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crackrn
Apr 30, 2007, 4:33 PM
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Hubby and I are considering buying a truck and camper shell and rigging up a frame for a bed with under bed storage. Anyone done this? I'd be interested in the difficulty factor and ease of accessibility to your gear. TIA.
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tradmanclimbs
Apr 30, 2007, 4:58 PM
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That is the way to do it. I ave road tripped in a ford ranger set up that way where we could even padlock the gear compartment. It was like a sdresser drawer that slid out. Right now I have a deck in my Grand caravan AWD minivan. Works great. Rig the curtains with asserory cord and velcro tabs to keep them up against the sides of the car. Use real 4" furniture foam for the bed. $$$ but worth it.
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crackrn
Apr 30, 2007, 5:08 PM
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Was it difficult? We are not so much in the carpentry area...
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crotch
Apr 30, 2007, 5:11 PM
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Some instructions here
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caughtinside
Apr 30, 2007, 5:12 PM
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FWIW, I haven't done this, but I have seen a lot of setups, and the van/minivan setup seems more comforable/spacious than the truck/campershell version.
with the van, you can open up the side, and kind of hang out there. not so with the truck.
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tradmanclimbs
Apr 30, 2007, 5:23 PM
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It's pretty tight in a truck cap unless your talking a full size monster. The grand caravan is sweet but not near as roomy as a vanagon or westy. runs better though.
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climbaddic
Apr 30, 2007, 5:27 PM
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crackrn wrote: Hubby and I are considering buying a truck and camper shell and rigging up a frame for a bed with under bed storage. Anyone done this? I'd be interested in the difficulty factor and ease of accessibility to your gear. TIA.
Hey, I know this is little extreme case of upgrading truck into camper, but you will get lots of design ideas and how to on this website.
http://bajataco.com/4x4stuff/4x4stuff.html
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crackrn
Apr 30, 2007, 5:58 PM
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Holy, crap! That's some amazing work he's put in his truck. The SD thread had some good ideas too. Keep 'em coming!
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bandycoot
Apr 30, 2007, 6:10 PM
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What I used to do was pretty easy and extremely comfortable. I have a Ford Ranger and I bought 8 plastic bins that fit in the bed of the truck and were the exact same height as the wheel wells that were sticking up in the bed of the truck. I own a Metolius XXL crash pad which fit PERFECTLY in the bed of the truck and I would throw that on top of the bins with some blankets. Done. The accessability to everything was a complete cinch since all we had to do was fold up a side of the crashpad, or remove it, and it was one hell of a comfortable flat bed. Under that was tons of compartmentalized storage.
Josh
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he-man
Apr 30, 2007, 6:47 PM
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I tricked out my ranger to live out of for about 200bucks.
Here is what I did:
Bought some ply wood. Made a frame that looked like a book shelf. Its 18inches tall (about the level of the shell).
_________________
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|______|_________ <- Back of the truck
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The frame is laid in the bed.
The front two compartments have a lid that can be opened for storage of things i dont need all the time. (extra gear ect)
The back to sections were covered with a piece of ply wood (screwed on)
Then I built two drawers that fit in the spaces. These drawers pull out via handles cut into the faces and rest on the tail gate. They just slide on the bed liner. The drawers (about 18"high X 18"wide X 4' deep) all my climbing and camping gear fit in the drawers which have dividers to keep stuff organized.
Then i throw my cooler, crash pads and sleeping bags on the top of the drawers. when its bed time throw the cooler and pads in the cab, crawl in and crash out.
I've seen a lot of people with the raised shelf like others have described but i found the drawers work so much better at keeping organized.
Its alot like the other guys just done cheeper but with drawers.
(This post was edited by he-man on Apr 30, 2007, 6:54 PM)
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vegastradguy
Apr 30, 2007, 11:30 PM
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i just recently did this to my truck. some thoughts.
1) buy the cab +4" camper shell at minimum- the cab height shell is way too tight.
2) when you buy the shell, but a pop-n-lock for your tailgate (essentially a lock for your tailgate)- i've heard of folks having their campers broken into just by pulling on the tailgate hard enough to force the shell open.
3) i used 3/4" marine ply- beefy and full of epoxy. expensive though- $80/sheet, i think.
I basically laid two sheets across the lip of the truck horizontally and called it good. measure to width, then you'll need to cut the opposite corners off (measure out so that the corner to corner measurement is slightly less than the width of the camper, this will ensure that you can put them in place- pm me for a much more detailed response- its a bit of trial and error, but not too terrible).
Then I went down to an upholstery shop and bought two sheets of 1" foam (the hardest open cell foam they had) to lay on top, and then some cheap carpet from home depot.
(i sleep by myself- if you're concerned about the weight of two people, you could build a simple support beam for the middle that you could slide in and out.
The end result is that its comfy to sleep on without thermarests and with thermarests its like sleeping in your bed at home.
with this setup, i have enough space underneath to stuff all my crap. its hard to access the stuff up front, but i just keep non-needed stuff up there and then the rack/ropes in the middle and the food crates and cooler by the tailgate. this makes for a very posh setup.
i wont take credit, though- many of my friends use this setup and all of them love it.
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coastal_climber
Apr 30, 2007, 11:36 PM
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crotch wrote: Some instructions here
Exactly what my dad has for hunting. Lots of room for gear & us, and we are both 6'2 guys.
>Cam
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christsay
May 1, 2007, 3:32 AM
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vegastradguy wrote: i just recently did this to my truck. some thoughts. <snip> 2) when you buy the shell, but a pop-n-lock for your tailgate (essentially a lock for your tailgate)- i've heard of folks having their campers broken into just by pulling on the tailgate hard enough to force the shell open. <snip>
fwiw I've had the back of my truck broken into as described above. My topper has two handles, both were locked, thief was able to pull hard enough to get the tailgate down by flexing the topper door.
they are relatively cheap, I picked mine up for 47 bucks to my door. Took about 5 minutes to install in an 04 taco.
only downside is that now I've got four keys for the truck: ignition, topper, pop & lock, and hitch bolt. Five if you count the key for the yakima.
-chris
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112
May 1, 2007, 6:21 AM
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For the truck:
Only raise the bed high enough to clear the wheel wells, any more is a waste of headspace IMO. 3/4" x 8" boards make good supports, like a water bed. Then lay 1/4" ply ontop of that.
I have boulder pads for a mattress, but would do diffrently next time, as it is too much hassle when accessing the cubby holes. I would buy foam and cut reasonable sized acces holes (with backing board - 1/4 " ply). I even made a cooler under the bed between the wheel wells with a drain to the rear.
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builttospill
May 1, 2007, 11:48 PM
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I've spent a fair amount of nights sleeping in both my old chevy malibu and my sister's toyota 4runner. Both were doable, but I've got to say, the best damn thing on that entire website was that sunshade/awning. When it's been raining for a long time, last thing you want is to still be sitting in the car.....nothing like sitting under an awning and watching the rain while reading. Genius.
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