Telescoping Truck Camper Plans | Build a Low Profile Slide In Camper for Truck Travel

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Telescoping Truck Camper Plans
Build a Low Profile Slide In Camper for Truck Travel

Telescoping Truck Camper Plans
Build a Low Profile Slide In Camper for Truck Travel

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Get a restored copy of these vintage Telescoping Truck Camper Plans with 15 Pages of Enhanced and Enlarged Figures and Illustrations and Searchable Text.

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Big Inside, Camper Telescopes
for Travel
Concealed winches and cables stretch it out again to hold four people at the campsite.

Picture of a telscoping truck camper expanded for sleeping.

You will be proud to call this sleekly finished camper your home on the road. Prefinished hardboards panels give the interior a warm atmosphere, as well as one that's easy to keep clean. Aluminum siding and fiberglass-batt insulation ensure that the interior stays warm in another sense, too. Or cool, in desert heat.

There are plenty of cabinets and lockers to hold your travel equipment, yet lots of room is left for the custom installation of a sink, icebox, stove, and portable toilet.

For sleeping, the dinette table drops down to form part of a double transverse bunk. Shelves fold out to form a strong upper berth for another two people.

And the best news: It all costs you well under $1000 to build. Thet ups the enjoyment.

- W. A. Flanagan

Low profile of this camper when telescoped offers less wind resistance. Your pickup will pass up more gas stations and feel crosswinds less, too, than if carrying a cab-over model. Cranked up for the night, the camper boasts 74" of headroom. With built-in stove, icebox, cabinets, sink, and toilet, it still sleeps four. You can customize the interior to suit your taste.

Inside the Telescoping Camper
By JIM ABBOTT

There's plenty of room to feed and sleep two couples, and stow their gear. The camper offers all the comforts of your home - and its construction is similar.

Eating and sleeping space inside the raised top accommodates four people - with a cozy fifth optional.

Front edge of the dinette table folds up for access to seats. Lower berth, occupied by author's daughter at right, consists of seat backs, folded down, with space between them bridged by the lowered dinette table.

Interior walls are 1/8" hardboard wall paneling, which gives you a wide choice of prefinished colors and textures. Outside, the camper is sheathed in aluminum house siding (also pre-finished in colors) to save you painting and maintenance. The two layers sandwich between them an open frame that you can insulate with fiberglass batts.

Wide plank over the far end of dinner table is actually three hinged planks which fold out, as at right, to form an upper berth. Upper is wide enough for two children or one adult. Floor space is ample for another adult on an air mattress.

Plan Ahead

Dimensions given here are for the camper I built to fit in a 1969 Chevrolet pickup. It should fit in many other models, but measure your truck box before starting and adjust the plans if necessary. (You could even adapt the telescoping feature to a small travel trailer.)

Construction starts, logically, with the foundation: the floor pan. It's mostly 3/4" plywood, nailed and glued at the joints. Here again you want to plan carefully - some of the interior furnishings can serve double duty as part of the floor pan. The sides of the sink and icebox replace the 8 1/2" by 11 1/4" end panels, keyed No. 3 on the construction drawing.

With the foundation completed, check the dimensions for agreement with plans and truck bed. Then, build your walls to fit this floor.

One of the best ways I've found to make the wall frames is to cut out the framing pieces and lay them on a flat surface. Apply white glue to the joints and fasten with pointed staples. Turn the frame over, carefully, and staple the other side, the same way.

Framing is 1" stock (3/4" finished thickness). Most pieces can be 2" wide, but allow extra for corners, window posts, and an on. Use a good fir or pine, preferably kiln-dried.

Get a restored copy of these vintage Telescoping Truck Camper Plans with 15 Pages of Enhanced and Enlarged Figures and Illustrations and Searchable Text.

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Figure 1. Construction and Dimensions

Frame design isn't critical, so you may want to rip boards to widths different from those indicated. At the ends, and particularly at the rounded comers of the upper section, 3/4-ply can reduce the complexity.

Immediately apply the interior panel, using white glue and nails or contact cement. Note that the side panels are right and left-handed: Don't make two of one kind. Cut out window or door opening after the panel is in place. Leave the insulation and siding for after assembly.

Curve the front ceiling panel by steaming it (a steam iron will do) until it will follow the bend. Then fasten with glue and 3/4" screw nails to the underside of the roof frame. Drill holes through frame for wires to the lights before adding the larger ceiling panels.

Wires to the upper section pass through a 3/4" flexible tube hanging from the right-rear comer of the ceiling. A weight draws it into a space behind a lower cabinet as the upper section telescopes down.

Drop-in stove tops off cabinet that also holds icebox below. Big corner cabinet holds bulky items like sleeping bags.

Lifting Mechanism

A pair of boat trailer winches on the left side of the lower section draw in two 1/8" cables each. These cables pass over 3" pulleys, high in the lower section, to the bottom corners of the upper section of the camper.

As the cables wind up on the drums, they raise the top. Two ball bearings in each corner of the lower section project out about 3/8" to keep the sections from binding.

The right-rear cable passes under the door through a rabbet in the threshold. The prototype of this camper (shown in the photographs) had variable pulleys and turnbuckles to level the top by adjusting cable length. It turns out simpler and just as easy to move the clamps on the ends of the cables.

Another possibility is to route the front cables to the rear winch; but you'd lose the safety advantage (double lock) of the second winch.

Sink and water tank share the section in front, with storage
to spare. Clothes hang neatly in wardrobe.

Before assembling any panels, make sure the pulleys, bearings, and other hardware fit in their notches. When satisfied, assemble the lower-section wall panels on the floor pan.

Add the aluminum siding, to the lower section only, after filling all voids in the frame with 1" insulation. Don't side the upper section until after it's been placed over the lower section - too much weight for you to lift.

Cut siding (including window openings) to the exact dimensions of the frames and nail, at the edges only, with 3/4" screw nails. Working with the aluminum panels isn't difficult after a little practice. They cut easily with metal snips, but here's an easier method:

Mark intended cuts with a felt-tipped pen, tracing the outline of a frame as the siding is held against it. Scribe these lines with a sharp knife or razor knife. Bend the metal away from the cut, then back. It will pop apart, leaving a clean cut.

Rubber weather seal all around the edge of camper's upper section keeps wind and bugs out. Notch clears winch handle.

Windows and exterior trim come next. Seal all joints with waterproof putty. Drill through front and rear panels for the pulley axle bolts. Put in winches and lifting cables, leaving 3 feet of cable extending beyond each corner pulley.

Before installing siding on the top section, get some friends to help place it over the lower section. Use 2" fiberglass batts in the roof. Cover the roof and front with one piece of roof roll.

Raising The Roof

The upper section should now be resting with its lower edge about 1/4" below the side panels of the lower section. The upper cabinets support the top section when they bear against the tops of the lower wall panels.

Camper jacks work in the normal way, just make sure that they bear on the lower section, and not the upper one.

Thread the cables through the clamp plates and weight them (a brick is fine) as you slowly crank the winches until 18" of cable is on the drums. Install a clamp on each cable; keep the four at equal distances from the plates.

Continue raising until the inside height is no more than 74", then lower about 6". Lock the winches. This is a good position to check for even cable length: Measure between lower panels and ceiling. Variations up to 1 inch don't affect operation. Any more and you should lower the top all the way and reposition the cable clamps.

Finish off with the sealing strip around the upper section, corner molding, wiring, and the doors. The doors can be solid ply, or built up like the walls. Leave room for weather strips and the 1-inch-wide piano hinges. Lock hardware will depend on personal preference.

The interior shown in the photographs is based on a 1969 Chevrolet pick-up. You may want to try an entirely different layout. If so, remember that the rear wheel wells intrude on the truck box, to the camper is narrow in front.
Keep in mind that interior accommodations could have been constructed even before the walls were added to the lower section. Or you can build them in last.

Away We Go

To put the camper on your truck, first winch up the top and block it up (with 3" blocks on interior ledges) no the upper section will clear a pair of standard camper jacks. As with all jacks, exercise great care. Back the truck under the camper - carefully. Lower the camper and fasten it to the truck bed. I used two bolts through the front of the floor and four turnbuckles outside. Remove the blocks, hook up the electricals, and that's it.

You're ready for the road.