Planing a micro for solo camping!

[Lionsong]

Hello! This is such a lovely forum! Found it through some googling for plans for a micro camper. Hoping to learn how to build a camper for myself to take all over with my Subaru forester. If anyone has tips or links to past threads that would be lovely!
I’m on a bit of a budget so the camper will be bare bones but definitely a step up from sleeping in my car! Image is my current camping setup from my recent trip to Carlsbad Caverns. Very comfy but without much head room. Hoping the camper will keep me from doing body origami just to get in!

 

[GTS225-TNT]

I suppose some questions should be asked first;
Do you do your own campsite cooking, or are you reliant on local restaurants?
Might there be a pet or human companion in the future?
Might you want A/C, or will a fan be sufficient? (I see you're in New Mexico)
Will you be "boon-docking", or will you have 120 volt power available to you?

Roger

 

[DrewsBrews]

Yes I'd suggest take a serious look at the above questions and make concrete answers. It is good that you have some experience with a minimalist setup, as that should help understand what you do and don't need. I find alot of folks get "stars in their eyes" and wind up answering "maybe, in the future" to alot of the questions. This leads to spending more time and money on a build that they end up not using alot of the "maybe" features.

Personally, I think if you pair down to only the things you truely need from it.. It allows more attention to be spent doing a better job on the few features that matter most, like waterproofing.

A galley is a nice upgrade compared to car camping. But omitting that can also speed up and reduce cost of a build.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Hello! This is such a lovely forum! Found it through some googling for plans for a micro camper. Hoping to learn how to build a camper for myself to take all over with my Subaru forester. If anyone has tips or links to past threads that would be lovely!
I’m on a bit of a budget so the camper will be bare bones but definitely a step up from sleeping in my car! Image is my current camping setup from my recent trip to Carlsbad Caverns. Very comfy but without much head room. Hoping the camper will keep me from doing body origami just to get in!

You might get some great ideas and details from Building a Teardrop Trailer by Tony Latham.

Link

 

[Lionsong]

I suppose some questions should be asked first;
Do you do your own campsite cooking, or are you reliant on local restaurants?
Might there be a pet or human companion in the future?
Might you want A/C, or will a fan be sufficient? (I see you're in New Mexico)
Will you be "boon-docking", or will you have 120 volt power available to you?

Roger

These are all excellent questions I hadn’t thought to put in my post!

I do the occasional campfire cooking but prefer local restaurants or just sandwiches. I wasn’t planing on a galley as it adds weight. Maybe a little table inside though! Planing on bringing a camp stove as I have experience using a picnic table as a kitchen.

No pets at this time but maybe far in the future there may be an adventure Chihuahua.

While I would love ac I think it’s out of the budget so a battery powered fan will do. I plan on camping with the birds, going north in the summer and south in the winter. So my main concern is staying warm. I do have a nice sleeping bag though so not too worried there.

The plan is to boon dock most of the time and use one of those portable batteries to power things. My dad lent me his and it worked great for my last trip. Im also a little nervous about wiring and want to avoid it if possible.

 

[GTS225-TNT]

OK.....that tells us all that you can build yourself a little 4' x 8' teardrop or squaredrop, and it'll actually be a little bigger than what you really NEED for space. The area that you'd use for a galley can be utilized as a bit of "working storage", in that you'd need it for transporting your camp without occupying the sleeping space for gear. Yeah....one of those little two-burner Colemans that run off 1-pound propane tanks. Maybe a tarp or two to rig for for shade.....wouldn't have much at all for "cargo". Oops....almost forgot about the ice chest to keep the cold cuts and cheese in. But then, you could use the back of the tow vehicle to haul all that.

As for your boondocking plan, that suggests the addition of a single solar panel for battery recharging, or at least extending the hours between needed 120 volt hookup for that purpose. There would be very little wiring needed....just one panel, a charge controller, and a spot to mount your battery. The panel could be mounted to your roof, and the charge controller could occupy a tiny bit of space in the battery compartment. I did that on a 24' bumper-tow camper, and even had to use the furnace in the high desert of Arizona for two nights. Had a single battery and two 80 watt panels, and it worked for ten days. Didn't even have the panels mounted. Just hauled them outta the camper and leaned them against the side. Kept me in lighting and power for the CPAP. With the advances in panels nowadays, you could get a single 200 watt panel and not even have to tax your battery hardly at all.

Just a couple ideas.....Roger

 

[Tony Latham]

Im also a little nervous about wiring and want to avoid it if possible.

Don't be nervous about it. A 12-volt system is easy, and we're here to help.

Tony

 

[Pmullen503]

The kind of camping you do is exactly how I use my foamie. It beats the heck out of tent camping, especially in cold or stormy weather.

I did a lot of wilderness camping and accumulated the gear and skills for that type of cooking. My galley is used for storage. It's worth it to frame it in. You can finish it out later if decide you want a galley.

 

[DrewsBrews]

I have no galley so I use a folding camp kitchen table.

For washing I use a collapsible sink basin. I trimmed the feet so it presses down over a 5gallon bucket. Gives enough height when set on a picnic table seat and catches the greywater from the drain in the basin.

A fuel based stove would save a bunch of power draw from a battery. Depending on the length of your trips and the capacity of the battery unit a solar panel may not be necessary at all.

For heat they do make lower wattage electric heaters for small spaces. Such as this one. It even plugs directly into the outlet and has a built in adjustable thermostat. It is the one I use.

 

[Pmullen503]

.............

For heat they do make lower wattage electric heaters for small spaces. Such as this one. It even plugs directly into the outlet and has a built in adjustable thermostat. It is the one I use.

I have an electric heated mattress cover. It's very efficient because it heats only the bed, not the air. 120 volt so I need an inverter if I don't have shore power but I only run it for maybe 20 minutes before I turn in.

Nice to get into a warm bed when it's really cold.

 

[DrewsBrews]

Yeah, that is probably the maximal efficiency electric method. Just probably not something that would work well for me.