The dream of hitting the open road with just the essentials in a self-sufficient vehicle to chase swell, snow, and adventure shouldn’t cost a fortune. Photo: The Inertia
If you’re interested in building your own pop top camper or learning functional and sustainable design philosophy from a DIY icon, check out Jay Nelson’s Guide to Building a Pop Top Camper.
I’m going to take you through step-by-step how to build a camper that is geared toward the intermediate to beginner builder. The goal, in the end, is for you to walk away with something that you’re proud of, something that’s handmade, and something that’s unique to you.
Note that the quantity and amount of materials will depend on the vehicle you select.
1. The first step is to find your van.
Your camper build will depend on what type of functionality you’re looking for. For me, I moved into doing pop-tops because I like the idea of something that can become a camper or, it can be flattened and just be the daily van or truck.
Wherever you find the car, you’re going to want to have a trusted mechanic. Any car over a few thousand dollars, I wouldn’t buy without having a mechanic look at it. If there is a fixable problem, you can go back to the people who are selling the car and say, “Hey, it’s got this problem. I would like to knock off $500.”
2. The second step is to make a drawing.
I always like to make a quick drawing so I have somewhat of a sense of what I want to do. With the drawing, I also try to make a cross-section, because the most important step is the foundation.
3. With any building, you start with the foundation.
It’s the same with campers. You have to build a good foundation that can bolt to the car. With that foundation, I draw a cross-section of the base and a cross-section of the top. So I see how everything’s going to fit together.
I think about the dimensions and the size of the wood I’ll need. Starting with the drawing is a really good way to go because you can do it all to scale. You can look on the internet and find scale drawings of cars.
4. Next, we start to build the foundation.
The best thing is to have that cross-section to reference, you have to shape your foundation to fit your car. So it fits relatively well, it’s going to have a rubber gasket, so it doesn’t have to be absolutely airtight, but relatively. You build that piece. Once you have that piece, you also have to think about how the bed’s going to fit into that piece. Once you have that piece, you set that to the side and you can start building your top. So that’s the next section.
Once you have your vehicle set there are a few things that you need. You’re going to be working with fiberglass and some other chemicals that aren’t so good for you. It’s good to have safety gear like a respirator, goggles, a Tyvek suit, and gloves.
I also try to use recycled materials or reclaimed. Usually, there’s someone on Craigslist in the Bay area selling marine-grade plywood. I started using reclaimed materials when I was a lot younger and I didn’t have money. So at first, it started off as a kind of economics. I actually found a lot of joy in recycling so now I have a very hard time going to a hardware store because I just hate buying anything new. I’m constantly seeing the world as recycling all the time, especially with materials.
All that said, recycled materials are a lot harder to work with than new materials. So I might recommend someone building their first camper who’s not super comfortable with wood to use store-bought material. You should be set to go. Good luck and enjoy this Inspire Course.
If you’re interested in building your own pop top camper or learning functional and sustainable design philosophy from a DIY icon, check out Jay Nelson’s Guide to Building a Pop Top Camper.
