Matt's DIY Hard-Side Truck Camper Build

[msasso]

Hi all,
Been a while since I have been on here. But after years of wanting to get it done I decide to build my own camper. It will be used mostly on the beach but also for hunting in the Cold winter. Her are a few pics og my progress so far. If there is interest I will start at the beginning and post the whole build over time

 

[shade]

I always enjoy following a DIY project, especially one as involved as this. ?

 

[littletruckbigworld]

Please post more!

 

[msasso]

Here is one of the back framingView attachment 525453

 

[msasso]

OK, Let me start with my story and why I am building this darn thing in the first place. My girlfriend and I really love staying at the beach. We have been together for over 4 years and we are both the parents of teenagers that take a lot of our time. On weekends we have to ourselves we mostly like to chill and fish. So we wanted something that can accommodate us and our two dogs for the weekend. We started looking into used 4x4 motorhomes but those used started at $15k. Similarly, new truck campers for my 6.5" bed are very costly and used ones were either too heavy or would not fit well. Having good hands and plenty of building experience I decided to build what I wanted. And what really kicked it off was local store called bargain build that buys out irregular and overstocked building supplies and sells them for pennies on the dollar. That made the project very very reasonable. Also after researching how production campers were made I realized that most of them are built like absolute crap with fail points all over. I also realized that if i was to go for a factory finish I would spend a lot of money and not get the benefit. For example, aluminum siding for a camper is very expensive. It's also so thin that polen in the wind can dent it. So I decided to go totally custom and totally groovy. I am going to use the camper on the beach and also i the winter to go hunting. So I wanted it well ventilated with good natural light and also insulated so I can sleep in it when the ice comes. Also, I had looked at some gypsy camper designs and I loved the way the arch ceilings would make you feel inside. Plus, its a far superior design that will shed water fast. I then sketched up a profile and started researching all kinds of DIY campers and materials that would be available. Like I said I wanted it to be different. Foor the roofing and siding I decided to use 26 gauge galvanized steel roofing which is available in 12' sheets at lowes for a reasonable price. It only weighs 10lbs per sheet so not really giving away to much weight if I watched the other materials that I put into it. Plus I looked up some projects using this roofing and when it is combined with nicely stained wood it really looks great.

 

[msasso]

To get started I decided I needed to see if I could actually create the bent beams. My first attempt was to just see if a couple of cheap 1x3" pine would take the curve. It did not. But on the advice of my new found Friend John of Rolling Art, I ripped each 1x3 in half and then put it in my jig and glued each board. On his advice I made sure to mark the center of each beam and the left and right side so it would be easier to align them later. At first I used waaaaaay too much glue LOL. But I got better at it. I also used packing tape under the beam when glueing so the beam did not dry to my jig. Over the next two weeks I made 7 of these.

 

[Jo_Duval]

Very interesting please keep posting aha