Camper Wood Burning Stoves - How To Heat Your Camper

Everyone has good memories of spending nights at the lake side in their camper. Usually however, this is in the summer time when the weather is good. At night the temperature can often suddenly drop and you are left with cold air, and in extreme cases can see your breath.

Picking the right heat source for your camper, is usually down to how much money and effort you are willing to put in. We will take a look at some of the options that exist, and the one I am currently the most interested in.

Electric Camper Heaters - Small Space Heaters

This sort of heater as been around for quite a while. The idea is simple, give it electric and it converts it to heat. The only problem with this is that if you are working in a solar environment where you use the sun for all your power needs and do not have a mains connection, this can quickly run through your power. The amps running to the heaters are usually very high and pull so much power that a 12 volt system would feel the strain.

A simple example of this is the ceramic car heaters that can be bought for about 10-20 euro. If your engine is not running, you will suddenly have a flat battery. Electric heaters also do not produce much heat in low amp situations. Considering the type that are run in typical homes and have a ready supply of power, it is a different world when you are running on batteries.

Gas Camper Heaters - The Old Friend of Camping

Using gas has always been the companion of camping in every shape and form because it can pack a lot of heat for such a small size. A camper can quickly be heated on small canisters and larger campers can be run on larger cylinders of gas.

One issue that people often forget about is the need for ventilation in the case of using gas, or any heat source that is sucking up oxygen. Some heaters, such as the Mr Buddy brand of heaters come with a oxygen detection system to automatically cut the heater of if the air begins to run out to an unsafe for human level. 

Wood Burning Stoves - Using What You Find As Fuel

Apart from open fires, wood burning stoves have started to get a momentum as a viable source of heat again. Mainly due to the cost of the fuel, e.g. trees that have been cut down in the past or old shipping pallets, this has become a good cheap solution for a lot of people.

Again the issues of venting need to be considered, the air going to the stove needs to be regulated to keep it at a good pace to prevent too much or too little air from reaching the fire. When used inside, the user still needs to be focused on the safe human oxygen levels. The entire burner becomes a heat emitting tool for your camper.

Water Heating - For Air Heat and Water Heating

One of the simple ways to move the heat around a building has been through the use of hot water pipes. These pipes are connected to a burner, which inside a copper coil style element is added allowing the heat (often from a wood burner) to be transferred to the water. This water is then pumped on a closed loop around the camper to emanate heat through heaters.

This process can allow you to move your heater outside of the camper, and just have the feed and return pipes plumbed into the camper. This has proved to be one of the most interesting and affordable ways of heating a camper I have seen. For this project, a custom wood burning stove to heat water should provide all the heat needed.

The advantage of this approach is that long burning fuels, such as logs and coal can be left during the night and the hot water can just be circulated into the camper. In time as the idea comes together and implementation of this will be posted!

The Rain Has Lifted, Time To Do Some Work On The Camper - Reinforcing The Walls

The last number of weeks have been getting pretty crazy weather, but today for the first time the rain finally lifted. It was time to get down to reinforcing the walls. The bad weather managed to pull apart some of the frame that was head together with 1 inch L brackets and also pull a bungee chord apart (they did only cost 1.49 each though so i'm not too sure about the quality). I first started off by removing those brackets and upgrading them to the 2 inch brackets. It was not because of choice I started with the 1 inch brackets, I just happened to run out of anything bigger.

I went to the shop, and picked up 40 of the 2inch brackets, and 40 of the one inch brackets just to have by chance I need them further down the line. Nothing is worse than starting the job to realize that you don't have what you need.

In the picture below you can see some of the brackets I was left with after today, along with the Makita drill that was given to me as a present over Christmas. This drill came with the usual spare battery that can be charged while you are using the other battery. And today, like every other time while working my battery did go flat and a jump to the other battery was needed.

Below you can see what the corners look like, they are 2x2 inch batons that are held together with the brackets using 4x40mm screws. Turned out quite well.

A side profile of the camper to date so far. You can see on the front left corner, there is a bit of wood connecting the left panel and the front right of the camper. This is to hold the entire frame together during the next few weeks, which will no doubt be windy again.

In the very middle of the camper, I added a sort of T-shape piece of wood. What is this little guy for? The job is pretty simple, just like a circus tent, the leg in the middle holds the tarp up, stopping water from collecting in the middle of the tarp. The big pools of water that were seen earlier in the blog are avoided this time!

The picture below shows a floor view of the camper to date so far.

The over all frame is now in place, and nicely secure. Now the interesting bits such as the curved edges which will be made from MDF can be added. The camper will stop looking like a box and more like the camper that I have in my mind.

Although the frame has come together will, some work will still be needed to affix the frame to the cross members (bit 4x3 inch wood at the chassis level) that were put in place earlier on. This is a job for a day when it is less windy, and the sprit level can come out to make sure everything is level!

Taking a Look Into The Future - How We Have To Make This DIY Camper Build Look Great!

When building anything all of the decisions are left up to you. But sometimes we can get a little lazy. A recent video that was put out by the YouTuber Wranglerstar, talked about a young kid and how the kid wrote into him to tell him how he didn't cut corners when cleaning snow from under a car.

This approach really shows us, that deep down we are always trying to get ahead and cut the corners so we can get to the next task.

But what does this have to do with the design of a camper I hear you say? Lots! It can be really easy for some bits of wood that are a 1 or 2mm out to be left by the side and forget about them. But when you come back in the future you are always glad that you took that little bit more time to deal with the issue.

Ever Worked on Auto Body?

During my limited experience with auto body work I noticed one thing. This one thing should be hung above the painting booth in a workshop and given as introductory notes for new comers:

It all comes through the paint!

Something that you may think looks about right and you decide to speed up the process and get painting. Well as soon as the paint has begun to dry, your heart can then begin to settle also as you know those lines you saw before you painted are still there!.

How do we get around these problems? They are generally quite simple, finer grade sandpaper (good old wet and dry sandpaper) and then progressively move to a finer grade as time processes until all the marks are gone. During this process, using a high build primer would be a great option, as they add an extra thick layer for you.

To Bring This Back To My Camper

The top half and bottom half of the camper are going to be separated the two lines of different colours that meet together. I had a little idea spark off and thought wouldn't it be great if I could get some of the table trim from Eddie Rocket's Diner tables. It was about 2 inches wide, and would make a great band around the van to separate the colours.

I've found some nice US suppliers who have a wide range, and some others sourcing from here in Europe. Hopefully we can get these in time (and chromed) for the deadline. It is the attention to all of these details however, that make it all come together and look the best.

Winterizing Your Camper - Some Thoughts On Keeping Your Camper Warm

When starting a camper project from the very beginning, the conditions that the camper will be used in need to be considered. In the US, the temperature can go from sweating hot, to bone chattering cold between seasons. Here in the west of Europe, things are a little different.

We quite often get a middle range of temperatures, things never get too hot, or really go too cold. So an approach to this needs to be taken during the construction process of the camper.

Typically campers here do not have very thick walls. The same can be said for most vans and campervans that are currently on the market today. They are usually created for the good seasons, as people rarely go out on holiday in the winter months. But some people do!

The insulation in the camper can then suddenly be inadequate and warm days suddenly come with really cold nights. Preventing this from happening needed a lot of thought.

At the moment, the walls in the camper are currently pegged at being about two inches thick. This will give plenty of space for a two inch thick insulation, or 50mm for us European people, to be added in.

One of the recent advents in the insulation world was creation of polyiso insulation, or "rigid foam" as it is often known.

Unlike polystyrene insulation (the white stuff) you would have seen used throughout the 80's and 90's, polyiso insulation is denser and often covered in a foil film offering better insulation. To ensure a good seal, a foil type tape is available to seal up the gaps.

Where Your Camper Loses Heat

People often wonder about campers and where all of the heat is really lost. It can be seen from a number of different angles. Below is a breakdown of where your heat goes!

1. The floor of an RV or a camper is often made from some wood or floor pan sheet metal that has been added to the chassis frame. In a lot of cases, that is really it! Although heat rises, a cold floor can quite quickly turn your hot air into cold cold air.
   
   By insulating the floor, we can reduce the risk of losing heat out of the floor. The wind gap underneath the camper or RV is also an issue. Because the floor is raised up and a gap of anywhere between 10-14 inches is there, cold air can easily flow in under the camper. To prevent this draught from happening, people have often moved towards the idea of creating a skirt around the camper. This can stop the flow of cold air under the camper.
2. The roof of the camper again, like the walls needs to be insulated. If all the hot air is hitting your roof, you need to ensure that it is not a cold metal surface that can turn your expensive hot air into cold air.
3. Windows and doors although useful during the day if left open at night can becoming gaping air holes allowing all your precious hot air to flow out. Do not block up your vents however, they are needed for safety!

Heater Strips
If you have external water sources, one product that is on the market are heater strips designed to go around your pipes. They require a very low voltage and keep your pipes just above freezing to keep the water flowing, preventing cracks and leaks.

This solution however, can be costly to power if you are running on a solar rig.



In conclusion, as soon as the camper outside plywood has been added, it is insulation time!


A nice comparison of insulations can be found here
For a little bit more about polyiso insulation, check out here

The Walls Were Added To The Camper - And The Rain Returned

Now that the floor was added the most interesting part was about to start. The walls create realistic dividing lines in the camper and allow you to see what the space is really going to look like. Seeing it all down on paper is always just one perspective, really being able to climb inside is always the most valuable.

To get started, 2x3 inch wood was added to the four corner posts. Simple L brackets were used, with some three inch long screws to secure them in place. These, are pretty shaky by themselves so the next important part was to add the securing braces between them. The wood running between them was 2x2 inch timber when secured in place with some L brackets really pulled it all together.

The picture below shows a look from the inside:

The rain, once again started off so there was a really quick rush to get the tarp on top once again. All the rope and bungee chords that could be found were used to secure all of the eyelet holes on the tarp in place. The rain is always a small percentage of the problem, the wind is usually is what pulls the tarp off.

Looking in from the very front of the camper, the size really becomes visible. Some temporary diagonal pieces were added to hold the frame in place for the week, before it could be fully secured. The beautiful red anti-rust paint can be seen a mile away on the trailer. It sort of adds a kind of character to the trailer already... sort of.

This rectangle frame, was 3ft 6inches tall, and runs the whole way around the camper. This is the dividing line between the bottom half of the camper and the top half of the camper, which has a tilted in design as can be seen on the VW campers. Now that the frame is in place, the next step will be adding additional strengthening pieces to make sure the all of the walls stay put.

To the very front left of the camper, a space about 2 foot wide is where the door will eventually be placed.

The Tools For Building The Camper

Before any project begins, it is always a good practice to see what tools you are working with to make sure that you don't go running out looking for things when you really need them. So far my favourite tool has always been the angle grinder, as it is a single solution for any metal related problems that happen along the way. 

Apart from this, the usual tape measure, hand saw and plenty of screws are all that have been used oh, and a circular table saw!

Although technology has evolved and the process of using electrical saws has been around for years, this was the first project where I actually used one. Due to the amount of cuts that were needed, the idea of the electrical saw just seemed better. This actually speeded the process of erecting the frames so much quicker, although the saws are 100% more dangerous than anything you operate with your own power like a hand saw as they can quickly take your fingers off.

So far we have been lucky and no injuries have been sustained.

Adding The Floor Into The Camper

Given the very simple blueprint that was drawn up, the next step was the floor. With a bad floor, the whole camper would pretty much come apart over time, so a little bit of thought was needed to ensure the maximum strength was in it.

A width of 2 meters, which is about 6ft 6 inches are decided for the total width of the camper. This means that no matter what happens, we can never exceed this. There was a few little tricky bits along the way that are often forgotten about during the design phase. The most important of these was where the wheels and the axels come into play with the floor. Room needed to be available so the wheels can be added and removed easily from the axels, without interfering with the floor or the wall panels.

Nine cross members, created from 2x3 inch rough finish wood were added into the floor, which were spaced roughly 14 inches apart. Whenever a piece of floor steel was available, that was where the cross member went in. Between these extra bits were added between them to stitch them all together.

In the picture above you can see a length of wood down the left side, which was added as a temporary measure to hold the whole frame together as all of the extra stitching pieces were added. The zig zag formation was added to avoid allow the extra ends of the cross members to be trimmed off where needed to make space for the wood. At the very front of the frame, and at the very end, perfect triangles can be seen as no obstructions were in place preventing them from being joined.

The Plans For The Self Build Camper - Drawing The Blueprints

Building this camper is a custom build. Plans for different caravans around the world exist, but they all had their own style, things that didn't really fit in with how I wanted things to be. 

So building on the idea of a rectangle with curved edges, this very very crude blue print was drawn up:

Yep, in the same way the VW Transporter was drawn on the back of a napkin, the camper was born. Even starting with this simple floor plan, you could really see how things were going to come together. The simple idea of having quarter circles for the corners attached on to the end of the frame would narrow the problems that could be encountered in the future because at the end of the day, it was nothing more that a collection of shapes being put together to make the final design.

This was a simple aspect of the design that a lot of early designs had. Due to the limitations that were often in place for the pressing of steel formations and the need to replicate quickly, early designs were often simple.

Making a DIY self Build Camper - The Ideas

As talked about in the previous posts, the idea for this camper trailer was born from the beauty in the airstream trailer.

For those people who do not know what an airstream is, (e.g. the european people, generally most american people know about airstreams. This is what they look like:

The most iconic element of their airstream is the aluminum shell, that hell or high water will not rust. This has allowed airstreams to last the test of time. Most modern campers and trailers are skinned in an aluminum shell for this exact reason. The frame inside these however is often to up the company making it, sometimes they are wood and others they are steel or even aluminum.

The Type 2 VW has also got curves, a popular choice around the 1970s and further back to the 1950s as seen below in ambulance form:

The idea of making a DIY camper, is all about doing things your own way. So for that reason this project will be a hybrid of both of these two icons of camping. Given that a trailer has been bought, it settles the issues on how wide or long the camper is going to be, which can often be a big time waster as there is always arguments for a little bit bigger or a little bit smaller.

Some key facts in this trailer however are:

• There will be no permanent cooking facilities.
• There will be no water facilities, everything will be done in buckets and with bottles (or tanks) of water.

The reasons behind this are quite simple. While I had the last camper, I never actually filled up the water container as bottled water was always cheap and easily to transport. The idea of sending all of the waste water into a barrel did not really appeal to me as I knew I was going to empty it in time, so all washing was usually done in a bucket outside!

The new camper will be mainly cupboard space, as it was always needed and desk space because when cooking or making some tea, having the desk space was always a premium.

All of these little factors are something that have been learned with the experience of hardened campervanning.

One final deal breaker, was to make all cupboards easily accessible and this goes for under bed storage as well. Nothing was more difficult than trying to reach a bag under your bed at 3am in the morning. Easy access makes for better camping!

Take Cover! Take Cover! - The Week The Rain Started to Hit

In the month of december it is always cold and I am fine with that. But as soon as rain enters into the situation, it is a completely different story. Rain can make anything more miserable, specifically if you don't have any from of a cover or tarpaulin.

During January, I spend must time grinding quickly, paining quickly and then waiting in all hope that it would not rain. 9 out of 10 times, we got away with it and nothing too bad ever happened. Apart from the odd rain drop shaped blotch on the paint.

During this time, I managed to get the new 4x3 cross members put into place and they were first hole drilled in, and a coach bolt was then hammered in and finally tightened with a 13mm socket.

This process was repeated 18 times in total, two bolts per end.

Then The Rain Really Hit

The country has gone onto high alert and that sent a pulse straight to my project thinking what do I need to do that will keep this rusty and half painted frame dry for another week or two. I managed to find some cloths in the garage that did just about the right trick. But soon they were not good enough.

I came across an english site called Tarpaulins-direct, which offered pretty good looking tarps at a great price, so in my late night slummed state I went ahead and bought the biggest forrest green tarp I could fined... And damn was I happy to have it.

On the first night of the storm, all bungie cords were taken out, and bricks where thrown across the tarp to keep it down. This winds got faster and quickly blew all this away. A plan B was needed.

 The pools of water nicely built up on the tarp.

I placed an other with my brother to get me a 100ft piece of rope, and we were going to go around the entire trailer a few times and tie it down nice and safe. This time, it did work.

What To Do With A Rusted Trailer - How Not To Throw It Away

Once all the wood had been removed, we were then left with a rusted metal frame. By rust I mean rust. Not that it had holes in it, that would be pretty unsafe, but it did have a good film of rust that could pose as paint if you looked at it from the right angle.

Something had to be done about the rust...

I first attempted to use a brass bristle brush, which is put into an electric drill. After a good few combs across the surface and very little of the rust removed (more just of the paint removed). I knew it was time to move into the bigger guns.

My personal motto when it comes to DIY has always been "when in doubt, get the angle grinder out" and in this case it was no exception. With a grinder, a collection of grinding disks, mask, eye protection (no way I ever want to go blind from my own stupidity as getting metal filings in me eyes) and I got down to it.

The cycle can be seen as:

• Grind
• Grind more
• Grind even more
• Have a cup of tea
• Grind more

One this was done, I would then clean up the area with a rag to get as much of the surface dust off as possible and get it ready for a bit of paint.

Their was one night however, where due to rain I left some of the metal bare. Anyone with metal working experience would know that:

Bare Metal + time = Rust

So once again, the cycle needed to be repeated to get the last layer of rust off and it was time to get down to it with some red oxide paint (i've been told will keep the rust from getting to out of control). Nice thick paint, that takes the metal very well.

A strong contrast can be seen between the old rusted bits which have not been grinded and the new grinded+painted sections.

 The picture below, shows the whole metal frame really looking well. The left and right horizontal metal frame sections were actually galvanized, so no major work was needed on them.

The one thing you may have seen is that the wheel are off the trailer.

Where did the wheels go?

As a sort of anti theft device, we took the four wheels off. I have not had much experience with old wheels on axels, as most of my time is spend with newer cars. Those wheels did NOT want to come off without a fight.

The frame was propped up on blocks, and the crowbar was once again brought out to show its service to the cause. After about an hour of oiling, with my favorite WD-40 and a lot of smacking and bending, they did eventually come off.


Who knows what is next!

So I Bought A Trailer.. How Much Work Will It Be To Build A Camper?

As described in the previous post, the main issue with this project was that I wanted it to be done on a budget, a real budget. The concept of buying a camper of any sorts didn't appeal to me, because nothing really suited my taste.

I really liked the iconic 1950s air stream, the body looked right, great curves and well crafted.. but it didn't have the connection to the styles of the early bay window VW that I originally tried to recreate with my VW Transporter idea. Enter the trailer: 

The previous owner had told me it was used as a car transporter of sorts, its about 10ft or so long, and about 6 foot wide. Really wide wheelbase which was perfect.

 It also came with four tires, in pretty bad condition. Cracks all around, bald as far as the eye can see and a hazard in all forms. This was something that would need to be addressed in the future.

Before I could get on with building what I had in my mind, the very first thing that needed to go was the wood. It was old, oily and water logged. Not a good way to start any sort of future project. I pulled out the jigsaw, my preferred tool of choice and got down to work.

The first to go was the lengths of wood running from the front to back. These cut off quite quickly without any hassle and just left behind the horizontal 4x3 inch cross members. These were not actually secured in by any great means, just held in by their own weight and pressure. A few quick smacks with a sledgehammer and a crow bar, and we were back in action. 

I was left with a nice, rusted frame. What a better way to start any project.

Where Do We Start? Self Build / Self Built DIY Camper Trailer - The Journey So Far.

Building a DIY Campervan

Where do we begin?. It all started a number of years ago, the idea of getting a camper van and getting onto the road and seeing what the world had to offer. Quite quickly, anyone with a limited budget will see that the idea of getting hold of a camper is not that easy of a feat!

Everyone wants a 79 westfalia camper, they look great. The main problem with this is that they are very very old. With age, comes rust.. The idea of getting a camper is any great condition was going to be an investment of 5000 - 10000 euro easy, and who knows what the outcome would be.

As a solution to this, I moved towards the idea of buying a VW Transporter, 2004 to be exact. A long wheel base van would provide more than enough space to fit my bed into along with a host of other features that would be needed.

The idea of getting a van onto the road, for someone who doesn't really need a van causes one heck of an issue for insurance. In short they do not want to know about it. Different counties have different rules, but in short the point was clear. If you want a van on the road for non commercial purposes, it would have to be a campervan legally and tax had to be paid, 1005 euro to be exact.

Well then, I had to get this van into a campervan as soon as possible.

The rules of building a campervan, to keep the insurance people happy
A number of different regulations had to be adhered to for the van to be considered a campervan, the main of which were:

• Vent holes in the side of the van to allow any stray gas get outside
• Copper pipes going up to a gas cooker, not rubber
• A guard around the cooker, to stop the back of the seats from melting
• A bed that pops out of the walls somehow
• No tables that can fly around the place. Everything had to be perfectly mounted and not become a hazard in the event of a crash.

All sounded perfect, and generally went to plan. A colour scheme was picked and the painter went ahead and painted the van. A window was cut into the side of the van and everything looked perfect.

And then:

• The turbo for the TDI engine broke
• Bits flew into the engine
• The engine exploded, sending a 40 foot wall of smoke shooting down the road
• Oil was everywhere
• Vicky the van, was dead.

RIP Vicky 2011-2013

After two short years, about 5 camping trips and more time on blocks and in a garage than previously expected, it all lead to the simple conclusion that the van needed to be sold.

On the back of this, a new project needed to be undertaken. This is the short version at least. And so, the future dream of a camper was put on hold until a new plan would come together.

Engines, were out. Trailers were in. 

The cost of running a campervan as much as I loved them, were a little too much. The part about enjoying the camper beside the beach or at a lake side was long gone after a number of deadlines were missed and the idea of going to France was just a botched plan.

In light of this, a trailer was purchased with the idea of building a DIY camper trailer. A trailer as in a metal frame with two axels in very very poor condition, with the idea of building a caravan, (or camper trailer or whichever the term is for campers without an engine in the US).


This blog will cover the project to date so far, showing, from the ground up, all of the steps that were taken. All hurdles will be described as they come into sight.

Until next time,
Kyle.