Tent camping lets you explore places on foot you could never reach another way, but sometimes you want to camp with a bit more luxury. [Levi Kelly] decided to see how small you could make an RV. [via Autopian]
While we won’t argue one way or another on his claim to world’s smallest, as that likely depends on your definition of an RV, starting with a kei truck certainly puts you in a more compact format than something built on a bus chassis. With four wheel drive and a small footprint, this could be better for overlanding than the Rivian bed camper we featured recently.
The 21 sq. ft. (1.95 m2) camper portion itself is framed in 2 x 2s (38 x 38 mm) to save weight and uses foam board insulation. A working faucet uses a pump to draw drinking water from a 5 gallon (19L) refillable jug and empties into a 7 gallon (26L) grey water tank. A solar panel on the roof charges the battery that drives the pump, ventilation fan, and can also be used to run other devices like a hot plate for cooking.
A teeny tiny wood stove can be used for heat, although [Kelly] is using a different fuel source to reduce unpredictability from a wood fire in such a small space. A faucet-mounted sprayer can be routed to the outside of the camper to create a makeshift shower and is run from the sink water system. There’s even a small cabinet above the foot area of the bed to house a portable toilet and a bubble window to observe your surroundings while you do your business.
We’ve seen some even smaller campers, like this vintage-inspired bike camper, or this more streamlined version. If you want the most efficient RV ever then check out this solar-powered one.
Were the camper proper a fiberglass affair with rear overhang, it would be reminiscent of Susan Calman’s Helen Mirren.
not sure how this is a hack when there are literally countless of these online and they even sell them this way. Seriously what is the hack here?
Clearly we have different definitions of what a hack is and hang out in different corners of the internet. I for one had never seen something like this before and I very much enjoyed the post. So it sounds like our differing opinions net out to zero then.
Hack, is very clearly not just something you haven’t seen before.
Not watched as I don’t much care, but surely doing it yourself is at the very least hack adjacent if not a hack by definition – buying something isn’t a hack, creating/modifiying stuff into your own version of something I’d argue certainly should be counted. Its not like you have create the universe from scratch first for every other “hack”.
If VW would keep selling Eurovans her in US, al there silly tiny project will not exists.
Not everyone can afford a new or even used rv here. Ours is an antique K30. 3+3 4×4 with an antique truck slide in camper that GOD actually provided as we were jobless and homeless the last five years.
This thing breaks down and takes all your money?
No?
Not equivalent to a new German car then.
Awesome build. In the UK we have the Bedford Bambi. Basically this… :)
Na
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiTsSm3uTHE
Google tuk tuk camper :-)
I like the overall concept of a minimalist tiny RV, and I think he did a pretty good job. I would absolutely build and use something like this if I had the spare time and funds to do so.
My biggest dislike of his approach is the toilet setup. Looks fine when empty. Suspending a unit with waste in it above my sleeping area? No thank you.
If I were to make this I’d go just a bit taller, maybe another 6″ should be doable without getting unstable, raise the bed platform, and get a smaller toilet that can go under the bed, or even get stored outside.
I also echo some of the comments on the video, he could have extended the camper portion over the truck cab and added some storage that way.
The Guiness label makes me concerned that this is a wealthy man’s slop channel.
That’s the result of the Youtube rat race. People make things to look good, without any consideration for any low level stuff like safety, usability, comfort, and reproducibility. You can’t have a “camper” on a truck without a secure attachment. Just imagine this truck being hit by the side (or if it had to roll a bit on its side), the whole “house” will simply roll over.
A fuel stove without any gas exhaust is a dead trap. Look, even inside the advertisement, the flames were already higher than expected and started to heat the roof.
There’s no reason for the house to be so low (except because it cost more to use longer stick), and only cause burden inside (he had to add a “bubble” window after realizing his mistakes). He could never sleep in this camper, since any movement of his legs would hit the sharp corner closet above. If instead he add 1 feet higher, the toilet would have fit under the bed.
There is no way the cell built this way could be water and weather proof. So, you can’t park this vehicle outside and even if you keep it inside, you can’t use it (same issue, you don’t want to have a fire and fumes inside a building).
I’m pretty sure the vehicle isn’t even allowed on the roads (that’s why it’s only show in his garden).
So, yes, anyone with few hand tools can make a cube/box and anyone can stuff things into it. But there’s a difference between a toy camper like this and a real vehicle.
i think the punchline of your comment is that no one ever lived in this camper. Which i think is the biggest bummer about youtube content in general. And it’s just like the million raspberry pi ‘decks’ (which, thankfully, Hackaday has stopped posting one a week of). Even IRL, i know people doing interesting work but only ‘for the clicks’, and it shows. It’s a huge social phenomenon, seeking attention over utility or even actual expressiveness.
i really think the sine qua non of a hack is that it’s used.
Perhaps, but I’d say that excludes far too many things that should be counted – often need a prototype to test ideas for instance, and sometimes just like that tool you bought after struggling through a job that could have used one you’ll stick it on a shelf and be waiting for that problem to come up again for ages!
So I’d exchange ‘used’ with ‘useful’ – which might just be as a learning exercise. Not bothering to watch this video, but this thing could certainly count there – a somewhat comfortable space you can take where you need it has value to many folks. Even if its just sitting at the bottom of your garden so the Kids can play or you can work in peace
A $50 Walmart tent is more comfortable then this.
I understand great big land ship RVs, not my cup of tea, but understandable.
This is just stupid.
Put camping gear in 4×4 truck bed.
Setup compound off logging road in national forest.
Hauling a small human living box to camp makes no sense from any angle.
But as noted, this is all done for the clicks.