It’s hard to argue that $16,000 is affordable — unless you’re talking about truck campers. That’s the starting price of Total Composites DIY truck camper, a composite habitat for your truck bed that’s a blank slate to outfit as you like. Here’s how it works.
Total Composites truck campers are some of the first that let the owner start from scratch and make it their own. When I was shopping for a truck camper, every one I found was loaded with “features” I didn’t want, like a mid-grade microwave and an expensive air conditioner that only works when I’m plugged in. It’s my goal to never be plugged in.
There were windows where I wanted to put bunk beds. Faux wood paneling was everywhere, a design aesthetic that is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.
But the Total Composites camper is a simple composite box with legs and a door. You design and outfit it how you want it, starting with where you put the windows and how many.
I was intrigued by the idea of a thermally efficient truck camper I could outfit myself, one that comes as a blank slate that I could design to fit my budget, style, and needs. With an “affordable” starting price and a quality reputation and warranty to back it up, the Total Composites truck camper seems like an impressive value.
Let’s dive into what this camper is all about.
Total Composites DIY Truck Campers
Total Composites was started by Andreas Schwall, a German expat who relocated to British Columbia, Canada. He was a furniture-maker, a paramedic, and a builder of high-end expedition trucks before moving to Canada to settle down.
“When I moved to Canada in 2001, I managed cabinet shops, I had my own woodworking shop, but the fascination with expedition trucks never left me,” said Schwall. “Everything I could find in the U.S. in the early 2000s was a shitty RV. I wanted to build my own.”
Conveniently, Schwall’s dad, a German plastics engineer, had teamed up with a former Chinese customer to set up a factory in China and build commercial truck bodies to German standards, with German components, for the Chinese market. In 2015, Schwall imported one of his dad’s highly thermally efficient, lightweight kits and modified it into a camper.
He quickly found himself in the import business. Friends, including those from online chatrooms, followed his build and wanted one too. Interest snowballed. Schwall tweaked the truck body design, honing wall thickness and features for campers, not cargo, turning Total Composites into a multimillion-dollar business.
Total Composites: Truck Camper Design
Extensive Research, Expensive Investment
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Top-Notch Insulation
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Total Composites Truck Camper: Who It’s For
Behind the Scenes: Total Composite Manufacturing and Materials
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