Otis24's Otisbound Outdoors Bodonkadonk Supercharged Twin Locked Micro Camper Build (OOBSTLMC)

Once I decided what angles I wanted I made a bunch of side ribs. Once those were done I had to cut brackets to attach them to the 1"x4"x.125" that runs the length of the top of the bottom part of the camper. I also had to cut brackets for the bottom.

I used a diablo non-ferrous metal blade. It worked really well until I was using it wrong and it grabbed the aluminum and broke 2 saw blade teeth. The blade never worked the same so I replaced it...nice little $50 lesson.

https://youtu.be/0mKCmc10x1w

 

After the brackets were all cut on the miter saw and the ribs were gusseted together attaching them went pretty quickly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDyCJwNCQSc

 

Awesome work. I did something similar, but more hasty and not so pretty. Love it though.

 

Got any pics?

 

Most of the frame ready for skin. I got rid of the wheel well I’d built. The outside if it was 90 degrees to the platform. It needed to be 3 degrees off.

 

Im serious mark. Patent this shit and build me one! Lol. I love it

 

lol.
It would need a lot of improvement. Also, I don’t think my construction technique would be conducive to mass production. Way too much labor involved.

 

We could build a 2nd one a lot faster. I thought I was 3/4 finished but I think it’s more like 1/2. Anyway....instead of 300 hours to get to it’s current state (functional) I bet it could be done in like 250 hours.

 

Damn son! Doing work!

 

https://www.expeditionportal.com/fo...hread-2004-tacoma-doublecab-trd.143510/page-3

 

I've seen your truck on expedition portal before. I really like the use of the ladder rack.
Looks really good. I like how your roof let's light in and the interior is super spacious.

 

Before I could put the skin on I had to frame the doors. I didn't take any pics but it's basically 1" square tube with 1"x1.5"x.125" angle glued or taped on top of it to form a lip on the inside of the door facing out to attach weather stripping to. With the framed doorways built I could cut out the part of the panel where the door was going.

Originally I was going to bend the sheet metal for the angle along the top. I couldn't find a reasonable way to do that so I opted to use 2 separate panels instead.

I still hadn't figured out using the router to cut the sheet metal so cutting the doorways was going to be a bastard with the electric sheet metal shears.

This was October 6th. I had 4 weekends until I had to leave for Baja.

 

I hope you've since bought an angle grinder and cut-off wheels

 

Lol...I already had those. I bought electric sheet metal shears. The shears work great for straight lines but suck on curves.

I finally figure out the router. It just needed to be at higher RPM's. Everywhere I read said low rpms will melt the aluminum and gum up the bit. Turns out that's not really the case. If you crank the rpm's you have to keep the router moving. If you go too slow it'll melt and gum up the bit.

In the video below I'm using a piece of 1x2 aluminum tube as a straight edge and a 3/8" diablo straight side flush cut bit. This worked really well.

https://youtu.be/LRaa5QxWo58

 

It took ma a few days to get threw your build. I love it!
The camper is my favorite. I built one on my bed. I built it with light steel and aluminum combination. its light but when I load my gear Im still too heavy. I have been considering dumping the bed and making an aluminum frame but did not know if it would look good. What you did dosent look good, it looks awesome!!!!! You have inspired me to draw up some plans of my own.
Excellent work!

 

Hey Thanks for the kind words!
Do you have a link to your camper?
So far mine is lighter than expected. I have timbren load bearing bumpstops. The last time I went to Baja the truck was on them solidly. This time around with my camper there's about a half inch gap between them and the strike plate. With nothing on the back (not even the bed) the gap is about 4 inches. It's either lighter than before or the all the heavy stuff has been moved to between the axles.

 

This wheel well was a m*ther f*cker to cut out with the sheet metal sheers. I think it took me about 3 hours.


And then I finally figured out that I just need to speed up the RPM's on the router.



And like a minute later there was a doorway! I was so stoked to figure that out! And it was so obvious the whole time!

I decided to leave the driver side door unskinned for as long as possible so I could have easier access to that side for the electrical things that would live over there.

 

Trimming the trim for the doorway.


Lots of clamps for the door trim.
"Give em the clamps, Clamps" was in my head the whole time.

 

I found a pic of this thing online. It's from Australian 80 series Land Cruiser. You pull or push the lever that's sticking out to fill one tank or the other. I'd love to have this. I haven't been able to find it anywhere.
My current dual tank filler set up is all kinds of wrong at the moment.

 

Once the door frame was all set I built a door. I bracketed a frame together, then vhb taped the skin to the frame and glued the trim on.

This door didn’t come out well. I spent a whole weekend on it.

I built the second door by cutting and bending the skin first. I bought thinner vhb tape (.063 vs .040) and attached the trim to the skin and then vhb taped the frame to the inside.

The 2nd door took 4 hours.