Show me your truck camping setup!

Hey guys. I am really getting interested in overnight (I hate the word overland for some reason, i am not a legit "overlander") camping. I am torn between somehow finding a bed camper shell for my 01 access cab, buying a regular bed tent (cheapest easiest). Or saving up and buying an actual pickup bed camper, which would be the most expensive and pretty hard since our trucks are pretty old. Anyone wanna show off some overnight tundra camping trip pics to give me some ideas?

 

I lined the bed with carpet ($18 home depot) and we sleep in the bed with a view of the stars. For comfort, we use sleeping pads that are backpacking compatible as well as sleeping bags. But we also live in an area that has seen less than 4 inches of rain last year and rarely sleep in the bed when it is below freezing.

 

Here's mine.

 

Good for you man. I'm going to have a setup like that one day.

 

What lights did you use?
Having my shell painted this week!

 

$27 Nilight 3PCS 60" Bed Light Strip 270 LED with On/Off Switch Blade Fuse Splitter Extension Cable for Cargo Pickup Truck SUV RV Boat

https://www.amazon.com/Nilight-TR-09-Splitter-Extension-Warranty/dp/B07ZLWJZLT

I got the 3 pack only have two strips in. Plenty bright.

 

Its honestly not to hard to do.
Plenty of people on youtube put up videos showing how they did their stuff. Thats a good place to go also.
Search campershell living.......

 

1) i love it. I'm definitely more of an overnighter , lol.

2) I've done sleeping in the bed, bed tent, shell, and roof top tent. I have to say in my opinion, by far sleeping in a camper shell was the easiest and warmest.

3) I found my camper shell at a used truck sales place for a few hundred and had it painted at Maaco. total cost was 600. The car dealer told me they find and have trucks traded in all the time with camper shells and they can never sell them with shells on because people don't like them. So, I'm sure if you shop around you could probably find a good one. Hit up some used truck dealers...

I wish I would have taken a few more pics.
-Basically for the bed I went and purchased three 1/4 square tubing to run across the bed in the notches for a wood brace.
- I blocked them down the middle with a 2x6.
-Then threw some plywood on top, 3 pieces cut width wise and put back together with piano hinges for full coverage. It all sat level with the wheel wells.
-I used rubbermaid storage bins underneath. The long ones for clothes that you can shove under a bed. total cost was under 100.00

 

Doesn’t exactly showcase the living quarters but it’s a general idea. Couple cheap bags for the summer. Have nice down bags for the colder nights. An Exped Megamat Duo LW fits perfectly between the wheel wells and is as comfortable as my home mattress.

 

Put a shell on and get an airbedz. Quick, easy, cheap and really comfortable. And then when you love that set up and don't want to clear everything out of the bed of your truck when overnighting(bc overlanding is for IG stars) find yourself a used Roof top tent and boy is life grand sleeping up there and being able to keep everything neatly tucked in the bed of your truck...

 

Yea come to think about it, a dead bloody dear isn't going to be a good bed partner with me lololol

 

Not unless it's really cold and you just shot one! Leo did sleep in the cavity of a fresh dead horse in the revenant. But I found it was just a PITA to remove everything to set the bed up. But at the time it was what I had and what I did. Everything just went under the truck in case of rain.

 

Damn. Bro. thats some sweet kit. I know your looking at bed shells and such but thought I would put in my two cense on roof top tent. all though the up front cost is +$1000 I have to say they are pretty sweet. With a queen size mattress or bigger inside. its pretty comfy and roomy. Iv'e gotten set up time to ~5 min for me and it's really nice to still be able to use my bed for bikes and equipment. and the sweet thing is that my Thule rack is adjustable so I can slam it for highway driving or raise it up to give me room for junk and other assorted things that go in ones truck bed. plus it take like 20 min to get it all on or off.

(sry it's not the best pic to show off the tent. It's the best I had on my computer)

 

Just finished the driver side platform and drawer this evening. Of course the side panels remove for storage but I also made the drawer front open up the back area so that I can slide long things in if need be. Next up, driver side storage and I’ve got a little trick up my sleeve for the middle / wife sleeping area.

 

Hey hey. No dbl cabs allowed, u guys are making me jealous of your deeper bed . Sweet setup

 

Thanks, if my bed was any shallower I couldn’t have had any depth to my drawer and be able to sit up straight while hanging out. As it is, I’ve got like 3/16” clear over the top of the camp stove when I throw it in the drawer.

 

Sleeping in the bed with 2 adults and 2 big dogs doesn't work for us. Honestly even 2 adults seems tight. One adult would be fine though.

This first pic is our rain shelter we had to make at the beach.





I have 2 bed boxes with thin plywood on top. Then the bedding goes on that. Tried an air mattress, it fits but each time you move it makes a ton of noise.




For us, a ground tent works best.

 

Yeah, I had an RTT for a while. Needed one big enough for 3, so it was damned heavy. Had it on my 3rd gen with plans to move it and the adjustable KB voodoo rack over to the 1st gen I use for overnighting. Nope. It was too heavy— easy to set up but a PITA to stow without help. Dumped it and got a Gazelle ground tent. With Xped mats and ultra warm bags, it’s comfy + room for standing to change clothes, gear, dogs, whatever. And a LOT lighter-weight. A big deal if your overnighting turns into serious, high-speed overlanding.

 

Go in light. Come out lighter. Float like butter fly and sting like bee.

 

I like where you're going with this. Are you using 3/4"? How much does that weigh?

 

I optimized my cuts to use most all of (2) sheets of 3/4 and then there’s also the weight of (2) 6’ sticks of 1/8 wall tubing. I feel like there are certain places where I could have used 1/2 to reduce weight but I would have had to have a spare 1/2 sheet lying around. I wasn’t gonna buy a full sheet for a couple 6” wide strips.

Either way, I can easily lift and move the box and drawer separate by myself. Don’t think I could lift it with the drawer in place.

 

Will you leave this setup in place all the time?

I couple years ago I ran across a thread on expedition portal where a guy ran a heater line into the bed and used it a heat a good sized water tank he had back there. It was a really slick setup.

 

For the most part, I think it will. I want it to be removable for the once a year truck load of gravel or something. To me it’s more about adding the storage that these trucks severely lack.

I do camp and get outdoors fairly often but have yet to camp where I needed heat or cool.

One old trick that I remember seeing is to take a bicycle tube and place it between the cab and truck, blow it up and then you can use the truck heat or A/C if needed. Might have to do something different for the DC window though.

 

Does the window in your cap give access to the cab? I also want o figure out a boot for my setup. I have heard they can cause paint damage so I want to figure that out.

 

Yeah but it’s only the center sliding glass similar to what the AC has. Any boot I put in would be temporary. I can’t envision a way to do it without causing paint damage. I can watch my bed move completely independent of the cab. This ain’t no Ridgeline. Haha

 

Looking good, Chris!

Can you please post a pic showing a close-up view of where that awning attaches?

 

The glass in mine tips up into the roof so I can have the entire space opened up. There are gas struts on the window. I am excited to utilize that. I am thinking about some kind of stick on paint protection for the shell and the cab but we will see.

 

FWIW . . .Years ago I bought a truck from a friend who had purchased a SnugTop for it from the factory. When they installed it, they applied a clear heavy vinyl decal around the back of the cab where the boot met up. This was to protect the paint from the rubber boot-to-cab connection. I sold the truck years later, and never took the shell off, so I can't vouch for how well it did, or didn't work. The 2006 DC I just bought has a snugtop that was installed at their factory as well, I haven't looked to see if it has that same vinyl . . . I'll check & report back. It makes sense, I'm just not sure of the durability.