Consumerism has taught us to always strive for the biggest, flashiest, and most importantly, newest thing money can buy. Paul Elkins is here to show that you can have it all with something you build yourself from cheap materials and on a teeny-tiny budget.
The name Paul Elkins might ring a bell with some of you, and if it does, it's probably because you've seen, heard, or read about his many mobile shelters. Elkins is a self-taught inventor who lives outside Seattle in the U.S. when he's not traveling around in his home-built creations.
Over the years, he's "specialized" in one-person mobile shelters, whether for use on land or the water, usually made from cheap materials or even trash, with the smallest budget and only some hours in the shop. His creations can't hold a candle to what established manufacturers offer in terms of features, comfort, and quality, but that's ok. He doesn't want them to because his goal was, from the start, to show that there are plenty of options in the world to choose from.
HIS options are for the daredevils on a budget, for those who can't afford more to spend thousands on a new purchase, and for the homeless. They are shelters first and foremost, but can easily double as RVs of a very unique type, offering a very unique kind of experience on the road. If not that, they are examples of incredible creativity because they're able to offer every creature comfort of a home – albeit scaled down to the most basic.
Photo: Paul Elkins
This is definitely the case with the Pedal Nomad Camper, which Elkins completed in June 2023. It's an evolution of the Nomad Camper we discussed earlier that year, which he'd designed as a towable he'd haul around with a second-hand conventional pedal bike. The idea for the Pedal Nomad Camper, though, goes back to 1992, when Elkins came across one of Steven Roberts' newspaper articles.
The self-styled "high-tech nomad" worked as a freelance writer while traveling the country in his recumbent bicycle and, at one point, moved down the street from Elkins. Elkins befriended Roberts and was privy to the construction of Microchip, the enclosed trike Roberts was working on.
Elkins himself started drawing plans for what would become the Pedal Nomad Camper at about that time. The initial design included everything from a water collection and storage system to a pedal-driven clothes washing bucket, but the first build in 2005 was deemed a "fluke."
Photo: Paul Elkins
Elkins didn't abandon the idea, though. The successful tests of the Nomad towable got him thinking that it would be cheaper, easier, and more convenient if he brought the towing vehicle and the camper together into a single unit, and thus stick to his motto "KISS: keep it simple-stupid." He opted out of solar-powered motor assist on that same consideration.
The result is the Pedal Nomad Camper, a 95-lb (43-kg) enclosed velomobile that Elkins describes as a mini RV with all the comforts of home. He's not lying about that last part, but it's all relative. Indeed, the camper has a shower and a toilet room, a kitchen, a bedroom, storage space, and at least two desks for remote working, but they're only barebone add-ons that meet certain functionality. Still, their very existence in a trike camper is impressive.
Elkins built the camper with a steel and aluminum frame, coroplast walls and doors, coroplast "furniture," and hand-built appliances like a cooker and a cooling box. For example, the kitchen is made up of an origami table of coroplast, the stove is a modified chafing dish warmer, while the bathroom is the space created with a privacy curtain and the elevated gullwing door propped on fiberglass supports.
Photo: Paul Elkins
The "fridge" is a box made of dense foam, with partitions and a lid, just big enough to hold a limited quantity of perishables on a short outing. There's a solar shower on the roof, a custom aluminum phone holder in the cabin, a desk inside, and another one outside on the angled roof, under the shade from the attached umbrella.
The platform on top of the frame is made of several plywood sections with thick foam cushions, so Elkins can arrange them according to his needs. By day, they make up the seat for operating the Camper by pedal power, or a dining seat, an office chair, or a comfy lounge sofa. By night, Elkins can join the three sections and create a bed long and wide enough for him to rest comfortably.
A 13W solar cell with USB ports is enough to charge his devices (laptop and phone) and the horn, headlights, blinkers, and the cabin fan for the trike. Storage is available in the front trunk and under the bed platform, the latter being reserved for heavier items so that they add stability to the vehicle. In a future iteration, Elkins says he might add batteries there.
Photo: Paul Elkins
The Pedal Nomad Camper isn't fast, as Elkins himself notes in the video presentation below, but neither he nor anyone else would need – or want – it to be. It's designed to enjoy outings in nature and to spend more time outside than you would with a traditional, non-camper bike, without you having to resort to sleeping on the ground for that.
The Pedal Nomad Camper might look funny – and it definitely does – but its surprising functionality makes that irrelevant.
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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