Nice job,nothing wrong with wood,my home made tow behind was all framed in wood,had over 40,000 miles on it,when I retired it last spring,and about 15 years old
I really like your build! I just finished mine (posted the video a few weeks ago) and I love the simplicity of your build. I definitely overcomplicated some things in mine lol
Looks amazing! I've been considering a pickup camper like this but you can't really find prebuilt campers like this in the UK. I especially like the fully wrap around bug net, usually you'd only see them with "windows" but your setup looks far more comfortable. The only things I'd be worried about would be how the velcro would hold up in the wind, and whether the gas struts have enough strength to keep the top up in heavy wind. Maybe consider replacing the velcro with waterprood zips, and getting a pair of gas strut retainers if it prooves to be a problem?
My biggest question is how did you find straight 2x8s because all the long 2x4s at my local big box stores are all warped. Thought about doing this with a 3/4" plywood frame then laminate them together to make the frame out of 1.5" plywood. Think that would be strong enough?
I played with the curve in the wood. The long 2x8s on the sides are placed like a smile, while the ones on the front/back are placed like rainbows. The 2x4s on the roof are all placed like rainbows. The reason the 2x8s on the sides are different is because the main support is in the middle. I'm not a carpenter though, so I did what seemed to make the most sense, I'm not sure about plywood 🤔
I think you're going to have problems with your Velcro sides in windy conditions...The panels getting blown in during a thunder storm is a particularly bad scenario.