Episode 1: "I hate hotel bills, so I'm making a truck camper!" Episode 5: "This truck camper isn't worth the hassle. I'll just get a hotel if I have to." Look how far we've come.
I feel we learn more from mistakes, than successes. My favorite thing about you is that you're able to share the fails and laugh about them. I vote yes for a schoolie project. I'm assuming if you do it, you'll be choosing the ... short bus for your ride?
Love it. I was "this close" to building my own camper out of composite foam but found an old pop-up from the 80s for a thousand bucks that was ready to use immediately. And we did. Me and my gal have driven more than 12,000 miles with that camper so far. I have a slightly newer F150 with the 5.0L V8 and was averaging around 13.5 mpg keeping it under 70 MPH and taking highways instead of interstates whenever possible so we could see more country. Of course I did a lot of my own upgrades and spent a lot of time on it. I painted the outside, added some sweet decals, added a battery charger for low sun days, an AC/DC fridge (the original fridge worked, but sucked), added airbags to my truck since I have a 5.5 foot bed and the camper is 8 ft - not ideal, but it worked and the price was right. Also mounted a cheap tankless water heater to the back for a shower and plumbed hot water to the sink since it had none, changed the faucet, put in a nice peel n stick floor, and a bunch of other little piddly-dick type stuff. I enjoyed your video!
Here in Australia roof top tents are very popular for vehicles like yours. Add some bar work and roof racks and the camper sits on top of the cab. You can even get some that are motorised with a hard shell on top and lift straight up. The tray is then used for things like a fridge slide and kitchen area. There is normally a pull out annex on the side of the vehicle too. But over here we don't have to deal with the cold like you do. It gets hot but when you are in the shade with a cold beer, the heat isn't that big a deal.
You know, we spend our lifes in a constant state of thinking and evaluating. We learned to not judge at first glance, to not elaborate prejudices, and not to trust too quickly, or cultivate constant mistrust. I disregard all that. I see AgingWheels, I click, I like, then I watch. I am a danger to society.
Schmidt54 Society, as it is discussed in junior high and high schools, has been dead for some time now. What we currently have, and stupidly call “society” is more like a hive relationship where the “queen bees” appeal to parasites and make the drones work for the queen and the drones.... overlords, drones, and parasites; not a society!
Awesome work, Rob. And the fun is indeed what counts the most. It's like George Mallory once said about climbing the Mt. Everest: "Because it's there." You had an idea, you stuck to it, and you pulled through to the end! Kudos from Germany!
LOL, watched all your camper build videos and I've laughed the entire time. If nothing else you've made an old man laugh, a lot. Also, you taught a lot about a home built camper whether on purpose or not your videos are a big help to anyone considering such a project. Many thanks, DC
For heat, I suggest a Planar hot air heater. You can place it in the engine room and just make a hot air duct going to the camper box. It runs off the battery and fuel of the truck and draws very little power. An added benefit is that it can heat your cab on the truck too. Paced in the engine room the noise will be minimal in the box if you use a sound dampening duct section near the heater
Aging Wheels, love your try and learn mentality. I have made a similar camper mainly so that I could control the R factor and weight. I cool it with my engineered version of an Ice air conditioner. Not blowing air on ice. Doesn't work. This one works by a small 12vdc pump moving ice water through a heat ex-changer an blowing air across 33 deg F fins cooling the air and removing humidity. Fourty lbs of ice delivers 6000 Btu in which I need 5000 for the night. Also this concept provides the 5 gallons of water for shower and washing that day. My toilet is a soft toilet seat mounted on a bucket. I line it with HD 6 gallon bag, do my thing then fold up and discard the bag and contents. I agree with PV below, a sleeping bag does the trick.The heater is great when your awake plus CO2 monitor. Great work.
YES, I vote that a skoolie project would be a ton of fun to follow along with. I've dreamed about getting a short bus myself for some time but have never had the balls to pull the trigger on the project.
In (I think) the original truck camper video, Robert said he planned to buy a school bus, remove the seats (except for the driver's seat), convert the front half into living quarters and the back half into a car transporter. That way when he's going to a car event, he can just take one transport vehicle and leave his truck & trailer at home. I sure can't wait for that series.
I enjoy your channel. Watched a lot of the truck camper build videos. I thought you were going the wrong way from the beginning. I have truck campers and thought like you that I could build a better one than the manufactured ones, That was much cheaper and fit all the parameters I wanted. The more I contemplated it I realized that the camper company's have it figured out. Building one myself was not going to be better or less expensive than buying a used one. There are too many variables to get right the first time. It was entertaining though to watch you make all the mistakes. Many of them were the same ones I would probably make also. You just saved me a bunch of money and a lot of time. Thanks
Thanks for posting. Your project contrasts sharply with mine (which is just starting). 1) You mentioned your biggest issue was your engine's inability to cope with what is a pretty light, and spartan load relative to most pickup campers. If you're only getting 7mpg on level terrain, something is seriously wrong with your engine. From the outset, I chose a 3/4 ton, long bed pickup with a stout V-8. I also swapped in a flatbed for more space and an easier camper build. 2) Aerodynamics...Your sloped front end is better than the front of most of the commercially offered campers. The real problem is an inadequate engine. Still, a popup camper is a more elegant way to go. That is the approach I chose. It reduces the 3 feet above the cab to about 1 foot. It is also lighter and easier to transport into and store in a garage. 3) Leakage... While an arched roof is a great idea, a LOT of campers get by with a flat one. Clearly, your sealing efforts were lacking. Someone mentioned 'Flexseal'. I've heard it is actually very good. (Seal leaks!) 4) Steel...nothing wrong with it. Coating the steel after welding would have greatly reduced rust. (also, Seal leaks!) But I will be buying aluminum despite a substantial cost premium. I want the weight savings. Plus, I will use aluminum sheet for siding. Consequently, I need to avoid the galvanic corrosion that would be caused by interfacing steel with aluminum. 5) Wood for structural use - some grades delaminate. But Marine grade would pretty much solve that. (also, Seal leaks!) 6) Wood - for siding. RVs typically use luan, which is a thin, cheap grade of plywood. The better RVs use 'Azdel', a plastic composite that is stronger, lighter, has better acoustic damping and thermal insulating characteristics, does not absorb water, and WILL NOT ROT OR DELAMINATE. It comes in 4' x 8' sheets and is about the same thickness as luan (~0.25 inches) 7) Heating.. externally vented heaters are the safest, most flexible solution. As for standalone units, some people use the 'Olympian Wave'. It puts out just half the BTUs compare to your 'Buddy' heater. This would go a long way towards resolving your overheating issue. They cost about twice as much as a 'Buddy', but are supposedly safer. P.S. With ANY heater, you MUST have propane, carbon monoxide, and smoke detectors. It's just not worth the risk to omit them. 8) A/C...Including one is really a game changer in terms of weight, space and power consumption. I hope to avoid it. by using multiple internal and external venting fans. The most common RV specific A/C is 13.5 kBTU and requires either a 4 kilowatt generator or a 'soft start' feature, which lowers the generator's requirements to about 3 kilowatts. Using a home unit with about an 8,000 BTU capacity seems interesting. But its longevity while bouncing around on the road is an unknown 9) Toilet..Thanks for revealing what brand NOT to buy and why. I am leaning towards a composting one. Some of these are absurdly expensive, especially considering there are TH-cam videos showing homebuilt units costing just $5. 10) Shower - A 'Solar shower' bag filled with stove heated water and mounted outside is about as simple as it gets. For internal use, adding a small pump, a curtain, and a catch basin (plastic dog washing tub or stronger plastic mixing tray for concrete) will suffice. 11) Foam core construction. There are multiple TH-cam videos of people who have done this. It looks great, but seems very expensive. The best foam core seems to come from the yachting industry and is commonly made in Europe. One person stated that he spent over $5,000 just on the foam core. It also requires application specific glues and sealants, as well a very smooth, precise cutting for joining panels. 'Learning curve' screw-ups might make this a particularly expensive and wasteful project.
I love the editing intercuts you've been doing lately! Glad to see that you're picking up on skills to keep improving the quality of your videos beyond hardware upgrades!
Those propane heaters are no joke. My dad and I have used one of those things in a 20 foot? camper during -20 degree and worse weather during hunting camp and it works temendously well! Our camper even has a fold out tent as a bed and it still keeps us nice and warm!
Such a great video! Well done on the project and you are right, building the project is so much more fun than the end result! I can't wait to see your next school bus project!
Hilarious 😂🤣. The AC afterthought, using PT wood, the toilet, the lack of a shower! The heater!! (I'm melting, I'm freezing!) You have great delivery! Thanks for the camper ideas!!
Been planning on doing this type of build for 4 years. My travel mode would be a lower profile for the cabover until stopping and raising the cabover bunk area into sleeping mode. The actual box/camper would extend over the tail gate. Haven’t. Developed big enough cahonies and accumulated enough money yet. Looking forward to your new aerodynamic foam board build. Enjoyed your build series. Safe Travels. 👍👍
Two thoughts about you. You are very funny (without being cheesy) and you are AWFULLY hard on yourself (though it is part of your charm, IMO). BTW, I think your truck camper looks great. Like the way you did the stripes. I greatly enjoyed this video...thanks.
I appreciate Your Humor about the mistakes They are really a value to those of us who have nit thought of the errors we WILL MAKE Thanks Ken in florida
You mentioned that people wouldn't care about your camper because this is a car channel. I say that is wrong. I love what you documented so far. I've considered doing what you did for my F15O. Your videos gave me a lot of helpful advice. Please keep making the videos. I'd love to see you make the perfect DIY camper.
I have made some of the same mistakes on my 1st home made camper. Here are a few suggestions to help make it a little better. 1st, you can still cover the plywood with fiberglass to help waterproof the unit. Here is an easy cheap indoor shower solution: Get a COLLAPSABLE trash can, they have a memory wire to keep them stiff and expand to 24" high by 19" diameter. Attach drain hose and let it hang out the door when in use. Drop your shower curtain from the ceiling (hula-hoop works great) and stuff in trash can when showering. Purchase a 1-2 gallon pressurized plant sprayer from Lowes, Home Depot or Walmart ($10 -$15), fill with warm water, pressurize and take a shower. You would be amazed at how little water you need. Install a Diesel Heater, they are small compact, very efficient and have a thermostat. They are around $150 on Amazon. Either add a 1200 watt generator to your tailgate to recharge your battery and run your window A/C (Duromax 1200watt is about $300 and quiet)or use your vehicles alternator to power an inverter and charge your battery or remove the AC unit altogether install a 3" framed size box put a swamp cooler pad with either a small 12v water pump or use the pressurized sprayer to keep it wet and install a ceiling vent fan to suck the air out of the camper forcing air through your home made swamp cooler. Loosen the toilet valve on the top of the tank so that it can vent pressure (we had the same problem here in Colorado do to the mountains). Finally the big mod for arrow dynamics: Remove your steel covering off the front of the camper. Cut a board about 16" wide by 1" thick that matches the angle of the front truck camper. Just add it to the center of the camper and let it add 16" more distance from the center of the camper forward, add plywood covering to top, bottom, left and right side and put your medal sheets back on but now you have a slanted V-Shaped front to the camper making it more air dynamic. Then on the inside cut access holes to those 2 new compartments for more storage. Flat roof is fine, just make sure it's well sealed. Great JOB! Good Luck and make it work for you.
The whole reason I started watching your channel -- wait for it - was your truck camper! As you know, we all make mistakes ;-) (obligatory winking smily face so you wont take offense, hunt me down, and make me buy your camper.) As you can see from my picture, I do not have a truck camper, because I want to build one. Years in the planning - multiple notepads of details - starting to think my favorite part is the planning. The truck you see to the left has 500 watts of solar (completely covers bed) to run bigger stuff during the day. What I learned: Heat while sleeping: heated mattress pad. 90 watts running. Cycles. I use it to toast up the bed before I get in, and turn it on for a short time on high if I get cold. 170WH per night. About 14AH, so well within 50AH capacity even for a couple of nights without charging. Need more testing to get power usage all night at one setting. Mr buddy over heat issue is common. Use mr buddy to warm camper while awake. Smaller mr buddy has same overheat problem - just slower. Shower: you can’t carry that much water or grey water. Wash hair using sprayer over sink. Sponge bath allows hot water over stove. Cold shower would have effectively been a fast cold sponge bath anyway. Structure: Marine plywood is lighter, stronger, and wont fall apart when wet - hey, they build boats out of it! $$$. Insulated Box beams instead of frame - walls are frame. Aerodynamics: Alaskan Camper. Four Wheel Camper. All Terrain Camper. Alaskan version is in my notes. Toilet: composting with fan exterior venting.
I've watched your truck camper videos from part 1 through to this one and thoroughly laughed and enjoyed the struggle you've shared in building it but what you said about the bus in the end made me fall off my seat, 🤣😆
Well I am glad I watched you build videos. I wanted to build a truck camper for my truck and see the US now that I retired. You changed my mind. I would never build it aerodynamic enough to make good fuel mileage. Thanks, I will buy a small trailer and tow it, park it, and then drive the truck when need be.
Laminated foam with fiberglass or Aluminum on outside/inside. I did a curved wall in a boat and used 6-1/2" foam pieces glued and fiberglass on one side and 3/8" x 4 wood glued on. Make sure you do NOT use Styrofoam and never use one part spray foam in a can, it's absorbant, sucks up water like a sponge. The foam you need will not be cheap crap, it's a bit pricey but glue melts Styrofoam as does many paints. There's open cell and closed cell and I always get them confused but whichever Styrofoam is, you need the other one.
1) Outside showers suck. Even in the desert, after the sun goes down, the wind comes up at it gets cold! 2) A freind of mine has one of those 4WD Ford van conversions, and he fit a shower/toilet into that. 3) AW has a sense of humor and is able to explain things so well it would be a crime against humanity if he did not do a SCHOOL BUS PROJECT.
Having a project can do that to people. Sometimes its not finishing it that gives fulfillment, but the effort of spending the time and working on it. I think your camper project looks great, shame about the problems you've found with it though. I have an older, factory made camper myself, its smaller, ya has a few problems too, but I love it. Look on the bright side, what you learned from building your camper, and hopefully some tips from your viewers here, can help go towards making your next project better. Wish you all the best on it.
Lol I'm building a wood on right now. However I'm going to put it on a trailer. Thank you for the mess ups you made. Because I'm doing them all. So now I will make changes.
Appreciate the retrospective on your home built camper! I've been thinking about weight, the aero aspect of such builds, and construction materials. Wood is one of the most easy materials to work with but you talking about just how receptive it is to moisture a hard lesson for you but valuable for those considering taking on such a project. Which might be me! Thanks for your efforts as well as putting out this video.
@@carllarsen6234 Some heaters come set up already with an electronic igniter. In my opinion the timer and the igniter style heater is the way to go if you can't find one that operates on a thermostat. Where there's a will there's a way (but I much rather have the will with money attached. LOL )
OMG dude...You had me cracking up through the entire video!!! Awesome...and I actually like your camper. Needs a few mods but it's not bad for the first one. About 10 years ago I started building a big slide in camper for my truck (considerably bigger than your little twinky one here...and I had a much bigger, more seriously built F-350 with a built 7.3 Liter to boot). I got it almost all framed in and while I was at work we had a huge, massive high powered wind storm come through that toppled it end over end across my yard and when I got home SPLINTERS from my awesome camper covered both the yard and the street!!! Guess I should have anchored it down huh? LOL. So...not bad. It was fun and very entertaining.
Hahaha I love this guy. He has great comic timing, has some good jokes, and on top of that made an informative and genuinely educational video. Imma have to watch more of this.
I wished that you would have made plans, and then researched them, and tested them out before building. Something as simple as ventilation isn't as simple as cold air in and hot air out. It also is important to have the air go through the right places. For my van, I could blow air normally, but it doesn't cool off as well as blowing air at the windows. I'm confident that it is science, but I don't fully understand it. Even on a hot day, it feels like air conditioning. It would have been better to get a used camper, and then overhaul it, in hopes of learning what works and what doesn't. That being said, I have so much respect for you, because you lived life, while building that. Most people never get to that point. In my neck of the words, there are 2 free campers, which I thought would be neat to rebuild, but I am not so sure anymore. Therefore, I appreciate you sharing your experiences, and I appreciate the opportunity to live vicariously through you.
Just a thought. . . a sheet folded like a taco shell tucked inside a downy comforter also folded like a taco shell, covered with a wool quilt will keep you warm down to 17 degrees without a heater at all in your camper. Of course, you would have to sleep nude so your body heat will warm up the space in the downy comforter, but it works! Then in the morning, cut on your heater for 10 or 15 minutes to warm up the place before you get out of bed.
I use my Tahoe as a makeshift RV a few times a year, the back seat folded down gives room for a twin air mattress, wife and I have shared it easily before. A school bus? Lap of luxury!
Bus is what you wanted in the first place! I have been contemplating a similar design for my S10, (have canopy shell right now). Good to see your summery. I was thinking more of using thin ply and sheet metal over a 2X2 wood frame and keeping it just a canopy since my state make us license a slide-in camper as a separate vehicle, (like a trailer).
In the summer of 2011, after I finished grade 7, I built myself a little trailer to pull behind my quad. The floor is 5’x7’ and the roof is 5’x8’ so I have a small 1’ tall overhang I used as a shelf. It’s made entirely out of wood and screws with a 1.5” hitch and two wheelbarrow wheels. No insulation, however. For waterproofing on the roof, I bought a gallon can of tar and painted it on (as well as made a mess all over my parents’ driveway). I spent a couple cold nights in it before I bought a small heater for it; I’d then only “camp” no more than an extension cord’s length away from the house so I could use the heater 😂 The following year, I ran some electrical so I could have a duplex outlet at the back and another duplex outlet at the front so I could plug in my phone, heater, and second-hand portable B&W analog TV - I left a small pigtail and plug under the trailer to plug it into an extension cord still. That year, I also added tin to the top with a slope so that water could find a way off the roof instead of leaking in through the cracks. I think I spent one more night in it after that and now the poor old thing sits rotting at the back of my parents’ property. I agree with what you said though: the most fun part was actually building it. I learned a lot from my trailer and, since I got my first truck, I’ve been planning out how to build a camper for it. Maybe once I’m out of college, I’ll finally get to build myself a little camper using what I learned from my trailer as well as what I learned from this video! Thank you for the advice haha :)
I, too, call it a success and don't regret building it at all. The Saab hood was painted, but there was a bit of an issue that you'll see in the coming month.
The multiplicity of you is cool! I've had two dreams like that. In the first l was giving myself advice. In the second the two of us were fighting. The fight continued until we were exhausted. So l woke up😒
I watched all of the videos for this build...and mainly if was due to how darn funny you are! But, I learned a lot about what not to do if I ever decide to build a truck camper!
I've found that freeing up the engine with better intake & exhaust improves the gas mileage always. Worked for me every time. Probably it would not make a massive difference in this case... but maybe at least the hills would be easier to climb.
The Wave 3 catalytic heater would be a nice choice for reduced moisture and thermostatically controlled heat. It takes up space, but not to much, space through the tank would take some extra. Consider putting in a solenoid so you can have the alternator charge your house battery.
Just a few suggestions. The frame rusting. consider getting the entire exterior professionally coated in truck bed liner. The heater. If you pull the case off the heater you may be able to add a needle valve with compression fittings to the propane line. The shower. mount an 8 foot length of 4" abs pipe to the side of the camper, add caps at both ends, add a schrader valve so you can add pressure and a ball valve with a garden hose connection for a sprayer. The aerodynamics. I'd guess your problem is not at the front but at the back. consider adding 2 pieces of plywood the are hinged at the sides of the camper and meet to form a triangle at least a couple feet past the tailgate.
I have some ideas for your camper, I hope you see them. - There might be A/Cs available that use propane for cooling like some camper refrigerators. I also once heard from a boy scout about a refrigerator they built with charcoal soaked with water. Neither electricity nor gas needed, only sun light. Maybe that principle can be used for cooling your camper? - How about a urine-diverting dry toilet (UDDT) instead of the chemical toilet? (see Wikipedia) It’s nearly odour-free because ammoniac only develops when urine and faeces are mixed together. - Your poor gas mileage is a problem of drag. The drag force Fd = ½ * rho * v² * Cd * A (with rho: density of the fluid, v: speed of the object relative to the fluid, A: cross sectional area and Cd: drag coefficient) which causes the higher fuel consumption, can in your case be reduced by a) driving more slowly and b) a smaller drag coefficient. For a), if you reduce speed to 70% your additional fuel consumption due to the camper is theoretically halved. So maybe just go 50 mph instead of 70 mph. For b), to improve Cd you should close the gap between the cab roof and the camper. That gap is killing your gas mileage! You could add panels at the sides of the cab to smooth out the transition from cab to camper. Maybe an air deflector on the roof of the cab can help with a rounder shape than the front of the camper, perhaps up to the roof of the camper to cover the horizontal edges on the slope as well. Trust me, I’m an engineer! - Okay, I’m an electrical engineer, but fluid dynamics is basic physics, right?
Your suggestion of adding a roof-top air deflector to bridge the jump in height from the cab to the camper (similar to what you see on HGVs) would certainly help with the fuel consumption.
Hilarious! Thanks for the suggestions. One thought for the heater is to, wait for it.... crack open a window! Ha ha ha. My one question is why is the cabover so short? Great reminder on the roof slope. Just curious about why you didn't add camper jacks? I've been mulling building a slide-in, this helps tons! Thanks!
🤣 You're definitely funny.....special thanks for this last video of your camper built because it has inspired me again, it makes a lot of sense so thank you for real. My first choice was to built something like a pop up for the air dynamics (gas money) and you mentioned the Foam Board too that honestly I didn't consider it but it's a must, best wishes!!
The problem with a school bus is finding a place to park it, while going on travel. Most places don't like school buses and don't allow them, however you can park a truck camper everywhere (there is a FB group for converting school buses into tiny houses). I just started researching and want to build a truck camper (the new ones are very expensive). I already built a 16' tiny home (~ 8000 LB) on a trailer and came to the conclusion that I like to have something smaller and easier for traveling, but at the same time I like to have all the comforts and I don't know if that would be possible in a truck camper (smaller space). Thanks for the information you provided in your video.
I know you are now working on the Bus. If you were to build another truck camper or modify that one I have two suggestions. One would be to find an old pop-up camper and use the roof mechanism to build a raisable roof. That way you can keep the top pretty much flat on top of the F-150. The second thing is to look into a diesel heater. They have thermostats and take up a small amount of space. Also perfect option for the bus build.
Cool house:) we just built our own toilet🤷🏼♀️ it definitely works a lot better lol. We definitely have a large list of things we would do differently if there is ever a second build too.
Being British, I really like the way you use British words like knackered, bloody and wee in their correct context. Are you of British extraction or simply an Anglophile?
Truck selection could also help, a standard cab with an 8' bed would give you loads of depth and you could make the box with a lift roof and soft sides like the pop-up type campers. Some aftermarket overland companies are using this style now -- but oh the $$$$ -- even a Super Cab would give you a bit more depth. A buddy of mine has an F150 supercrew like yours -- he sleeps in the back of the cab on an inflatable, it's limo big back there. I don't know what kind of winter solutions he has as I was with him on the Gulf Coast and it was tropical hot the whole time. I have a 22-year-old Tacoma xtra cab. I bring a tent. Thanks for this -- great presentation, good camera work and cool argument with yourself in the beginning.
Petition for Truck Camper Part 2!!!! Maybe you could do a gofundme or patreon or something for it. It's always entertaining and it's a great thing that you aren't afraid to show what went wrong with your builds.
Years ago a friend took the wheels, axle, and hitch assembly off a fold out/pop up camper, turned it sideways and set it in the back of his short bed 1955 Ford F-100. Closed the camper measured 4'x4' leaving him 2' feet available in his truck bed for gear. Open it measured 4'x7'. When closed you could still see over it when looking through the back window of the truck cab. He mostly used it for hunting, allowing him to spend the night where the deer would be the next morning. Two people could easily pick it up and slide it in and out of the truck. I'm thinking that if I were going to build a truck camper I'd look really hard at the old fold out campers and designing something like that. As for a toilet? Put plastic bags in one of these: blob:null/fd5ee27e-0894-4a7e-bb8b-c05c9cfaf6ff and spend your money on the tent shower and portable solar hot water heater.
Love it. Projects like that become more of a personal challenge than anything. A school bus will be awesome, but your mileage might be even worse than the truck with the camper and a trailer. What about attaching a lightweight fiberglass camper like an old Hunter Compact II on top of a longer car trailer... they weighed less than 1k lbs and were only about 10-13' long. Fixed to the front of a longer car trailer it might give you the aerodynamics and functionality you are looking for without much hassle. Just an idea...
Double alternator kit on the engine, add a second inverter and a bigger battery. Run a primary wire and ground wire accessible by one of the tie down holes. Idle the truck at night and bingo bongo ez ac.
However...as truck campers are interesting but expensive, and being that you have both construction and comunication skills, I encourage you to go ahead and develop this project, it is very very interesting! My thoughts: pop up, fiberglass covering once finished, removable solar panels, a-liner inspired expand mechanism. Thanks for sharing your great build!
I use a small 900 watt , (700 watt continuous), propane powered generator to run the A/C when cloudy or at night. I fit 920 watts of solar on the roof of a van using 160 watt panels. Here in Southern Nevada it will run the A/C from about 10 am to 5 pm in the summer. The small Wave propane heater on low puts out about 1,000 BTU. Coleman does make small propane heaters as well. Some people use a propane camp stove for heat. I took the top glass part of a small kerosene heater and put it on top of a propane burner. It is actually a catalytic converter to make sure of more complete combustion. I hear you about the build is more fun than the use of it. There was a guy in San Leandro Ca. that must have spent 20 years building a sailboat next to his house. I don't think the boat will ever go anywhere but the dream lives on! For a warm shower get a garden sprayer, paint it black and put a spray nozzle on it like you have for toilet flushing. Then set it in the sun with a clear cover over it like a larger plastic bag. The sun will heat the bottle, but any wind will cool it. The outer cover acts as a green house. I shower on less than a gallon of water.
200w panels the size of most 150-160w plus made in US with 25yr warranty from Hightec $185/shipped www.ebay.com/itm/1-200-Watt-12-Volt-Battery-Charger-Solar-Panel-Off-Grid-RV-Boat-200-watt-total/263697452462?hash=item3d6597cdae%3Ag%3AJdEAAOSwp7tadnMw%3Asc%3AFedExHomeDelivery%2153704%21US%21-1&fbclid=IwAR22j-XWElOSLK6Ic-_k1HeZiCki8zhT-TzHwhPZx8hb-B0AGSfXk1OxyPY&redirect=mobile
Episode 1: "I hate hotel bills, so I'm making a truck camper!"
Episode 5: "This truck camper isn't worth the hassle. I'll just get a hotel if I have to."
Look how far we've come.
I love it when multiple of you show up on screen at the same time. It's so funny every time lol
But they should learn to get along better.
@@Drottninggatan2017 ikr
I thought that was normal. Who doesn't have a doppelganger they don't get along with?
Especially when he throws a rock at himself.
I feel we learn more from mistakes, than successes. My favorite thing about you is that you're able to share the fails and laugh about them. I vote yes for a schoolie project. I'm assuming if you do it, you'll be choosing the ... short bus for your ride?
LMBO! Too funny.
With the benefit of future (relative to the age of this video) insight, we now see that he's chosen the John Holmes of school buses.
A new aging wheels video is like payday, but I still can't afford gas.
Ye
So, just like payday.
Ali Abdallah Yes exactly like payday.
Oh you humble soul from 5 years ago how you have no idea how terrible it will get xD
@@viperpoof I’m well aware how much worse it’s gotten. I’m in constant pain over gas prices.
"...in a pinch it can double as a bidet..." I think you mean during a pinch. ; )
Better yet, after a pinch.
The truck camper series is actually the series that started me watching your channel, good to see a conclusion
Love it. I was "this close" to building my own camper out of composite foam but found an old pop-up from the 80s for a thousand bucks that was ready to use immediately. And we did. Me and my gal have driven more than 12,000 miles with that camper so far. I have a slightly newer F150 with the 5.0L V8 and was averaging around 13.5 mpg keeping it under 70 MPH and taking highways instead of interstates whenever possible so we could see more country. Of course I did a lot of my own upgrades and spent a lot of time on it. I painted the outside, added some sweet decals, added a battery charger for low sun days, an AC/DC fridge (the original fridge worked, but sucked), added airbags to my truck since I have a 5.5 foot bed and the camper is 8 ft - not ideal, but it worked and the price was right. Also mounted a cheap tankless water heater to the back for a shower and plumbed hot water to the sink since it had none, changed the faucet, put in a nice peel n stick floor, and a bunch of other little piddly-dick type stuff. I enjoyed your video!
Here in Australia roof top tents are very popular for vehicles like yours. Add some bar work and roof racks and the camper sits on top of the cab. You can even get some that are motorised with a hard shell on top and lift straight up. The tray is then used for things like a fridge slide and kitchen area. There is normally a pull out annex on the side of the vehicle too.
But over here we don't have to deal with the cold like you do. It gets hot but when you are in the shade with a cold beer, the heat isn't that big a deal.
Well it depends what state you live in. If you live in Tasmania, southern Victoria or anywhere in the high country, it gets fairly cold.
Your videos are extremely funny. I get ready to laugh every time I see a new video notification for a new Aging Wheels video.
Thanks for the update.
Success is only one step away from failure, you did an awesome job Wow a bus✌
You know, we spend our lifes in a constant state of thinking and evaluating. We learned to not judge at first glance, to not elaborate prejudices, and not to trust too quickly, or cultivate constant mistrust.
I disregard all that. I see AgingWheels, I click, I like, then I watch. I am a danger to society.
:D
Schmidt54
Society, as it is discussed in junior high and high schools, has been dead for some time now. What we currently have, and stupidly call “society” is more like a hive relationship where the “queen bees” appeal to parasites and make the drones work for the queen and the drones....
overlords, drones, and parasites; not a society!
@@Rick_Sanchez_C137_ ok rick
Awesome work, Rob. And the fun is indeed what counts the most. It's like George Mallory once said about climbing the Mt. Everest: "Because it's there."
You had an idea, you stuck to it, and you pulled through to the end! Kudos from Germany!
LOL, watched all your camper build videos and I've laughed the entire time. If nothing else you've made an old man laugh, a lot. Also, you taught a lot about a home built camper whether on purpose or not your videos are a big help to anyone considering such a project.
Many thanks,
DC
the toilet stories remind me of the 8 years i lived on a submarine. ahhh, fun time
For heat, I suggest a Planar hot air heater. You can place it in the engine room and just make a hot air duct going to the camper box.
It runs off the battery and fuel of the truck and draws very little power. An added benefit is that it can heat your cab on the truck too.
Paced in the engine room the noise will be minimal in the box if you use a sound dampening duct section near the heater
Aging Wheels, love your try and learn mentality. I have made a similar camper mainly so that I could control the R factor and weight. I cool it with my engineered version of an Ice air conditioner. Not blowing air on ice. Doesn't work. This one works by a small 12vdc pump moving ice water through a heat ex-changer an blowing air across 33 deg F fins cooling the air and removing humidity. Fourty lbs of ice delivers 6000 Btu in which I need 5000 for the night. Also this concept provides the 5 gallons of water for shower and washing that day. My toilet is a soft toilet seat mounted on a bucket. I line it with HD 6 gallon bag, do my thing then fold up and discard the bag and contents. I agree with PV below, a sleeping bag does the trick.The heater is great when your awake plus CO2 monitor. Great work.
Love those vintage Saab mud flaps on your F150!
YES, I vote that a skoolie project would be a ton of fun to follow along with. I've dreamed about getting a short bus myself for some time but have never had the balls to pull the trigger on the project.
Your mistakes are infinitely useful to those of us building our own, thank you!
I just watched this whole series. Great work! Informative and entertaining. You've made a great case for staying at hotels :)
A school bus project sounds awesome.
Still 7 mpg and 65 mph, but a zillion times more room!
See gingium adventure bus, he did a camper bus
In (I think) the original truck camper video, Robert said he planned to buy a school bus, remove the seats (except for the driver's seat), convert the front half into living quarters and the back half into a car transporter. That way when he's going to a car event, he can just take one transport vehicle and leave his truck & trailer at home. I sure can't wait for that series.
@@MichaelD8393 woohoo
@@Corkoth55 Yup, have you been keeping up? Robert's been making some decent progress.
I enjoy your channel. Watched a lot of the truck camper build videos. I thought you were going the wrong way from the beginning. I have truck campers and thought like you that I could build a better one than the manufactured ones, That was much cheaper and fit all the parameters I wanted. The more I contemplated it I realized that the camper company's have it figured out. Building one myself was not going to be better or less expensive than buying a used one. There are too many variables to get right the first time. It was entertaining though to watch you make all the mistakes. Many of them were the same ones I would probably make also. You just saved me a bunch of money and a lot of time. Thanks
An enclosed trailer is a better platform
Thanks for posting. Your project contrasts sharply with mine (which is just starting).
1) You mentioned your biggest issue was your engine's inability to cope with what is a pretty light, and spartan load relative to most pickup campers. If you're only getting 7mpg on level terrain, something is seriously wrong with your engine. From the outset, I chose a 3/4 ton, long bed pickup with a stout V-8. I also swapped in a flatbed for more space and an easier camper build.
2) Aerodynamics...Your sloped front end is better than the front of most of the commercially offered campers. The real problem is an inadequate engine. Still, a popup camper is a more elegant way to go. That is the approach I chose. It reduces the 3 feet above the cab to about 1 foot. It is also lighter and easier to transport into and store in a garage.
3) Leakage... While an arched roof is a great idea, a LOT of campers get by with a flat one. Clearly, your sealing efforts were lacking. Someone mentioned 'Flexseal'. I've heard it is actually very good. (Seal leaks!)
4) Steel...nothing wrong with it. Coating the steel after welding would have greatly reduced rust. (also, Seal leaks!) But I will be buying aluminum despite a substantial cost premium. I want the weight savings. Plus, I will use aluminum sheet for siding. Consequently, I need to avoid the galvanic corrosion that would be caused by interfacing steel with aluminum.
5) Wood for structural use - some grades delaminate. But Marine grade would pretty much solve that. (also, Seal leaks!)
6) Wood - for siding. RVs typically use luan, which is a thin, cheap grade of plywood. The better RVs use 'Azdel', a plastic composite that is stronger, lighter, has better acoustic damping and thermal insulating characteristics, does not absorb water, and WILL NOT ROT OR DELAMINATE. It comes in 4' x 8' sheets and is about the same thickness as luan (~0.25 inches)
7) Heating.. externally vented heaters are the safest, most flexible solution. As for standalone units, some people use the 'Olympian Wave'. It puts out just half the BTUs compare to your 'Buddy' heater. This would go a long way towards resolving your overheating issue. They cost about twice as much as a 'Buddy', but are supposedly safer.
P.S. With ANY heater, you MUST have propane, carbon monoxide, and smoke detectors. It's just not worth the risk to omit them.
8) A/C...Including one is really a game changer in terms of weight, space and power consumption. I hope to avoid it. by using multiple internal and external venting fans. The most common RV specific A/C is 13.5 kBTU and requires either a 4 kilowatt generator or a 'soft start' feature, which lowers the generator's requirements to about 3 kilowatts. Using a home unit with about an 8,000 BTU capacity seems interesting. But its longevity while bouncing around on the road is an unknown
9) Toilet..Thanks for revealing what brand NOT to buy and why. I am leaning towards a composting one. Some of these are absurdly expensive, especially considering there are TH-cam videos showing homebuilt units costing just $5.
10) Shower - A 'Solar shower' bag filled with stove heated water and mounted outside is about as simple as it gets. For internal use, adding a small pump, a curtain, and a catch basin (plastic dog washing tub or stronger plastic mixing tray for concrete) will suffice.
11) Foam core construction. There are multiple TH-cam videos of people who have done this. It looks great, but seems very expensive. The best foam core seems to come from the yachting industry and is commonly made in Europe. One person stated that he spent over $5,000 just on the foam core. It also requires application specific glues and sealants, as well a very smooth, precise cutting for joining panels. 'Learning curve' screw-ups might make this a particularly expensive and wasteful project.
I love the editing intercuts you've been doing lately! Glad to see that you're picking up on skills to keep improving the quality of your videos beyond hardware upgrades!
Those propane heaters are no joke. My dad and I have used one of those things in a 20 foot? camper during -20 degree and worse weather during hunting camp and it works temendously well! Our camper even has a fold out tent as a bed and it still keeps us nice and warm!
Such a great video! Well done on the project and you are right, building the project is so much more fun than the end result! I can't wait to see your next school bus project!
Always a good morning when there is a new Aging Wheels box in a truck or not
Great delivery. Very easy to listen to unlike so many who have no place in front of a camera.
Hilarious 😂🤣. The AC afterthought, using PT wood, the toilet, the lack of a shower! The heater!! (I'm melting, I'm freezing!)
You have great delivery! Thanks for the camper ideas!!
Been planning on doing this type of build for 4 years. My travel mode would be a lower profile for the cabover until stopping and raising the cabover bunk area into sleeping mode. The actual box/camper would extend over the tail gate. Haven’t. Developed big enough cahonies and accumulated enough money yet.
Looking forward to your new aerodynamic foam board build. Enjoyed your build series. Safe Travels. 👍👍
I feel like I just won the lottery ! I just picked up more notes of what not to do than I ever did from other camper building videos. Thank you.
Two thoughts about you. You are very funny (without being cheesy) and you are AWFULLY hard on yourself (though it is part of your charm, IMO). BTW, I think your truck camper looks great. Like the way you did the stripes.
I greatly enjoyed this video...thanks.
I appreciate Your Humor about the mistakes
They are really a value to those of us who have nit thought of the errors we WILL MAKE
Thanks
Ken in florida
Projects like this are incredibly fun. Thank you for sharing!!!
You mentioned that people wouldn't care about your camper because this is a car channel. I say that is wrong. I love what you documented so far. I've considered doing what you did for my F15O. Your videos gave me a lot of helpful advice. Please keep making the videos. I'd love to see you make the perfect DIY camper.
I’m so glad that you learned from that project, try and remember when you build that school bus !
I have made some of the same mistakes on my 1st home made camper. Here are a few suggestions to help make it a little better. 1st, you can still cover the plywood with fiberglass to help waterproof the unit. Here is an easy cheap indoor shower solution: Get a COLLAPSABLE trash can, they have a memory wire to keep them stiff and expand to 24" high by 19" diameter. Attach drain hose and let it hang out the door when in use. Drop your shower curtain from the ceiling (hula-hoop works great) and stuff in trash can when showering. Purchase a 1-2 gallon pressurized plant sprayer from Lowes, Home Depot or Walmart ($10 -$15), fill with warm water, pressurize and take a shower. You would be amazed at how little water you need. Install a Diesel Heater, they are small compact, very efficient and have a thermostat. They are around $150 on Amazon. Either add a 1200 watt generator to your tailgate to recharge your battery and run your window A/C (Duromax 1200watt is about $300 and quiet)or use your vehicles alternator to power an inverter and charge your battery or remove the AC unit altogether install a 3" framed size box put a swamp cooler pad with either a small 12v water pump or use the pressurized sprayer to keep it wet and install a ceiling vent fan to suck the air out of the camper forcing air through your home made swamp cooler. Loosen the toilet valve on the top of the tank so that it can vent pressure (we had the same problem here in Colorado do to the mountains). Finally the big mod for arrow dynamics: Remove your steel covering off the front of the camper. Cut a board about 16" wide by 1" thick that matches the angle of the front truck camper. Just add it to the center of the camper and let it add 16" more distance from the center of the camper forward, add plywood covering to top, bottom, left and right side and put your medal sheets back on but now you have a slanted V-Shaped front to the camper making it more air dynamic. Then on the inside cut access holes to those 2 new compartments for more storage. Flat roof is fine, just make sure it's well sealed. Great JOB! Good Luck and make it work for you.
The whole reason I started watching your channel -- wait for it - was your truck camper! As you know, we all make mistakes ;-) (obligatory winking smily face so you wont take offense, hunt me down, and make me buy your camper.)
As you can see from my picture, I do not have a truck camper, because I want to build one. Years in the planning - multiple notepads of details - starting to think my favorite part is the planning. The truck you see to the left has 500 watts of solar (completely covers bed) to run bigger stuff during the day.
What I learned:
Heat while sleeping: heated mattress pad. 90 watts running. Cycles. I use it to toast up the bed before I get in, and turn it on for a short time on high if I get cold. 170WH per night. About 14AH, so well within 50AH capacity even for a couple of nights without charging. Need more testing to get power usage all night at one setting. Mr buddy over heat issue is common. Use mr buddy to warm camper while awake. Smaller mr buddy has same overheat problem - just slower.
Shower: you can’t carry that much water or grey water. Wash hair using sprayer over sink. Sponge bath allows hot water over stove. Cold shower would have effectively been a fast cold sponge bath anyway.
Structure: Marine plywood is lighter, stronger, and wont fall apart when wet - hey, they build boats out of it! $$$. Insulated Box beams instead of frame - walls are frame.
Aerodynamics: Alaskan Camper. Four Wheel Camper. All Terrain Camper. Alaskan version is in my notes.
Toilet: composting with fan exterior venting.
I've watched your truck camper videos from part 1 through to this one and thoroughly laughed and enjoyed the struggle you've shared in building it but what you said about the bus in the end made me fall off my seat, 🤣😆
Your truck camper videos are the reason I subscribed to your channel...and part of the reason I’m building my own truck camper.
"The perfect aerodynamic form is non existence."
LOL
THANKS for the warnings. Been looking at my dually and dreaming of doing a bunch of mistakes.
Well I am glad I watched you build videos. I wanted to build a truck camper for my truck and see the US now that I retired. You changed my mind. I would never build it aerodynamic enough to make good fuel mileage. Thanks, I will buy a small trailer and tow it, park it, and then drive the truck when need be.
Laminated foam with fiberglass or Aluminum on outside/inside.
I did a curved wall in a boat and used 6-1/2" foam pieces glued and fiberglass on one side and 3/8" x 4 wood glued on.
Make sure you do NOT use Styrofoam and never use one part spray foam in a can, it's absorbant, sucks up water like a sponge.
The foam you need will not be cheap crap, it's a bit pricey but glue melts Styrofoam as does many paints.
There's open cell and closed cell and I always get them confused but whichever Styrofoam is, you need the other one.
1) Outside showers suck. Even in the desert, after the sun goes down, the wind comes up at it gets cold!
2) A freind of mine has one of those 4WD Ford van conversions, and he fit a shower/toilet into that.
3) AW has a sense of humor and is able to explain things so well it would be a crime against humanity if he did not do a SCHOOL BUS PROJECT.
Having a project can do that to people. Sometimes its not finishing it that gives fulfillment, but the effort of spending the time and working on it. I think your camper project looks great, shame about the problems you've found with it though. I have an older, factory made camper myself, its smaller, ya has a few problems too, but I love it. Look on the bright side, what you learned from building your camper, and hopefully some tips from your viewers here, can help go towards making your next project better. Wish you all the best on it.
Lol I'm building a wood on right now. However I'm going to put it on a trailer. Thank you for the mess ups you made. Because I'm doing them all. So now I will make changes.
Appreciate the retrospective on your home built camper!
I've been thinking about weight, the aero aspect of such builds, and construction materials.
Wood is one of the most easy materials to work with but you talking about just how receptive it is to moisture a hard lesson for you but valuable for those considering taking on such a project. Which might be me!
Thanks for your efforts as well as putting out this video.
You could use a timer to control your heater. Also, I subscribed because of your camper videos...
How is a timer going to start a propane heater ? Or an electric heater, that would require a large, noisy generator which equals no sleep
@@carllarsen6234 Some heaters come set up already with an electronic igniter. In my opinion the timer and the igniter style heater is the way to go if you can't find one that operates on a thermostat. Where there's a will there's a way (but I much rather have the will with money attached. LOL )
OMG dude...You had me cracking up through the entire video!!! Awesome...and I actually like your camper. Needs a few mods but it's not bad for the first one. About 10 years ago I started building a big slide in camper for my truck (considerably bigger than your little twinky one here...and I had a much bigger, more seriously built F-350 with a built 7.3 Liter to boot). I got it almost all framed in and while I was at work we had a huge, massive high powered wind storm come through that toppled it end over end across my yard and when I got home SPLINTERS from my awesome camper covered both the yard and the street!!! Guess I should have anchored it down huh? LOL. So...not bad. It was fun and very entertaining.
You made me smile. Glad you had interesting days working on the camper.
Hahaha I love this guy. He has great comic timing, has some good jokes, and on top of that made an informative and genuinely educational video. Imma have to watch more of this.
It's beautiful though. I think ya did great. I would love to have one of those
I wished that you would have made plans, and then researched them, and tested them out before building.
Something as simple as ventilation isn't as simple as cold air in and hot air out. It also is important to have the air go through the right places. For my van, I could blow air normally, but it doesn't cool off as well as blowing air at the windows. I'm confident that it is science, but I don't fully understand it. Even on a hot day, it feels like air conditioning.
It would have been better to get a used camper, and then overhaul it, in hopes of learning what works and what doesn't.
That being said, I have so much respect for you, because you lived life, while building that. Most people never get to that point.
In my neck of the words, there are 2 free campers, which I thought would be neat to rebuild, but I am not so sure anymore. Therefore, I appreciate you sharing your experiences, and I appreciate the opportunity to live vicariously through you.
Just a thought. . . a sheet folded like a taco shell tucked inside a downy comforter also folded like a taco shell, covered with a wool quilt will keep you warm down to 17 degrees without a heater at all in your camper. Of course, you would have to sleep nude so your body heat will warm up the space in the downy comforter, but it works! Then in the morning, cut on your heater for 10 or 15 minutes to warm up the place before you get out of bed.
I use my Tahoe as a makeshift RV a few times a year, the back seat folded down gives room for a twin air mattress, wife and I have shared it easily before.
A school bus? Lap of luxury!
Bus is what you wanted in the first place! I have been contemplating a similar design for my S10, (have canopy shell right now). Good to see your summery. I was thinking more of using thin ply and sheet metal over a 2X2 wood frame and keeping it just a canopy since my state make us license a slide-in camper as a separate vehicle, (like a trailer).
An enclosed trailer is a better platform
In the summer of 2011, after I finished grade 7, I built myself a little trailer to pull behind my quad. The floor is 5’x7’ and the roof is 5’x8’ so I have a small 1’ tall overhang I used as a shelf. It’s made entirely out of wood and screws with a 1.5” hitch and two wheelbarrow wheels. No insulation, however. For waterproofing on the roof, I bought a gallon can of tar and painted it on (as well as made a mess all over my parents’ driveway). I spent a couple cold nights in it before I bought a small heater for it; I’d then only “camp” no more than an extension cord’s length away from the house so I could use the heater 😂 The following year, I ran some electrical so I could have a duplex outlet at the back and another duplex outlet at the front so I could plug in my phone, heater, and second-hand portable B&W analog TV - I left a small pigtail and plug under the trailer to plug it into an extension cord still. That year, I also added tin to the top with a slope so that water could find a way off the roof instead of leaking in through the cracks. I think I spent one more night in it after that and now the poor old thing sits rotting at the back of my parents’ property.
I agree with what you said though: the most fun part was actually building it. I learned a lot from my trailer and, since I got my first truck, I’ve been planning out how to build a camper for it. Maybe once I’m out of college, I’ll finally get to build myself a little camper using what I learned from my trailer as well as what I learned from this video! Thank you for the advice haha :)
Nice Camper. Looks good inside and out, and seems usable.
Thank you for your very entertaining trucker camper build series. I am looking forward to the school bus build!
You did a good job and learned a lot. I call that a successful build. It was warm enough to paint your Saab bonnet yesterday.
I, too, call it a success and don't regret building it at all.
The Saab hood was painted, but there was a bit of an issue that you'll see in the coming month.
@@agingwheels Woo Hoo! Awesome. I have been playing with my own blue Saab.
The multiplicity of you is cool! I've had two dreams like that. In the first l was giving myself advice. In the second the two of us were fighting. The fight continued until we were exhausted. So l woke up😒
nice to hear your honest thoughts and reflecting view on this great project!
it would be fun if you made another one
It would be very “fun” for him
@@dipie197 And even funner for us! LOL :)
even though its not about the car the explanation of the toilet problem made this totally worth it
Thanks for honesty! Next project put more effort into research beforehand
I watched all of the videos for this build...and mainly if was due to how darn funny you are! But, I learned a lot about what not to do if I ever decide to build a truck camper!
I've found that freeing up the engine with better intake & exhaust improves the gas mileage always. Worked for me every time. Probably it would not make a massive difference in this case... but maybe at least the hills would be easier to climb.
Don't worry I'll find another even better school bus for you (please like me)
I like you :)
Aww thanks
TerraCar very much like :)
The Wave 3 catalytic heater would be a nice choice for reduced moisture and thermostatically controlled heat. It takes up space, but not to much, space through the tank would take some extra. Consider putting in a solenoid so you can have the alternator charge your house battery.
Honesty... it is the best policy. Love the video. Thank you for all the info.
I found your channel because of this camper. Love the can do attitude.
Its still pretty nice especially for a home build im impressed
More Videos!
These are wonderful!
Funny, clean, big words. Bad words deleted.
Informative.
Just a few suggestions.
The frame rusting. consider getting the entire exterior professionally coated in truck bed liner.
The heater. If you pull the case off the heater you may be able to add a needle valve with compression fittings to the propane line.
The shower. mount an 8 foot length of 4" abs pipe to the side of the camper, add caps at both ends, add a schrader valve so you can add pressure and a ball valve with a garden hose connection for a sprayer.
The aerodynamics. I'd guess your problem is not at the front but at the back. consider adding 2 pieces of plywood the are hinged at the sides of the camper and meet to form a triangle at least a couple feet past the tailgate.
I have some ideas for your camper, I hope you see them.
- There might be A/Cs available that use propane for cooling like some camper refrigerators. I also once heard from a boy scout about a refrigerator they built with charcoal soaked with water. Neither electricity nor gas needed, only sun light. Maybe that principle can be used for cooling your camper?
- How about a urine-diverting dry toilet (UDDT) instead of the chemical toilet? (see Wikipedia) It’s nearly odour-free because ammoniac only develops when urine and faeces are mixed together.
- Your poor gas mileage is a problem of drag. The drag force Fd = ½ * rho * v² * Cd * A (with rho: density of the fluid, v: speed of the object relative to the fluid, A: cross sectional area and Cd: drag coefficient) which causes the higher fuel consumption, can in your case be reduced by a) driving more slowly and b) a smaller drag coefficient. For a), if you reduce speed to 70% your additional fuel consumption due to the camper is theoretically halved. So maybe just go 50 mph instead of 70 mph. For b), to improve Cd you should close the gap between the cab roof and the camper. That gap is killing your gas mileage! You could add panels at the sides of the cab to smooth out the transition from cab to camper. Maybe an air deflector on the roof of the cab can help with a rounder shape than the front of the camper, perhaps up to the roof of the camper to cover the horizontal edges on the slope as well.
Trust me, I’m an engineer! - Okay, I’m an electrical engineer, but fluid dynamics is basic physics, right?
I forgot to mention a round over on the rear edges to reduce Cd.
Your suggestion of adding a roof-top air deflector to bridge the jump in height from the cab to the camper (similar to what you see on HGVs) would certainly help with the fuel consumption.
You are one funny focker! Thank you for the excellent advice, it is quite illuminating indeed.👍🏽
Hilarious! Thanks for the suggestions. One thought for the heater is to, wait for it.... crack open a window! Ha ha ha. My one question is why is the cabover so short? Great reminder on the roof slope. Just curious about why you didn't add camper jacks? I've been mulling building a slide-in, this helps tons! Thanks!
School bus? Yeah go for it, I have seen some awesome conversions, watching you take that on would be way cool!
Greatest quote of 2018: wood absorbs water, that what wood do
LOL... You crack me up. Thank you for going over this learning experience.. Learned a lot. Cheers!
🤣 You're definitely funny.....special thanks for this last video of your camper built because it has inspired me again, it makes a lot of sense so thank you for real. My first choice was to built something like a pop up for the air dynamics (gas money) and you mentioned the Foam Board too that honestly I didn't consider it but it's a must, best wishes!!
Lessons learned projects Truck/camper shell built handmade /homework on papers looks good ,not better but closed enough. Thank You.
I liked your video, and the information you gave on your camper was good.thanks...nice camper...
You did a great job. There’s no way I could’ve come up with that.
The problem with a school bus is finding a place to park it, while going on travel. Most places don't like school buses and don't allow them, however you can park a truck camper everywhere (there is a FB group for converting school buses into tiny houses). I just started researching and want to build a truck camper (the new ones are very expensive). I already built a 16' tiny home (~ 8000 LB) on a trailer and came to the conclusion that I like to have something smaller and easier for traveling, but at the same time I like to have all the comforts and I don't know if that would be possible in a truck camper (smaller space). Thanks for the information you provided in your video.
I know you are now working on the Bus. If you were to build another truck camper or modify that one I have two suggestions. One would be to find an old pop-up camper and use the roof mechanism to build a raisable roof. That way you can keep the top pretty much flat on top of the F-150. The second thing is to look into a diesel heater. They have thermostats and take up a small amount of space. Also perfect option for the bus build.
Cool house:) we just built our own toilet🤷🏼♀️ it definitely works a lot better lol.
We definitely have a large list of things we would do differently if there is ever a second build too.
Being British, I really like the way you use British words like knackered, bloody and wee in their correct context. Are you of British extraction or simply an Anglophile?
JS: He's probably a PBS watcher!!
@@webbtrekker534 Or years of Clarkson, May, and Hammond on Top Gear and The Grand Tour...
I won't share what images "British extraction" brought to mind........but they weren't pretty
Truck selection could also help, a standard cab with an 8' bed would give you loads of depth and you could make the box with a lift roof and soft sides like the pop-up type campers. Some aftermarket overland companies are using this style now -- but oh the $$$$ -- even a Super Cab would give you a bit more depth. A buddy of mine has an F150 supercrew like yours -- he sleeps in the back of the cab on an inflatable, it's limo big back there. I don't know what kind of winter solutions he has as I was with him on the Gulf Coast and it was tropical hot the whole time. I have a 22-year-old Tacoma xtra cab. I bring a tent. Thanks for this -- great presentation, good camera work and cool argument with yourself in the beginning.
Petition for Truck Camper Part 2!!!!
Maybe you could do a gofundme or patreon or something for it. It's always entertaining and it's a great thing that you aren't afraid to show what went wrong with your builds.
Hi handsome great tips. Im grading you , A- for your list of improvements.😊
I just wanted to say mad props for unveiling the banner on Tavarish video. Respect. It worked. I subbed because of it.
Years ago a friend took the wheels, axle, and hitch assembly off a fold out/pop up camper, turned it sideways and set it in the back of his short bed 1955 Ford F-100. Closed the camper measured 4'x4' leaving him 2' feet available in his truck bed for gear. Open it measured 4'x7'. When closed you could still see over it when looking through the back window of the truck cab. He mostly used it for hunting, allowing him to spend the night where the deer would be the next morning.
Two people could easily pick it up and slide it in and out of the truck.
I'm thinking that if I were going to build a truck camper I'd look really hard at the old fold out campers and designing something like that.
As for a toilet? Put plastic bags in one of these: blob:null/fd5ee27e-0894-4a7e-bb8b-c05c9cfaf6ff and spend your money on the tent shower and portable solar hot water heater.
Love it. Projects like that become more of a personal challenge than anything. A school bus will be awesome, but your mileage might be even worse than the truck with the camper and a trailer. What about attaching a lightweight fiberglass camper like an old Hunter Compact II on top of a longer car trailer... they weighed less than 1k lbs and were only about 10-13' long. Fixed to the front of a longer car trailer it might give you the aerodynamics and functionality you are looking for without much hassle. Just an idea...
Love your sense of humor and honesty. That's pretty hard to find :)
Double alternator kit on the engine, add a second inverter and a bigger battery. Run a primary wire and ground wire accessible by one of the tie down holes. Idle the truck at night and bingo bongo ez ac.
However...as truck campers are interesting but expensive, and being that you have both construction and comunication skills, I encourage you to go ahead and develop this project, it is very very interesting! My thoughts: pop up, fiberglass covering once finished, removable solar panels, a-liner inspired expand mechanism. Thanks for sharing your great build!
I use a small 900 watt , (700 watt continuous), propane powered generator to run the A/C when cloudy or at night. I fit 920 watts of solar on the roof of a van using 160 watt panels. Here in Southern Nevada it will run the A/C from about 10 am to 5 pm in the summer.
The small Wave propane heater on low puts out about 1,000 BTU. Coleman does make small propane heaters as well. Some people use a propane camp stove for heat. I took the top glass part of a small kerosene heater and put it on top of a propane burner. It is actually a catalytic converter to make sure of more complete combustion.
I hear you about the build is more fun than the use of it. There was a guy in San Leandro Ca. that must have spent 20 years building a sailboat next to his house. I don't think the boat will ever go anywhere but the dream lives on!
For a warm shower get a garden sprayer, paint it black and put a spray nozzle on it like you have for toilet flushing. Then set it in the sun with a clear cover over it like a larger plastic bag. The sun will heat the bottle, but any wind will cool it. The outer cover acts as a green house. I shower on less than a gallon of water.
200w panels the size of most 150-160w plus made in US with 25yr warranty from Hightec $185/shipped www.ebay.com/itm/1-200-Watt-12-Volt-Battery-Charger-Solar-Panel-Off-Grid-RV-Boat-200-watt-total/263697452462?hash=item3d6597cdae%3Ag%3AJdEAAOSwp7tadnMw%3Asc%3AFedExHomeDelivery%2153704%21US%21-1&fbclid=IwAR22j-XWElOSLK6Ic-_k1HeZiCki8zhT-TzHwhPZx8hb-B0AGSfXk1OxyPY&redirect=mobile
I like the sprayer idea to clean the toilet!!! ah- you don’t use the same bedit sprayer for dishes - right?
Oops! Bidet.
The toilet doubles as a sink! Haha
Should've used duraplast
They have those small portable showers you can pick up. Based on what you get, you can get some really good ones.