Truck Camper Conversion Guide: Tips For Building Your Truck Camper Setup

You’ve made it this far in our Truck Camper Conversion Guide so kudos to you and your dreams of simple living and easy camping. But if you’re still considering buying a camper shell, go read Part 1 or if you are still working on designing your truck camper setup check out part 2.

Now that your ideas are blueprinted inside your brain its time to break out the power tools and make your camping setup a reality. Most likely your design is going to be customized to your truck so I can’t give exact step by step instructions. But what I can do is give you some tips and recommendations based on what went right (and oh so wrong) during my build.

Measure, Measure, Measure

The hardest part of building the truck camper setup is measuring correctly. It seems like an easy step, but in order to maximize your space, you have to contour your design to your truck bed. Unless you have a bare metal truck bed, the plastic lining along the inside walls of your bed will not be a perfect square. Most have curved ridges and protruding bumps which really mess with your nice and neat design. Take three measurements when analyzing anything running the length of your bed.  Make sure to measure the front, middle and back. It’s not uncommon that the front of your truck bed is few inches wider than the back. If you don’t take this into account you’ll be giving up precious space.

Once you have your measurements, add them all up and determine how much material you will need. Plan on screwing up and always buy more than you need. Home Depot and Lowes will let you return uncut lumber should you have extra at the end. While you’re at the hardware store take advantage of the free wood cutting that most of them offer. Especially if you already installed the camper shell on your truck because you won’t be able to have an 8′ piece of wood stick out over the tailgate anymore.

Tools

You don’t need any fancy tools to get your truck camper setup started. The the most important tool you will need is something to cut your material. If you decided to make your truck camper setup out of wood, the circular is about to become your best friend. Here are a few other tools that will make your life easier:

• Power Drill: You could put together your setup with nails but screws will make it more steady
• Miter Saw: A circular saw will basically do the same thing but there is less setup time with a miter saw
• Jigsaw: For making cuts that aren’t straight, like getting the bedding platform flush with the sides of your lined truck bed or cutting handholes on storage openings.

Building the Frame

Regardless of your setup choice, you have to start with the basics. When building a sleeping platform with two boxes on either side it can be helpful to tape off the sections where the edges of the boxes will go. This will help you visualize the platforms and decide if you have enough leg room for sitting in between the boxes or enough room to sleep on top of them.

If making your frame out of wood you can construct the entire thing with 2×2’s but the setups stability might come into question if you want to add the weight of a second person (or you decide to go to town on a pan of brownies). Sprinkle in some 2×4’s to make your setup stronger but keep in mind you don’t want to add an unnecessary weight.

To keep everything together, 3″ decking screws work wonders, or you can go with cheaper wood screws.

Tops & Sides

Now that your frame is built, you can add on the tops and sides of your boxes. Once again strength vs weight needs to be considered. Using too thick of board adds additional weight but using too thin of a board will leave you crashing through your setup like a professional wrestler being power-bombed through a table. I recommend going with a board that is at least a 1/2″ thick.

Adjustable Setup

If you’re not doing an adjustable setup your technically done! That is the great thing about building your own custom setup, you can customize it as much or as little as you want. The adjustable slide rails are easy to add. Simply take 2×2’s and screw them the equal distance from the top of your box as the thickness of the board you used for the top of your boxes. For example, if using a 1/2″ board, your slide rails go 1/2″ from the top of your box. If one of your boxes is taller than the other start with the shorter box and then set the other rail so the slide in the board will be level when you sleep on it.

Creating Storage

Now if you dropped a screw underneath one your boxes, you’ll quickly realize it is very difficult to get to anything that slides towards the back of your truck bed. So to access the storage area beneath, your going to need to add some hatches. But because you will be sleeping on top of these boxes make sure these hatches remain flush with the board, this includes the hinges otherwise, it will be like sleeping on the ground with a rock in your side. To keep everything level start by cutting a square of your top board, this will be the hatch door. Now cut a semi-circle out of that square that is big enough to get your fingers in. Since you cant have a handle sticking out this is how you will open the hatch. Next, you will need some hidden hinges. The easiest to install are Non-Mortise Concealed Hinges. 

If your setup has you sleeping on top of the hatch make sure the door is stable when you push on top of it. You can screw in a couple wood blocks around the corners of the square to prevent the hatch from falling through.

Your Truck Camper Setup is Ready for Adventure!

The basics are done and your truck camper setup is officially functional. It may not be pretty or professionally crafted but it is something you should be proud of. Now that you have the core of the camper built you can start your exploring or you can add some additional features to make your setup feel a little more comfortable.

In the next installment of our truck camper conversion guide, we talk about adding carpeting to your setup. Click Here to check it out!

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