Project : Camper Cap
I Wanted to build a nice Cap With A larger amount of space then the stock cap.
Must Be Able To Sleep Two, plus all our stuff, and a stove, and cooler. It must Weigh less then
700lbs and be sturdy enough to sustain 70mph winds.
I Wanted A Camper Cap For My Truck.
So, I went looking for a ready made small truck camper that would fit a VW.
I found That one has been made, and that a camper conversion was done on a Vw pickup, but
that neither was still being made. Add that to the fact that very few were ever made, and it
all adds up to me being S.O.L.
So What Could I Do?
I Began to search the Net for Photos, and text on Vw caps, and Campers.
As You can see There were quite a few different types of toppers made.

My wife and I began to draw up a few rough plans of what we wanted.
We Wanted a Cabover style, like the one in the top right, but I had no idea how to make it strong
enough to just hang there, and hold 350lbs.
This and other design problems left me worried, that My camper would suck.

Then, I found a company called Glen-L.
They Sell plans for all kinds of cool stuff, van camper conversions, trailer plans, camper plans,
and lucky for me, (and you) They Sell a Plan Called "The Importer" And Yup, It fits a stock Vw
Rabbit Truck! Sleeps 4, has a stove, sink, closet,table,shelves. All the goodies you could stuff
into a 6 foot bed.
"The Importer"
Plans, and Photo's
So, The Plans Are On The Way, And Hell... I Needed Another Fall Project Anyway.


Stay Tuned!
UPDATE!
The Truck rebuild is done! And I've almost settled on a final design, and plan.
I hope to get building within the month.

12-04-03 Ha! The truck rebuild took another full month after a brake failure, and CV joint
problem. So The truck cap has still not been started, hell, I haven't even bought wood!  I'll
let you know when it happens.                                                 
2-12-04   I Give Up! I've got way too much crap going on right now, so it looks like the Final solution is the
one you see above. A standard Vw Rabbit truck cap. It was reinstalled and road tested 1300 miles at
X-mas, and It seems it will do the trick for our giant 4000mile Rabbit trek this spring. Although its a bit
cramped for 2 people to sleep in with all our gear, I'm working on a few minor mods so we can mount some
of the crap on top.  Wish us luck!
Very cool.... I found a 82 that someone had hacked to death to fit a wheelchair lift into, but it was like 2
grand, and I was thinking like $500 at most. So its back to the books...
9-25-05
Well, The trip "05" is over!
2600 miles in the Vw Rabbit Truck. Plus one Cap, plus one 1969 Tradewinds
Catalina popup. What a ride. The Truck did fine, but I think it was just about at
its limits in the mountains of the Applacian trails. I took her, the camper, and the
Wife all the way from Moncure,NC to Niagra Falls,Canada and back. 11 days
2600 miles, 95degree weather, and thank god, NO Breakdowns!
That camper is Way Cool!
the truck held us, and a lot of stuff including a ton of spare parts for the camper
and the truck, and a bunch of tools.


Case of the Camper:   Closed!
6-7-05 I still dream of a cool camper cap for my truck, but I can never find the right one for my needs. I
found this one on another vw site
6-22-05 Well, Problem Solved. I was given a 1969 Trade Winds "Catalina" Popup Camper  by a
coworkers friend. Its less then 900 pounds fully loaded, and it seems to tow just fine behind my
Vw's !   I'm going on a trip with it this August, so I'll let you all know how it turns out.