2.3 Kampereen Tent Camper Frame Build

The K2 tent camper offered me many new learning opportunities. Many, many.

First, I knew the idea of this popup camper was going to be too long to go without some kind of support under the base of the cargo box. The footprint of the camper would equal the sleeping area and the sleeping area had to fit me, so that meant it would be at least 78 inches long. No I’m not 6′ 6″ tall but you need to allow a little headroom in the bed area.

I was familiar with the frames used on other campers, so it wasn’t difficult to come up with a design. But I did have to think long and hard about where I would mount the axle stubs on the frame and how the frame would fit on the bottom of the camper.

To do this, I started with a rough sketch, like I almost always do. From that rough idea, I went to PowerPoint and made a more measured drawing.

Next, I marked out the frame on the camper base. These steps helped me visualize where everything would fit. It was important to get it right on the first try and to be as specific as possible. I learned this from the tent I had made for the first prototype. If you’re going to have someone else fabricate a piece for you, you just can’t give enough detail.

I had the frame made by NSI Precision out of Largo, Florida. They cut hitches for me and they always do great work. The spec called for powder coating but they went the extra mile and finished the frame in a really nice marine epoxy that will make that frame last longer than I will.

The mounting position for the axle stubs puts the center of the wheel hubs at 45″ which put them just past the halfway mark on an 82″ base. This bias and the weight of the tongue should give the camper enough weight in the front to avoid tail wagging.

Darn it, I’ve now lost the pictures I shot under the frame. I wanted to show you the only issue I had with it. When I mounted the half axles, I found that the shoulder of the trailing arm was making the slightest contact with the frame. I solved that problem by adding a spacer sandwich consisting of a rubber washer between two fender washers at each mounting hole between the stub and the frame. This created 1/4″ of additional space between the two components, allowing the trailing arm to move without contacting the frame. Other than that, the fit was perfect.

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