
The requirements of the camper were thus:
Must be able to be towed by my Isuzu Rodeo, #3500 gvw limit on vehicle/tow package.
Must be able to fit a queen, or near queen, mattress without having to perform feats of gymnastics to enter/exit the camper.
Must be able to exit/enter the vehicle without bending or crouching.
Must be large enough to handle an AC unit.
Must have wheels and tires capable of handling highway speeds.
Druthers:
I'd like an indoor potty for winter camping. Preferably with enough space to make walls around it for some sort of privacy.
After looking at prices for small, lightweight campers and wincing, then looking at small, less lightweight and older campers and finding them full of things I didn't want (like kitchens), we started looking at building one.


Queen size mattresses are 60"x80", so the minimum interior width had to be 5'x7'. To enable me (5'3") to stand up, the interior height had to be at least 5.5", but Himself is 5'10", so 6' would be better. While we could fit sleeping quarters on a 4'x8' frame, if I wanted room for a bathroom and privacy walls, it had to be a 10' frame. My butt is just not small enough to fit into a sub-12" space!

Found a used heavy duty homebuilt trailer on Craigslist, 4'x10' welded frame with 15" tires. The deck and sides are made with solid oak boards, so it's super heavy right now. The sides are coming off and we're discussing whether to leave the board decking in place, since we're building out the 6' floor over it, or whether to tear it out to minimize weight, to be replaced with 2" foam and a sheet of aluminum or fiberglass underneath as a rockplate. It'll make me cry a little to take the oak out but I'm sure we'll use it for something else, and it'll be nice to see what it reduces in weight for the camper.
While trying to figure out how to attach a window AC unit that wouldn't allow the access port to also be a thief entrance, we looked at portable standalone AC units. New ones were spendy, so back to Craigslist I went, and managed to get a decent 9000btu standalone unit cheaply. Have been testing it in my 14'x9' bedroom, and it's worked a treat to dehumidify and cool the air enough that I can sleep.
The plan for the camper thus far is not as thrifty as it could be, mostly due to how short a period of time we have to get at least the base camper built.

I really appreciate all the information on this forum. Everything from learning the proper way to kerf foam, to 'The Mix', to hitch weight distribution ratios, even down to what types of fabric/glue/primer work best on foamies, I learned it all here by reading the hundreds and hundreds of 'try it until it works' posts. I read them, Himself read them, and by virtue of the information on the forum, when I said, "Honey, can we do this? And by 'we', I clearly mean 'will you build one of these for me?" he said yes

