Compact family camper Build - Always something...

[ryuandwings]

Thanks to everybody posting their build process here, I have learned a lot about building a camper. Off course I still have a lot more to learn. I have been working and concentrating getting my camper built and haven't really thought much about posting my process here since I was thinking there are probably not anything to learn from my build. Well, since I picked up little things from many different builds, there may be something for someone that my build can show.

So, first these are the concept and things I would like to accomplish with my camper.
1) Large enough for family of 4( 2 adults and 2 kids, right now 4 and 1)
2) Small enough to keep it in the garage. This means 5x12. That is full length of the trailer in my garage workshop.
3) AC. I once made a mistake of taking my wife to tent camping in July in Florida. Needless to say she is uneasy about camping...
4) Kitchen with oven for my wife. (I guess it is really for me )
5) Right now, TV is Subaru Outback so it needs to be towable by this.

There are many more wants, but these are the main musts.

I started my journey in April 2013, so I have made some progress in last almost one year.

Here are some highlights.
These are my trailer build photos.






These are some of work photos from floor through walls.










These are photos of front and rear cabin cabinet and kitchen cabinet.








These are photos of electrical stuff.











Photos of hatch and tongue box and to the current.







I took a lot more photos, but these should show you what I went through last year.

Thank you for looking.

Ryu

[wagondude]

Very nice.

[Gunguy05]

Looks like you are "almost there"! Looking great. We are in almost the same boat as you (kid wise), almost 5 and 1 1/2. We are nearing sawdust phase.

Post plenty of pics!

Good luck and keep us posted!

[ryuandwings]

Very nice.

Thank you Bill.

Looks like you are "almost there"! Looking great. We are in almost the same boat as you (kid wise), almost 5 and 1 1/2. We are nearing sawdust phase.

Post plenty of pics!

Good luck and keep us posted!

Thank you Brian. I am wondering how long "almost" will last.
I was hoping to be campable by this spring, but that is not going to happen. It always takes longer than you think.

I will try to show more details of my build from now on.

[KCStudly]

You are doing some very nice work there.

What is this?


At first I thought it was storage bins instead of cabinets, but on second look, from the scale of the clamps I can see it is smaller.

The overlapping panels over frames make a nice modern look for bins, pull out open shelf slides, or even hinged doors.

[ryuandwings]

Thank you, KC.

The photo you are asking is part of the raceway in the rear cabinet of the cabin.
This is the current state of the same area.

This is the middle section of the cabinet, and there will be place for TV (I don't really want it, but traveling with small kids that may be handy ) the center piece of wood you see is a support for the TV mount. Left side will be outlets for 12v and right side is for 110v. The bottom area is for built-in PC, if I ever get to that point. Till all of these multimedia are installed, that will remain as a extra storage space.

I don't know what I will want in the future, so trying to provide spaces for many of the "wants" now.

Thank you again for your interest. If you see any other "why did he do that?", please ask and I will try to explain at least what I was trying to do at that point.

[ryuandwings]

I was able to work on my camper after work tonight for a few hours. I didn't get to do all I had planned, but progress is progress.
I have been working around tongue box and today, I cut a hole through the front cabinet and made a connection between cabin and tongue box. This is to locale my AC. Back of AC unit will be in upper portion of tongue box and it's hatch will be opened to use the AC. It's kinda sound easy when I write this, but emotionally, it was hard to cut a hole in a perfectly fine front cabinet. I thought about changing the plan to avoid the hole, but at the end, I pressed on.

It is hard to see, but I first drilled 4 holes from inside to locate corners.

Here is a close up. There is no turning back, now.

Went to tongue side and connected holes to draw cut lines. Using my oscillating multi-tool, I was able to cut it out.

Then used router and flush trim bit to clean it up.

When I actually done it, it wasn't too bad.

Next was to cut out a shelf piece. This is where AC will sit and also divide tongue box into 2 compartments. Top part will be for AC and a hatch. Bottom part will be a storage space.




If am able to work more this weekend, I may be able to finish up the tongue box framing.

[KCStudly]

Looking good!

[ryuandwings]

Looking good!

Thanks, but this weekend was one of those that feels like I didn't accomplished much even though I worked many hours.

I did managed to somewhat complete bottom part of the tongue box.

I was working on the top portion where AC will be mounted, and after many hours of trying and thinking, I basically concluded I need to buy the AC unit to finish this part. I have been searching for dimensional information on web, but I just can't go any further without exact dimensions. There may be some things I have to redo once I get the unit...

Another setback was the galley hatch.
I had one built, but it was not square. I thought about somehow leaving it like I had it and tweak other parts to make it work, but I just could not do it. I spent this much time and energy getting this far and I just could not leave something I may regret in the future.
So, I started taking hatch apart. I disassembled back to ribs and top and bottom frame. I started to revised corners to get it back to square and fit the galley opening. I don't have it completed, but I feel like I'm getting closer.
Maybe I can spend some time after work this week getting the hatch back together since there are more daylight in evening.

[SLUG36]

Great looking build. I would have to agree about waiting to have the AC unit in hand before finishing the enclosure.

[ryuandwings]

Great looking build. I would have to agree about waiting to have the AC unit in hand before finishing the enclosure.

Thank you. Yeah, that part is on hold till at least I can figure out what to do. It's not like that's the only thing I need to work on.

I really don't have much time to work on the camper on Monday, so there are not much to show. But mail man dropped off some small item today.
I had purchased this while back knowing bulb will be changed to LED. http://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Lights/Optronics/IL91CB.html
I ordered LED replacement bulb from Amazon, but it was shipped from China. It took 2 weeks to get here.
Anyway, it finally arrived and I can test the bulb to see if I can order more or search for new one.

Here is the shot of two bulb. LED is warm white so should not be the blue-white stuff.

Now the comparison. There is nothing scientific about this and the camera is just a smartphone, so it may not even show correctly. Left is the original incandescent bulb and right is new LED.


You can see LED is brighter and that shows more of surroundings. LED is whiter in the photo, but actually incandescent bulb is too orangey to me.

This is how it looks in the camper. I plan to have two fixtures in the cabin, obviously mounted on ceiling.

I'm thinking that's not bad. I like the color temperature of LED. I will probably use the same fixture with LED in the galley also.

Here is another item I received. This is quick disconnect tie-down anchor. I will be mounting this on the ceiling to hung part of kids bunk bed.


Well, that's all for today. Hopefully I will have more to report later this week.

[PKCSPT]

Here is what I learned, you know your way around a work shop. Looks good

[ryuandwings]

Here is what I learned, you know your way around a work shop. Looks good

I can find most of the big tools, but I definitely don't my way around the shop.
I need to clean it up, but I got everything scattered. I probably spend at least 30 minutes looking for tape measure and pencil.

When I was testing LED bulb, I tripped and dropped the light fixture. Luckily, I didn't break anything.

[absolutsnwbrdr]

Quality build! You do some nice work! Are you building from drawings or just winging it? I noticed the profile template was printed and pieced together, so I'm assuming you've put in some computer time prior to building?

[ryuandwings]

Quality build! You do some nice work!

Thank you.

Are you building from drawings or just winging it?

I don't have any "bought" plan, but did plan through my build. So to answer your question, I am building from drawings, but once it started I am winging this. I design buildings everyday, so design process was somewhat close to what I normally do. I had to shrink everything down to 5x10. I needed to learn teardrop specific items, like how to design hatch.

I noticed the profile template was printed and pieced together, so I'm assuming you've put in some computer time prior to building?

I work in building design and construction industry so access to the computer and large format plotter may be easier that most of you. (off course don't tell that to my boss! )
I did use computer to do my design, which is a collection of different teardrop designs in here to fit my needs, but I ended up using the free version of SketchUp the most. CAD I use at work is in a way too precise and accurate and not really good to do conceptual designs. To print out the profile, I did transferred the SketchUp design into CAD so that I can print to a scale.