How to: DIY Wedge Camper

As a dude with a short garage door as well, I would look at engineering a lift mechanism/dolly to load the wedge camper on and off the jeep rather than over-engineer the camper to fit the short garage. Simple is better. I lucked out, the weight of the camper pushed the truck down just enough to squeeze through the garage door, in my case. I didn't account for the added height of the seals, don't do what I did. It almost didn't fit back in the garage. There are camper jacks available for slide in campers, you might look at the mechanisms in those and build a version for yourself. I considered this option.

 

Interesting concept! I love the cardboard aided design! With these types of projects, it’s so much easier and faster to figure stuff out with prototyping like this. For a departure like this, I’d recommend making a moving proto in wood/scrap including hinges and tent. Tent could be cheap fabric scraps and duct tape. This will help find and fix issues with opening, closing, stability, etc.

Feedback: i think your approach seems good for the constraints you have. If you’re sure you have to put it in the garage then it’s worth working around. And I really like trying novel solutions. Based on your proto and CAD work I’d guess you can make this basic concept work.

One area that stands out to me is stability of the pop up area. If you cant sleep in the bed, you have to deploy the tent regardless of wind/weather. So you want that top to be stable and quiet in the wind. The main pivoting top looks ok. I think you could build that similar to these wedges - simple hinges and gas struts. The smaller fold out section may need some rigid elements in the tent to keep it tight and quiet. Maybe a U shape tube that follows the thin black lines in your CAD and goes through the tent at that edge to keep the two connected. That could pin to the frame with removable pins. Or maybe a U shaped tube through the tent connected to two gas struts where you show thin lines. I’d also consider something to preload and support the little fold out platform. The tent and U tube could probably hold it up, but then it can swing around when the tent loads with wind. Also could be something like drawer slides.

I’d consider making the top wrap around all your other mechanism and seal interface. This can “shingle” water off of everything and avoid driving rain in the seal. That way you don’t have to worry about sealing the areas around the little platform when it’s folded closed.

I’d consider a polyester based tent fabric over nylon. Nylon relaxes when wet so the tension in your tent drops and it can flap or sag and pool water.

another option could be a full flip over. Flip pac goes forward which wouldn’t work here because of the required height. AT habitat goes back. And wildernest goes sideways. Would give you more space up top, but tent is more complicated to build and you have less hard roof when deployed.

another idea is to make the roof with only two planes (current is three). You might be able to work that out with two panels for the roof and only have tent on the sides. Somehow i feel like it wouldn’t be worth doing three panels and two hinges, but 2 and 1 might be ok.

This is rad and I hope you do it! Keep us posted as you make progress!

 

Thanks for your feedback, appreciate the thoughtful advice.

I am working on a prototype and was pretty happy with my initial pass. Have made a few mods since then (hoop bit) that I will try out tomorrow. I will re-read your thoughts after this wine dissipates….

 

I think every wedge will be slightly different in exact height when closed. Definitely go with what youre measuring looks like 1.5 is perfect!

 

Has anyone tried making the front and back doors entirely from lexan vs composite with a window of lexan

 

Strength and security would be the biggest issues I could see. What would be the benefits, price?

 

Lexan is very strong and easy to work with. The the visibility would be the main benefit. The back window of every camper I’ve ever had has been solid glass and I’ve never had a security issue

 

Its easier to scratch than glass though, so the visibility wont be as good once its got some branch damage. Might not be an issue with the back door though since most branches are hitting the sides of the camper. I know lexan is strong, I just would be concerned about mounting latches and the struts to it, I mean you have to brace the aluminum so it might end up the same. Do they make tinted lexan or can you tint it for security?

 

Tap plastics formed me a tinted lexan windshield for my center console boat and it’s very rigid and pretty affordable. It does scratch though that’s for sure

 

Front window in

 

I had the same issue when I was ordering my extrusions last year. Originally ordered black but the wait time was way too long from 8020 so I ended up canceling the order and ordering the normal silver colored ones. Showed up in roughly 1.5 weeks and were cheaper. I think they look good

 

Good feedback. I thought of a jack and a rack etc... but that is just as much engineering and hassle as doing a double fold in my opinion. Plus, I would need to unload and load it every time I use it and I really want to do lots of 2-3 day runs out into the desert this year and be able to quickly leave and quickly unpack. Having to spend an extra 30-60 minutes at the beginning and end of each trip is more than I am looking for.

I have my design pretty dialed in and it seems like it is going to work without a lot of extra hassle, one more step than the simple wedge. And since this is for a different truck, I had to re-design it all anyway. I have been enjoying the problem solving of it all.

Really appreciate your posts and thoughtful design ideas. I have several of your posts in the thread bookmarked.

 

Talked to discount rubber, they recommended EPDM for UV stability and flexibility. Ordered a 30' roll of 1.5" total cost was $55 shipped.

 

why not go 1.25”? I see 1.5” on your photo overlaps a bit of the channel.

 

Again everyone's build will be slightly different. Do what you think is best for your wedge and what you think looks good

 

Only some gravy work left on the shell, then on to the wedge!

 

That looks awesome. It’s all aluminum? Any idea how much it weighs?

 

Yep, all aluminum 6061 for structural and 5052 for the panels. I think this should be around 150lbs as you see it.

 

I'm sure 1.25" would be fine, I just wanted a tad extra. I may trim it myself when it gets here.

 

Does anyone have the jig for the space frame available in Northern California ?