Progress

Hi All,
Since it's been a while, I thought I better give an truck camper update! A couple of weeks ago, I built the back wall for the camper, including the door frame. I also pickup up a door for $100 bucks! What a deal! I made the door frame off center so that the middle of the wall is actually the end of the door frame. This way, I can build more cabinets on the passenger side, as well as make the fold out bed more contained. Here is a basic layout of what I'm going to do...


This is not exactly how it will be, the bed will be the other way, plus no restroom. Plus, I'm moving the booth area towards the front, and putting in storage instead. Just this last weekend I purchase a used jackknife sofa for $100bucks so now I don't have to worry about putting in a booth. The sofa I purchased actually doesn't have a backside cushion, which is good because now I can make one the perfect width to fit my camper. If I replaced the cushion with the original dimensions, the back of the cushion would cover part of the window, plus with it flat, it would take up the walkway space as well. My goal is to hopefully make it short enough so a person can have the bed flat, and still walk around it. We'll see.

About the rest of the design, I did have to change the cab over section, because I raised the camper height 5 inches. After I raised the camper, I soon came to the realization that I can lower the cab over section as well. So yesterday, I lowered the cab over floor 6 inches. This will still give me about an 1 1/2 inch clearance between the roof of the cab and the bottom of the cab over section of the camper. Now I have more head room in the cab over section, plus I'm thinking I might be able to add some cabinets to the cab over as well.

My next task is to build the front wall. I've had a little trouble doing this because I have changed so much that I have to remember what Ive changed in order for the front wall to work. So far, I've had to start the front wall over twice!!! So much for measure once, twice, three times, then cut!! The front wall is going to be framed just like the rest of the camper. I will not be putting in a window as well. I thought about it, but I would like to use that space for my battery and fuses. Right now I'm still planning on installing AC and DC power.

Let's talk siding..... Last week I started pricing out siding for my camper. Oh Boy!!! I can't believe how much it costs for alum siding! Right now It's looking like the cheapest siding will still cost me $900 bucks!! That is crazy. So I'm still looking for a bargain. I did find out that I can purchase flat alum sheeting for a little less. This is the same alum sheets that they put on trailers. You can also make it seamless with the glue they have now. There is a place here that will sell me all the sheets for about $850. That is still a lot if you ask me. Plus it costs $550 to put on a rubber roof!! Ouch. The only alternative that I'm looking at right now is steel siding. Not many people sell it. But you can get it for about $2.00 per square foot. Not bad versus $5 plus a square foot for alum. The only problem is that steel weighs more, and it would make my TC look like a moving pole barn. So I'm stuck with what to do. I have asked a couple steel fabricators about the steel and most said that will work. On person actually asked me if I were married, because since I am, it's not like I need to be fashionable. Ha!! So if any of you have any suggestions, let me know!

Anyway, I'll be posting pictures hopefully this weekend, until then, happy trails!!!
Dave