Our DIY Truck Camper
It’s not about living in luxury, but instead living in something different. Something that stands out and at the end of the day you can stand back and appreciate something that’s YOUR work of art.
Thats what we did. With no carpentry experience, no 3D designing programs and no extensive array of tools in the shed. All we had was an idea, a whole lot ambition and plenty of free time (thanks 2020).
Free sketching programs was the choice to plan the build. Is it easy to sketch something in detail when you’ve never done it before and can’t properly visualise how things work or even fit together? Funnily enough, no.
A couple of ‘complete’ sketches… of half of the build… and our first delivery of wood was on the way. It’s much easier to visualise something when you can see the progress in person, but did this slight impatience of ours cause troubles later on? You bet it did.
New days led to new problems. Which were often fixed with new tools (the best way to figure out what each tool was actually for) after of course many video tutorials of how to use the tools. However, some things needed more than just an impulse buy to fix them. It was our impatience that drove us to some of our bigger problems, like trying to fit windows into a frame that had previously been made before windows were even purchased. Some things we should have done before others, or at least thought about.
Despite the problems that we encountered, it’s still a rewarding experience. The build became our routine which kept us sane through a global pandemic. The challenges ended up being our drive to keep going and the mistakes we made (sometimes rather expensive ones) we learnt from each time. A bit of determination and support is all you really need - and plenty of videos to watch the actual pros doing it.
This is our way of doing it. It's not perfect and it'll be different again next time, but it's our own unique way. A way that anyone else could do too.
If you're interested in the products and materials we used for our build we have been compiling a list with links to make it easier for anyone else embarking on their journey. Check out the list here!