I have gotten so many questions about my expedition style off road camper, that I thought I would share the build process. I love to travel and explore the rugged backcountry of the western united states. After years of tent camping and sleeping in the bed of my truck, I wanted something more functional. I researched teardrop style and small campers and over the course of two years I put together this design. I wanted something I could hook up to and go, with a comfortable sleeping area, and storage for food and water. I also wanted it to have its own power source, for recharging electronic devices, camera batteries, and powering LED lighting while camping at night. I mig welded together a thin walled 1’ square tube frame, and covered it with mid gauge aluminum sheet with 1” poly insulation in the walls. the idea being to make it as lightweight as possible while rugged enough to not warp or dent easily. It is powered by a solar panel on the roof and has a 304 amp hour battery bank under the floor. The frame sits on toyota leaf springs and shocks. I built it in 3 weeks before leaving on a road trip up the pacific coast in 2017. So far so good. it pulls great and i’ve taken it some rough places with no issues. it is a work in progress. In the near future when time allows, I’m going to pull the internal paneling out and run more low voltage wiring for LED lighting, USB charging ports, and add interior shelving, etc. I also will be fabricating a swing out rear bumper to carry propane and other items. I have a Camp Chef triton on demand propane water heater that will go inside of a pelican case on the side for hot showers, and I’ll be adding a roof rack made from 10/80 aluminum channel.
