Choosing Between a Factory Built or DIY Camper

For a long road trip to National Parks, we had various options for our living situation, from full time camping to fancy hotels. Eventually we made the decision to live in a camper during our trip, though this was a somewhat contentious conclusion, with Carson still yearning for the “quintessential” Van-Life (or more uncommonly Vife) that was plastered all over social media. Yet, even having made the decision eased a slight weight off our shoulders, as we finally had a direction, a path to follow. That relief was short-lived as we started to wade into the world of camper options.

Our Constraints

Quickly we realized that we needed a plan if we ever wanted to find something that would work for us rather than just aimlessly browsing the hundreds of options. So, just like they do on the HGTV show, House Hunters, we came up with some needs, wants, and wishes.

	Need	Want	Wish
Angela	Indoor Toilet Standing Room Entirely self-contained	Gas Cooktop Space to Play Board/Card Games Capability to Cook Indoors	Air Conditioning Off-Road Capability Clean, Airy Design
Carson	Respectable Construction Multi Day Off Grid	Reading Lights 8-ft teardrop	Wood stove Cozy Natural Wood Design 20-ft airstream
Both	Security Queen Bed Can be towed by Primary Vehicle <$20,000 total price Ready before start of trip	Gear Storage Cooling Fan 4-Season Efficient Space Utilization Storage for Books and Games	Indoor Shower Skylight Solar Array Rain Reclamation

As you can see from the table above, Carson and I each had some specific requirements for finding the camper that would be right for us. There are essentially two categories of campers where we could find everything we were looking for: Factory Built or DIY.

Factory Built Campers

When it comes to Factory Built campers, also known as prefabricated, ready-made, or off-the-lot campers, there are numerous companies that offer many different build options. With a cornucopia of choices, we narrowed the field by considering our primary vehicle, Carson’s 2012 Subaru Outback, which has a meager, possibly optimistic, tow rating of 2700 to 3000 pounds [1]. Implied in this decision is that we were looking for a tow-behind type camper, as opposed to other models such as a fifth wheel (requiring a pickup truck) or self-driving (think van, short bus, or Class C Motorhome). Without getting too much into the specific math behind tow capacity, that meant we were limited to a tow-behind camper with a curb weight under 1700 lbs. (Reading Truck has a great article on this HERE*). Realistically, that left us with very few options (Camper Report has an informative listicle HERE*). 

One of the prime options that kept coming up in our searches was the popular nuCamp TAG* [2]. The TAG and TAG-XL are great examples of the obstacles we kept running into when searching for a camper that fit our requirements. 

Pros:

1. Beautiful, classic teardrop style camper with customizable exterior paint

2. Can be equipped with the “Boondock” package for more off-road adventures, but comes with an increased price tag

3. Queen bed

4. Low curb weight of <1500 lbs

5. “Stargazer” window

6. Solar array

Cons:

1. Not a true 4-season camper as the kitchen is exterior and can only be used with dry camping in cold weather months

2. The price of the 2023 nuCamp TAG averages around $20,000, at the uppermost limit of our budget

3. Exterior kitchen, lack of facilities, lack of storage means it is not self-contained

4. No standing room

5. Unnecessary speaker system and microwave

6. Small cooler, no refrigeration

7. Off-road package optional for additional cost

Besides teardrop style campers like the TAG, other options that fit our weight limit were soft-sided tow-behinds or rooftop options and other sleeper campers. These other options are also not built for multi-season use and are not self-contained, making stealth camping or hiding from bad weather nearly impossible. Another massive problem was the lack of standing room and bathroom facilities, however, campers that feature those options have significantly increased curb weight. 

Even with all this online research at our fingertips and a spreadsheet weighing all our options, we still felt like we were making decisions based on theory, without having any practical experience with these possible options. To that end, we had the realization that there were plenty of local dealers waiting for potential customers like ourselves to stroll through the door. So, we visited a few local places, like Lee’s Auto & RV Ranch* and Camping World*, and got a firsthand idea of what each of the camper options offered and their respective prices. The experience of actually walking around these campers and speaking to people who knew them inside and out was the most helpful component of our decision making process. I recommend anyone interested in campers or “Van Life” go speak to at least one local dealer before making any binding decisions. 

After seeing quite a few options, we noticed a few more things that had us leaning away from prefabricated campers. Many of the campers, depending on the company and price range, were rather poorly constructed, with more focus on frilly additions than the actual quality of the build. For example, there was one camper we saw that had flimsy medium-density fiberboard (MDF) construction and uninsulated aluminum walls but had a microwave, TV, internal and external bluetooth speakers, and glass-topped 2-burner gas cooking range. Details like this were hard to understand simply from websites or short descriptions; these companies, understandably so, make campers for a vast audience that does not necessarily share our priorities. At the end of our field trips, we found ourselves strongly considering that the time and effort to build a DIY camper may be worth it to create exactly the on-the-go home we needed and envisioned for ourselves.

DIY Camper

Next we moved to consider the possibility of a DIY camper build. Here, again, there were many various routes we could take with the build, all affecting the total cost, overall time, and the weight. The camper could be built ground-up with a flatbed trailer, by refurbishing a second-hand camper, or by outfitting an enclosed cargo trailer (also known as toy trailers). Similar to the Ready-Made campers, we considered the pros and cons of each option.

	Pros	Cons
Flatbed Trailer	Low initial investment Can easily find ideal dimensions Fully Customizable Most Control over total weight	High Cost of Materials Long Build Time Possibly Outside the Scope of Carson’s Skillset Most upfront design work
Secondhand Camper	Upcycling old equipment Fun demolition component Least Amount of construction required Lowest investment in Materials Lowest Labor Time (theoretically)	Possibly many underlying issues (pests, rot, rust, etc) Constrained to what is available Highest Initial Cost Added Cost of waste removal Constrained to the size and shape of walls, perforations, etc. Working with old, inefficient appliances & layout
Cargo Trailer	Mid-Range Initial Investment Mid-range time commitment Electrical, plumbing, and construction within Carson’s Skillset highly customizable Mid-range design effort	Constrained to secondhand market OR have to buy custom, new model Longest purchasing lead time (if buying new) Added Environmental impact if buying New

After compiling this chart, we had a much clearer idea of our range of options. For us, the most important considerations were Carson’s ability to accomplish the build both in skill and timeline, staying within our budget, and not having to compromise on too many of our wishes. To that end, building our camper starting from a flatbed trailer was not feasible given Carson’s skillset and available tools. While he surely could learn to build a steel framed trailer, we had to be realistic that there was not the time nor tools available for such a massive welding project.

On the other hand, refurbishing a second-hand camper turned out not to be a suitable option either. Upon researching used campers in our area (RV Trader* was a helpful site) we found the trailers that fit our weight limit were in two categories, the same campers we looked at in deciding against factory made or they were from the 70s-80s, both options were priced at well over half our budget, thus not leaving enough room for refurbishing. 

Finally, we came to outfitting a cargo trailer. This seemed to be the second most popular route taken by those on social media, behind van conversions. This option provided the most opportunity for customization while still being within the realm of Carson’s skillset. However, we did run into the problem that most of the new and used trailers in our area were still outside of our initial investment budget and many of them did not feature the rear barn doors and side RV style door we needed (typically used by contractors). Even with that obstacle, we agreed this route was our best option moving forward.

With that, Carson and I both started to look around, searching for some corner of the internet that held our Holy Grail. After a month or so of searching, Carson eventually found what we were looking for through Rock Solid Cargo*, the only problem being that the company is located in Georgia, an entire coastline away from our homebase in New England. We had solved one problem with another.

*We have NO affiliation with this company.

The next entry in this story: MA to GA and Back in 48 Hours - Not Recommended

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