17.1 normally. So much less of an impact. But the mpg's aren't what bother me. Seeing the turbo's always spooled up does. It would be like driving your truck with the rpm's just below redlining all the time. I towed a 33' travel trailer with it and got the same mpg's. It appears to be more of a wind resistance issue than a weight issue. I have towed a utility trailer before and I think it got high teens and the turbo's were not under load the entire time. It was about 1500 pounds because my ATV was on it. The cargo trailer is 1600 pounds empty.


Thanks everyone for the interaction. Very much appreciated. I hope to get idea's from you. Like what to skin it with. I haven't decided that yet.

 

[givemethewillys]

Sounds like you need a powerstroke!

 

[verdesard0g]

ITTOG sounds like you went through a lot of grief trying to get a nice camping rig. I went through some similar problems before coming up with my third trailer build. The first one was built on a 4x8 trailer...too small. The second was 6X12 not too bad but a friend bought it for $10,000! Then I looked at cargo trailers, all junk at ridiculous prices so back to a flat bed with tandem axles. I already had and still have a 2006 dodge 2500 Diesel 4x4, it gets about 11mpg towing the new one.
Here's a link to the build thread https://americanadventurist.com/forum/threads/bigger-not-a-teardrop.6382/page-5