What does "Light Weight" mean?/

[downhill]

I've been researching since 2010 what I want and nobody really makes it. The closest is maybe a FWC Hawk shell with a cassette toilet, but they cost 13k to start and no cassette on the shell model and a tent is just well,.. so much cheaper. :ylsmoke: So I returned to another Idea recently I gave up on several years ago, the Capri Cowboy camper is a box with a bed in it and a place to charge laptops and cameras etc.. I originally dismissed them as being too cheap and flimsy, stick and glue and stitch, but I think I could build one in a few weeks for about 1k and make it more robust. They come in around 500 lbs, which is perfect, no frills and that's good. I just need a place where my wife and I can pull over and go to sleep and maybe have a porta potty and hold our gear, clothes, rock hounding stuff, metal detector, laptop, camera, a gun or two etc. The way we explore is go out, collect rocks, check out petroglyphs, look for fossils, hike, then come back and eat a hotdog by the fire and go to sleep and burn our freaking paper plates (no dishwashing in camp allowed). We don't need all the comfort crap since we stop in a town every couple days and get a hotel and shower up anyways. I'm just sick of setting up camp and tearing down camp every night and morning when we move and would prefer a simpler solution where we can literally throw the folding chairs in back and go. In fact I don't even want to setup the popup on a hawk camper, I just want to close the door and get going and have an emergency place to poop or pee wherever we are on the road. Granted you can't stand up in these or stretch out too much but really all we'd ever do is sit down and play cards if the weather sucked and or sleep and read. The 50 year old stick technology doesn't bother me one bit. It's still plenty viable and I'm not looking to build something that's going to last several generations since the truck sizes will all change in another 10 years anyway and nothing will fit anymore whether it's still new looking or not and last but not least, I'm poor and this is all I can afford. View attachment 394969

You sound like my brother from another mother :coffeedrink:

 

[rruff]

I just want to close the door and get going and have an emergency place to poop or pee wherever we are on the road. Granted you can't stand up in these or stretch out too much but really all we'd ever do is sit down and play cards if the weather sucked and or sleep and read. The 50 year old stick technology doesn't bother me one bit. It's still plenty viable and I'm not looking to build something that's going to last several generations since the truck sizes will all change in another 10 years anyway and nothing will fit anymore whether it's still new looking or not and last but not least, I'm poor and this is all I can afford.

You can build a cheap and decent box out of plywood and 2x2s pretty easily. Coat the exterior with a layer of fiberglass cloth and gelcoat, and it will last a long time.

 

[Couerl]

That's true but I'm actually a fairly decent carpenter and I don't need to make anything too cheap,.. I'm going to go for a cut above the cowboy camper and do my own build.. I recently registered here to document it.. Another couple weeks and we'll get started, something similar to what another fella named goober did on a thread here, the small white one he put on his taco. I'm still figuring on what materials I want to use and where I want to get them from. Like to have it done by july-1st.

 

[rruff]

That's true but I'm actually a fairly decent carpenter and I don't need to make anything too cheap

What's your plan for materials and construction?

I'm not cheaping out too much either. Figure my relatively large cabover, standup, built on the frame camper will cost around $4k in materials and weigh ~700 lb (with nothing inside).

 

[Couerl]

So far I'm thinking screw and glue 2x2 with 5,8" inside in the general shape of a cowboy sleeper with a 60x80 futon/bed and a simple table, 4 windows including front, sides and door, jacks and maybe a low profile ac unit with led light strips and a 110 plug or two and usb charging ports. Subject to change. I like the sound of 'standup', but I'm 6'4 and I also want a lower profile sleeper and few structural corners (leak areas) to contend with. I plan on J-rail with butyl tape over aluminum, .030 (thinner=lighter) and 2" pink fiberglass fill, not the hard stuff. Simple bolt in style or a fabricated quick-release system that allows the camper to demount in 10 minutes. I may need to design and build that myself as there doesn't appear to be too much off the shelf in terms of campers. I saw a guy that had one that actually pressed rubber skids against the bed walls from the inside that looked interesting. Think about how a puffer lizard wedges itself between a crack in the rocks and so predators can't pull it out and you get the picture. One of my design questions is how do truck campers prevent water intrusion from the floor and or ruining the plywood floor apart from simple water resistant paint? I also wonder about insulation and may use hard foam for the floor and I also wonder about vibration taking it's toll on a screw and glue build. I see the cowboy campers are stitch and glue instead of screws and I wonder if that is just because it's cheaper or it actually allows more flexibility in the bed? I do have a rubber mat in my truck bed so that should help cut down vibration a little but I wonder if there's a better way to isolate the shock of off-roading without having to resort to air bags and or other suspension tweaks. My tundra is stock and I'd just as soon keep it that way.

 

[Couerl]

You sound like my brother from another mother :coffeedrink:

You never know my friend.

 

[rruff]

So far I'm thinking screw and glue 2x2 with 5,8" inside

You're using 5/8" plywood skins? Outer too? That is super heavy and way overkill.

If you use the rigid XPS foam and bond appropriately, it will be very stout with thin skins. I made a sample piece with 1" XPS and 2.7mm (~1/10") luan skins, 16"x48". Very strong and rigid. I can support it on the ends and jump up and down on it.

I'd also suggest using polyester resin and fiberglass for your exterior coat. Finish with gelcoat. Very tough, no seams, waterproof.

Unfortunately the Tundra frames do flex a good amount. I'm taking the bed off my Tundra and mounting the camper with cab mounts that allow some flex. You probably want a slide in though. I wouldn't worry about it too much, plenty of people hauling slide in campers with flexy pickups.

 

[Couerl]

5'8" headroom, shoulda been more clear...

 

[rruff]

5'8" headroom, shoulda been more clear...

Doh! I sure read that wrong!

You are still going to have a much more strong, rigid, and light structure if you build the panels as a sandwich. You should put some samples together and see for yourself. I textured the foam with a carpet seam roller and troweled on PL Premium (buy the 28 oz tubes).

 

[redthies]

I thought you meant 5/8" ply as well, but 5,8" could be misconstrued in multiple ways. To avoid water messing up a plywood floor, I used to put a few 1x4s underneath. Now I have a full fibreglass shell so no worries about water at all.

 

[Couerl]

So I have a question about how they build the frames on these things. What are those staples or wires on the butt joints on this thing and what kind of air/pneumatic nail gun or whatever are they using to do it? I'm assuming its either stapled or wired with 20 gauge wire to allow for flexing of the frame without being too rigid. Any ideas gents>?

I'm narrowing down a build to the cowboy camper type box or maybe this other one they call a patriot.

 

[Couerl]

I'm just making bed and a box and a table with benches. that's it, nuthin else, no sink, no toilet, no stove, no, no, no... maybe a few led lights for reading and such and a couple 110 outlets to charge phones and laptops and junk.

 

[rruff]

I'm assuming its either stapled or wired with 20 gauge wire to allow for flexing of the frame without being too rigid. Any ideas gents>?

My guess is cheap. A stapled together stick frame is not going to be efficiently light and strong. All those seams are a water leak in waiting, followed by wood saturation and rot. So many better ways to do it.

 

[Couerl]

Recommendations?

 

[rruff]

Recommendations?

I've decided to make panels with 25psi XPS foam from the hardware store, and epoxy fiberglass layup on each side. Mine will be mounted directly to the truck frame so I'll have some wood reinforcement for the floor, but not much elsewhere.

If you really want light and cheap there are a lot of people on this site having success with foam and canvas-titebond2 skins. http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=64361&sid=f39dae071d9c34a2c418ead98bec6fee

For your needs you might be better off with a shell that mounts on the bed rails vs a slide-in. You can save a lot of unnecessary structure that way.