Just because your camping in the backwoods does not mean that the woodland creatures need to see you “au naturel”. Make yourself some curtains for your truck camper setup and save those poor animals from seeing you in your birthday suit.
Besides providing some privacy, curtains also aid with blocking that early morning sunlight that can ruin your beauty sleep and they hold in the heat to keep you warm at night.
Making the curtains for Truck Camper is fairly easy and requires no more than fabric, velcro, and pair of scissors. Here is how we created ours:
The Design
There are a few schools of thought when making curtains for your truck camper setup. The fastest way is to throw up some shower curtain tension rods and just throw on some short cafe curtains. The problem is you have 4 windows to cover so you’ll end up with a Lincoln Log style mess of overlapping rods. It’s not the best look but its effective.
The other option is using velcro. Initially, I tried to velcro clips to the headliner of the camper shell in the top corners. This worked for a hot second but I found that the clips could not hold the curtain with enough tension causing the middle to droop below the top of the window allowing light in.
This failure led to what I believe is the best solution for your first attempt at adding curtains to your truck camper setup. This method involves placing velcro on the top of the window frame and attaching the other side of the velcro to the curtains themselves. Here is what you need to do to make this simple style of curtains:
Measure
With any project, the first step is measuring how much material you will need. Make sure to measure a little past each window to ensure the curtains will block the sunshine coming through the edges of the window.
Finding Fabric
You could buy the pre-made cafe curtains but it will cost you pretty penny. Instead, go down to your local craft store and purchase fabric by the foot. This gives you numerous options to fit your needs. Look for a material that is easy to clean, will block the sunlight and trap the heat in. Something like a fleece or flannel will do.
This is also a great opportunity to add some style to your setup. Pick some fabric with a wilderness pattern or your favorite sports team. Or get some with ninja turtles, I won’t judge you.
Cut the Fabric
The people at the craft store can cut the sections for you but they will only cut the length and not the height of your curtains. Using a pair of regular household scissors, cut the curtains to more appropriately fit the windows. Take your time and make the cuts straight.
Attaching the Velcro
Next up you will need to buy some velcro that will stick to fabric like this one. This has a sticky back that creates a permanent bond so there is no need to sew or iron on the velcro to your curtains.
For the sake of saving money, I cut my velcro into short strips so I only ended up needing about 48 inches to hang the curtains. But if you can afford it, I would recommend buying enough velcro to go the full length of each window. It will look a lot more professional this way and it makes the curtains easier to set up at night.
Once you have the velcro, simply peel off the back of one of the strips and firmly press the sticky side of velcro to the top of the curtains. Let the adhesive harden for 24 hours.
In the meantime, take the other side of the velcro and line it on the top of your windows. You can attach it to the headliner just above the window or place it on the metal frame of the window.
After 24 hours you can test the new curtains for your truck camper. Put them up and check for where the light comes through. You may need to place some velcro on the sides of each window if light is still shining through.
I wouldn’t recommend driving with these up because obviously, they would impair your ability to see behind you. I simply rolled them up under each window and laid them in the crevice between the window and the bottom of the camper shell.
Boom! You have successfully made curtains for your truck camper!
We would love to see how your curtains and camper shell setup turned out! Send us a picture of your setup on Twitter or Facebook. Or Tag us on Instagram @itstartedoutoors.
In case you missed any parts of our Truck Camper Conversion Guide:
- Part 1: Should I Buy a Camper Shell?
- Part 2: Design Your Setup
- Part 3: Tips For Building Your Truck Camper Setup
- Part 4: Camper Shell Carpeting
Chad can be summed up by his idea of a perfect day: Waking up early to watch the sunrise over the mountains, warm cup of coffee in hand then grabbing his camera and fly rod, hitting the trail to explore some uncharted territory followed by cold beers and campfire steaks. Chad is often joined on his adventures by his wife, Tori, and their dog, Kona.
I used blackout curtains ($9), cut in half (height-wise). Then sewed a 1″ pocket on each cut side. Cut these in half width-wise. Ran curtain rods (3/8″ diam, could also use a dowel) through the pockets. Screwed D-rings on each end of the window frame (using existing screws) and in center.
Now I have black-out curtains that no one can look into, but I can open on either end or in the middle allowing light in. I also have windoors (best idea the salesman had), so can open either the window or the door for air but still have basic darkness inside.
Nicely Done! I thought about something like this in the beginning but I lack sewing skills haha.
This was the best set of curtains I found on the internet. I used fuzzy camo for mine. However, there are some changes I made after a cross country Route 66 trip in August:
1) Velcro Thoughts. I found that the adhesive type Velcro on the fabric came off the curtains in hot weather no matter how I encouraged them to stay. a) Using the sew on type not only kept them on but also allowed me to wash the curtains. b) In case you’re tempted, be careful with super strong Velcro too. I found that it is strong enough to separate the carpet from the camper shell interior. The normal strength 1/2″ Velcro is more than sufficient to hold the curtains, even using the short strips.
2) In hot weather these curtains will block any fresh air coming through the windows so you will have to balance privacy and air circulation. For that issue you may consider a mini swamp cooler called Arctic Air. Its about 40 bucks on that free two day shipping site and runs on a USB outlet. Running it all night did not drain my battery. You fill it with water and let it blow on you all night. It’s not an air conditioner but it will make the inside temp more tolerable and still not be invaded by bugs. For night time temps over 100 degrees you might consider living with the bugs though. You might have to be creative at the hospital about how you came down with heat stroke at 3 AM.