Here's an article about making a low-budget off-road camper.
Low Budget Expedition Camper
http://overlandjourney.com/tag/camper/
Building a low budget camper or camp trailer does not mean that it has to be cheap or fall apart. I have had some really nice camp trailers in my day, but not this time. I have been on a low budget kick I guess, but I get great satisfaction from building something for less money. It also comes out of necessity since we sold our last trailer, the Conqueror Camper. These types of campers are nice, built to handle a lot of abuse, but we needed something a bit different.
Our kids still like to tent it, momma doesn’t. With six kids, we needed a trailer to haul more gear anyway. But I wanted something that we could quickly put up if the girls needed to go to the restroom or we wanted to grab a quick roadside lunch. After searching high and low, I came up empty. They were either off-road capable with no restroom or quick deployment with standing room, or they had all that and were built for street use, maybe a gravel road at best.
In my frustration, and lack of time with summer coming up, I came up with this idea! I took a military trailer, M101, and slid a Four Wheel Pop Up. I wasn’t sure if this would be permanent so I wanted it cheap as well. I found the trailer on craigslist for $500, and the Four Wheel Camper for $500 also. The trailer was in great shape, and the camper was in fair shape. Not bad I thought! I have a expedition capable off-road camper design for $1000. Certainly a lot cheaper than other trailer designs. Is it perfect? No. But neither were the $20k Aussie Camp Trailers, for what I needed anyway. Does it do the job? Absolutely!
How I Did It:
Take one M101 Military Trailer
Cut 1.5 inches out of the wheel wells
Then add one cheap ol Four Wheel Pop Up Camper:
Note:
There is still plenty to do, but technically you can go camping in this setup tomorrow. It took less than a day to put this together. I still want to
* bedline the inside
* bolt the camper down
* Adjust the tailgate out one inch so it will close with camper in bed
* Install new hitch assembly
* Extra water storage
* Solar power
* New Fridge setup
* etc.
It will never end. Its one of those types of projects. But what I like about it, I can be camping with it and modify it slowly if we decide to keep this setup. Ill be posting more, as our first camp trip for the summer is next weekend. Lots to do.