Truck campers usually don’t have a lot of space to waste.
Reddit user tylerthompson21 decided he wanted to make a truck camper that maximized storage and living room. He engineered a heavy-duty pull out drawer that extends the entire length of the cab.
See also: A Handyman Made His Own Custom Wooden Truck Camper. He’ll Make One For You Too.
Check out how he did it. Maybe you’ll want to use some of his ideas in your own truck camper design.
The first step was creating a simple drawer system in the bed of the truck.
He used angle irons to bolt on the frame to make it easy to remove.
These are old skateboard bearings used as drawer slides.
And 1″ x 1″ square tubing for the drawer runners.
Drawer and cover ready for a test run.
He installed a lockable handle from a truck box.
There’s space for a battery inside the right front hatch.
He later moved the battery bay after learning about the hazards of battery gases.
Another storage compartment on the left of the main drawer.
This is what the truck box lock looks like from the back.
He had to do a lot of custom cutting to make the lock fit correctly.
A simple household strike plate holds the latch in place.
Another latch to keep the drawer in place.
And the receiver it fits into.
After varnish has been applied to the frame.
Varnishing other parts of the drawer.
Simple sheet metal lock cover.
Battery in place. He’s looking into modifying the placement of the battery for safety reasons.
Electrical outlet with USB charging ports.
LED light bars on the rear hatch.
Gotta have the speakers.
Drawer pulled out and stuff inside.
The finished truck camper.
Someone had asked him why he didn’t put supports on the rear of the drawer.
…thought about adding legs, but i reinforced the bearings as much as possible (see the cluster of bearings near the edge of the frame). Plus i don’t need to pull it out to full extension all the time, but if things start to warp i will look into another option (like legs). they would have too be extendable (like tripod legs) to account for the uneven terrain of my adventuring.
You can see more pictures here and read about the build discussion on this site.
