Camper body ideas

[harveyp6]

View attachment 526918

This looks remarkably similar to a twin axle caravan plonked onto a truck. Has a had ladder and roof rails added and given a paint job.

A long time ago I saw a Bedford J type truck with a Sprite Major caravan on the back, and despite how bad that might sound, it was done so well that it looked really good.

 

[gaz1]

id use light guage steel box section

Thread 'Laser cut insulated sections for camper vans?'

May 14, 2025

I was at the overland show in Stratford some years back and it seemed that most of the self build campers were made of this insulated laminate stuff -

About 2" thick with a layer of "cellotex" type stuff between, I assume, a couple of layers of thin vinyl covered ply.

It seemed that the builders would do everything in cad and send off the files to "companies" who would send them back the jigsaw puzzle of parts.

They would then assemble them with some sort of glue and add a aluminium angle trim to the edges.

(my details above may be incorrect, but it's what I remember of them!)

Is...

• julianf
• Replies: 27
• forum: The Brew Room

 

[Migmac]

Storage container and convert it

 

[Tinbasherdan]

Storage container and convert it

Too heavy , I don’t have my hgv so it’ll be downplated to 3.5t

 

[Tinbasherdan]

Have a look at Ambition Strikes - smaller scale but they built a demountable camper for a larger American pickup using that technique.

We've got a yellow box that I think was a British Rail service body for a 130 and that's an aluminium frame underneath (C channel) with some hefty but not heavy extrusions in the corners and laminated walls (albeit ply as a core) and it's pretty sudbstantial and not very heavy for it's size.

Do a welded frame underneath a bit like a chassis and I think you'll be fine. The bed on the 6x6 is 2x4"x8mm aluminium C section - 8x5.5ft with a headboard and I can just about pick it up so suspect under just 100kg. That frame is self comfortably self supporting so anything on top doesn't necessarily need to be structural to the lift.

20k in materials! I’d have to sell a kidney!

 

[mr haynes]

This sort of thing

 

[Tinbasherdan]

This sort of thing

Not bad old wagons. Like I say, I won’t be running mine at full mgw, it’s being downplated to 3.5t, so weight is a big consideration

 

[sako243]

20k in materials! I’d have to sell a kidney!

I suspect that's all in.

Certainly when I've priced up aluminium extrusions it's been no where near that.

 

[Tinbasherdan]

I suspect that's all in.

Certainly when I've priced up aluminium extrusions it's been no where near that.

It seems that the composite sheeting is ludicrously expensive. I’ve found a spot selling cheap box so I think it’s going to be the way to go

 

[Erie Fred]

Buy an old Airstream from here, and have it mailed back ?
Get Kim to remove the wheels & axles so it could fit in a conex box.

 

[jo1010]

.... i cant find any weights on the foam sandwich boxes

I looked at these when building a fridge unit here - 12ft bodies as fitted to 3.5t vans are around 600kg.....check with the commercial bodybuilders eg.

Lightweight 3.5t Bodies | Jackson Coachworks

Payload of over 1.1t on 3.5t vehicles

www.jacksoncoachworks.co.uk

 

[Migmac]

Too heavy , I don’t have my hgv so it’ll be downplated to 3.5t

You’ll get your HGV is less than a week, so no excuse !

 

[Tinbasherdan]

You’ll get your HGV is less than a week, so no excuse !

I won’t have the money for it for quite some time though

 

[octo0072000]

Too heavy , I don’t have my hgv so it’ll be downplated to 3.5t

you don't need HGV up to 17 ton unless i am out of touch now a days

 

[Tinbasherdan]

you don't need HGV up to 17 ton unless i am out of touch now a days

Anything over 3.5t is hgv. Mgw of the 306 as it stands is 5.7. The Dutch have a much better way of doing things- if it’s weighed off at less than 3.5t you can get it replated and drive it on a car licence. It could be 3.4 and still ok. Here it needs a minimum of 1t useable payload. We aren’t to be trusted not to run overweight, clearly

 

[Erie Fred]

We aren’t to be trusted not to run overweight, clearly

The state police have portable scales that they can stop you at any time, pull these
out of the trunk, and have you drive over them.....

 

[Tinbasherdan]

The state police have portable scales that they can stop you at any time, pull these
out of the trunk, and have you drive over them.....

We have the ministry who can wave you in at any point and flag you for any number of things including weight, lights and anything in between. Generally staffed by little hitlers with a persecution complex. My dad got stopped a mile from the yard with a blown bulb and the horrible little hi viz Hitler declared it unroadworthy and that it must be recovered back to the yard, not driven. For a bulb, a box of which he had in the cab. Then they wonder why everyone hates them

 

[Tinbasherdan]

Oh- if it’s pre 1960 then the issue of weight magically goes away and you can drive it on a car licence. Meaning I can’t drive a 5t van but I can take a thornycroft antar out on the road at nearly 100t all up, with a relatively complex gearbox to distract me and the fact it’s obscenely wide

 

[Farside]

Of course, having a heavy truck chassis means you can maximize the camper,
I call this the "Clarkson".....:View attachment 526915

Four kids and four adults.... in that.
It would be hell on wheels.

 

[Turbo]

Anything over 3.5t is hgv. Mgw of the 306 as it stands is 5.7. The Dutch have a much better way of doing things- if it’s weighed off at less than 3.5t you can get it replated and drive it on a car licence. It could be 3.4 and still ok. Here it needs a minimum of 1t useable payload. We aren’t to be trusted not to run overweight, clearly

Are you sure about that? I could drive up to 7.5 tonnes on my car licence because I had C1 entitlement on it. If you did your driving test before 1997 you should have it too.

Due to my diabetes and medication I lost the C1 but if I get an annual medical for commercial vehicles I can get it back again.