DIY FLATBED POPUP CAMPER BUILD, ALL HELP AND ADVICE APPRECIATED

So I bought Ute Ltd tray a while back with intent to slap a camper on it, and after looking around for campers that will work, I gave up my search. older four wheel campers and new ones are way too much $$$ and with a flatbed, most of the slide in vintage style don't work out properly. So here I am starting a custom build. Take in mind while looking at my pics , I've never attempted a camper build before but I ain't scared haha. I got a good start on sketchup trying to measure and lay it all out to fit right on the bed. My plan is to have gas struts pop the roof up with soft sides with windows like a four wheel camper. I want to do raw aluminum sheets for siding or the diamond stamped vintage style siding to match the aluminum flatbed, can't decide that yet. I am currently trying to wrap my head around water tight sealing the roof piece to the main camper piece on top. If anyone has pics of how that channel up there looks or best way to seal pop up top on top rails , I'd happily appreciate any advice or help with that. Also , you aren't going to hurt my feelings if you have alot of experience with this type of stuff, I won't be butthurt if you say something won't work. Thanks in advance and I will update on here the further I get. Cheers boys!

 

I have no input other than keep weight in mind and that this is sick because campers are waaaaaay too much $$$ for new or used.

 

What's your best guess on total weight when finished and what have you/will you do to address payload capacity?

 

Suggest to take the truck without wood to a scale. Find out what it weighs as it sits, this is the Empty Weight or Unloaded Weight (UW).
Look at the sticker inside the Driver's door for the GVWR of the truck.

Subtract the UW from the GVWR to understand how much weight your build & gear can be. Please note, you need to allow for objects that go into the camper, Ie; food, water, bedding, pots/pans, dishes, silverware, cooking tools.......

Most Tacomas only have about 1000 lb cargo capacity. You may have a small gain with the flat bed replacing the standard bed.

 

Ute Ltd's website traffic just tripled

 

Yeh man I went to the dump the other day and weighed empty and truck was 4700lbs , My door sticker says 5500lbs max so I’m hoping to keep the camper around 1000 or less. I’m also going to keep the camper pretty primitive (lights with drop cord, minimal cabinet with sink and water bottle drip for sink, and cooler for fridge, camping propane grill etc) So hopefully I can stay within or close over 5500 total. I also bought some firestone airbags for helper springs so hopefully it’ll be ok

 

Hoping for 1000lbs or less , but I did buy some Firestone airbags for rear I’ll be slapping them on soon.

 

IMHO. You will be well over the 5500 lb GVWR.

2x4 construction is not light weight. You would actually have more strength and less weight using aluminum tubing. Round or Rectangular.

Good Luck.

 

Man I totally agree I just don’t weld and didn’t want to have to take all that to my friends back and forth, But you def are right , that was my first idea. I wanted to try and pop rivot and use those cheap alum welding sticks but...

 

Wood is an interesting choice.

A friend of mine just finished his aluminum camper on a F250 flat bed.

The strength, durability, and weight all seem better than wood construction.

 

You could bolt it together. Use washers and Nylock type nuts. The washer will provide better spread of the bolt load and the Nylocks will remain tight while resisting vibrations.

Wood will be heavy. Manufactured campers don't use wood for structure.

 

You can use "L" and "T" brackets to make the joints flat.

 

echo what others have said regarding wood, its going to be heavy af

whichever way you go, wood or alum, pay close attention to the cantilever over the cab. I bandied around doing a diy build but didnt have the time for it, but that was something that came up repeatedly. For every inch you go out on that cantilever, the amount of stress on those side rail pieces goes up dramatically. Similar to a cantilever deck build, you have to go in something like 3' for every 1' of cantilever'd deck (or something ridiculous like that, depending on joist)

 

Don’t know how expensive as compared to the campers you priced up but google “80/20 Camper”. It’s got to weigh less than 2x4s and it’ll be many times stronger

Also:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/80-20-wedge-camper-build-on-a-modified-service-body.702825/

Good luck

 

Something like this so you can use the entire length of the vehicle

 

You might want to take a hole saw and start putting in some ‘lightening holes’ or making some ‘trusses’…

 

Haha racing holes

 

or…



just keep buying gas to haul your logs around.

 

Look into SIPs Structure Insulated Panels. They are super strong and light weight.

Luan plywood- rigid foam insulation- Luan plywood.

I built a sample section of 2’*4’ with only sandwich glued Luan and Insulation and it had almost no bend when 150lbs were placed in the center. A long time ago I was going to build a little slide in personal camper and should have built it out of SIPs…

 

reviving old thread.. how did this come out? any follow up pics or youtube videos ?? instagram ?