Building a Lightweight Camper for my Moped... Detailed Build 

Has anyone else gotten emails from here? For prizes.

I'm 67 years old and I'm just starting my life for again after my wife passed. I just introduced myself to e-bikes last summer as I'm getting too old to ride my motorcycle anymore. Loved it. I've been trying to figure a way to go camping on my e-bike carrying everything basically on my back. I bought an Lectric 3.0 long range with the front rear basket and that helps with planning on carrying crap but I would love your camper it would be beyond anything I could ever dream of happening to me. I love camping I like getting away on my own but with gas prices well you know. Anyway if you choose me I'll be totally grateful and you don't feel it's me I'll be heartbroken forever but how long can that be I'm 67 lol

This man is a definition of EFFORT at all levels: the shots, the editing, the narration, the flow, and of course the build itself. Massive work.

My husband and I absolutely enjoyed your video. It was very educational and entertaining. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. God bless you

I've been looking for something like this as a project for my grandson and myself to do. This would be the perfect project for us and to give us the time outdoors camping, fishing and just being together. This is an amazing piece of work.

Amazing! I’m one of the 16.9% of women that watch your channel and just want to say thanks for the in-depth video. You inspire me to make one of these on my own, just need to rent to tools and the space. Also you’re funny for that doll😂 I vote that you give this away to someone in need :)

Senior retired woman here, whose mad scientist engineer father taught me to be unafraid to think for myself and to tackle any project or build anything I can imagine. Your videos are so inspiring! And that girl just wasn't good enough for you......count yourself lucky it was short lived.

As a hobby woodworker, I have to say that is a really smart way to have a light and strong build by voiding plywood and filling with foam, especially with a complex shape like this teardrop. Nice work!

What a beautiful video, I have not wasted not even a second watching this project, really thousands of thumbs up

I just spent 50 minutes... No wait 51 minutes completely glued to watching you build this camper. You make it look absolutely effortless and positively masterful at the same time. I love it!!!!

This is a great build! A little fiberglass tip/option for you: If you want to build additional strength, avoid heavy sanding, and get a smoother finish all at once, use a lighter fabric for the top layer. Let your first layer dry a few hours (so it's basically at the stage you cut it at,) and then you can put on a really tight weave, lightweight glass layer on top of that. You'll add additional strength because of the new layer and get a smoother surface for primer/paint. :)

I have done and seen many builds in my 63 years… but I will say this trailer is the best. Amazing job sir! Thank you so much for sharing.

Wow this is so cool. I really want to try this. I have been homeless before, a few times in fact. It happens more often to more people than what a person may think. No family, so things get tight, and tough. Right now I'm good, but I never know what tomorrow or next week will bring.... I buy motor kits and motorize bicycle's. Put 2 stroke motors on beach cruisers, and some mountain bikes. I have my own daily runner that I use on a regular basis because I don't own a vehicle, just my Schwinn Cruiser with motor.. So I have got to build something like this, and I am so glad you did a light weight one because I am in my late 50's. It's just me and my dog, and I plan on keeping it that way... Thanks a lot for the video. I really enjoy them

This is an excellent build. I made a much larger camp trailer to take my son all around Mexico. It was built for heavy duty off-roading He and I are fluent in Spanish and I thought it would be a great way to celebrate his graduation from high school. I have friends all around Mexico and it was great for my son to put faces to the names. We traveled on back roads throughout the country. My tow vehicle was a Ford Bronco with many modifications just for this trip. This was before Lithium Ion battery’s were affordable so it had four heavy duty deep cycle batteries for power. It had everything needed including a working kitchen and a full bath ( though very small ). Air conditioning was included because we were traveling in a very hot climate. The batteries would fully recharge with the second alternator that I mounted on the engine. We never needed more power than we had available but I added a small Honda generator if we wanted to stay in one location for more than a couple of days. It was the best bonding trip imaginable and we covered over 7000 miles in Mexico. We started in NC so it was a fairly long trip. Kindest Regards Al Hartley

In 1976 I built a foam and fiberglass van body on a 1963 Valiant which I had cut down to the floor pan. Used 1" square steel tube for framing. Took over 1000lbs from it, made the slant 6 quicker than a small block in the original car. At the time there was a manufacturer in my area who would well me cloth, resin, etc. at close to their wholesale price. I may try this trailer build for my ebike.

I made fiberglass skateboards in the 70. Same cloth. For future reference you can add color to the polyester resin so you’d have no painting, the color would be in the resin throughout. Nice job

Just happened upon this build through Pinterest. I plan to build a similar camper to pull behind either of my Vespas. I will use mostly foam and poor man’s fiberglass. I’ll have to watch this vid again and again as I like a lot of your ideas. Great job!

Drew, this is the second video I've seen of yours. Your work is incredible. You don't cut corners and you're very innovative with basic tools. Your videos are calming, well shot, and I love the blend of ASMR, instructional, and music. A true masterclass in how to make a DIY video.

I am in the process of making a foam/canvas (no wood) only body with a very simple frame. I think it should come in under 60lbs. I have already built 4 teardrop/square drop trailers using this method. Good to see others experimenting with bicycle trailers! George.

I'm female, but my mind loves creating, and I enjoy videos like this.

Awesome build!! As an alternative to welding the frame and have the same strength take a look at Esto connectors. I used them to build frame bases for trackless train cars and they worked beyond my expectations.

What an incredibly satisfying build video! No unnecessary jabbering but also clear and sufficiently detailed narration with well lit and filmed work tasks and judicious use sped up film to move things along.Nicely done on both the project and the film production.

50+ minutes of thoroughly enjoyable RU-vid video. That's rare. This is incredibly well done, thoroughly thought out, and oddly addictive to us DIY types. Thank you for taking so much time to do this!

A few points a year after your build. I am OLDER, retired, and have MacGyver-ed stuff all my life. I’ve never had, “I can’t do that.” in my vocabulary. I’ve watched a number of your build videos starting with the hot tub pond that I stumbled on a few months ago. I recently watched your TINY house build all the way through with a great deal of admiration. I have to admit, begrudgingly, that you are better than I was at your age. Not that you need anyone to validate what you do but, damn you ARE good. My own last build (yeah I am that old) is tritoon houseboat I’m planning to build to cruise the 🇨🇦 side of Great Lakes and the canal system. That’s going to be a hybrid build using various well researched suppliers and some help from people who owe me. 🤪 Finally, on a personal note, dropping a woman off the back of a bike and running her over is not conducive to a long term relationship. I’m looking forward with anticipation to your next video.

This is so brilliant! I love it! If I were a few years younger, I’d buy the plans and make this! You are are so talented and I think the video is awesome too! ❤👍

A tip for the next time you work with fiberglass...Any time you have an outside edge, you want to round it over with a router. The fiberglass cloth is very resistant to laying perfectly flat against a hard 90 degree corner. It's more cooperative when applied over smooth curves and bends. The same goes for inside radii. You want to use filler or fairing compound to create what are called "fillets" to make the inside angles smooth. I'd like to see a 3rd, super-light version of this where it's all foam and fiberglass sandwich construction with the least amount of wood added for reinforcement....you know....when you get around to it. lol

Aluminum is a real pain to learn. But it is so rewarding to build with. Great project Drew! Id love to build something like this and camp in the snow with it

56 years old here, and was thinking of doing this for retirement and saying to heck with the traditional BS. Now I have a ton of ideas! Thanks for your video, and for showing that the Ebike can actually pull this well. You should be able to charge your Ebike off that power bank, as well as run it with a cord from the camper power. Just some thoughts for traveling.

Really love the design and the weight makes this a doable tow with an e-bike. I’m 68 and pretty fit and I can realistically see myself Using this wonderful lil camper. Thank you for making this video I really enjoyed it. 💫

Well I’m female and love your channel. These projects are fantastic! I really want to build something like this with my son and this is full of such useful info. Thanks for your sharing your knowledge in an easy to digest way.

Nice work dude! I learned a lot about fiberglass and structural integrity last summer when I rebuilt my boat. If you ever build another, rather than using the 3/4 inch plywood for the base, look for Integraboard. It’s a 1/8th subflooring that’s 1 ply resin sandwiched between 2 layers of pine. It’s ridiculously light and dirt cheap. Then encase it between fiberglass.(no wood exposed) Anytime you’re working with wood in an application that weight is important, you need to stack the wood in a small space and run a dehumidifier for a couple days or blow heat in and around it to dry it… then encase it in fiberglass so it never takes on humidity. That plywood will almost double in weight in the humid summer. I did this exact routine for the deck in my boat and it was just as solid as the 3/4 in plywood it replaced. All said and done my boat weighed almost 300 pounds less when I was done. Take the money saved on the plywood and gelcoat everything. For the gelcoat to stick you’ll need I use the toxic(but cheaper) type of fiberglass resin, which requires a respiratory. Unfortunately, it melts foam so you wouldn’t be able to use foam unless it was sandwiched between something. The foam works best under the floor and roof for temperature control. Also, you can replace the glass in the windows with Lexan and save at least 10 pounds . I suspect you’d cut the weight in half just doing these things. Last thing, gorilla glue is amazing stuff. Spray a thin mist of water over everything you’re applying gorilla glue to and it’ll chase the water, absorb it and bond the pieces together like they were always 1. I replaced the stringers and bulkheads in my boat because the wood was so water logged it resembled pulled pork. But… had I been lazy, I could have drilled holes in the fiberglass covering the stringers/bulkheads and pumped gorilla glue into the waterlogged wood, the gorilla glue would have absorbed the water, expanded into the mushy wood and the end result would have been similar to pressboard... only it would have stayed waterproof like a synthetic material. Anywhooo… you gave me an idea and I think I’m going to build my own teardrop to tow behind my truck. Thanks for the inspiration 🤘🏽

Well sir you are amazing. So meticulous so ingenious and so well done. I just have to say wow. Never seen anybody do so much. Excellent job sir. You have my respect.

I agree, I'm one of those 17 percenters. I love camping and watching how to build stuff. Great job making a very professional little camper. You should show a video on the ride along on that camp.

Great video. Your previous bike trailer build inspired me to make my own. Last week, I took my customized Wike bike trailer on a 500 km road trip behind my Delfast ebike, while charging with an EU2200i Honda gas generator. Every time I stopped for coffee, people wanted to know where they could get one and took pictures. It generated a lot of interest. It is getting too cold to do that much more this season. I am planning longer camping trips next summer. Thanks.

For a super lightweight design you could go for a flat trailer that has draws for storage as well as the ability to pitch a tent on top giving you a really basic trailer tent 😁 With the right tent you could even leave the tent up if you want to travel on days that aren't to windy. I really want to try that now 🤣

Laughed so loud at the RIP girlfriend incident my family came to check out the video too. 😂 Youre talented and funny!

الطموح والإبداع هذه النتيجة شكرا لصاحب القناة ❤

I've been thinking about building a teardrop camper to fit on my 1975 motorcycle sidecar frame. The sidecar is an ancient Ural pulled by a Moto Guzzi 850. Thanks, you gave me the basic construction methods along with a general idea of what it might cost.

Genius. 💙💙👏🏻 As an avid cyclist and tiny house enthusiast, I absolutely LOVE this build!! (Not to mention the video quality💯) I’m blown away. Absolutely blown away. What I wouldn’t give to have such a great build:) Thanks so much for the content!! 💙

I could watch you for hours, and I do! Amazing talent. This lady enjoys how everything is done meticulously Clean and professional. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with everyone.

Super nice! Loved the building skills, though a camper like this wouldn't add too much to my lifestyle, it was a beauty piece of work! As for ideas I would love to see a mobile compact coffee shop/eatery kitchen with a small room to be taken to seasonal fairs and community events with the idea that there is a room for someone to sleep in it after the day's work is done.

I am also in your 16.9% female viewer field. This is amazing, this would be a great homeless solution wouldn't it. It is safe, out of the elements and extremely nice to look at. It also gives them the option to move around for whatever the need be. Great Great Job!

I woke up in the middle of the night, put on my tablet to find some nice sleeping/relaxing sounds. Saw your video. Now I am wide awake, watching your amazing camper build!!!! really excited to start building my own!!!! Been dreaming of this for a long time....

Hope it went to someone in need. Drew does build nice stuff. Nice to watch and learn, thanks.

Great job, I haven't seen anything like this camper before but a simple tent would be the same thing in my opinion and even easier to transport and use during a ride

It really is amazing. You are very lucky to have such a large workshop with so many tools! Incredible work and design!

how does this person not have more subscribers than he does? Great quality video and well budgeted. Just enough comedy mixed in with the professionalism in his videos. Great vid, keep up with the great work!

This is the kind of project I would like to have built when I was much younger AND had to large range of tools to accomplish it. I will give myself credit for building a beautiful wall bed, though I hired a friend with a workshop in his garage to do it. I still use it daily and it is BEAUTIFUL. i love the idea of a simple low coast camper like this for sleeping out in the many parks and forests near San Francisco, or northern California. I thought your humor about a girl friend was a bit over the top misagenystic though. Enjoy and I hope you find a person to give it to.

Definitely donate this to a person living out side grate video thanks for sharing

Love the simplicity, material choices, and thoroughness! The best! I have finally arrived at a design that one can stand in, with the same low towing profile, maybe lower, and shower in, and extra storage under the floor in plastic bins accessed from inside with hinged floor door tops. The idea is a hybrid of "Slide-a-van" plans that is only about 24-30 inches wide for the slide-a-van top, so a person can crawl in for the night if too tired to pop up the top, and narrow enough to avoid being too wide for skinny bike lanes (city, Tucson AZ) -- a risk for being sideswiped! To expand the width while camping, one side unfolds for a second sleeper, storage, etc. The roof of the now exposed expandable side would fold upward to open from the bottom. The sides are unfolded out, from inside the camper, the floor unfolds last, out from the inside floor, to sit on the ledge if each side door. Stabilizers added. For the side to pop out, the wheels need to be smaller and placed under the camper and use a wagon wheel turning design for the front wheels to turn. For the showering, a floor panel or two, with their plastic storage bins, are removed, and a shower curtain is suspended from the popup side of the camper. Heated water can be pumped from a solar heated shower bag or a water bucket with a battery operated hose and shower head available online for campers.

Great build! I love to see the improvements between the first and second iterations of the camper and I am looking forward to your future projects!

What a talent, I wish I could have that little camper to camp out with the youth every year

I wached your nice work building this camper on wheels. I'm in Brazil. It's wonderfull like other people/companies supported your project. Not everything is for profit you a kindman and will give this camper to someone. God bless you and others involved in this idea/reality.

This is absolutely amazing!! Effortlessly just watched the entire video and got lost in the build. The build process as well as the video structure/editing was exceptional. Every question I had, you were right there with a follow up on your next step. Very well done, sir!

I'm part of your female audience now ( : Super helpful video! I am researching bike campers since my rent just increased and I don't have a car. A tent doesn't feel super safe for me in winter and being a woman... it lacks security. Would be my dream to escape the housing crisis where I live and spend more time in nature! This seems like a very possible option for the future. Astounding craftsmanship! Look forward to seeing more

A fine production. Every time I watch one of your projects, I think mine through a lot more. Thanks, man.

Wow, the simplicity, efficiency and precision of your work is amazing!!

Mate, the effort you put into filming whilst building is incredibly commendable, it's a fantastic build, well done!

I love this camper! Someone will really be blessed to have this.I must say I'd be honored you really put alot of work into building it.

So satisfying to watch

The way you build stuff is incredible. I am full of admiration; I am one who can not hand a picture on the wall. Your eye for detail, the quality of your constructions, and designs; I give you 10/10. 😊

That's legit. I'm thinking of building one and going cross country as I live in Michigan and have family in both Florida and California. I know it sounds crazy but that'd be an adventure never forgotten.

Wicked craftsmanship, was a pleasure to watch you work out the kinks. 130 lbs is incredible, well played. If you can't do a giveaway, this will sell. Thanks for sharing and inspiring. Ride On!!!!

nice build. appreciate your adding the actual hours it took. I grew up around fine cabinet making and if you aren't highly trained I'd be shocked and awed. you are obviously quite multiskilled. Thank you for sharing the build.

I have to say, to date, this is hands down the most unique and neat build I've seen on RU-vid. This thing is awesome!! I want to try and make one and I don't have an E-bike...so maybe for my RZR🤔

This is by far the best tear-drop trailer build I've seen. One day I'd like to build a full-sized design similar to the Vistabule trailers but 1300lbs is just ridiculous. I think your construction techniques would go a long way to bridging the gap between bike trailers and light-weight car trailers.

Hey Drew, I watched this whole video while editing my online book. Wow! This is great. There is so much information listening and watching you build stuff. It's great! thanks so much for your content. Love them. Hal

Best camper build ever. The music and editing is perfect, a real joy to the eyes and ears. Thank you for sharing....

Thanks for this! Agree that a lot of efficiency and about 4-5 lbs would be saved if you went with narrower tires and rims (for instance a 26" rim with strong 36spoke wheel with 26" x 1.5" Schwalbe Marathons 100psi with either Mr Tuffy tire liners or slime in the inner tube). If it will fit, a 700c 36 spoke wheel with Marathon 700x32c-38c tires will be lighter and roll even better giving you best range. Also remove the disk rotors if not using them (but leave the screws in to keep the threads clean).

That's not a camper, it's a tiny home! Outstanding video and amazing job.

You have come so far in these builds, that I feel the need to recommend automotive high build primer and single stage paint. It far easier than you would think and the results are fantastic.

I would love to have a little camper like this one. I'm inspired to build watching this. I love to camp and kayak.

I was homeless for a while myself but when my dissability starts soon i was going to build a bike camping trailor and buy a 3 wheel recumbit bike and i like that style you built. Thanks for the video.

Something I like passing along to others interested in building campers/camper vans- consider cork for insulation. It works extremely well for insulation and soundproofing, it's light, and it will absorb condensation in the air without molding/mildewing.

This is really Kool, and as an avid bicycle explorer, I gotta say... This is perfect! I've been slowly adding on to my 21 speed mountain bike I purchased last year, and have it fully decked out for travel now, including back rack and saddlebags. I have a motor picked out for the back wheel as well. $350.00 I was going to just buy something I could tow, but after seeing this, I want something like this!! I think you did a phenomenal job on this, and your skills and attention to detail is amazing. You really went all out on this! 👍🔥

PS Your projects have inspired me on my own projects. My current project is a 45 foot shuttle bus to RV conversion. Keep up the great work.

From my experience of caravan repair, I would use 2 x1 for frame and fill in space with polystyrene. Glue sandwich the exterior and interior side walls together. Windows, doors, framing are part of wood 2 x 1 tourer structure. Floor a sandwich of building foam and 6 mm sheets.. Roof a sheet of 2 mm aluminium. Interior ceiling 4 mm hardboard. Doors wooden frame with sandwiched polystyrene similar to tourer side bodywork. Very much lighter than solid plywood.

I can't believe I've just spent almost an hour watching someone make a camper from scratch. How you don't have a gf is beyond me, really, wow. I never understood fibreglass and lamination before. I also liked the silicone in the joints. You considered things I would never have thought of. If I ever made one of these I'd make the whole of one side the door and have it lift up. Brilliant video

This is the first video I’ve watched of yours and I’m truly impressed by how good with your hands you are! The fact you can just knock that up is insane! You’re a freakin genius. Give it to a homeless person, it’s a lovely thing to do and will be great content for you at the same time. Subscribed ❤

Love this build. I had a couple of thoughts. Laying the fiberglass cloth over the corners instead of cutting them off would really add strength with negligible weight. I would have spray painted the exterior. A small surface like that would have been easy to do and even if you had some issues, a little wet sanding and buffing would have cleared it right up. And finally I would have faired it with epoxy filler for boats instead of drywall paste. The drywall paste will absorb and hold moisture forever. I loved the final result. Got a bunch of great ideas from you. Thanks a lot. I am considering scaling up your project to a motorcycle sized version.

Looks amazing! The strength of that towing arm makes me nervous though! There's a lot of force being applied to the last angled joint, especially with the camper fully loaded. If you could get a shop to bend a single piece of tubular to the right specs and clamp it to the frame it would likely be alot more secure. I do tend to over-engineer stuff though!

I am obsessed! I would love to buy something like this. 😊. I like your idea of giving it to someone struggling with homelessness. It would be a game changer.

Drew, at 73, I am not looking for a camping trailer, but I love your builds! The blow up girlfriend was a hoot! Thank you for the levity! You might want to try an make an enclosed version of your Solar cart/car. Something to make it usable in Winter, like a small space heater, just to bring it up to about 40. Summer would be easy with solar fans. An affordable enclosed solar mobility scooter would really be nice! It would bring in an older viewing audience with some maybe willing to invest in a great idea! You have so many of them! ❤❤

I would love one, Im longing for the camp life Love How u see possibilty in everything

So not only am I very impressed with this build. But I'm so happy to see you using and impact driver to install the fasteners instead of a drill. The little things make me happy lol

Very impressive Drew! I am an older Grandma who bikes, camps, and is a Patriot! You did an unbelieveable job and showed people how to be independent, fight the high cost of gas and still be able to go camping. A plus on creativity, craftmanship, and outside the box thinking. Your ideas are brilliant! You should patent your design, I think there would be a market for it! I have been a girl, woman, and now a Grandma, the world needs more young men like you. I will pray God sends you a soulmate! The blow up doll is good for a laugh, just be you and the right lady will come your way!

Awesome Build! Love the idea of making a camper to pull behind an E-Bike. Great way to travel.

What a creative person you are!! I wanted to try to build my own DIY camping trailer!! Thank you for your video!

1) I would inset the wheels into the body of the camper. You could keep it down to 8" or less of room intruding into the camper. It would drastically increase aerodynamics and the more the wheel is inside the body the better. 2) I would also inset the jacks into the body also. It would take up much room which is probably not being used anyway. Again it would increase aerodynamics while also improving the look of the trailer and look a lot more high-tech in the process. 3) You might want to including LED lighting on the sides and back of the trailer so that you are more visible once the lights starts to fade and flags sticking up in the air on the back of the trailer to also give you more visibility due to the flags flapping.

I've been a carpenter most of my life and I learned stuff from your video great job.

I love how detailed your videos are. You have me believing I can build things too lol

Wow! That's incredible! I wish I had your talent. God bless you!

A real awesome build. Way out of my budget range but I’m using your ideas to help in my build. I already have wheels and aluminum so I have a good start. Thanks so much for the ideas.

Wished I had saw this when you first uploaded it because I totally want it!!! I am so infatuated with tiny builds with the way housing is these days and that is how I ran across this video just looking at tiny builds.

Drew, one of the lightest campers I've seen online was built by Paul Elkins and is 60 lbs. I would love to see you build something similar using Coroplast or fluted plastic. Thanks!

my first bike trailer i made with p v c ,plastic pipe..to tote my r c glider.,around hawaii...oahu....that was a fun trip..next time will use a b s ..pipe much stronger....aloha....

I think I'd gusset a few of those corners and angles, especially the one's with the most stress on them. I've seen that thin aluminum crack way too many times. That's a ton of work, but you may have one of the coolest bike campers out there, that's something to be damn proud of!

Awesome build! As a plus, you can get a Massive battery for your bike and have 100 mile+ range throttle only, and keep it in the camper with an extra long lead to the bike bike controller.

Good job. My suggestion for night travels: integrate some led backlights for security and maybe direct charging from solar panel/power bank to e-bike.

I'm constantly being amazed at these instructional videos but this one wins the amazing prize. I'm seriously going to attempt to build myself one. Thank you for posting!!!