The December issue of the Tiny House Magazine has a story about handmade, wooden truck campers in it and one of most talked about versions on the Web is the whimsical truck camper designed and built by Handmade Matt. Matt is a craftsman and tiny house enthusiast from Surrey, England and is currently available as a consultant for anyone looking to build their own tiny house—on or off a 4×4 truck.
Matt’s step-by-step process of the camper build is available on his website, and while the camper has been sold to a new owner in Sweden, Matt has recently finished up a new design. The vision for the first camper was to create a traditional looking removable camper with modern comforts. The camper is fully insulated, has solar power with 12v outlets and inverter. It contains a full kitchen with running water from a 13 gallon tank and a refrigerator, a two burner stove and a heater. There is an emergency composting toilet for when a public bathroom is not available.
“I wanted a four wheel drive camper and I have woodworking skills. It was the cheapest and most stimulating option,” Matt said. “The design was inspired over the years by all the things I have seen, a lot from Lloyd Kahn’s books. I am actually featured in his latest book, “Tiny Homes on the Move” with another cabin that I have built. I make no real plans when building, it all comes from my imagination. I make it up as I go along, no drawings, limited forethought. The projects just evolve.”
Matt said his favorite part of this particular build was the finishing touches.
“It’s when the magic happens and the whole vision comes together,” he said. “It’s finally when other people can see what was in my imagination all along. It’s a way of getting something that is inside me to come out into the world.”
Matt and his girlfriend took the camper all over the UK, through the southern English counties and into Wales. It did just fine in the mountains and also served as a home for his girlfriend who worked at various festival events.
For future builds by Handmade Matt, keep an eye on his website or the Tiny House Blog.
Photos by Handmade Matt
By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]
Great job. She’s a real beauty. Hope to see lots more of Matt’s creations.
It’s beautiful! However, I’d be interested in the rearview mirrors and how well those function. The actual rearview mirror is useless, and it looks like the sideview mirrors are somewhat obscured by the camper sticking out on the sides. It’s probably ok, but I’m just curious!
Very nice simple classic design, and straightforward construction. It reminds me of some of the earliest campers on pickups that were an offshoot of sheepherder trailers.
Lloyd Kahn’s books are great resource for all kinds of shelter, get them into your library and start finding what works for you.
Good job.
Classic design, straight forward construction. It’s like the early campers based on sheepherder trailers.
Lloyd Khan’s books are great resource for anyone considering building their own shelter, find them and keep them.
Good job.
it looks like it is very heavy. quite a load to carry. just wondering about that.
Wow – I love this.
RE: mirrors and load comments. From second pic in set, looks like side-view mirrors have been adjusted with inexpensive yet simple adaptors, and by the looks of wheel well differences between construction, loading, and loaded pics the variation is minimal. Truck looks to be supporting load quite well. There may be an increase in fuel consumption, but likely less than if pulling an equal weight trailer as the load is distributed more evenly throughout the bed than would be in tow.