1 Bored Clerk's Garage Built Camper

Fiberglass.

 

Got some epoxy on the alcove around the back window



Put a hasty but thorough sanding on the underbed boxes as well. I may do more external reinforcement...maybe. I’ll get into the interior reinforcement/sealing soon.



Gotta get going on the doors for these too!

More epoxy and sanding like a madman for the next three days! I may call it ready for paint at the end of Sunday no matter what. We’ll see!

 

Paint you say?

 

It’s gotta happen SOON

 

Someone say paint?

 

Jesus! Don’t jinx it! I feel like you’re jinxing it. Yep, definitely a taste of jinx in the air.

 

FIFY

 

Definitely know this feeling! It was a crazy one here too. Hope your feeling better.

 

No photos but be sure that I’m sanding and sanding and sanding.

Somethings been eating at me for a little while: do I actually want the camper on the truck or a trailer? I sat down with my wife and we had a pros/cons talk. We were both positive that we wanted the camper on the truck so it was a surprise to both of us that we were really unsure about it after our pro/con talk. So, I’m going to make a list and put it on the fridge so we can think about it for a week. Definitely want to make the final decision before I drill giant holes in the flatbed for camper mounts!

A few things that have been bubbling up:

1. The flatbed - pickups are handy but the flatbed is a whole other beast. I LOVE how convenient it is to use. I thought the high load height would be an issue but it just hasn’t been so far but the giant flat surface of the bed ha just been amazing. I use it way more than I thought I would. Not sure I want to lose that.
2. Now that I have a dedicated trail dirtbike, the idea of hitching up a trailer two or more times a week during the spring/summer/fall to ride after work sounds tedious.
3. It would be nice sometimes to drop the trailer in camp and take the truck out to do other stuff.
4. Weather - towing a trailer in snow is no good. But that feels like a corner case at best for us.
5. Trailers suck off road. The truck with camper on the back isn’t great for tough trails anyway so maybe it’s a wash?
6. Flexibility - without a camper bolted to it, I could make some flexible modules for the flatbed for different tasks. Maybe even a RTT should tougher wheeling while also camping with total disregard for ground conditions or weather be necessary.
7. Trailers just generally suck to tow/store. We have some room to expand our driveway and have a dedicated, out of the garage, place to store a trailer and I would need a trailer anyway for the dirtbike, dump, and Home Depot runs anyway...but I would need to tow that WAY more often than the camping trailer.

That’s just some of it. To me, it’s pointing toward mounting this camper to a 6x8 deck over flatbed trailer. We’ll let it marinade for a few days and see what happens.

Anyway, still pushing to get this sucker done!!

 

I think she cast a spell on me , I can't quit thinking about her .

 

Haha! It was sort of a genius move to drive more traffic to my thread, I think.

 

How bad would it really be to have the large holes drilled in your flatbed? If the holes end up bothering you, you could always figure out some sort of plug for them for when the camper is off. If it was me, I would go ahead and mount it to the flatbed for now. It would also be neat to be able to mount it to a trailer as well. That would be super versatile for the pros you listed. The only obstacle then would be some sort of hoist to easily move the camper from the truck to the trailer and back to the truck.

 

I’ve definitely considered that as an option. I think I would prefer to start with it on the trailer then move it to the truck should a very specific need arise. I may even think of another way to mount it to the truck that’s less invasive/faster.

If we plan a month long trip through remote/tough terrain, we may prefer to have the camper on the truck and avoid towing a trailer. It would be worth the hassle to make the switch from the trailer for that long of a trip but day to day and weekend trips, the trailer makes more sense to me at this point.

We’ll see...

 

Smart! I should’ve known you had already thought of basically every option.

 

That punch sheet must be getting things crossed off of it these days. Looking good

 

As far as trailers go...

I like our teardrop. Leave it at base camp for daily exploring, and upon returning to camp, camp is already setup. Very convenient.

Yes, off road, pulling a trailer is more work, and somewhat limiting to the trails you take it on. I have pulled our teardrop down some rather rough trails, but not like the harder trails I used to ride all those years ago. I guess my tastes have changed.

Every time we stop, the trailer does get attention. Not really a problem - people are generally curious.

 

My drive to hit harder trails in the truck has diminished a bit over time...especially since I’ve been dirtbiking. I don’t think a reasonably well built trailer with decent sized tires would be a hinderance...especially if we can drop it and take the truck out for little side excursions on tougher stuff.

I appreciate your thoughts on trailer life!

 

There was only fairing, painting and assembly left but those things take time! Plus the camper mounts on the truck side. But that may be changing a bit, obviously.

 

NOBODY overthinks a situation to paralysis like Bored Clerk!