We live in a veritable Cambrian Explosion of camping options, ranging from a tarp on the ground to multi-million dollar RVs. Somewhere around the middle is the pop-up truck camper, but [Further Fabrication] wanted to build his own.
As is often the case, he saw the cool pop-up truck campers on the market, but balked at the cost. To make matters worse, the options out there weren’t really available in his country. After getting a solid set of measurements from the truck and some materials, he set to work.
The most interesting part of this build is probably the aluminum/plywood sandwich [Further Fabrication] chose for building the main structure of the camper shell. While many would’ve chosen a tubing space frame for the build, he decided to sandwich two layers of plywood around plywood beams and large rectangular aluminum tubing. These were affixed with a combination of construction adhesive and screws to create a lightweight yet sturdy enclosure.
The tent portion uses a 600-denier PVC-coated waterproof polyester fabric, sewn with nice YKK zippers, and features large windows with screens for excellent ventilation. The roof consists of two sections of aluminum composite sandwich, and the side panels were made from cutoffs of the roof material. Instead of the standard cam-lock used on most camper shells, [Further Fabrication] chose a solenoid-actuated system and more conventional grab handles.
We’ve covered campers several times, including a solar-powered RV, a truck camper that expands lengthwise rather than up, and several bike-based campers.
Tangentially related, I recall watching a video investigating whether it was possible to find a roof bar mounted tent that wouldn’t exceed recommended weight limits of consumer grade cars and vans.
The takeaway was that although it was possible to get a platform and tent that kept within some of the more generous weight limits, even a small person alone would exceed the total limit of most roof bars.
One salient point that the presenter made though, was that the weight spec didn’t mention static or dynamic loads, so you’d probably be alright as long as you didn’t try driving around while the tent was occupied haha!
Also might be risky for multiple occupants of the tent to move around too vigorously while stationary. Dented roof and bent upper door frame is gonna be a hard one to explain to insurance!
your driving a truck. what do you mean, less??
I don’t understand the benefit of a pop up tent type of deal. I’m an avid watcher of DIY mobile/vehicular camping setups on YouTube (i hate travelling but i love camping and diy so this genre scratches my itch perfectly), this one makes the least sense. The pop up tent doesn’t protect you from heavy winds, snow or allow you to have drawers or other luxuries. No solar panel on top either
I really think a simple plywood wall box on the back of the pickup would be an infinitely better camping setup. Make it taller for more storage space, put solar panels for power, maybe a sink for doing the dishes. I see people on YouTube mounting small TVs inside as well.
The tent idea is silly. Why not have a normal tent at that point
Why not have a normal tent? Don’t have to pitch/unpitch it, you’re off the soil, it’s going to be more robust/move less w/o the need for pegs, it’s more secure since it’s lockable. That’s off hand from someone who doesn’t like camping, so I’m sure I’m missing some advantages. And I’m not an expert on tent prices, but for something of this gauge, is probably not more expensive. Also it’s completely removable from what I can see and surprisingly seems to improve mileage a tiny bit.
The thing I agree with and we may be wrong is how well it’d fare to heavy wind.
Plywood box wouldn’t allow the same height, and if it did, then surely your mileage will be greatly affected. Also you’d be the height of a van, so higher tolls road charges and restricted access to some car parks (e.g. multi-storey)? And again certainly not a camping expert here, but surely solar panels and sink are not incompatible with this design.