How to: DIY Wedge Camper

badass test man that’s impressive only 1/4” vertical I would have expected more

 

If anyone is shopping for extrusions for these and wants to avoid the wait time and save money you can buy the silver 3” and or 1.5” in 12’ lengths from grainger and the shipped to store option is free they said I could order today and have it Wednesday at 8:30 am

 

No 4.5”?

 

They have the grooved 4.5 but not smooth

 

Alright well this is now the second time I have rebuilt my camper, making a grand total of three builds and finally have arrived at a place I am happy to share on here since embarking on this journey about two years ago. I'll detail some of the changes I made and why, along with what I changed during each iteration. A big thanks goes to my friends who helped but are not on here, this project is really a great reason to buy some friends dinner for free labor along with giving you something to do while drinking a beer.

Some background:
My frame was not built for my truck, I met a guy in 2nd Rangers who was selling his frame and 80/20 (3" & 1.5") so I picked that up for a steal of a deal. Little did I know that bargain would cost me a lot of time and a case of shingles... But I tell you that to describe the first big change I made, the over cab was just too close for me, and I wanted more room if I ever added a molle rack or light bar, so the first substantial change I made was adding an 1.5" rail to the base of the frame. I also liked this idea for another mounting surface in the interior whether it be baskets for gear, tie downs, etc etc.

A big aside, I don't see anyone on here using elastic and lobster clips to help the tent fold in so you're not trying to fold a wet map in the dark every time you close your wedge. Note, that I have them.

Lastly, as @nanserb asked almost immediately, yes it's in my living room, my friend who's shop I borrowed for the first two versions had moved away


v1:
- Just needed to get this finished so I could use it and figure out what I wanted to change.
- Biggest take away was that condensation is a huge issue that needs to be addressed.
- Didn't like how hard it was to close with bedding so I wanted more room
- Zero insulation was not fun

v2: changes
- Added maxxfan deluxe
- Added a 4.5" rail and joined it to the 1.5" wedge roof
- Insulated the roof's 1.5" rail
- Did it in a rush and had horrible water leaking issues, but condensation was completely solved and closing was easy.
- sewed a vinyl tent with a quilt liner

v3: no water allowed
- copied @Pj40 's EDPM to repel water
- copied @davzx pop up bed (In fact I had just finished repainting and decided I had to have that)
- copied @nanserb's diesel heater and just generally bounced ideas off him, he even got a free t shirt out of the deal
- I married @nanserb 's and @davzx 's hinges ideas, afterwards nanserb suggested I put the vinyl on the inside
- I went for function much more over form here, I butyl taped and silicone caulked every joint.
- Sewed corners flaps for the tent
- Still had some tiny dribbles coming in the corners while open, simply sealed it off and joined the corner pieces with Flex Tape (silicone tape), don't over think it
- Since winter camping has pretty much passed, I mounted the original tent.

 

Getting caught up now that I'm working on this. Another thought @Sub_Par would be to get a contractors rack. it would a be frame that's already welded and tubed aluminum, you could build around it and repurpose that. Could also save a boat load money, might be able to find one real cheap whether it's a yard sale or knocking on someone's door that you notice has one sitting around their yard that hasn't moved in a while. Just a thought

 

Love it! The mood lighting is my fav

I wore the free T-shirt yesterday too

 

This is currently what I have, I bought a short bed ARE DCU cap a few months ago. My plan is to chop the roof and then make the pop up tent portion for it.

 

Me too, me too. I already had the DCU, but me too, me too.

 

Got it. I was talking more about one of these https://www.rackwarehouse.com/syste...GTzC2BtbJ4SJ_q3icwkeC9vYVip6UJyQaAujxEALw_wcB or these https://www.discountramps.com/unive...KbdpcIHy3XNFfvde4ftU2oBoJY0sXr5MaAkhvEALw_wcB

You can cut the cap up if you want, I talked my friend out of doing that with his because you're introducing some pretty spectacular water intrusion issues which is not a fun rabbit whole to go down. I'll try and convince you of what I did him, I would think about mimicking this first https://topperezlift.com/. It seems more time efficient and less stress. You could just build a tall sleeping platform/box that's the height of the cap's roof with room for bedding out of 8020. Just have talked to a lot of folks that have cut up caps and regret it down the line.

 

I'm not really concerned about water issues, I have some ideas to mitigate that. I am more concerned about making this look decent. I don't want to go through all the trouble and have it look "diy". Obviously it needs to function first, but if doesn't also look good then I'll scrap the cap idea and just build a space frame.

 

Man 80/20 has gotten really expensive. The cheapest I've found is a local place....$700 for silver, $950 for black (no shipping needed). I checked Faztek too. They were $100 cheaper but only had 1545 in heavy and shipping for 92" pieces was $200 (UPS), 96" was $400 (freight).

 

you could always go tnutz. Their extrusions seem fine but any hardware I’d go with 80/20. I did 94” length to save on the shipping but I’m also short so didn’t need the full 100” in the plan

 

Yea that’s an option but it was only about $100 cheaper after shipping. I wanted black and I here there black anodizing isn’t so good. Also they only had the heavy version of 4.5”. So for $100 I get better anodizing, save 20lbs, can get an extra 2” D) for little up charge and no worries that UPS will mess up the parts.

 

Someone mentioned Grainger with free ship to store earlier if you have one of them around.

 

i see. My extrusions have been fine it’s mainly the hardware. I got the black anodized ultralight ones. But this was way back in the beginning of Covid.

 

They don’t have anything but the heavy version listed.

 

Have you flexed the truck at all off roading? I saw a video of a 3rd gen doing a bed flex test and it looked like the bed flexed about 3/4” different from the cab. I would love to have mine right around 1”.

 

Popped the tent today after a few days of rain and where I was getting leaks before is now bone dry with the rubber surround.

Now just need to fix some door seals and should be pretty good

 

I as well went out this weekend, to the coast to steelhead fish, and now with Rubber Shield BONE DRY! stoked