off-roading with hard side camper

[socceronly]

So.... with a DIY camper like this... what do people think of things like this?

Will this just rattle itself apart on a rough road? I'm not even talking about crazier off roading.

 

[billiebob]

hey, crazy cool. You are the guy I will park beside and offer a beer. Lots of glue, lots of screws, park it indoors when you are not driving it..... it'll last forever. Have you looked at the cracked roofs on commercial RV trailers ????? It will not be maintemance free but like anything build with wood..... keep it protected.

 

[1000arms]

So.... with a DIY camper like this... what do people think of things like this?

Will this just rattle itself apart on a rough road? I'm not even talking about crazier off roading.

You might find this link interesting:

https://www.doityourselfrv.com/ever-wondered-171000-diy-motorhome-looks-like-speechless/

From the link:

"Wood/Epoxy with fiberglass (or carbon fiber) is significantly stronger than tubular aluminum which has a skeleton, and then a separate skin. This truck is built like a multi-hull sailboat, structure and skin are one, making it very strong. I’ve been in a Gale sailing a 44 foot sailboats built like Shachagra and it took a pounding that no truck is ever going to give it, made me very confident in that method of construction."

There is a build thread:

Shachagra- Family of 5 traveles Europe and Turkey, International 7500

Great threads here, great to see lots of projects. We just finished touring Europe and Turkey in our home built on a International 7500 chassis. Large, 33K, 400 gallons water, 200 gal diesel, all diesel fired (stove, heating) with a 2K W solar array and 2100 AH of Lifeline batteries. The trip...

expeditionportal.com

--------------------------------

You might also look at the following wood+epoxy camper by @IdaSHO

(See Idasho's photo) ...

---------------------------------

@Teardropper has a book on building teardrop trailers which might be useful to you even building a truck camper.

Eighteen months in the making... here's the book: Building a Teardrop Trailer: Plans and Methods for Crafting an Heirloom Camper

A long-term project that I'm quite pleased with. I have watched so many teardrop builders struggle (which is probably just part of the process). I hope this takes some of the angst out of creating one of these remarkable campers. 192 pages, 221 photos and 31 pencil biting chapters...

expeditionportal.com

-------------------------------

Although larger than a pickup truck camper, you might find some information in the following two threads:

Go big or go home:

I recently purchased a 2007 Oshkosh MTVR. We intend to convert it into an overland expedition type vehicle and do full-time RV living. For those not familiar with the MTVR, it is an all-terrain military 6x6 truck built for the U.S. Marine Corps, and it is...big- nearly 12 feet tall. MTVR...

expeditionportal.com

Building our box out of wood?

I know that most people are trying to build something light enough to work with their particular vehicle, but our MTVR has a 30,000-pound payload capacity, so there may be solutions that wouldn't work for other people, but would work just fine for us. Our MTVR's flatbed is rigid, and it's...

expeditionportal.com

 

[Peter_n_Margaret]

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

 

[rruff]

https://www.doityourselfrv.com/ever-wondered-171000-diy-motorhome-looks-like-speechless/
"Wood/Epoxy with fiberglass (or carbon fiber) is significantly stronger than tubular aluminum which has a skeleton, and then a separate skin. This truck is built like a multi-hull sailboat, structure and skin are one, making it very strong. I’ve been in a Gale sailing a 44 foot sailboats built like Shachagra and it took a pounding that no truck is ever going to give it, made me very confident in that method of construction."

"...10 Oz glass over marine grade plywood. The bottom 4 feet (the part we turned over) is 3/4 inch and the upper part is 1/4′ plywood- 2′ insulation panel- 1/4″ plywood."

Marine ply is great for skins on a sandwich panel. Just need to keep it dry.

 

[1000arms]

You might find this link interesting:

https://www.doityourselfrv.com/ever-wondered-171000-diy-motorhome-looks-like-speechless/

From the link:

"Wood/Epoxy with fiberglass (or carbon fiber) is significantly stronger than tubular aluminum which has a skeleton, and then a separate skin. This truck is built like a multi-hull sailboat, structure and skin are one, making it very strong. I’ve been in a Gale sailing a 44 foot sailboats built like Shachagra and it took a pounding that no truck is ever going to give it, made me very confident in that method of construction."

There is a build thread:

Shachagra- Family of 5 traveles Europe and Turkey, International 7500

Great threads here, great to see lots of projects. We just finished touring Europe and Turkey in our home built on a International 7500 chassis. Large, 33K, 400 gallons water, 200 gal diesel, all diesel fired (stove, heating) with a 2K W solar array and 2100 AH of Lifeline batteries. The trip...

expeditionportal.com

--------------------------------

You might also look at the following wood+epoxy camper by @IdaSHO



---------------------------------

@Teardropper has a book on building teardrop trailers which might be useful to you even building a truck camper.

Eighteen months in the making... here's the book: Building a Teardrop Trailer: Plans and Methods for Crafting an Heirloom Camper

A long-term project that I'm quite pleased with. I have watched so many teardrop builders struggle (which is probably just part of the process). I hope this takes some of the angst out of creating one of these remarkable campers. 192 pages, 221 photos and 31 pencil biting chapters...

expeditionportal.com

-------------------------------

Although larger than a pickup truck camper, you might find some information in the following two threads:

Go big or go home:

I recently purchased a 2007 Oshkosh MTVR. We intend to convert it into an overland expedition type vehicle and do full-time RV living. For those not familiar with the MTVR, it is an all-terrain military 6x6 truck built for the U.S. Marine Corps, and it is...big- nearly 12 feet tall. MTVR...

expeditionportal.com

Building our box out of wood?

I know that most people are trying to build something light enough to work with their particular vehicle, but our MTVR has a 30,000-pound payload capacity, so there may be solutions that wouldn't work for other people, but would work just fine for us. Our MTVR's flatbed is rigid, and it's...

expeditionportal.com

... Marine ply is great for skins on a sandwich panel. Just need to keep it dry.

A while back, I designed and built a small camper trailer to tow behind my Jeep. 45 degree angle at the back for departure angle. Same size rims and tires as on my Jeep. Same track-width. Torsion axle stubs. I welded up my frame with a receiver hitch front and rear on the trailer. Pintle ring inserted in to the front receiver on the trailer. Pintle hook in the rear receiver on my Jeep. Tongue long enough that combined with the pintle hook-ring setup, I could turn with the tongue more than 90 degrees from straight ahead towing, without Jeep body to trailer body contact. The trailer body was built out of 2x laid flat and 3/8" plywood, with 3/4" plywood floor. Silicone on every joint and sheetrock screws. No insulation or interior sheathing, so very easy to see how all the joints held up. I painted the outside with Rustoleum white metal paint. I towed it across the US. It spent a lot of time in the Pacific Northwest rain (and some snow), but had no leaks when I sold it 5 years later.

I "glued and screwed" every bit of the perimeter, on every panel, to something solid. The "glue" did the sealing and the screws pulled the panels tight and clamped them until the "glue" cured. I was careful to avoid pushing all of the "glue" out of the joints.

I painted multiple coats of Rustoleum metal paint (white) and let the ACX plywood soak up all it could, especially the edges. It was just ACX plywood from the store with the cheap orange buckets.

The camper trailer was easy and cheap to build and seal.