DIY Squaredrop Camper FULL BUILD Walkthrough
Hi, I'm Elvis Svonja, and during 2021 I've built my first squaredrop camper (aka tiny camper or teardrop trailer) called Glacier Explorer. This video provides a detailed walkthrough of this squaredrop camper build - built completely from scratch. I have also uploaded short timelapse videos of building the base frame of this trailer as well as the main box (see my channel).
This camper was designed and built based on a balance between various design principles such as: quality, strength, convenience, aesthetics, cost effectiveness and ease of implementation. This trailer consists of a steel frame, and a squaredrop box built from very strong marine plywood. The exterior of the trailer is covered with decorative aluminium and thin layer of steel.
There are a number of accessories that I later added including roofracks, shade awning, stabilizer legs and toolbox. At the time of publishing this video, I have done around 3000 kms with this trailer including a longer camping trips, and it's been an awesome experience. I am so excited about these small camping trailers (teardrop, tiny camper, squaredrop etc), that I'm already planing to build a next one using slightly different implementation methods. I hope to build even better, lighter and better equipped trailer next year, so be sure to subscribe to my channel for future videos!
Feel free to provide constructive comments with any questions or suggestions. I acknowledge that there are things that I could have done differently and better, but after all, this was my first trailer. Thank you for visiting this channel. Wishing you good vibes and stay tuned.
Elvis Svonja
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:49 Welcome
02:18 Acceptance Criteria
03:28 Base Frame Construction
08:07 Main Cabin Construction
11:16 Interrior
14:37 Exteriror Finish
19:45 Kitchen
20:36 Registration
21:35 Outro
Timelapse video of this trailer: • Full Tiny Camper (Squa...
Timelapse of making the frame: • Teardrop trailer - bas...
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Material Reference:
Checkered black aluminium, Marine plywood, interior panels, t-rex glue
uptons.net.au/
J-mould/J-trim, Sink
www.onestopcaravanshop.com.au/
Stickers
megastickerstore.com.au/
Door
ajpm.com.au/products/statewid...
Window
www.ebay.com.au/itm/Sliding-W...
Stabilizer Legs:
Ebay: MOBI 400mm Drop Down Legs 1200LBS Caravan Corner Stabilizer Iron Legs Black
Centaflex Hinge (kitchen door hinge):
www.ovesco.com.au/products/hi...
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MUSIC in this video:
Knuckles - Slynk
Dream Lagoon - Chris Haugen
Philanthrope, Brock Berrigan, Birocratic, iamalex - Brockoli chll.to/589cab9f
Let's Do This! - Nat Keefe & Hot Buttered Rum
Blurry Vision - Corbyn Kites
Dreaming of Aummer, www.melodyloops.com
The BREED - Flip Flop Vibe, chll.to/b5d7e418
X Ray Vision - Slynk
Bensound - Energy, bensound.com
Sunny Travel - Nico Staf
You are not a DIY builder. You are a professional builder without a company. Fantastic.
Thank you so much.
Man if you weren't showing build footage, I would have never believed it wasn't a factory camper. Amazing work!
Thank you kindly
Good job and this is the best video I have seen in KZhead about all details many tanks from Algeria 🇩🇿
Wow, thank you so much my friend. I really appreciate your comments.
This thing looks gorgeous and super practical! I see you went with a totally different approach than the common fibreglass design. You've summarized a whole build into a short video where others would have made a whole series out of. Having said that, if there was a detailed series on how to build this, I probably would have watched it! Great job and hope you have many great adventures with the trailer!
Fantastic build 🙌
Great video!! Nice details and thanks for sharing
Thank you for sharing us your DIY Squaredrop Camper FULL BUILD Walkthrough ! From Washington DC.
Great job, very nice work.
Wow. Looks great 👍
Very impressive! Thanks!
Awesome job, you must be very proud being able to camp in a great camper (project) you built yourself, some great ideas as well, eg the fold down seat 👍
Thanks heaps for this - things to think about while we are doing our 'square drop mini camper build'
Amazing! Beautiful job.
Excellent job!!
Looks fantastic, thanks for the detailed explanation.
Awesome video! You went through the same thoughts that I did! Its a great inspritaion and I will start my own build this year!
Awesome job 👌 nice little unit, looking to build something similar !
Looks very cool.
Beautiful construction
Very very very nice my friend. Thanks
Brilliant video, thank you! The trailer looks awesome and not hand made. Have loads of fun with it, happy camping!
you just cant beat the outdoors can you , I just love watching this type of video to inspire me . by the way I love your name Elvis
Thank you.
Great video. I’m about to embark on this journey
Nice work!
Great build and great video. I think you’ve inspired my next project
Very nice work Elvis. It's a very professional looking build.
Very nice build. Good job.
Great build and great videos. Excellent work. Well done!
Much appreciated.
Nice work!👏👏
Just saw your collection of vids related to ur tear drop , great build mate , inspired to build similar . Thanks ,
Amazing job mate well done 🍻👍
It's absolutely gorgeous! Looks like it rolled out of a factory, but built better.👍😎
Great video very informative! I'm sure it achieves all of your criteria. Cheers Steve
Well done. That’s a good looking build.
Much appreciated
Good day to you! I am a grandpa rider on HONDA motorcycle from Japan. Enjoying camping ,touring and upload video. Your mini camper video is so nice! Awesome! Full supported ! Have a nice day my friend!
Thank you very much for your kind message. Greetings from Melbourne.
Nice build man!
Well done!
Only just found your videos. Looking to build something very similar. Is great seeing your learning from your build and the details you go into. Thanks heaps
Great report, nice work, I enjoyed watching it a lot and useful information, thank you
Fantastic, it's my pleasure.
Great Build ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Well Explained Also. 🏴
Impressive build man!!!
Thanks.
Best looking DIY I've seen , Awesome Job!
Thanks so much
one of the best diy teadrop videos i have watched on yt (belive me i have watched a lots of them) 👌👌
Excellent job mate, it looks fantastic. Love this shape its almost identical to mine- im leaving early in the morning to drive to QLD and pick it up, so excited!!!
Thank you. Wow, that's awesome. That's going to be such and exciting trip. Where did you buy your one from?
Great job Elvis enjoyed the video. It looks so professional , it looks like you bought.
Thank you so much.
Nice job mate.
Very impressive work and a beautiful build. I am finishing a van conversion and I appreciate your thoughts and labor..Definitely a thumbs up 👍🏽
Thank you so much. Yes, it was lots of work, but it's very enjoyable and rewarding. Van conversion sounds awesome too. All the best with it.
Good job. The graphics make it look very professional!
Thank you.
Hi mate amazing build , attemting to build one of these . Your video is my ispiration. Good luck
Congratulations Elvis , this is the most practical camper I've looked at . Great video and awesome outcome . Thanks mate .
Much appreciated. I think I should put up an updated short video with additional practicality improvements. For example we learned that you want to have as much working space on the kitchen bench, so I've ended up installing powered fridge inside the toolbox. Things like portable table and chairs, we now just keep inside the sleeping compartment, because these you always take out and setup when you get to a spot, so better to leave toolbox for the fridge which you then don't have to pull out for the entire camping trip. I've also installed the stove under the bench where you can just open the lid if you need to use the stove, or close if you want more working space. So far we have been really happy with practicality side of things.
Great Job!!
Thank you my friend
Hi Elvis, thanks for taking the time to produce this video. I really appreciated the way you split the build into the 3 phases. Your step by step process showed how straight forward the build could be. I reckon I will watch this video many times to make sure I understand your build process, because the finished product is very impressive. I am sure you invested many hours into the build, it would be interesting to understand how many man hours you have invested. Thanks again for making the video.
Thanks Tony for your detailed feedback. This is a quite difficult question to answer precisely, but I can give you some indication. I've built the frame in under two weeks during my holidays (working mon-fri). However I then had to spend time fiddling with bad bearings and tyres from an old trailer (if i didn't do that i'd save quite a bit time there). I completed the phase two within next 6 months working part time (after work and some weekends)... and then the next couple months I built the accessories (again just working after hours/weekends). It's quite hard to accuratelly timebox it though. I was pretty dedicated with the build during the 6 months, but it wasn't all of my spare time either as you need to rest as well and family and other commitments. During the whole build I had to make numerous unnecessary trips to far shops (which I could have avoided if i had more experience and better planning)... so all in all, I have wasted some time on the build too. So yeh, hope that gives you some indication... Good luck with your project.
Witam Super przyczepa perfekcyjnie wykonana 💪👊👍. Pozdrawiam serdecznie ✌️.
Fantastic!
That woodwork looks really very good. Better than a commercial trailer. Adds weight of course but it must make using it very enjoyable.
Great job! Thank you for sharing. You certainly attained your goals, looks professionally made. Building my second one now, first was teardrop and now doing a square drop "overland" style. Agree, it was challenging, but loved the build process and learning along the way. Cheers from Canada.
Thank you. And that's awesome. I'm really interested in building another one using 30mm composite for the shell, as it's apparently equally strong and heaps lighter. Weight would be my main objective for the next build for sure. I liked your teardrop build... it's really nice. Good luck with next one
Superb thanks
Amazing build and info. I'd like to do something similar and live in Vic , this is so relevant to me. I have an old 1970 coleman poptop I'm thinking of converting as it's not enjoyable setting up and packing down. You've given me a lot of inspiration. Thank you!
It's a very nice video. Now I'm making a camping trailer like you. A transformative camping trailer FROM JAPAN
very nice job bud 👍👍
Easily the best video I’ve seen so far 👍
Thank you so much
Looks professional, Well Done. Lots of little hints. I’m in Melb also & considering such a project
Vicrtoria "the education state" well that explains it that you did such a great job in telling how you built your teardrop. Nice!
Nice build, I am thinking of doing a similar project with my son. Cheers 🍻
Wow. Great job. The decals makes it look like you bought one that is professionally manufactured.
Thank you
What an amazing build!! The details and finish work really made the square drop. Simplicity was also a major feature that so many other manufacturers fail to accomplish or see as a necessity. Again, I’m really impressed, thanks for taking the time to show the building ideas. This is Alan, greetings from Riverside in Southern California.
Hi Alan. Thank you so much for you awesome message.
That camper looks fantastic. Awesome job 👍
Wow Elvis, I have seen heaps of these DIY Squaredrop, / Teardrop campers, and I have to say this is one the BEST I've seen, - great job mate, I am slowly in the process of making mine, but I don't think I will have the patience or knowhow, to do anything like yours, it is a very nice rig indeed, and your commentry and explanation of the build was very informative, and quite helpful, - I am also from Melbourne Victoria, so this fact gives me great inspiration to get mine finished. Thank you
Brad I really appreciate your feedback. It's fantastic that you are building one too. I wish you all the best with the build.
This is really good self build explanation. So helpful and informative without waffling on to much. All the key points I've wanted to know about a self build. Even down to a little mini model example😆😆 The Man!! Thankyou, Thankyou
Thanks for your awesome feedback.
Sweet build man you really thought of everything. Always love learning simple stuff I should know but wouldn't think of like overlapping the top metal with the bottom to obviously keep water out. A lot of attention to detail and great use of the space you got, I like the hand made paper towel holder.
Much appreciated.
Hi Elvis, Great Job, I am about to head in the same direction with a square drop build and found great information about products and build ideas, Many Thanks
Thank you and good luck. Stay tuned, I'm planing to put together a video of all the mistakes (what not to do) and similar soon
Im planning my own now!
Fantastic. Stay tuned, I'm just in the process of making a video listing all my mistakes and how I'd do things differently. I'm hoping it will help people not make the same mistakes I did.
Mate! You're the king. Everything about this video was incredible. Congratulations
Thank you so much. Really appreciate your comments Jim.
great job Elvis, I plan on building a slide on camper for my 6 X 4 trailer, wanting to go prospecting 2 or 3 days at a time. I am in Melbourne, Happy travel's. Shayne.
Mate that thing is bloody excellent. You are very highly skilled. Hi from Brisbane!
Thank you so much.
Ausgezeichnet! You could make rear door open further so you could stand while cooking. Well done.
This is one of the best looking and practical home built campers I have seen yet. I would definitely use this video as something to design a light weight camper. The outside looks so professionally built, you would never know it was not store bought. Great job!
Much appreciated
time for a proper fridge, nice build
Thanks. Couldn't agree more.
Aloha lads congratulations awesome job thank you for the how to do Amazing i love it pay no rent
Looks great from Skegness Uk
Looks great mate, like a factory build one! Perhaps some upgrades you could think about are using eye to eye leaf springs and beefed up front spring mount, allong with getting the same hub and wheels to your car so you can share spares.
Great suggestions. I thought about eye-to-eye but will leave that for the next trailer, as I'd have to pull apart existing hangers and weld new etc etc (and I'm a bit over it at this point). But I am just installing a new spring based pivot coupling with brakes at the moment. Wheel matching is great when you know you will keep the car for a while, but problem is when you replace your car then you are in a pickle again.
Grandeeee!!!!! Bravissimo Plus, the total cost is 5k AUD which is less than 3k EUR for a caravan that worths at least 10k EUR! Great, congrats for the design and mostly for the very accurate handacrafting! Ciao
Fantastic build, great explanation, and the video editing was perfect! The build is $3400 USD, which is 1/4 of what a similar trailer costs in the US, and built to a much higher quality. I think that trailer could probably easily go through some serious mountain trails with how well you built it. I hope ya'll have some great times ahead!
Mate, brilliant build and turned out awesome. A few questions and thoughts: 1. Why did you choose a wooden frame for the cabin vs say using RHS or square steel tube? I am debating this point right now and interested in your views and experience. 2. Double ply walls - understand you needed the structural integrity, but did you consider a laminated or hollow core approach using thinner ply on the outer (8-12mm), then borders/bracing for the insulation layer, then another thinner play or faced laminate on the inner layer? Not saying you did it wrong, but I saw a lot of wastage and effort in cutting out your inner ply. 3. Did you consider the aluminium composite sheeting rather than plywood for the walls? 4. I love the shelfing layout - I will likely steal your ideas :) 5. How did you get front - rear balance? This has to be one of the best camper build videos out there, really good you focussed on how you built it and not showing off what you built.
Super 👍 Job
International Interior guidelines for pillows. Glad you did your research 🤣🤣🤣
I thought no one noticed my sarcasm there...
@@ChilledBeans I went back to waych again, to make sure you said that🤣
This video is an amazingly inspiring gift to many people. Congratulations and thank you, Elvis! 👏 Sorry to ask, but could you summarize the approximate quantities/lengths for materials in a list? If not, maybe somebody else that is just building it? 😅 If there is some European builder here, which replacement material (brands, names, measurements) did you use?
Your accent trips me out some sounds like Australian, Russian and West Indian. Good job on the square drop
Hahaha, It trips me out too.
One of the best teardrop builds I have seen. Great job. I wish you lived in the US, I would ask you to help me build one.
Thank you so much my friend
totally pro
Very practical, relatively light build. You give up some weight with a good, steel chassis. They make lighter, aluminum chassis. For me, that little extra weight was not significant, because it's still very small and light behind my pickup. I know it's back there. It definitely affects my gas mileage and acceleration, but it's still small enough that I can keep up with traffic and not be resigned to the slow lane and/or be a traffic hazard on mountain highways. If I were building my own, it'd be a square-drop where the back door is the entire back wall, and it's hinged at the top AND the bottom, so it can work as a ramp or weather protection, as needed. Just have it latch good and tight with side latches, and use a hinge pin (or pins) to decide which way it'll open. Run the pin through the top hinge, it's a back porch. Pull the pin and run it through the bottom hinge, and it's a ramp. Make it the absolute smallest toy hauler that's practical. I don't have any toys, but I would like that option. But all the toy-haulers out there are man-height. But I really like the highway and off-road performance of a good teardrop or square-drop mini-camper, and I think there's middle ground, there, for somebody with smaller toys, like 80-cc dirt bikes or snowdog snow machines. Nothing high-powered, but still mechanized, to extend your range from base camp. Toys you can take with, without making a production out of it.
Молодец ..золотые руки..Лови лайк из России..
Looks better build than anything on utube so far, iv seen cheaper and more expensive and this seems something in between.
Thank you so much.
Hi mate. The install of the centaflex was really helpful! have you had any dust ingress at all?
Hi Mate I commented at the very beginning of the build. Your finished build is so impressive. Your quality just cannot be repeated in mass. Its just that good. However you are perfectly positioned to make a business. Unfortunately you will be just too fussey with quality. Know the feeling. Your professionalism knows no boundaries. The quality of the presentation is perfect. Im trying to build one same dimensions with a part pop up roof at the rear with rear entry. No galley. So its capable of camping or cargo carrying if necessary. Ambitious task. Great fun. Cheers..Al
Hi Al. Much appreciated. And all the best with your build.
Great build & great vid. Have you come across any resources RE geometry & physics etc of camper trailer design? Something that guide how long to make draw bars. Where to position axles etc
Thanks. To be honest, no. I ended up approximating those aspects, and it all worked out good. The trailer handles really well on the road. I have heard that the trailer should be balanced so that there is 50-80kg pressure on the towbar.
Very nice. Good job. It would be nice if you could put the links in the description of the parts and where did you purchase it, or the specks so we can find them in the US. Thanks for sharing
Thanks. All the product links are in the video description.
Great video, very well explained, just one question I couldn't find the answer to - what was the final weight?
It's ~900kg,.
Loved every minute of this build. Can you tell me where you purchased the flat trim? Thanks in advance
If you mean the one that joins the black checkered aluminium and white cladding, it's from here www.onestopcaravanshop.com.au/
Great video Elvis.Probably the best I've seen.I'm about to build one myself. How did you go getting the correct down ball weight. Cheers Mark.
Hi Mark. Thank you. I wish I had a more scientific answer for this one... but I estimated the position of the wheels by eye and rough feel based on what I planned to put at the front and back of the trailer. I suspect there may be some more sophisticated methods out there how to calculate this, and I sure will look into them for my next build. But I'm quite happy with how mine turned out... I think I'd have around 80kg down ball weight roughly. There is enough weight to keep it down at the front, but a strong person can still lift it with two hands when required.
@@ChilledBeans Thanks Elvis . I've built a boat trailer before and what I did was set the axles complete wheels etc on 50 x100 angle loose on the chassis. Completed trailer with boat on. Total gross weight and then weighed the whole lot. Slipped the angle back or forward until I had 10% on the ball. Bolted angle to chassis. Can't do this with your build as guards are incorporated within setup. Which I like as it gives an extra 250mm in useable cabin space.The pros must work it all out mathematically. There not building one offs though.Cheers.