Green Lake, BC

Design Criteria

There were a few things that we wanted when we went camping, but the main thing was to be able to stay dry as we were very tired of tenting and the rain. It had to be large enough to get out of the rain but not too large for the truck to handle it.

Planning Stage

The planning stage consisted of looking on the RV lots for a suitable style. There weren’t a lot of campers to choose from, but we did find one that had potential. There were a lot of things that we didn’t like about it and one of the things was the colour and type of materials used inside.

We went with tape measure and paper in hand to get some rough measurements. We then started putting the measurements and changes to paper. The camper was to be 6 feet in length to fit inside the box and be able to close the tailgate. The overall width was to be 6 feet 2 inches outside and about 5 feet high. I am 6 feet tall and I found the 6 foot inside space to be comfortable for sleeping. A small overhead bunk which consisted of a large fold down door to sleep a third person. It didn’t work very good and we only had the third person sleep inside once, as it was just a little too cramped. It did provide very good storage space. We also had a small ice box, clothes closet, portable camp stove cupboard, a couple of other cupboards for dishes and cooking utensils. The table folds flat and the 4 inch foam seat cushions infold to form the bed.

Building

The building was fun and it did go quite quickly considering that I hadn’t built anything quite like this. A friend of mine was also building one so it went very smoothly as any problems which cropped up were easily taken care of by putting our two heads together.

As we go through the description for the materials and design, keep in mind that I was trying to keep the weight down but still keep it strong. We were doing quite a bit of back country travel so strength was still a consideration. I also did not have any design background and I only did things that seemed logical for strength. The sizes for the frame structures are nominal sizes from regular grade kiln dried spruce lumber (2×2 is actually 1 1/2 x 1 1/2, etc). I tried to follow the old race car builders theory that you don’t look for 1 place to cut 100 pounds, but to look for 100 places to cut 1 pound.

The floor and lower sides consisted of 1/2 spruce plywood sheathing over a 2×2 spruce floor frame. The sides are made from 1×2 spruce (1×4 ripped in half). The frame was laid out on the garage floor and hand stapled together. Nothing fancy, just butt joints and no glue. The strength comes from the plywood walls. The walls are 1/8 inch wall panelling plywood with a paper oak finish. The door skin was glued to the frame and aluminum nails used to hold it together while it set.  Although each piece by itself is flimsy, when all of the walls and roof were all screwed together it was surprising how stiff it became.

On the test fit, we used my friends truck to get an idea of how everything was going together. You might even notice the clamps that are actually holding the walls together!

The next picture shows the roof upside down on the floor just before the being put into its final position. It is made up of 1×4 with the idea of having it strong to carry stuff on top. The two boxed parts are for vents.

The wiring came next and included 12v side clearance lights, auxiliary backup lights, back door light, 2 interior ceiling lights and 2 bullet style reading lights. There was no provision made for 110v as there was a limited amount of interior space.

Insulation is beadboard (like the coffee cups) and was very easy to install. It also seemed to do a good job at keeping us warm on those cooler nights.

The aluminum skin was a challenge to install, but it went well with the help of my friend Bill whose Dad used to build campers and had a lot of good pointers, most of which I can’t remember as 20 years seems to have done something to my memory.

Although I never weighed the truck, I estimate the weight at around 250 pounds as I had no problem lifting 1 end of the camper.

The interior doors were made of a sandwich of plywood glued on 1×2 spruce to form a hollowcore door. The outside got a cove edge treatment and the inside was rabbeted so the door would not stick out as much. The edges were then painted a chocolate brown to match some of the browns from the paneling.

Over the 8 years that we used the camper, it had stood up extremely well. We added stiffer tires and overload springs on the rear to take care of some of sway from the camper. It handled very well after the suspension and tire mods. We sold the camper in the early 90′s as we started a family and the truck could only take 2 people.

Travelling

The first trip was on the May long weekend to the interior of British Columbia and was about a 5 hour trip. Everything went very well and we even stayed dry! The real test was to a family reunion near Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. It was great hearing the rain beat down on the aluminum roof, and knowing that we were absolutley dry!

Over the next ten years, we were to do a lot of weekends trips and in 1985 when we got married, we took the camper across the northern part of the U.S. and into Canada near Windsor, Ontario. There were also 2 trips down to California. The Datsun, although it just had a 2200cc 4 cylinder, it kept up to traffic quite well. The gas mileage was about 27 mpg empty and about 22 mpg loaded. Quite good considering that my foot was to the floor to get up to speed.

We found that traveling into California was very interesting, with some very nice campgrounds. Both times when we went to Disneyland, we stayed at the Disneyland campground. We would get a small plot along a back row, which was more than adequate for our minimal needs, although we had to pay for full facilities as this was all that was available. When Pam and I would go for a walk in the evening, we marveled at the luxury coaches that people would travel in and how it would be very nice to travel in that kind of style. These same people that owned these coaches actually knocked on our door to see if they could peak inside as they couldn’t imagine how anyone could travel in something so small!!

Another Project?

In the past 8 years we have owned a small summer home on a lake about 2 hours from where we live. As there hasn’t been a need for a trailer we would use a tent when we would do some travelling. I now remember why we stopped using the tent! As we affectionately call the area we were from the Wet (West) Coast, or the Lower Rainland (Mainland). We should have remembered why we built the camper in the first place.

I remember when I was a kid camping with my parents, every once-in-while I would see these little tear drop shaped trailers. I always thought it would be neat to camp in one. It’s funny how such little things in the past can shape the future.

We (actually it’s mostly me!) have decided to build a teardrop trailer. I still have some convincing to do with my wife and where do you put 2 teenaged girls?? I guess the design criteria stage will help decide where the girls will sleep.

We just bought a new 2003 Dodge Caravan complete with DVD, so traveling is quite quiet as the girls listen to it with wireless headphones. We can listen to either tape or CD on the van speakers while the girls are busy with their movie. How things have changed since I was a kid travelling with my parents. We didn’t have air conditioning and my dad would not let us listen to the radio except for the news!

Hopefully in the next year, we will start building a teardrop trailer, so stay tuned…………….

Here are some more pics of the finished camper: More Pics

Larry Messaros

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