And that sums up 5 good reasons to choose truck life. Better yet, when they sold the Tacoma, they made 95% of the original cost back (12.5K). Columnist at The National Interest, Cheaper Than Dirt, Daily Caller and other publications. Dec 2, 2013 - Explore Peter Peterson's board "Truck Camper Shell Ideas" on Pinterest. So if you want to save time and money while traveling, use Luke’s planning resources. This type of truck camping can range from a very basic setup to an advanced one. Purchase essential gear to start truck camping which includes a sleeping pad or mattress, sleeping bag, two-burner stove, cooler, storage boxes, etc. Sleeping platform designs, sliding drawer storage, wooden and PVC frames, and rooftop tents. ... Truck Camping in Maine’s Baxter State Park . For more on our always evolving truck camper build and our adventures as a truck camping family of three, please SUBSCRIBE. Here are 4 solid reasons why you should choose it…. It’s also a great way to ‘test drive’ truck life without sinking a ton of money. From extensive research and testing, Autotrader is hands down the best website for finding used cars (at least in Texas). Another Youtuber, The Homeless Firefighter, rocked a similar build for less than $10,000. I have had the same topper for over 40 years and its now on truck # 3 . Truck Camper Conversion Guide: Should I Buy A Camper Shell? Camper shells are among the cheapest truck mods that will provide a solution for truck bed storage and ensure your items are always secure.. Most likely your design is going to be customized to your truck so I can’t give exact step by step instructions. To keep everything level start by cutting a square of your top board, this will be the hatch door. It was this YouTube video that convinced me: Simply put, a couple that’s tried everything from RV life to van life concluded truck life was best. Thanks and see you on the trail soon! Most have curved ridges and protruding bumps which really mess with your nice and neat design. That’s why I highly recommend keeping your truck as close to stock as possible and upgrade only when necessary. Here are a few other tools that will make your life easier: Regardless of your setup choice, you have to start with the basics. Go on a test truck camping run at a free boondocking campsite without amenities to test your setup. Simply take 2×2’s and screw them the equal distance from the top of your box as the thickness of the board you used for the top of your boxes. This resource will help you decide where and when to go. A Note About Security: For both personal safety and peace of mind, make sure your truck bed camping build-out is secure.Both your tailgate and the canopy should have locks, but make sure they’re up to snuff. 75 Item Survival Gear List – Protect Your Family With This Vital Checklist, My personal choice: 2020 Tacoma TRD Off-Road, Leasing Your Truck: 10-15K Budget or Short-Term (<2 years), Buying Used: 20-30K Budget or Serious Modding, Smartwool PhD Pro Light Crew Merino Wool Socks, Platypus GravityWorks 2.0 Liter Complete Water Filter Kit. A comfy sleeping mattress, a real pillow, and a quality down sleeping back are the three keys to a good night of sleep while truck camping. Anyone have tips on truck camping with a shell topper or which brand of topper to buy? If making your frame out of wood you can construct the entire thing with 2×2’s but the setups stability might come into question if you want to add the weight of a second person (or you decide to go to town on a pan of brownies). Unlike many Sprinters, the TacoMama is nothing fancy. Now that your ideas are blueprinted inside your brain its time to break out the power tools and make your camping setup a reality. It could be as simple as a mattress thrown into the truck box or complex with a custom-built bed and storage units. Let’s get started! But truth be told, you will likely buy a rotten truck full of problems if you don’t follow these tips: Follow these tips and you’ll score an awesome used truck. Next, set up filters based on your wants (budget, model, features). Read on to find out how I did it…. Tacomas were the natural choice. I also … The hottest trend in the car-camping and overland world right now is the lightweight pop-top truck camper. That sums up the top 5 truck camping builds. This is the option I’ve personally chosen. But is van life the best solution? About the same time people started sleeping in their camper shells, other companies saw the opportunity to manufacture a more recreational style of shell, one with all the amenities of a traditional RV, placed in the bed of your pickup truck. Camper shell sleeping setups can be as simple as a sleeping bag and pad, or can feature elaborate builds with futon mattresses, slide-out drawers, and integrated heaters. Cabover/Truck Camper. The best part? Just get a truck rental, truck bed tent, sleeping bag and you can truck camp anywhere without investing much time or money! COVID-19 isolated yet freed us at the same time. This is the method Luke Makris — a professional travel agent — used to plan an 80-day road trip to over 1,000 destinations and 35 states. Here’s a quick comparison between camper shells (or toppers) and truck tents: Truck tents are cheap and fast while camper shells are more of a permanent solution. But if you’re still considering buying a camper shell, go read Part 1 or if you are still working on designing your truck camper setup check out part 2. Then buy new. Notice the L Brackets attached to the underside of the siderails. In winter I imagine it gets very cold and therefore you’re confined to the van / truck rather that being able to go outside. You’ve made it this far in our Truck Camper Conversion Guide so kudos to you and your dreams of simple living and easy camping. After all, Tacomas are: But honestly…Tacomas are SUPER overhyped. After countless hours researching the perfect off-road camping rig, we couldn’t be happier with our choice. Otherwise stick with used. SPF 50 Sun Glasses: Shields eyes from the sun. Also, it has no LED string light, prayer flags, or general frills. Then, you change the interior of the camper shell to be a sleeping space. I’ve personally combined this build with the Camper Shell build for maximum space. I am going to borrow your hatch idea for my truck camper set up, I have my bed frame open on the side but always a pain to get stuff from the front and the hatch will solve that. It’s great for solo truck camping setups in a traditional camper shell or to optimize a truck camping setup with one of the newer wedge campers or pop-up style truck camper designs. I’m going to try it…thanks. However, the best rig for you ultimately boils down to your budget. Finding where to go. We have been working on insulating our truck bed a little more after we spent some cold nights in Yellowstone, so I may have to borrow this idea! The basics are done and your truck camper setup is officially functional. With a truck camper shell build I’ll layout, you can ‘stealth park’ in any public place (like Walmart parking lots and neighborhoods) without spending a single cent. Very popular in the overlanding community. I’ve sorted each build by use. Now that your frame is built, you can add on the tops and sides of your boxes. People that value the comfort of home on the road with plenty of space for a family. So I did a lot of research on truck camping, came across your setup and decided to go with something similar. See more ideas about truck camping, camping, truck camper. Instead, go with a lease. Because the maintenance for the van was crazy expensive. Here are some extra resources that might help: I hope this truck camping guide helped you as much it did for me. The other mods people usually buy — fancy bar lights, lifts, stickers — are solely for Instagram. Saving on mods will allow you to spend more on a killer living space. The camp set up can be done in only a few minutes. At its most basic level, a truck camping rig consists of a pick-up truck to which is added a camper shell and a sleeping platform. It seems like an easy step, but in order to maximize your space, you have to contour your design to your truck bed. Home Depot and Lowes will let you return uncut lumber should you have extra at the end. Richard Douglas is a long time shooter, outdoor enthusiast and technologist. Here’s a look at what options we included, what we’ve added since the purchase and some photos of our setup. Mostly because…. This site uses data from over 2 million cars to gauge reliability. However, that’s not the only reason why they went to truck life. #takethetruck #sleepingplatform #truckcamping #truckcamper #diycamper #platformbuild. Then I recommend…. Hopefully this link works, its just a picture of what I have so far: IE no AC/heat, in a sleeping bag or cot and in a tent. This saves you from expensive repair disasters and possibly getting stranded mid-road. This gives you free rein to do serious mods. The pros and cons of the most popular pickup truck bed sleeping platform setups: elevated sleeping platform with storage below or the backshelf approach. Copyright 2021 – The Prepper Journal – All Rights Reserved. That is the great thing about building your own custom setup, you can customize it as much or as little as you want. Follow these tips and you’ll get an awesome adventure-ready truck. That’s the painfully fun thing about truck campers, everything is a trade off haha. Not fun. If you like his content, I highly recommend checking out his website and Instagram. Ian Cooke. There’s also…. Daily survival blog devoted to a wide variety of preparedness, survival, self-reliance, and personal defense topics for readers who want to protect themselves and their families from seen and unseen disasters in our future. See more ideas about truck camper, camper shells, truck bed camping. But I personally recommend learning this yourself so you can plan future trips. The freedom aspect of van / truck life is nice but there’s also a lot of limitations like living in a really confined space with everything on top of you and all your life being in that one space. Not to mention getting into the great outdoors is proven to … Truck camping is a great way for me to experience the backcountry. And as families grow, so do your destinations which leads us to another benefit…. Build the Ultimate Truck Shell Camping and Budget Overland Rig | Take the Truck. There are certainly other methods and I encourage you to be creative in your quest for the ultimate caving vehicle! So to access the storage area beneath, your going to need to add some hatches. And that’s all there is to truck camping. Hey! These go-anywhere truck … Sep 16, 2020 - Plans and ideas on how to build a diy pickup truck camper for camping, overlanding, and travel. How high did you go on the bed platform?! In comparison, the Tacoma’s maintenance costed less than $400.Better yet, when they sold the Tacoma, they made 95% of the original cost back (12.5K).. Great setup and thanks for the write ups! In general, the more things you add to your truck, the more you’ll spend. Simple, easy,and very functional…economical too. I prefer camping more on the primitive side. But even after lockdowns, Americans are beginning to realize their travel dreams CAN still happen after remote work became mainstream. When you come to sell your truck — especially if it’s a Tacoma — you’ll make most of what you spent back. This leads us to a big benefit of the truck camping life: it’s very affordable. The pair of 77-inch long, large sized Therm-a-Rest MondoKing 3Ds barely fit on the platform under the camper shell; the door applied some pressure to the mattresses to close. Now that you have the core of the camper built you can start your exploring or you can add some additional features to make your setup feel a little more comfortable. Why pay for expensive rent and be stuck in one place when you can live rent-free and travel anywhere? After you set the filters, favorite this link for easy access later. “Truck camping in and of itself helps assure a minimalist approach, which my dog, Paco, and I really appreciate. Building My Primitive Camping Truck: So if any of you guys keep up with my blog or have seen some of my other instructables you probably would see that I am a pretty avid camper. If you want to improve your security, you can devise a latching system using a hasp lock to provide an additional layer of security. Home Fortification Tips That Can Save Your Life, Self-Defense VS Excessive Force Defense – Know The Difference, Prepper Resolutions – 8 Tips for How to Make 2021 a Better Year, A Second Civil War Is Not What You Have to Worry About. Why waste your money to park your vehicle? While you’re at the hardware store take advantage of the free wood cutting that most of them offer. The Ultimate Truck Camping Guide For 2020 14 (Source: Bound For Nowhere) Why so much? Them all up and determine how much material you will need is something you should be proud of a benefit! Find out how I did it… s maintenance costed less than $ 10,000 leaving open?... The van was crazy expensive has these 3 things, you really can live the... - check your email addresses to remote places & camping ) wants ( budget, model, features.... Fit an entire family without losing the comfort of home on wheels out... Chosen van life is booming right now truck shell camping setups the last option as I ’ ve probably chosen life. Truck campers, everything is a long time shooter, outdoor enthusiast and technologist ''. Take this into account you ’ ve got to buy the other remaining truck camping, truck bed only few... 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