Elevate Your Experience

Do you love camping, but hate setting up tents? Do you want the comfort of a bed, but don't want to deal with the hassle of an air mattress or cost of staying in hotels? Do you want the effortless experience of wedge style campers but can't afford the price tag? Look no further! The Ripcord DIY Wedge Camper is designed to make the process of building your own wedge camper easy and achievable. These campers are meant to go wherever your next adventure takes you, whether that be a campground or deep into the forest. 

Time

Building your own camper is a decent amount of work, do not underestimate that fact. With the V3 not requiring welding it is much better than V2 though! A full V3 build will take a few weekends. It will take even longer if you don’t have the special tools I mentioned or if you design your own parts instead of using the available products.

*At this time I am NOT offering any physical parts for sale, but I am exploring options to provide individal parts and potentially full kits with all parts ready. So if you are interested in that, let me know through the contact form.

Tools

-Sewing Machine
-Rivet gun
-Drill bits: 3/16”, 3/8”
-Countersink drill bit
-5/16”-18 thread tap (spiral flute) -3/16” allen wrench
-#10-32 tap & drill bit
-1/2” socket
-CNC Router*
-CNC Mill*
-CNC Laser cutter*

*optional but helpful. Parts needing these tools can also be outsourced from vendors for additional cost

Wedge Campers offer the best hassle-free camping setup possible without sacrificing the vehicles' offroad capability.
Ripcord's DIY Wedge Camper V3 is the best bang for the buck solution out there!

Table of Contents

Click a section to skip forward

• Introduction
• Materials/Parts List & Cost
• Building the Wedge Tent Frame
• Building the Lower Frame 
• Building the Lower Frame Panels
• The Tent fabric
• Completing the build

Materials/Parts List & Cost

A full V3 build can be done for around $4.6k. While that is no small number, it is still far less expensive then products sold by turnkey wedge camper suppliers. Those can easily reach above $10k and beyond...

If the V3 cost is beyond your budget, the older V2 build could be done for around $3.5k in total cost, though it will lack all of the V3 revisions. Or you can go even less than that if you are willing to skip 8020 extrusions and go custom fabrication.

Building the Wedge Tent Frame

Alright, now that we have all of the parts on-hand, let's get started with this build! We are going to begin with the frame of the wedge tent. This is because when we get to the lower frame, this will help that to go quicker.

8020 Aluminum T-Slot Extrusion

The wedge will be made of 1.5" wide (15 series) 8020 aluminium extrusions. You all know them as the material Sherpa Racks and Prinsu use for their crossbars, but they are more commonly used to make frames for enclosures in industrial settings and are also used to make some durable storage solutions. These extrusions are really easy to work with and make this stage of the build go by quickly! I am using 4.5” tall extrusions on the bottom and 1.5” tall extrusions on the top, for a total wedge height of 6”. 

The first step is to cut the Extrusions to length (52” & 100”, 2 of each) and tap the ends with a 5/16”-18 spiral-fluted tap. The extruded holes in the ends are already the perfect size for this tap.

You can also just order the extrusions cut to length and tapped from the suppliers.

T-Slot makes everything easy

There is a whole suite of accessories for 8020 T-slot extrusions such as hinges, latches, seals and device mounts to structural parts like corner pieces and flanges. Everything attaches using slot nuts, the entire setup is very modular and easy.

Making the main sections of frame

The interior corner brackets attach like so, both the short and tall ones.

Frame halves fastened! See? I told you it was easy. Here are the top and bottom sections of the wedge tent frame.

Adding some hardware

Place the wedge hinges close to the outside.

Attaching the Gas Struts

Fitting the gas struts. The struts for the wedge are 100 lbs 36”. One strut per side. The ball ends that they attach to are the same thread as the 15 series slot nuts (5/16”-18). The mounting position is defined by the desired open height of the wedge (canvas width) and the struts being near fully compressed when closed. It can take a bit of fine tuning to get it where you want.

You’ll need to stack a few washers, the studs are a tad long.

Lower Wedge Seal

I used some of these bulbed seal strips to seal the wedge opening. This seal is designed to sit in the extrusion slots as shown.

In the image they are cut at the end of the 8020 section, but they really should wrap around from one to the next in a continuous manner. I'll update that picture to show that when I get a chance

Wedge Latches

Aluminium Jeep JK hood latches work really well!

These latches do require a little tweaking. The top pivot had two tabs on the back that had to be ground down while the hook part needed one hole drilled out and countersunk (only using 1 bolt on that part). Also, depending on the quality of the parts you receive, you may need to clearance the hook part with a drill bit for the clamp to seat correctly.

I also added another latch on each side of the wedge, the gas struts want to push up on the small upper extrusion when closed and these extra latches help keep all of the seals in contact.

Roof & Floor - The easy way!

Do yourself a favor and router the panel out the sheet using the available cut files. It will include all of the bolt holes and corner contours cut outs, which is WAY better than having to drill those by hand.

*I am only selling digital files for now, I am exploring manufacturing options for the future...

The Roof and Floor of the wedge

The Roof and floor are made from 3mm Aluminium composite panels called MaxMetal (AluPanel is another brand of this panel type). It is a plastic core sandwiched and bonded by two thin sheets of aluminium. It is much lighter and stiffer than equivalent sheets of plain aluminium. I got the sheets from a local sign shop. The max sheet size is 5’x10’ which is needed to do the entire roof & floor in one sheet each.

If you do not have a CNC router, it is doable by hand with a jigsaw and drill but takes a lot of time and measuring.

Attach the roof

I fastened the roof to the 8020 extrusions along every edge using the slot nuts and short machine screws. The floor will be done similarly but the bolts will be longer where they go through the lower frame mounting blocks.

Along this whole interface I used an in-slot extrusion weather seal for a flat surface like these panels. Cut it into short pieces to fill the gaps between slot nuts. I recommend you add sealant in addition to these

Finishing Touches on the top

The corner pieces are not quite the same height as the extrusion, not sure why! So you will want to fill the small gap with some of the rubber gasket on each corner. The image shows a cork gasket, but that has since been updated to the rubber in the materials list.

*if you are still concerned about water intrusion, you can always add sealant around these corner pieces*

Prepare the floor

Here is the floor. The interior sleeping area will be 52in x 78in (close to a Full mattress that is 54in x 75in).The remainder of the 100” floor length is for the entry/exit opening, which I mentioned has a cover. Another benefit to the dedicated entry/exit section is that it provides tons of room for the tent material when the tent is closed, making it really easy to close! The holes in the middle are where the floor will be bolted to the spaceframe which provides extra support.

This one is even more tedious to cut and drill by hand than the roof, but doable.

Exterior corners for the bottom

The lower extrusion’s exterior corner pieces are not available in the 4.5” tall version, but you can get the uncut lengths of the triangle shape and drill the holes yourself. This is where the CNC mill comes in handy. Can also be done with a basic drill press if you take your time and have the right cutters.

The other option is to stack 1.5” and 3” tall corner pieces. Probably the best course of action if you are lacking machining equipment.

The more elegant solution

The lower corner gussets machined from the raw triangle shape are definitely ideal. You'll need some machining done for the next section of the build, so might as well throw these in with those parts!

*I am only selling digital files for now, I am exploring manufacturing options for the future...

Some tapping is needed

One last step for this part of the build is to drill and tap some #10-32 holes in the wedge frame. This is going to be for the hinges of the lower frame panels.

The wedge assembly is flipped upside down in this image, so the holes being tapped are in the bottom-most section of the lower half of the wedge.

Hurricane Hinges: Part 1

Here is the top portion of the hurricane hinge installed. The other half of the hinge will be handled when we get to the lower frame panels in a few sections. The piece will also need some trimming to fit around the lower frame mounting blocks shown in the next section.

Again, the wedge assembly is flipped upside down in this image, so the holes being tapped are in the bottom-most section of the lower half of the wedge.

Building the Lower Frame

This is one of the main areas of improvement from the Version 2 DIY Wedge Camper. We can now skip the frame fixture, the cutting and welding of steel and most of the drilling and tapping! A huge amount of time will be saved here by going with the version 3 design.

More 8020 T-Slot Extrusion

The lower frame will also be made of 1.5" wide (15 series) 8020 aluminium extrusions. As with the Wedge frame, the first step is to cut the Extrusions to length (see materials sheet columns K & L) and tap the ends with a 5/16”-18 spiral-fluted tap.

You can also just order the extrusions cut to length and tapped from the suppliers.

The Keystone of the Lower Frame

These Angle Blocks are what make the tapered shape of the lower frame possible while maintaining a good surface for sealing of the doors. No more Fixturing Jig needed like V2!

Off the shelf 8020 brackets are all designed for a 90 degree angle, which just won't give the outcome we are looking for.

*I am only selling digital files for now, I am exploring manufacturing options for the future...

Assemble the Frame

Once you have the Angle Blocks, its really just as simple as bolting the assembly together.

You'll notice each of the angle block tabs is unique, they are all labeled accordingly in the file names, but here's some tips to sort them:
* All lower blocks will angle inward while the upper blocks will angle outwards.
* The blocks will only have mounting tabs facing inward toward the camper.
* The lower-forward blocks are the only ones that stick out 2-bolt holes from where the extrusion mounts to it.

Install onto the Wedge Frame

Easiest way to mount the wedge to the frame is to flip the wedge upside down and set the frame on top of it.

You can also begin installing the corner brackets for the floor supprt pieces.

Floor Supports

The floor supports consist of two horizontal extrusions (above the bulkhead and near the floor opening) and a longitudinal piece between them. Everything connects with 90 degree brackets and t-slot nuts. 

This picture and some following ones were taken after camper completion, but should give you a good reference still.

Attaching the Gas Struts

Once again the 8020 T-Slot extrusion makes the following steps a breeze. The Gas stut mounting studs are the same thread size as everything else and can be installed with T-slot nuts.

The Gas Strut studs in the frame are the primary driver for the opened height of the door. I've found the ideal position to be roughly 4in from the 3075 extrusion on top of the bed rail. You can tweak the exact position later. You’ll need to stack a few washers, the studs are a tad long.

Truck bed mounts

More brackets to install onto the frame are the truck bed rail mounts. I could go on forever about how easy the 8020 T-Slot extrusion is...

I would recommend a minimum of 6 mounting brackets. 2 per side (spaced out) and 2 more on the front. Though the more the merrier!

Mounting to your Truck

A simple solution to fasten the camper frame to the truck bed rails found on the 2005+ Toyota Tacomas. 

I am working on more fitments, so let me know what you have and I may be able to help!

*I am only selling digital files for now, I am exploring manufacturing options for the future...

Building the Lower Frame Panels

The function in the lower panels is really what makes the Wedge Camper usable for everyday tasks and enables you to leave the camper on year round. There is a small amount of assembly needed before they can be installed, so let's get to it.

One of the other big improvements of the V3 camper is in this lower frame panels. They are now made from aluminum sheet and press brake bent at the edges, resulting in a much stiffer and robust setup than on V2. They remove the need to add the labour intensive stiffening ribs.

Bulkhead

The bulkhead is easiest, so let's start here. 

It permanently fastens to the forward part of the frame, best to put some VHB on it. Also considering adding a bead of silicone around the edges once installed.

Doors Done Easy

The available digital files allow you to start with nearly complete lower panels, skipping a lot of the measuring and design work. 

*I am only selling digital files for now, I am exploring manufacturing options for the future...

Hurricane Hinges: Part 2

Continuing the work from the wedge build, here is the door-side of the hurricane hinge.

The piece will also need some trimming to fit around the lower frame mounting blocks shown in the next section. It make take many test fits before you are confident the hinge clears all of the brackets and blocks on the frame. 

Installing the hinge to the door

You'll want to install the hinge on the interior side of the door, leaving a ~1/8in gap for the upper half of the hurricane hinge to have room to move. 

Drill & rivet the hinge to the door, making sure no drilling chips get stuck between them. Try to get a rivet every 4 inches or so. 

Prepare the truck for Camper installation

For 2nd gen Tacomas only, I recommend removing the bed rail plastic caps as they are a significant path for dust into the camper. At this interface, I used some window flashing butyl tape to seal the holes on the bed rail and a “double bulbed” seal for the spaceframe to bed rail interface, the bed rail at the front (behind the cab) got a single bulbed seal. You can adhere the bulbed seals to the camper frame instead of the bed rails if you wish.

Also, Sharkfin antennas may need to be modified for lower clearance.

Time to install the Wedge Camper onto your truck

With the door sub-assemblies complete, they are installed by sliding the door's hinge into the frame's half of the hinge.
 
You can go ahead and install the camper onto the vehicle before this step, it shouldn't need to come off again.

Complete the doors - Gas Struts

Once the doors are on, now is the time to install the gas strut brackets to them.

The position of the bracket on the door dictates the leverage and compressed length of the strut. I have found the ideal position is for the ball center to be roughly 4in from the top of the door.

Ensure the brackets are far enough inboard to not let the gas struts contact the frame. Test fit as you see fit before drilling and riveting on the brackets. 

Compression Latches

You can also go ahead and install the SouthCo compression latches. Tweak the position of the "Latch Catch Bracket" and the latches' thumb screw to fine tune the compression. 

Door Seals

Now you can cut and adhere all of the single bulb seals for the side doors. Take care to get the best coverage and tightest seams that you can.

The hatch has a special tailgate seal that is adhered to the bottom.

Lower Panels Complete!

The tent material is all that is left, we are nearly there...

The Tent Fabric

You have two different paths you can take with the tent material:

Traditional sewing: Gives you some more control and access to more material options but takes a lot of time sewing. Also requires a seam sealer after completion to prevent leak paths. This is the method I will show you.

Fabric Bonding: Welded/bonded seam construction is faster and removes thread seams that can be sources of leaks. It is also better for rip-stop type fabrics. Most wedge tent manufacturers use something similar to this method. I don't have experience with this method, but it definitely has merit and is worth considering!

*I had a lot of help sewing, and still don’t fully grasp the intricacies of hems and stitch settings. There are a lot of layers on the windows from the canvas to the mesh to the zippers and all the hems to take into account. It is highly recommended to seek advice from someone who is experienced before undertaking this part of the project, regardless of which method you use.

Cutting the shape

The material I used is 600D Polyester with Polyurethane coating for waterproofing, the green sheet is for a second canvas I was making for a friend. There are tons of color and pattern options online, the sky's the limit! The width of your material will dictate how tall the canvas is (mine was 59”), which in-turn dictates how much the camper can open. Be sure to leave an extra margin all around, for later use.

If you go with the welded seam method, consider a Ripstop Nylon material.

Skip the Trigonometry

I have available a set of blueprints and cut files that will reduce the guesswork and help you to prevent any wasted material. Ensure you cut it right the first time!

The included cut file can even be used to have the material CNC cut, if you have access to that type of equipment.

*I am only selling digital files for now, I am exploring manufacturing options for the future...

Hem the edges

After cutting out the shape and cutting the line that the window zippers will follow, the first step is to hem all of the edges around the windows. This hem will also create a gap that the zipper will occupy.

All of my hems are around ¼”, and I used a quilting needle for everything.

Zippers

Doing the zippers requires far more detail and care than I feel like typing out, so I HIGHLY recommend you watch this video!

[Skip to 7:55 since the first section of the video is not applicable here]

Starting the windows

Laying out the length of the zipper. As the video recommends, I am using basting tape to secure the outer edge of the zipper to material then sew it.

*Curved zippers are a pain, and the shape of the window is not critical. Feel free to do 2 straight zippers per window that meet at the top or something like that*

Zippers

Sewing the zipper on the fixed edge of the fabric first, then the window edge. The hems done previously create the space for the zipper here.

If you are doing the welded seam method, you may still need to sew each side of the zipper to a thin strip of vinyl material then bond those strips to the main tent part. Or just sew it directly to the tent.

Preparing the Bug Screen Mesh

Now repeat that hem and zipper process for the mesh on each window. Ditching the mesh (and its associated zipper) would remove this step, but you would of course lose the bug protection with open windows.

If you struggle with the sewing machine wanting to eat the ends of the mesh, try putting a piece of paper in there for it to sew through at the start and finish. The paper is removed after you get your stitch on there.

Attach the mesh with another zipper

You’ll want to unzip the canvas part of the window to allow access for the mesh to be sewn on.

The mesh will have its own zipper, so repeat the steps from before for this part. You can choose to have the mesh on the inside or the outside of the canvas window.

Side window zippers done

Installing the zipper sliders per the video, I got double sided sliders so that they could be operated from inside or outside. Make a mark on the zippers so you know you got them aligned in the slider!

To finish the zipper, you need to trim the end off and run a stitch across the end of the zipper.

The rear window & awning flap

The rear window is a tad different. I have the mesh in a U shape while the canvas is a larger rectangle on top of that with one zipper on each side and velcro at the bottom (rolled up in this pic)


I did this so that I could prop it open even while raining! (see finished pictures at the end).

Rear Door Zippers

The zippers for this rear door flap are the only ones that end on an open section, so to stop them from being slid all the way off I added a small piece of fabric over one half of the zipper.

Starting the Finishing Touches

Added some small vents to the top corners. Not necessary, but nice to have. I also put some more of the mesh in these vents.

The attachment method

For attaching the material to the camper, I am using a method known as Keder rail / Awning cord, the same way that traditional roof tops tents are fastened.

Now we use that extra margin we left when cutting out the material. Hem as shown, leaving enough room for the awning cord to slide through.

Closing off the front

This thin strip is for the front of the camper.

It is much more material-efficient to cut this out separately and sew on than it is to cut as all one piece with the main canvas section.

Install the awning track extrusion

These tracks slide onto the canvas like so.

Make sure the flat side is facing the exterior.

You can also sew a small stitch to close out the awning cord pockets if you wish.

Ready for Install

Canvas ready to go on!

The tracks come in 48” lengths, so you’ll use 2 on each of the long edges, unless you can find them in something longer like 96” lengths.

Tent Canvas installation

Tracks all attached to the inside of the wedge. This pic shows how these extrusions mount to the main 8020 extrusions with the slot nuts and short machine screws. I used 4 per track. Also you can see why I went with a short internal corner for the bottom of the wedge, to ensure the tent material was held tight all the way to the corner.

Rain Skirt

I also added a small skirt going around the bottom to aid in rain water drainage. Made from some of the long scrap pieces. Be sure to have the skirt hang lower than the material it is sewn to, so that it can be an effective drain once installed.

This would be very easy to add with the bonded seam method.

Add the Mattress

The final piece of this crazy puzzle is the mattress! This one is an Exped Megamat, a 4” hybrid air / foam mattress that is very comfortable. Since this mattress is 4” thick and the closed inside height of the camper is 6”, there will be 2” of space for blankets, pillows and tent material. 

For even more space for blankets, you can use Exped's "Deepsleep" version which is only 3" thick.

Completing the Build

There are a few odds and ends to finish, and some accessories we can start adding!

Brake Light

The brake light wiring is simple, mounted to the rear hatch. 

To wire the brake light, I just removed the driver side tail light assembly and probed the pins to see which one jumped to 12V when the brake pedal was pressed then spliced into that wire and the ground wire. If you get the same brake light that I did, note that the white wire is the ground, not the black wire. The black wire is alternate power for the dim running light mode, which I did not connect.

Add some accessories

Here is how I have my personal build setup. From top to bottom:

* A handle on the interior of the hatch. Used for closing the hatch from the inside and attaching a bungie for holding it closed while camping.
* Lights wired to full-time 12V power, operated by the switch panel on the left of the bed.
* Spare Tire mount from Wilco
* Quickfist clamps for Axe mounting (left side)
* Roadshower water tank (right side)
* Stools
* Bedside Stiffener Brackets - A Must Have!
* Rok Blok Tailgate seal
* Tailgate Flat Panel

Rear Door Props

The rear door is designed to be proped open like this, but you'll need a few extra pieces to make it happen.

* CVT Prop Rod brackets - Mt Hood Tent
* Roof top Tent prop rods - ARB815121
* Tarp Clamps

A Roof Rack

Shorty Roof Racks help to improve the aerodynamics of the truck. 

I always recommend the Sherpa Animas roof rack.

It also gives you a mounting point for items like:
* Storage boxes
* Traction boards
* 2m HAM/CB/GMRS Antenna
* WeBoost
* Starlink

Awning

A medium size Tepui Anwing. The 80/20 extrusions make it really easy to mount stuff like this!

I have some awning bracket files available in my products section if you are interested, various sizes!

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