Building a Teardrop for Pick up truck!

[jonnyo]

I sold my teardrop years ago as the family got bigger. I do miss it as it allow for spontaneous trip with minimal preparation and it also allow me to access remote location not possible with our family airstream (3 kids, wife, dog)

so I decided to build a sleeping pod for the truck....

goal: fit F150 5.5 bed
250-300lbs total weight ( to be put on and off the truck with 2-3 friends... to legs
insulated, king size bed
No lose any of my 5.5 cargo box for work/strogage of goods
having fun building another little camper
windows on each side
26X36 teardrop trailer door
Led lighting
39 inch interior height
bed 71x76


So, bought a bunch of aluminum....about 300$ of 1.5X1.5 .039 thickness 6000 series aluminum. that s a very strong and lightweight aluminum tubing. I m tig welding everything together. Will be covered by .04 aluminum sheet, 1.5 inch pink insulation high density board.


Firs step was building a jig on a sheet of wood. This is the shape of the pod.....

[jonnyo]

then, welding the structure together.....



doing a little test fit on the truck to see how it will fit






I m now at day 4 of working on this.... about 90% of the structure is done and welded. I just need to pick windows and I can finalize the framing. Then, it will be skin and interior. if I do a little of it daily...I think I could be done within the next 30 days.....this will allow for some fun early spring camping with my older daughter! looking forward to explore the offroad locations!

structure weight about 25-30lbs at the moment....

[rockinrobin]

Looks like fun! Enjoying the pics!

[KCStudly]

Neat. I wonder if you are considering adding a 'duck bill' type air dam for over the cab. Would tame that flat front aero killing "parachute" and provide a little storage area accessible from inside the camper.

[jonnyo]

I have not finalized the above cab design but it will be a bolt on structure. most likely, I was thinking of a basket/storage rack with off road light that is overhanging 3 feet long over the truck cab. But it wont be reachable from the inside.

in this build, I wasn't comfident enough as it my first time ever TIG welding and I didn't want to have some high stress area in the first design. I wanted simple and even more important...keeping it extremely light so I can load it by hands without corner jacks. Last summer, I had a camper with corner jacks and I found the process of loading and unloading so stressfull and time consuming that I have turn my back on a few spontaneous trips. NEVER AGAIN!

my main question at this time is how to attach the pod to the top of the bed rail on the truck. I havent finalized a system yet and I m wondering how much does the box flex when off roading. I want to make sure I dont break the aluminum pod if I bolt it to the bed rail????

[MadMango]

A lot of times the topper connects to the bed with clamps.

[jonnyo]

frame is done!!!! seems very strong so far!

tried to fit it on the truck







and for some unknown reason....I completely mess up the position of the window that is against the truck rear window. it s a little higher than what I had anticipated. seems like I will need to cut and redo this section!

next step is finalizing the flooring and attachement mechanism..... I need to hurry up....snow is melting and camping season is starting!!!

[dguff]

Camper shell is not a teardrop.

[jonnyo]

Wow, your having a bad day?

[rruff]

goal: fit F150 5.5 bed
insulated, king size bed
bed 71x76

Are you sure it's big enough for a king size bed? Doesn't look like it to me, but looks can be deceiving.

[jonnyo]

The final numbers are 72x77 interior bed. So it s smaller than king but wider than a queen. I wish I could simply buy a camper canopy box from the commercial company but a f150 5.5 box actually measure 62x67 so that would not be a great bed platform. And those fiberglass canopy don't have enough head room for my liking. Currently, the pod overhang 2-3 inches pass each side. Not very noticeable when you look at the truck.

One of my main goal is as to still have my full truck box available for cargo.

[jonnyo]

lots done lately

A flooring done with 1/8 plywood....1.5 rigid insulation board, and another 1/8 plywood. All of it glue together and it make for a very strong and stiff platform. Tested it on the truck and there is no flex.

One of my biggest issue in the past with making trailer is not doing a good job with ceiling panel. i never been able to have then glue nicely with no visiable mechanical faster. So this time, i decided to do the ceiling first. I flit the pod upside down and did the ceiling as if i was gluing a floor...and using gravity as my friend. Let it rest for 24h, turn it back on it s floor and i have a solid glued panel! using polyurethane glue for aluminum to wood is unbelievably strong.




then, it was time to skin the pod using 0.04 aluminum sheet.... and VHB tape to glue the panel to the aluminum frame.



at this point, i m still able to handle the pod by hand so i m guessing it should not be much more than 120-150lbs at the moment. should be able to finish under 300lbs

next step is adding insulation board between all ribs, gluing the inside finishing panels, vinyl wraping the exterior and installing the windows/door...

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Received the door from ebay! tried to see if it fit!!! so far so good!


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[jonnyo]

productive weekend

roof installed...with a little bit of a curve into it.





installed insulation board. R7.5 in all walls/roof/floor

and cover with 1/8 luan finishing sheet









and after all this, i just realise my biggest opening left is 26X36 (door) and that s all i have to get a king (ish) side mattress inside the pod..... hummm? foam??? what are the best place to order custom size mattress? what kind of foam? i was hoping to not go any higher than 4-5inches to keep good head room in the camper

[PaulS]

Very cool I have thought of doing something similar

[me&z]

..... hummm? foam??? what are the best place to order custom size mattress? what kind of foam? i was hoping to not go any higher than 4-5inches to keep good head room in the camper

We bought a sofabed mattress from Ikea because we could test different thicknesses and firmness in the store. Just remember that foam on a solid surface feels different than foam on the slatted bases that Ikea displays. When we thought we had the one we liked, we moved it to the floor for a final test. I'm sure it wasn't the weirdest thing anyone's ever done at an Ikea.

We actually picked one of the cheaper, 4" mattress intended for a sofabed. It was cheaper than a bed mattresses and closer to the size we needed. The cover had a zipper, so we unzipped it and cut the foam to fit between the wheel wells at our feet, leaving the upper section at Queen size. Eventually I'll trim and resew the cover but for 4 years, we've just dealt with a bit of excess cover material.

Since we camp in our minivan, the mattress gets moved in and out fairly regularly. With 2 people it isn't difficult to squish the foam through the door.