Problem Statement/Executive Summary
Many young adults are looking for affordable camping solutions but there aren’t campers that can be applied to a range of vehicles with quality materials that fit a range of vehicle types. This started as a passion project for me to solve a particular storage and access issue I was having while camping, but after talking to many friends and posting surveys on social media, I realized this was an issue for many people my age who all had different vehicle types. A big issue regarding this problem has to do with the lack of knowledge and resources people need to acquire to build their own. If there was a company that could take a base model where the top camping necessities were deeply considered in the design and modify it to different vehicles, the problem would be solved. In my design I mainly focused on access to water, a cooler, camping chairs or skis/snowboards, a place to sleep, and the ability to cook food on the go. These activates drove my design to the final product and the construction of a parametric script on grasshopper to adjust the relative design of my platform/storage system to change pertaining to the max size different vehicles would be able to hold. I chose to use a marine grade plywood, 8020 aluminum extrusions, and a high grade bed liner finish to make my final model highly functional.
“The most limiting factors while camping had to do with proper set up and storage”
— User from my survey questions
Design Criteria
Cost
Weight
Durability
Configurability
Ability be off grid for at least 3 days
High Functioning Storage
Competitors
Roofnest - Have to sleep in an unstable environment on top of your car, and spend nearly $4,000
Egonest- While it fits multiple car types and you don't need a roof rack it costs $5,000 for the full kit
Air up gear down- There are multiple parts and pieces that go into this design and at over $3,000 to get everything, it's pretty pricey for the quality
Sketches
In these sketches I really tried to focus on form, layout, and possible methods of connecting pieces together
First Truck Bed Prototypes
These prototypes showed me I needed to think about a different method for water storage and really consider the most necessary items and how every element I planned on bringing with me was going to fit in my truck.
Joinery Prototypes
My first CNC prototype taught me that there were simpler ways to connect my wood and have even stronger corner connections using 8020 aluminum extrusions.
Process Shots
Test fit 8020 aluminum extrusion to platform
Bottom Platform
Top Platform before pop-lid cut outs
Side pieces in platform 1
Side pieces in platform 2
Connecting Platform Pieces
Starting to connect side pieces
Full Dry Fit 1
Full Dry Fit 2
Full Dry Fit 3
Fitting in Truck Bed
Applying Finish Top Platform and Supporting Pieces
Applying Finish Shelves
Applying Finish Top Platform
Applying Finish Bottom Piece and Pop Lids
Applying Finish Bottom Platform
My process shots include me first getting my pieces from the CNC, then dry fitting them to make sure everything fit, to me adding a truck bed liner finish to them, and finally fitting The Nomad Nest in my car.
Parametric design to fit other vehicle types (Grasshopper)
User arrives at The Nomad Nest Website
User enters Car type and parameters on The Nomad Nest website while filling out the intake form
Then, the user states what camping necessities are most important and rank access points and order their custom Nomad Nest
User gets Final Nomad Nest sent to them and install it into their vehicle
The Grasshopper script is linked to an excel file witch has the max dimensions of 3 different vehicles, the short bed Tacoma, the 4Runner, and the Sequoia. When sliding the number slider the size of all the pieces in my model change to corelate to the max capacity of those vehicles allowing for the users car type to not interfere with the storage system they can get. A future iteration will explore how to link this piece of my project to a CNC fabrication file.