How to: DIY Wedge Camper

Has anyone tried to get the Amazon southco latches rekeyed since their all the same?

 

I need to get my legit southco latches rekeyed at some point.
I think someone else mentioned the knock offs suck and eventually won’t even need. A key

 

I got legit southco. Didn’t want to realize the locks weren’t working when I got my stuff stolen…

 

We’re they all a generic key? I plan to upgrade eventually to the weatherproof southco ones.

 

They are all keyed the same if you order them together unless you specify otherwise.

 

wish I had specified otherwise, didnt see that as an option unless you buy hundreds of them maybe?

But each is keyed with a very common key. I'll ask my local locksmith if they can be rekeyed and get it done.

 

Been waiting on 10mm panels for the pop up. That's why I've been missing haha. Going to do folding top like the hiatus. With everything else pretty much done and prepped, I'll be able to cut and attach with piano hinges and then work on the water sealing. Going this route because I dont want to sew and because I want it hard sided. I know it's going to be a pain, but I've done everything else diy.

In the meantime I'm currently at premier gears in riverside CA getting nitro 5.29s installed. They did a memorial day special for $1800 installed. Couldn't pass that up. Just gotta find someone in the so cal area to do the ov tune. Which is proving difficult

 

Why 10? I haven’t decided what thickness to use for the floor and roof so I’m wondering

 

I'm building mine out of Ottertex w/the PU coating, 100% polyester. It's breathable and easy to work with. I sampled several different fabrics and found the typical ripstop nylon too thin, and the PVC coated fabrics too thick. The biggest negative about the PVC coated fabric is: ZERO breathability, and after being folded up you will see creases/fold lines everywhere in the fabric.

Here's what I'm using: https://www.fabricwholesaledirect.c...n-uv-resistance-fabric?variant=11387064451187

 

Finally mounted the camper just in time for a camp trip this 4th ofJuly. Pretty stoked how it came out. Just need to tweak some stuff, but overall happy with the build. Exped megamat is sooo worth it lol.

 

Looks sweet! Love the all-black, including the corner brackets - that's the direction I've gone. Nice to see it.

What did you use on the bottom edge of the cabover cantilevered portion? I can't tell what it is, but I'm referring to the dark red or brown component.

 

@davzx thanks. Over the cab is ipe wood. I made my camper 1 1/2 inch taller for a shower pull-out in the future.

 

Okay so I finished all 102 pages here. Great design, impressive group here, thanks all. A few questions remain in my head:

1) Is dust intrusion a real issue ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOeloodPM1Q at the 10:00 mark)? Considering either a Tacoma or Ranger if the bed type makes a difference (mostly one piece composite vs. standard full'o'gaps sheet metal). Also considering building this with a slide in bed tub that attaches to the bottom rail of spaceframe, making it easy to seal if dust is an issue.

2) Anyone doing something for lift points to lift the camper off the truck and suspend it from the garage ceiling when not being used?
My immediate thoughts are 6 of these, three per side:
https://8020.net/4312-black.html
Mounted with the bottom (5) holes in the top two slots of the long 4.5" wedge extrusions, and the top hole being where the hanging hook/strap from the ceiling goes through.

3) Having previously owned a north-south mattress truck camper, my wife and I would definitely sleep feet to the rear (quickly nearing old timer status, and at 6'4" the gymnastics involved flipping around in such a limited width are cumbersome). I'm thinking of extending the tent wedge about 12" to accommodate (use long bed space frame design, but incorporating the longer overcab length of the short bed spaceframe). Thoughts?

 

What did you do with wood? We need more pictures

 

@JMcFly I just used 1.5inch square wood as a trim piece over the cab. Brazilian Ipe wood is a pretty dense wood used for outdoor decks. Attached them with t bolts and nuts. Pretty simple. Still working on a plan for a pullout shower or table.

 

Has anyone considered building the space frame out of 80/20 instead of welding it?

 

It will be much heavier and much much more expensive. 80/2 is great for 90° and 45° joints but the compound angles needed to do the space frame aren’t exactly compatible with aluminum extrusion.

 

@Nadav check out packoutcampers on instagram. They make a camper out of all extrusion. Looks really nice.

 

Interesting.

With a little experimenting one could easily duplicate most of what they are doing. Just a few brackets to be made and some decent machining on their hinge. I'd really like to improve upon the hinge for the Ripcord Camper, the off the shelf components work but I think corner sealing and such is much better with these custom style hinges

Their design looks like a ripcord camper but all extrusion.

 

@jjnicolas Thanks for sharing that.
Any thoughts on reasons not to build the frame square? (wind resistance? aesthetics?)