The TARDIS - A Four Wheel Camper Build

[Overland Hadley]

The shim is a great idea! Be sure to post up where you end up mounting your Wave. Out of curiosity, what made you change your mind about mounting it on the back wall?

The interior layout has changed a little, but when I went to answer your question about why I was not mounting it on the back wall I started to think that maybe that is where it should go. Thanks for asking the question, made me look at my location for the heater in a new light.

So, after thinking about it I might take my own advice and use some shims and still mount the heater on the back wall.

[NothingClever]

Also, I removed that small shelf above the window to access inside the wall, while it was out I weighed it and it came in at ten pounds. I found that a bit heavy (with the weight being high and aft) for the small storage space it provided. So at this point it is not going back into the camper.

I'm not trying to be snarky but if that 10lbs of weight counts as high and aft for your desired specifications, isn't a truck camper simply a bad start point to begin with?

And if I missed this part please forgive me, but what is the goal you're trying to achieve that requires such unsual limitations on weight?

I guess I'm a little perplexed....I have a loaded Fleet and my Toyota Tacoma does great on power, handling and gas mileage. Granted, I did supension work and a re-gear but you're simply carrying a shell. If all I had was a shell, I'm 100% confident I could carry it with my truck in stock trim and still have enough capability to handle some more "stuff" in my camper without having to worry.

Your fixation on weight is admirable if you were backpacking the AT or the PCT but for a person truck camping, it's something I haven't seen often here in the forums and I must be missing something.

[davidd]

I think he is trying to design a highly personalized and usable truck camper that when truly loaded with everything one needs to hit the road isn't grossly overweight. It seems that generally speaking when others have weighed their rigs the end result is typically not lighter than first thought, but more of a holy %$#& that thing is heavy!

I think this is a killer thread that is one persons take on their ultimate overland vehicle...I can't wait to see the results. I believe that the results of this thread are that many people are going to have found ways to improve and customize their campers thanks to his intensity in design. I have seen people with shells on 3/4 ton diesels and grossly overloaded complete campers on short bed Tacoma's. Everyone it seems has their own comfort zone, and opinion when it comes to loading a vehicle.

I just wish there more updates as I am dying of curiosity

[Every Miles A Memory]

Remember than Nathanel also comes from a sailing background where weight is EVERYTHING! That is also why he's finding such cool products not normally used in rigs. The Sailing Industry is light years ahead of the Overland and RV industry

I agree that it's cool to see the products he's using and have already made multiple bookmarks on a few I plan to implement into our camper

[dmoose]

Little weight here little weight there adds up and the point of these vehicles is to pile miles on the lighter the lower the profile the better the gas mileage the more places your gonna see on your travel budget .

Also you wanna keep the weight low to keep the vehicle stable on goat tracks

makes sense to me

[Overland Hadley]

Good things noted in the 3 posts below. If I do not carefully watch the weight the camper will easily end up hundreds of pounds heavier than I wanted.

I will just add that I when I go backpacking I count ounces, and I am guilty of cutting the handle off my toothbrush to save weight. Now that is scary. (Then I haul around a couple hundred pounds of camera gear, o'well.)

[Overland Hadley]

.... his intensity in design.

Thanks.

I just wish there more updates as I am dying of curiosity

I wish I could posts more updates, but I am working my butt off to help pay for future journeys. So the build updates will come slowly, hopefully that will translate into more future trip reports.

[westyss]

Good things noted in the 3 posts below. If I do not carefully watch the weight the camper will easily end up hundreds of pounds heavier than I wanted.

I will just add that I when I go backpacking I count ounces, and I am guilty of cutting the handle off my toothbrush to save weight. Now that is scary. (Then I haul around a couple hundred pounds of camera gear, o'well.)

I have to agree with the thought process that you have employed considering weight, I bet if every camper on the road was put on a scale there would be an incredibly huge percentage of them over gross!! I believe most people are in denial about how much their rigs weigh when in camping mode wet, and it's simply amazing how stuff starts to add up, a little here, a little there and pretty soon ,,,,,,,,,.

Just having the mind set of squeezing every bit of weight saving from a build generally is a great idea, not only for the GVW but for fuel, ease of travel on rough roads etc. besides it has made for a great thread!

[brianjwilson]

You know it's funny, part of the appeal of the hard side camper that I owned was the storage area. When I sold it last week, I was amazed how much extra junk I had stuffed in the cupboards and not touched in the last year. Now I'm drawing up plans for a smaller pop-up, with more emphasis on longer boondocking (water/battery/solar/propane) and much less emphasis on "junk" storage. Although I'm not really obsessing about weight as much, it is interesting to see how different people prioritize these things. That's the fun of outfitting it yourself...

[takesiteasy]

Just having the mind set of squeezing every bit of weight saving from a build generally is a great idea, not only for the GVW but for fuel, ease of travel on rough roads etc. besides it has made for a great thread!

x2.