Ayjays Camper

Words & Pictures by Aalt van Schellen, V41988
The Wanderer, January 2009

After reading with great interest the articles written and published in The Wanderer by other Members about their experiences, I thought I might put down our camper experience, which hopefully will be of interest to others.

It started in 1987, when I purchased a second hand 1977, 4 x 4 F100, complete with a homemade slide-on camper, constructed by the previous owner for an around Australia trip that never eventuated.

Great for weekend bush trips, this vehicle had all the basics, but was very restrictive in the sleeping department, which was over the truck cabin. The distance between the top of the mattress and the ceiling being about half a metre.

We were planning a big trip in 1988 centered around the Bicentennial celebrations around the country, particularly the camel race from Ayers Rock to the Gold Coast, and on the way the last great cattle drive from Newcastle Waters to Longreach and then on to Kakadu and Darwin and home via Birdsville.

As this was our first experience going four wheel driving in the outback, and after reading all the books and getting all sorts of advice, I decided I needed some extra storage space for fuel, extra water, oil, recovery gear, a spare wheel, all sorts of spares and even some fencing wire, (none of which was needed by the way) and some more head room over the bed. My brother Barry and I took the top off the camper, increased the height above the bed, added another window for additional ventilation, and from the bed back, fabricated an external covered storage area above the existing ceiling, which was now split level.

We loaded the truck, camper and roof storage area and were ready for our big adventure. I noticed that the rear springs looked sad, in that they curved the wrong way, and when I drove the fully loaded truck around the block, it rolled all over the place and was very difficult to drive, and I dare say unsafe.

We needed to check out the truck suspension before we went anywhere and decided to reset the springs, add another leaf, and fit heavy duty shocks before we took off. That truck and camper took us everywhere, and in this first big trip we covered 12,000kms in six weeks without a problem, and on some pretty ordinary bush and outback tracks. We were thoroughly hooked on this type of getaway.
That camper was used on three other Ford trucks, a 1989 F150, 4 x 4 manual, a 1991 F150 4 x 4 auto and an imported 1997, 7.3 litre turbo diesel F250 4 x 4 auto.

The F250 was a regular cab long box truck, as were all the others, but I was aware that Ford in the US were building supercab trucks with short boxes, which meant that the overall length changed very little, but added a second seat and additional internal storage. I was determined that my next truck would be a short box supercab 4 x 4, 7.3L turbo diesel auto, and I decided to plan to build my own camper to suit this particular truck configuration.

We had spent a lot of time in the old camper, so I had a pretty good idea of what we wanted and where it should be positioned. I drew up a set of plans and sourced materials and fittings for the construction and fit out of an off road pop top camper, to clear low branches and scrub and reduce wind resistance.

Because the new truck was black with a goldy colour, lower accent paint finish, I decided to use the gold coloured aluminium siding that was available on the market at that time for the exterior.

All the siding, internal linings and trims, door, windows, fridge, stove, toilet, water pump, taps etc were sourced from Werribee Caravans, and the staff there were extremely helpful.

I formed the lower part of the camper (the section that fitted inside the truck bed) out of water proof plywood, which was formed around the wheel arches to maximise internal space, and was then glued, screwed, and all joints were fibreglass reinforced. The top half (that section above the ute truck bed) and the front and rear frames were fabricated out of Duragal steel tubing and fully welded, clad with the gold aluminium siding and insulated and lined with prefinished plywood.

I was ably assisted by my two sons, Russell and Jason, who, along with myself, are also in the construction business. The three of us cut and assembled the plywood base, then I did the fibreglass reinforcement. With the steel top, Russell and I measured and cut the steel and Jason did all the welding. Jason had never done a lot of welding, but he did a great job.

The two halves were then connected and the whole package was relocated to Russell’s shed so he could work on the fit out and internal joinery, (Russell did his trade as a carpenter and joiner). The electrical wiring was installed and the gas pipe work was fitted.
The camper was then taken to Supreme Caravans, who manufactured and fitted the pop top. On its return home, we installed the external cladding and insulation, finished the interior upholstery, made a collapsible shower base and shower which could be set up and used inside the camper, installed a stainless steel water tank, stainless steel sink, internal portable toilet, bed, fittings, electric water pump, two burner stove top with griller, external twin LPG gas storage cylinders and a slide out external cooking facility (which houses a small gas Weber BBQ), extra battery, solar panel, inverter etc and were ready for our maiden trip to Canberra on 1/1/2000.

We have since taken this outfit all over the country, such as Cape York, including the Telegraph Track, the Kimberly, including the Gibb River Road, across the Simpson Desert, the Tanami, Birdsville, Oodnadatta, the Strezlecki Tracks, the Victorian High Country and lots more. We estimate we covered approximately 80,000 kms and about half of that on the dirt, where it handles brilliantly. When on a 4WD extended trip, we remove the back seat of the truck and bolt in a full size spare wheel (giving us two spares), pack a three metre Quicksilver boat and a 5hp Mercury outboard, as well as a chain saw and recovery gear etc, all of this behind the front seats.

We have since added a laptop computer storage, with digital TV reception, that has the ability to play DVD movies and generally keep in touch with family and friends. The time has now come for a change, and now that I'm retired, perhaps the building of a new camper or fifth wheeler and the purchase of a new truck.