WV native living in New England

[Turtleslaw]

Hello!

I've been perusing this site for a few days, and thought I'd finally join up. A little about me: I have dreamed of building a skoolie since I was 9 years old and found an old school bus in my dad's hayfield. (yes, I know this isn't a skoolie forum, I'm getting there ;) ) I've been investigating builds for skoolies for about 4 years now, and am well-versed in the issues that are brought on by building one.

On the flip side, my son aged out of Boy Scouts, but he and my husband still go hiking and camping all the time as if my son were still in it. We were discussing an upcoming trip, and my son was making his usual complaints about the stuff that annoys him about camping, when it dawned on me: I could build a camper for him and try out the theoreticals I've learned over the last 4 years of skoolie dreams, and get a little experience in the insane ideas I have. My husband and son thought it was a great idea to be my guinea pigs, so here I am.

We bought an old popup camper (for $200!!) about 3 weeks ago. Unfortunately the day we bought it, it was pouring the rain, and sat in our driveway for a full week before it stopped. But the last two weeks have been my son and I tearing it down to the frame - which is why we bought the popup (frames are expensive, and I don't know how to weld yet). Turns out the lifting mechanism for the popup is in pristine condition, so I've gotten several ideas on how to build this out as a sort of pop-up. My CR-V can only tow a max of 1500lbs, so I plan to build a foamie on top of this old camper frame to keep it as light as possible. It needs to sleep 4 adults, and it will have a kitchen, along with solar (and possibly wind, if I can get the hybrid power pulled off). If I can, I'm going to attempt to put in a bathroom, but my son and husband assure me it won't be necessary. (I still want to try though - but we'll see.)

When I say I have crazy ideas, I mean it. I'm a creative person, and I love designing and building things (I designed and built our kitchen, our deck, and most of the furniture in my house). I got a 3D printer a few years back, and I'm designing stuff to print to go in this camper. My son has an interesting request - he loves the Fallout games, specifically New Vegas, and he wants the camper to look like it belongs in the games. So Sunset Sarsaparilla spare-tire cover, here we come!

Hopefully I'll see you all soon. :)

[pchast]

Welcome! Interested to see your innovations in the build.

You need to keep a tight hand on the weight of things as
you design. Its real easy to have the weight balloon up
until You need a larger tow vehicle.