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a homebuilt pop up camper

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This is my little pop up camper project that has taken about 8 months to finish. The cabin is 5' wide, 8' long and 4' tall. The floor is 3/4" exterior plywood. The walls and roof are 1/2" birch plywood. It is mounted on a Harbor Freight #1175 bolt-together trailer. It weighs 1,185 lbs fully loaded including water, tent, EZ up, camping chairs and other "necessities". Tongue weight is 115 lbs. It pulls just fine behind a 2000 Honda CRV that has an added aftermarket transmission cooler.

The camper was finished with two coats of Behr exterior oil base primer and two coats of Glidden high gloss exterior oil base paint. A nice feature is the large back door that has a window and a regular household lockset with dead bolt. Towel racks were added and a hook for a trash sack. The exterior light is wired to an electric eye for instant on at dark.

The pop up roof allows for standing and provides a sleeping berth for my little 10 year old daughter. The pop up walls and roof are built from 1/4 inch birch plywood with 1"x 2" pine framing. The windows are Lexan. It is a very low-tech pop up mechanism. I can muscle it up from either inside the camper or outside.

All popped up. I am 5'8" tall and can stand with about 2 inches of headroom. The sliding windows were recycled from an old camper. Note the side door is where the air conditioner extends when camped. The pop up roof has a rubber insulation seal all along its bottom edge to keep the water out when traveling. Just behind the wheel and under the cabin is the receptacle to plug in a 30 amp shore power cord. Water hose connections are also located under the rear of the trailer.

A tongue box was added to carry tools, extension cords, shore power cord, and some fishing stuff. The tongue is removable allowing me to store it in my garage.

The air conditioner is 5200 BTU unit from Home Depot. More than enough cooling. It hangs out here when camped.

Interior photos

Thanks for dropping by and taking a look at my photos. More pics will be forthcoming. Hope to see you out camping somewhere sometime. Come by, say hello, take a look, bring food !

If you are interested in this type of trailer you can find a wealth of information at Tear Drops and Tiny Travel Trailers. Check out the "Hall of Fame" and see a collection of home built tiny campers and their websites. The Forum is the best if you need some help with building.

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