The Finished Product

After two long years we finally finished our camper and I am now finishing this blog. This is a photo of the bed when the cushions are pulled out. It's about the same size as a queen size bed. the cushions are made from 6 inch foam.

This is a picture of the shower/bathroom. We bought the shower from a company that was going out of business in Myrtle Beach. we also bought a portable toilet that we set inside the shower for those late night 

emergencies.

 This is the front of the camper. we have a small kitchen area here with a microwave, refrigerator and a sink we made from a stainless steel bowl. We also put in a small AC unit to stay cool in hot weather. There is led lighting under the upper cabinets to provide extra light.

Here you can see the portable toilet in the shower. it doesn't hurt it to get wet  so it works fine. The toilet paper is easily removed when you take a shower so it doesn't get wet either.

 Here are the cubbies I built on each side to hold our clothes. My wife gets one side and I get the other. There are lights mounted under each side for general lighting and near the back there are reading lamps and a speaker from the radio. The radio also is the dvd player.

 This is the back. It houses an outside kitchen. There is a sink and cabinets to store the eating utensils. We have an electric cook top we use most of the time and an electric skillet. There are two more speakers so you can listen to the radio while you cook.The sink in here was originally in the popup.

 I had an old circuit box so I used it to protect the wiring with 15 amp breakers.

 Under the sink is a 7 gallon water heater. I have a separate cord on it so it doesn't share the power from the camper.

 I was too cheap to buy a 12 volt power supply for the radio and lights so I used an old computer power supply that was good for 10 amps at 12 volts.It works great and it was free.

 Here is the outside sink. This was the sink that was in the popup. The faucet is a pull out faucet so you an fill pots easier.

 Here is a picture from our recent camping trip. Everything was setup and ready to go.

 I kind of got hooked on these solar lights. I bought them on Amazon and they recharge all day and then cut on at night when they detect movement. no need for a porch light. Usually if we sit outside after dark we hang a light to illuminate the camp area.

 The popup had these stabilizers already welded on. They tend to really make the camper steady and they stay on the camper all the time so you never lose them.

 This is the inside again with the seating made up. You can see the wave board we used for a table

 It turns sideways to provide the table how ever you need it.

 You can see my wife's decorations

 Here you can see the led strip lights under the cabinet.

 And here it is back in its corral. Thanks for viewing my blog and I hope you enjoyed it.

The Walls Go Up

Today, we added the walls. We built the walls in the basement over the winter. They are made from 1/4 plywood for the interior and 1/2 inche plywood for the bracing in the walls. I plan to cover them with another piece of 1/4 plywood on the outside. We plan to use 1/4 plywood on the roof. I hope I can get it to bend around the curves. It is definitely slow going with just me and my wife doing all the work. I wish I had a garage to store it because they are calling for rain all week. Sure, it stays good weather for the Masters but now it's going to rain the rest of the week. Well, at least all of the people will be gone soon and traffic won't be so bad. Looks like there will be some delays with the weather situation but I plan to get back at it soon. Even though it is getting heavier, I have been moving it with my Scion xB. It seems to move it quite easily so far.

The 2x4 added some extra strength while we moved the wall and it gave us something to use as a handle.

We cut out the window in the other side and marked this side for the cutout but this side will need bracing around the whole when it gets cut out.

 Here I started putting in the bracing for the front skin and cabinets.

Here the outside skin is on the sides. we used bondo to help fill the seams.

This is the shower going in. it plumbs straight to a drain for a portable tank.

 My wife is painting and caulking. I hate to paint.

Here is the rear hatch. I bought the hinge off the internet.

 All of the plumbing is pex tubing.

 We bought the door from a RV repair place

 This is the vent from the popup. We reused it after cleaning it up.

 My wife made all of the cushions and curtains.

Starting the Supports

The weather has been great so it was time to start working outside. I decided to start on the divider wall between the main area and the outdoor kitchen in the back. This short wall also helps to provide support for the sides. I added a small piece of under lay to keep the wall from racking. I plan to add more later. I also added some of the seating framing to give it some more strength for the walls. We plan to keep it light by not adding any water tanks. We are going to use a portable tank for grey water and a porta potty so there will be no black water.I have a brand new refrigerator and a/c unit.And a used microwave. All of which are very small.

Building the Walls

After creating the paper pattern, we laid down four sheets of 1/4 underlayment and traced the pattern to the sheets. Then we put two sheets together and cut them so each side would be the same. After the sheets were cut out, I cut six inch strips of 1/2 inch plywood and used those as bracing to hold the underlayment pieces together. I ran the plywood all the way around the edge and everywhere two sheets came together. I glued it all with wood glue. We added several pieces of the 1/2 inch plywood to give it strength. This was a good project for the basement and the weather didn't interrupt us that way. Next step is to add them to the trailer. Here is my wife trimming one of the sides. she has been a lot of help and these sides are heavy.

We used paint buckets as weights to help laminate the pieces together. You can see one of the windows in the back ground. We got the windows from a used fifth wheel so they are kind of large for a small trailer but I like windows.

Delays

This project has suffered greatly due to many issues. One is my job. It seems our plant is expanding and this has caused me to have to work more than usual. The second issue is winter. The days are shorter and colder delaying the ability to get outside and work on the project. And the last issue is the fact that I chose to enclose the trailer for my motorcycle. That has taken priority to get the motorcycle out of the weather. I hope to get moving again soon but if the weather doesn't cooperate it may be delayed even more.

Creating the pattern

Today the weather turned cold and rainy. Not usual Georgia weather for November. My wife and I decided to work in the basement and creat a pattern for the sides. I thought we could just create it on the plywood but she wanted to use paper first. We laid the paper on the floor and began to transfer the drawing on graph paper to the brown paper. If you use graph paper and let each square be equal to a foot or six inches, it makes it easier to transfer. We used a piece of 1/2 inch cvpc pipe to make the curves. I guess as soon as the weather permits we can go get some plywood. I plan to use underlayment for the inside as it has one side that will look good stained if we go that route. This layout should give us about 13 feet in length and around 6 feet 3 inches in height.

The New Floor is Done

The great thing about using an old camper frame is that it already has stabilizers.

We used 3/4 inch exterior BC plywood and we coated the underside with a deck protector to help prevent water penetration. We coated the edges too, even though they won't be exposed. I found some self drilling screws with recessed heads at HomeDepot. They should hold pretty good. We also ran the flooring all the way to the rear bumper. My wife wants to maximize the amount of available space. It looks like we are currently at about 6 ft 6 inches by 12 ft 11 inches.