The Apt Camper

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If you've got travel in your blood but only a little cash in your pocket, consider constructing.

by Robert Pentecost

I've been a fan of the great outdoors since my youth, but once I became a family man, I had to think about changing the manner in which I visited the wilds. You see, though all of the Pentecost clan enjoys camping, we don't all appreciate middle-of-the-night close encounters with wild critters . . . and needless to say, the prices of recreational trailers have gone far beyond the reach of many folks, including us.

I didn't, however, let a mere lack of funds prevent our traveling around and experiencing the thrill of new and distant places. Rather than shell out hard-earned cash for motel lodging on family jaunts, I figured I'd put a few bucks, and a bit of effort, into building a homemade camping trailer . . . and still have some money left over to spend on a trip. The result of my brainstorm is the "appropriate technology (or APT) camper" pictured here . . . a lightweight, four-berth tent trailer—built from both new and used components—which cost me less than $350!

START AT THE BEGINNING

The heart of my APT Camper is a small, 750-pound-capacity fishing-boat trailer . . . which I picked up, in good condition, for $100. These tag-alongs are typically just under 4 feet wide at the rear and taper inward toward the front. To ready it for camper carrying, I simply welded two Lshaped pieces of 4"-broad lightweight channel iron to the trailer's nose, thus providing a 4-foot-wide structural base at the front of the tapered frame. Since the chassis wasn't quite 4 feet wide at the rear, I also had to weld some 1/8" X 2" X 2" X 3" angle iron brackets to its side rails in that area to support my trailer's 314" X 4' X 8' plywood floor.

After I'd drilled through the brackets and frame members and bored mounting holes in the wooden platform, I started work on the camper's walls. To make them, I first trimmed five 2 X 4's to 8-foot lengths, then cut four 41"-long sections. Seventeen 2 X 4's—measuring 15-3/4" each—served as vertical studs.

Then, using 1/4" X 3" lag screws, I fastened 13 of the studs to their respective top and bottom plates, forming three 19"-tall wall frames . . . which I went on to fasten to the front and side edges of the plywood floor with bolts run through the bottom plates, the wooden platform, and the trailer frame (or the angle iron brackets) beneath. To enclose the camper's tail end, I framed out two 12 "long walls at the rear corners, bolted them to the base as I had the others, and then fastened them to the side walls with lag screws. More screws, placed through the corner studs at the front, helped to make the entire "box" secure.