When you get to the insulation stage, begin studying “thermal bridging”. You live and camp in the northwest and you will be so happy with your camper if you keep the thermal bridging as minimal as possible. Basically, those metal “studs” for the walls need to have some material on the inside face that keeps the cold from transmitting to the interior face of the wall. Even a thin layer of insulation felt on the inside of all your steel members will cut down drastically on the heat loss through the walls.
Great advice. Also, I can’t imagine that using an aluminum skin would save a lot of weight… not sure it would add THAT much cost. But it would be significantly lighter.
@@questioner1596 Ahh okay. Shows you how much I know about metallurgy! 😂😂 What if the aluminum is coated with Alodine? Would that protect it? I’m familiar with using it to protect aircraft. Not sure how it would work in this situation.
One thing to consider is to reinforce your wheel wells in case of a blowout so when the tire blows, it doesn’t rip all the flooring out or any plumbing or wiring that’s from experience
im with you on this, if the frame twists at all thats going to be an issue. im guessing parts of the box frame build will bend. still wishing them best of luck though!
love the build chris just maybe suggest rounding out the front? even forgetting the drag/fuel/noise at even 60mph thats alot of force on such a large vertical plate on the front that is going through those front mounting points as it levers and a high pressure area between the roof and the frame. Just interested to hear your thoughts
Chris, this looks great and probably one of the most interesting builds of yours that I cant want to see the finished product. One observation that I have; I have a Toyota FJ with a camper tent on top, there is a lot of drag and noise over 55mph. The front on your camper is way bigger than mine so I believe it will be very noisy to drive and you will get a lot of drag. Hope you have considered the aero dynamics during the design phase. Wishing you best of luck with this awesome project.
My prediction…. It’s gonna cause problems when the body twists, even a little. I’d use a nice rubber composite to fill the gap in between the cab and camper. Hopefully it works but I’m skeptical.
I would of went with a rubber accordian boot between the cab and box. Whatever you want to call it. The cab and box always have movement between them. Even a very minimal movement will not play nice with their welding.
Great work so far! One idea on how to get a TON of useful parts is to buy a used motor home that was maybe in a small accident? You could use the fiberglass walls, windows, doors, insulation, appliances, pumps, etc, etc.
Door on the left side is an interesting choice. Most camper trailers have the door on the right. Seems correct to be on the right when it comes to parking curbside. Not that you will be street parking it.
I work in the RV industry in Elkhart Indiana. The doors can be on either side but the majority are on the curbside. I was actually a “door guy” on a few lines and had to pay attention to the door placement so I knew which door to install.
The gvwr is the weight of the truck one driver and a full tank of fuel. The Dodge the broke in half had a ton of weight behind the axle where it wasn't designed. Your frames won't break because of the weight being spread over the entire chassis. The issue I see is once you build it and get three guys in it with all your gear and food and adding the tongue weight of a trailer your pushing your limits. But I'll wait to see what happens lol
@@OnyxCobra yep I do believe they base the capacity on 1 person though. So the payload would be calculated at the weight of the truck with 1 person and a tank of fuel. If you add 1000 pounds of people and stuff that reduces you max payload by 1000 pounds. Some people just figure if payload is 6000 pounds they fill the cab with everything then add 6000 pounds in the box which is overloaded if that makes sense
Thank you for taking the time to address people's concerns. I understand where you are coming from as I have been there many times myself. That said, consider adding additional structure by tying the front and rear suspension perches together. Not a guarantee, but will add a lot of strength through the weakest part of the frame, which is also what we did in the mid 90s to keep our 10 second street legal fox bodies in one piece.
Love the build so far! One thing going for you on the folding truck situation is you tied into the cab. Also it's gross vehicle weight rating, as opposed to government weight rating. Rock on!
Very cool build as always, I heard you mention the door and it looks like you have it on the driver's side. You might want to consider it on the passenger side so that if you park on a busy road it does not open into traffic. I am sure you have noticed that all travel trailers and campers have passenger-side doors for that reason. Good luck with the rest of the build.
The cab to bed joint should have a gasket instead of being one solid structure across that span. Would be interesting to hear your take on why you decided to weld it solid without a joint for flex. Speed bumps, dirt roads, driveways.
@William Bailey true but a truck will flex a lot between the cab and box. This is the first I think most people have seen were someone has tried to weld the camper box to a cab on a truck like this.
@@williambailey309 The rubber bushing won't make enough of a difference, the box is going to rip away from the cab at the first speed bump, those frames twist and move way more than they're accounting for.
You could add a center support/roll bar from the frame through the b pillars, it would not only add safety in the event of a roll over, but would help with the structural rigidity of the build.
I can honestly tell you I’m quite intrigued and interested by this build. At least more than I would have believed from the beginning. Great job there, cheers!
Build what u want,don't worry about ppl concerns on weight..ya can fishplate like 4ft sections on frame under can bxk under bed,and the diesel will pull it,and weight and frame won't ever be an issue.keepbbuildingbme and my son's love you guys!!!
Looking really good! We appreciate your explanation on the weight. All I was thinking was you keep adding more and more weight. Once you explain, it really seems like it could be a great option for light off roading.
I love how you made it a unibody, however, if you made it removable, you would have more access to more weldable areas. For instance, under the sleeping area where it ties into the frame of the rear camper. you are now giving me new ideas of how to do this. love your show, it is inspirational
You got my attention! What BoonDocker hasn't wanted to do(make) this? This is just awesome for the Do it yourselfer. Some built in hydraulic stabilizers with adjustable drop down feet would be awesome on all four corners. Even if they were electric driven like concealed camper jacks would do the trick. Make it accessible for maintenance and to replace if needed. Where are you getting the steel and sheets?...where can you find it here in Portland? It will be a fun journey to see all of you systems come together.....back to work!
I don't know if this has been addressed previously, but my biggest concern would be when Chris calculates weights if he is accounting for dry or wet weight. Dry being everything that is being added on to the truck and wet being all the gear, fluids, and people added for an actual trip. Because if he is close at the end of the build the wet weight could send him over.
He isn't calculating the unit weight at all. He only mentioned the weight of a couple of the many components of the build. If they knew the weight of the design, or even a complete list of materials, they could have provided it... so I'm sure that they don't.
Well with weight at most you might need to add some more bracing under the cab and add another leaf spring to the pack but otherwise not that much of a worry
Love that you guys are willing to risk a complete fail on a project just to see if you can help people out. Nice that you'd be willing to take that loss to save viewers from taking it
My main concern is that many states require all original safety equipment (ie. lights and etc.) to function in order to pass inspection. So how do you intend to replace the cab lights in the event they burn out.
not an out of service item, might get a ticket, but they wont shut you down. but I bet Chris is willing to cross that bridge if and when it happens....
@@andrewward4246 Agreed during the year just a ticket but at inspection time to renew the plates ALL safety items must function, hell I have failed initial inspection because my wipers were worn.
I’m loving the build guys. My two cents worth, I recon you’re going to need plenty of ventilation in this thing. And insulation. All that steel is going to get hot! Maybe not such an issue in Your neck of the woods but probably one if you venture to SoCal etc. looking forward to the next episode 😎
Being an rv tech the overall frame structure looks sound! The only issue I see is the overhead bunk, that area normally have an 1 1/2" x 4 1/2 - 5" structural beam that goes along the roof line to help support the bunk structure so it doesn't flex as bad at the b pillar point
I could care less about trucks and camper vans. I watch because I love to see Chris's engineering and design mind work, and Oscar's amazing fabrication skills. Great channel!
@@Whatwherewhy586 wide vehicle ID and clearance lights are still required. Do you think that builders like this would really leave dead lights in place? That wouldn't look very flashy.
Good stuff guys! Keep at it, don’t worry about the comments. If it isn’t right, you’ll adjust, or you’ll take it to the mint, either way we shouldn’t complain, it will be good content! Love from Kansas City!
Little upset that you showed a Revel as your Class B RV example instead of a Storyteller Overland Beast Mode but it's fine 😅. I'm a little biased though since I'm part of the awesome team that builds the STO Modes! Anyway enjoying the content and when you get into insulating and sealing, look into Havelock wool and Dicor!
I love how you were reviewing the comments, but also like; no, these guys are in the ideal world. This is not a ‘bespoke’ camper build as such. This is a Bisforbuild camper. This will work! I can’t wait to see the end product!! You guys are the best middle finger to ‘convention’ ever! F*** the haters 😎
just so you know, GVWR actually stands for Gross Vehicle Weight Rating. and that is more or less the max weight the vehicle is engineered for, which accounts for vehicle weight plus fluids plus occupants and/ or cargo.
The team is giving me ideas for how I'd make my kei-truck camper DIY & prob do some bead rolling on the panels to add rigidity while not adding too much weight. I also can see a dimple die for interesting custom windows. Flame my ideas, but I also like the B is for Build way
Really appreciate how you take the time out to address comments and are so honest about where things are going and if they work or not. The weight thing didn't really flag as a major issue for me, what I wonder about now, is around how it will work with expansion and flex in the chassis - from new, the cab and rear truck bed are separated with an expansion joint and the pro build campers take the same approach. But if I've understood correctly, your camper body is fully welded to the cab as one piece? Will that work ok with expansion and chassis flex?
There's a reason that campers and RVs are built of aluminum, wood, and fiberglass. Going to be a rusty mess in a few years if you don't powder coat the entire thing which isn't possible with the way you have built it. Did you see the newer dodge dually that bent in half?
It's been a while since I visited your channel and I forgot the PTSD I developed from binging your channel for 2 weeks. I'm pretty sure in that time i listened to that same royalty free generic rock beat numbers 2 through 4 at least 700 times. And I'm appalled to see that you're still fucking using it. Jesus man you got me doing the thousand yard stare.
Now that I think about it... with your team's fiberglass skills, I'm surprised that a steel skeleton with fiberglass skin wasn't a more viable option... but it's your baby and as long as you're happy... SEND IT!!
Have you considered the need for drip holes here and there so water can get out if it gets in somehow - metal walled RVs can sweat due to condensation - my Airstream does anyways
