What it cost me to build my own camper & how long it took me

[Kevin Town]

I built a small camper that measures 6' wide x 9' long and is 5' tall. Though I can't stand fully upright in it, I wanted a lower profile camper for fuel economy and to load my canoe uptop. I started with a next to new heavy duty utility trailer that I purchased locally from Craigslist for $300.00. The trailer is a 5' x 8' trailer. I built the floor and camper shell out of 3/4" plywood and used 2x3" cross members for the roof which I covered with luon before the Aluminum went on. I used roughly 8 sheets of 4x8x3/4 plywood at $32.00 per sheet. My 2x3" cross members were $2.30 each and I used 20 of them as I also used them for building the dinette riser that doubles as the main full bed inside. Once the body was erected, I purchased 6 good used windows salvaged from a 1979 Dolphin Motorhome for $100.00 on Craigslist. I cut out the openings with a jigsaw, but they didn't get installed until the aluminum skins went on. I also purchased 1"x2" ferril strips to reinforce the interior walls and to create enough room for the foom board insulation before installing luon on the inside as finished walls. The foam board came from Home Depot with 5 in a pack for $7.00 each and I used 6 packs @ 5' long by 2" wide. I also finished off the interior with 8' wood corner moldings @ 50 cents a foot and I bought 12 of them. All I needed to build the camper was the 3/4" plywood, the 2"x3" cross members which came 8' long, 8 sheets of 4'x8' luon, wood corner moldings, foam insulation board, ferril strips, and 4 boxes of 4" screws. I bopught aluminum at a salvage yard (160' in 2 rolls for $100.00) and that is pretty much it. The entire build cost me with materials and windows, roughly $1,500.00 and it took me 2 weeks to build, working on it everyday. Of course, as time goes on, you end up buying more things as you go like battery back-up lights, tongue jack, curtains, etc, etc, however, all said and done, it has not exceeded $2,000.00. If you would like to see how it went thus far, please check out my video I have posted on here, Thank you, Kevin

[Dave Creu]

Proud of ya man! You did something that most people will never do, and what says determination more than anything, to me, is that you did much of the work in pain. Congratulations on a job well done Kevin. I hope you have many enjoyable and memorable outings from this point on!!!