Custom Pickup Truck Camper Is A Tiny $1,000 Home On Wheels

1 min read

If you are making your first steps in the RV market, you’d probably think you will need to spend at least several thousand dollars to buy your first home on wheels. But there are now smarter and way more affordable options, and the video here presents a way to build your own camper with a budget capped at just $1,000. Yes, you read that right – as long as you have a pickup truck in your garage, you can turn it into a small camper for less than a grand.

There are just three rules to this build. As mentioned, the budget is just $1,000 and the camper has to be removable. Last but not least, it has to be big enough to host two people comfortably. The creators of the project – the folks behind the President Chay channel on YouTube – even describe it as a small luxury camper. Judging by what we see in the clip, if you know how to use tools, you can most likely build a removable camper for your truck on your own.

The architects of this project use a Chevrolet Silverado as the base vehicle and build a wooden construction that acts as the structure of the camper. The most expensive material in the first stage of construction is the insulation layer, which should protect the wood from getting wet and decomposing. A good portion of the materials comes free of charge – like the old pallets used for siding, for example, which are taken from storages where they usually sit waiting to be thrown away. 

Then, it’s time for the siding to get a layer of blue paint while the trim is painted in black for some contrast. The entire outside of the camper is now finished and costs less than $400 and now it is time for the interior to be completed. The idea is very ambitious – the living area has to have a couch, a TV, a small kitchen, and two beds. And all of this needs to fit in a very small area. Next is a layer of insulation and sidewalls. Then, the ceiling gets installed and painted.

The folks behind the project booked a place in a campsite for just 10 days after the beginning of the construction. With a lot of work still left to be completed on the eighth day since the start, will they make it on time? Make sure to check out the video at the top of this page to find out.