This little rig was homebuilt from a salvaged fiberglass pickup topper
because my wife and I did not care for what was commercially available. At
the time we built the rig we did not care to have a major investment in a
larger outfit since we could not travel enough to justify the expense.
The Chevrolet Silverado truck that we are now using replaced two older, high
mileage vehicles; it was selected for its passenger comfort, cargo capacity,
and towing capability. A special intended use for this truck was to haul a
camper, or tow a small camping trailer. During the process of selecting a
camper or trailer we came to a conclusion; we didn’t want to use a trailer, and
the campers that would fit our truck were very heavy and full of features
that we didn’t need or want. What we needed was a small, practical unit that
weighed about 700 pounds, which is about one-half the weight of the
commercially available units. All that we wanted was a place to sleep, a couch
that allowed us to lounge a bit, an ice chest, a sink with limited water supply,
light cooking facilities and a toilet. The only luxury would be the installation
of an electrical system, which would allow us to have an air conditioner and
electric heat.
We decided that we could build a slide in camper of our own. An older eight-
foot fiberglass topper was found in a local salvage yard for $50, and for an
extra $5 a stainless steel sink was harvested from a salvaged motor home.
The sliding windows in the topper only required cleaning and replacement of
the screens.
Because we had a 6 foot bed, we measured out what our finished roof height
would be, and cut a notch out of the front of the 8 foot topper, which allowed
us to put about two feet of the topper over the top of the truck cab as a
storage area that is accessible from the inside. To give added headroom in
the camper a six-inch high box beam was built between the bottom of the
topper and the rails in the truck box. An exterior cargo container was made
from furnace ducting and attached to the front of the camper. These details
can be seen in the picture at the top of the article, taken at the Arches
National Park. All construction is either the original fiberglass topper or 3/8-
inch to 1/2- inch plywood. All joints are done with close grain hardwood
blocks, high-grade wood screws (stay away from drywall screws) and either
Epoxy or Polyurethane glue. All of the construction can be accomplished with
common hand tools. Power tools needed, at a minimum are: saber saw, drill
and sander. Access to a Dremel power tool and hand held belt sander would
be helpful.
Finished dry weight of the unit is 440 pounds, which is less than 1/3 of the
rated cargo capacity for the truck bed, and 700 pounds less than the lightest
factory built unit. Handling has not changed to any degree; there is no
wallowing, swaying or noticeable instability when carrying the camper. Loading
is easily accomplished with two lifters made out of boat trailer winches, which
were fabricated by a local welding shop. Total cost of the cRamper was about
$1.25 per pound. In five years of use it has paid for itself. We have spent
many nights for no cost, and have found the average cost to be less than $25
per night when using commercial RV parks.
Layout of the unit is conventional for the couch, which is about five feet long,
being oriented from front to rear; a fold down extension extends this to a
full six feet long. Since there is limited headroom, the top bunk is oriented
across the unit, and elevated about two feet above the bottom bunk. The
result is that the occupant of the bottom bunk has feet and lower legs
beneath the top bunk. The picture shows the unit set up with the top bunk in
place, but lacking the mattresses, which were in winter storage when the
picture was taken. Mattresses are base camp type foam and air products,
which are available from most outdoor stores, or found on the Internet.
For a toilet we chose a Fiamma, which is very similar to the Thetford brand
and others, which can be purchased at most stores that have a selection of
camping goods, or through a well-stocked RV dealer. Ours is placed on a
securely mounted stand, and held down during travel with a heavy cargo strap
The main part in the water system is the $5 sink, which is mounted in a
counter and cabinet arrangement just forward of the toilet. Water is
pressure fed from a new, unused three-gallon yard sprayer, which is mounted
near the ice chest, and plumbed into the sink with a longer hose. Grey water is
collected into a 2-1/2 gallon lawn mower fuel container located near the back
wall. The interior pictures do not feature the water tank since it is in winter
storage.
We use one of the newer ice chests, the more heavily insulated type, which is
securely strapped down while traveling. Depending on the weather, a 10-
pound block of ice and some cube ice will last at least two days, and up to five
days.
Air conditioning is with a common residential 110 Volt window unit mounted
through the back wall, and if the temperature drops, a portable ceramic
element bathroom heater keeps us quite warm.
The unit is wired with automotive multi-strand wire rather than the single
conductor residential wire, for flexibility, and vibration resistance. There
are three wall sockets in the unit to power the air conditioner, electric
heater, laptop computer, and various battery chargers. Lighting is by small
wall mounted 110 Volt AC, and 12 Volt DC florescent lights. These smaller
light fixtures can be found in hardware and RV stores. Our “entertainment
center” is a $20 portable AM/FM radio.
While camping we prefer to keep the preparation of meals as simple as
possible. If we are camped out in a national or state park that has no
electrical hookups and decide to prepare a meal, it is done with a one-burner
back packing stove. Eating out is done quite often while traveling because of
the unique dining experiences available while on the road.
We do not "live" in the cRamper, it is what gets us to where we want go, to
"do things”. The type of travel and camping that we do generally has us
moving location every several days.
Many of our zero cost overnight stays have to do with stopping on the way to
a destination, and needing only to stop and sleep. A considerable part of our
travel is on the old main highways that have been superseded by the
Interstate system. Traffic is much lighter on the old main roads, which is a
pleasant change from the pressure of driving “the slab”. Many of the area
attractions are located along the older main roads anyway, and opportunities
for low cost camping are plentiful. There are local restaurants in the off-
Interstate areas that are worth taking the time to find.
Fuel consumption of our truck remains in the 16 – 19 MPG range. Cruising
speed is selected to blend with the existing traffic flow, and has been as high
as 85 MPH. We can park anyplace standard automobiles can, except in the
older multi-level parking garages, since the top of the camper is at 7’ 3”. Our
travels with the cRamper have taken us “from sea to shining sea”, the Gulf
Coast, Great Lakes, the Banff-Jasper area in British Columbia, and places in
between. Metropolitan driving has included Chicago and New York City.
We will use our cRamper for another two or three years and then plan to
convert a commercial van into a unit that has more homelike amenities and
more interior space. There are no plans available for the “cRamper”. We did
some measuring and figuring and then just built it. Most of the items used to
put the unit together can be found in large full-service hardware stores or
through RV dealers. Information on how to use the items and materials is
available from the retailer, or on the manufacturer’s website. “Shopping “ in
auto wrecking and general salvage yards is highly recommended.
E-mail inquiries to Alan ariggins@neb.rr.com
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Editor's Note
While there are not a lot of details in how to replicate what these folks have
done, there really can't be. Your pickup bed may be a different width and
length, and your shell will certainly be different. However, they have several
ingenuis ideas we can all benefit from:
1) Take what you have, and can afford, and make it work. The cRamper works
much better for them than campers weighing and costing 10 or 20 times as
much.
2) Pickup shells can be found very easily and modified to gain the extra height
needed. This is a huge advantage over living/traveling in a van, which are very
difficult to raise. Also, many people want four wheel drive to get further
back into the wilderness, which is commonly available in pickups but rare in
vans.
3) Most systems (sewer/water/heat/refrieration) found in the typical RV
can be cheaply and easily duplicated, thus eliminating their expense,
complication, and weight.
4) To save room, consider a removable bed that runs across the width of the
truck, instead of length wise. During the day, they lounge on the lower
bed/couch, then at night, one sleeps on the lower bunk, and one sleeps in the
upper bunk. Ingenuis!!
5) Be comfortable! They added a small house air conditioner that runs off
shore power when available or, you can get a small Honda generator to power
it when boondocking.
These folks are examples for all of us of what can be accomplished when we
want to travel and live cheaply in RV's!
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In the above picture, notice the window
air conditioner mounted on the top right
of the back wall. Also, notice that they
gained extra height by adding a "box
shell. It looks like it belongs there.
air conditioner mounted on the top right
of the back wall. Also, notice that they
gained extra height by adding a "box
shell. It looks like it belongs there.
In the above picture, notice the fold
down extension to the five foot couch
to turn it into a 6 foot bed. Across the
truck bed is the removable upper bunk
with supports in place.
down extension to the five foot couch
to turn it into a 6 foot bed. Across the
truck bed is the removable upper bunk
with supports in place.
The World’s Tiniest, Nearly Full Service “RV”