"So I found this thing on Craigslist..." Tacoma Camper Build [djmase]

[djmase]

Great build! I'm really digging your ideas. The arb awning is already on my Tramper (or at least in my imagination)...do you like that awning? Complaints? Better product out there you'd suggest? I'm about 1000 miles north of you up in OR so it would be more for rain versus shade...I'd love your opinion before dropping the cash and your install seemed straight-forward enough.
Potterjon had a question about tie downs too? I snagged some Happijack stuff out of a junkyard dirt cheap (20% of what camping world wanted...) See attached cut sheet...I've been holding off drilling holes on my truck until I saw others opinions. Sitting back and will continue to watch your build!View attachment 251204

Paul.
Typically, I am not an ARB guy due to the cost...obviously. BUT, in the world of awnings, anything under $500 seems to be basically free, enter the ARB awning. I have run it on three rigs and loved it on every one. It takes some technique to put up or down with one person but I have build a little system. If you have two people, it is cake. I have not used it is rain yet, but I think if you pitched it so that one outside corner was the low point, you would be styling. I don't know of many smaller awnings that have a middle 'roof' support, so they will all pond if you don't give it a bit of pitch. With that said, I love mine, and if when it dies, I will buy another one. The overland world seems to attest to this as well. Lots of folks that do many hard miles a year run ARBs.
Good luck!

 

[potterjon]

PotterJon...
Still doing some testing on that front. I am in tight spaces often and DID NOT like the rig the PO was running. He had a class three receiver welded to each side of his frame and ran bar stock out with chains down on the front corners. The also had little eyelets bolted to his rear bumper ends and had the back chained to those. All in all, it was really bulky and seemed pretty sketchy.
My box sits inside of a drop in bed liner and the main issue I had was the box sliding really easily on the liner because the wood and plastic are slick. I pulled the box up and ran thick foam tape along the bottom of all of the floor studs so that it would not slide on the drop in bed liner; that helped a ton.
Next, I located the structure on the vertical knee walls of the unit, bought some heavy duty U Bolts and fabbed up an additional flat plate for each bolt. I put the U bolts through the knee wall at the structure points and in a location that is above and inside of the front and back truck bed corner tie downs so that when you crank it down it is pulling it down and towards all four corners. I have small sections of chain, clips and turn buckles to get it incredibly tight. I have run it about 1500 miles with everything from town to highway to mountain to washboard dirt and so far it is doing great. Again, not 'by the book' but if you are on a budget, it seems to do the trick.
Thanks!

hmmm thanks for the info. Got any pics? If I am picturing this correctly I don't understand how you would even get to the inside of the bed with the camper on, or am I missing something?

 

[djmase]

hmmm thanks for the info. Got any pics? If I am picturing this correctly I don't understand how you would even get to the inside of the bed with the camper on, or am I missing something?

Jon, you need small hands, that is for sure. BUT, the way my sun-lite is built I have access to the cavity up front from inside of the camper through a door in the knee wall and access to the back set from the small side storage doors on the rear wall.

I have a door like this on each side up front that allows for the front connection to be reached.


My rear wall has these small access doors that provide access for back connection.


The set up looks like this. I used a U bolt then put a nut on it and ran it all the way in, then a plate, then the wall, then a plate, then a nut. I think if you have any load concerns, a larger plate would be good. My U Clamp is a 2 1/2" unit.


Interior set up.


Like I said, I have run this pretty hard thus far and inspect it after each trip to see what sort of of movement - if any - I am getting. Thus far, it is sitting pretty. No movement, no deflection, all in all it is pretty solid.

If you look carefully here, you can get a feel for my geometry.


Let me know if you want any other specific shots.

 

[djmase]

Ventura ---> Yosemite ---> Mammoth ---> Ventura











Lee Vining

 

[djmase]

So....I am about to pull the trigger on this set up.
If anyone has any beefs or thoughts, please speak now....

 

[potterjon]

Thx for the info, I think we have the exact same setup. And I agree about the small hands part that is for sure. )

 

[MotoDave]

Surprised I haven't seen your truck around town. Its looking well set up!

I'm still in the 'a camper shell on a pickup truck works' phase, but I keep looking enviously at pop-up campers.

 

[djmase]

Surprised I haven't seen your truck around town. Its looking well set up!

I'm still in the 'a camper shell on a pickup truck works' phase, but I keep looking enviously at pop-up campers.

Dave.
Ran a high-top glass top with interior build out for a long time and it served the two of us great. We just had a little man show up in our lives and we were feeling the squeeze to make the truck capper work. Moving over to the big camper has been slick.
As far as VTA goes, I am usually on the Westside, we keep it real living of the Ave for now. I am also at Lowe's way too much, or surfing anywhere from Emma Wood to Rincon.

 

[djmase]

Thx for the info, I think we have the exact same setup. And I agree about the small hands part that is for sure. )

It is tight, but workable with the spaces they provided. If I ever move to a full size that has a deeper be - ie tundra dual cab - I'd probably put another set of access doors in for accessing the rear system from inside of the camper. if there were four doors down low, it would be really easy to mount, tighten, and access odds and ends stored between camper and truck bed wall.

 

[djmase]

One more from the weekend.

 

[MotoDave]

Dave.
Ran a high-top glass top with interior build out for a long time and it served the two of us great. We just had a little man show up in our lives and we were feeling the squeeze to make the truck capper work. Moving over to the big camper has been slick.
As far as VTA goes, I am usually on the Westside, we keep it real living of the Ave for now. I am also at Lowe's way too much, or surfing anywhere from Emma Wood to Rincon.

Yep 90% of the time its just me and the dog, and the camper shell works awesome for that. I've been planning to build a drawer system like you had, just haven't gotten around to it yet.

I'm on the east end of town but drive all over. Gray doublecab tundra with a camper shell with steekers. You might run across me with a kayak on top, I fish the kelp beds north of town from time to time.

 

[djmase]

I went to my Amazon cart to check out with my 50w Renogy solar kit and they are backordered until at least Nov...lame.

SO....I decided to start tinkering with my other roof mounted roof bars. I don't plan to put much up there besides some surfboard racks and my rocket box to use for bulky storage when we to longer tips. Regardless, a roof rack mounting solution is needed. Thule and Yakima both offer the obvious solution, artificial rain gutter mounts like many folks run on Westfalias and glass truck toppers. The downside is that you are into them for about $80 per set of four and they are not an item you can source used with much success.

After thinking through a few options I ended up here...with a $6 dollar hunk of aluminum bar and connections (TBD).


The roof looks like this. The skin is aluminum and the vertical section of the roof box is all wood that is in good shape. The mounting plan had originally been to through bolt, but I am rethinking that...since my load is so light and the reviews are so good, I am kicking around going with 3m VHB adhesive for both the securing of my solar set up on the roof as well as the roof rack mounts. Perhaps I will do a combo of mechanical and VHB on the gutters.?.?. Once I get my hands on the stuff I plan to do some load testing.


The plan is to rip the bar into "J" sections that are 12" long a piece. I have 4' of material so I can get 8 brackets out of the stock.


I already have 8 Thule gutter mount feet from my Vanagon, so I just need to track down the longest Thule bar made for a deal.

Finally, does anyone have any bright ideas on how to rip long sections of aluminum? I have been pulling my hair out trying to cut the thing into the size pieces I want using an angle grinder and metal cut off wheel. Since I can't cut all the way through a saws or hack saw are also out....

 

[bill harr]

For ripping the bars get a very fine plywood say blade and a bowl wax. Use a guide with the metal clamped down. Wax the blade and and with the skill saw go slow. I did this for 25 years when I was in construction. Make sure the saw is up to full speed, before putting it to the metal. If it grabs to much make sure the blade just barely goes through the metal. If that dose not work (metal is very thin) at this point put the blade in backwards.

Wear eye protection and think safety.

A good friend who builds metal buildings showed me this (blade in backwards) it does work great. I would use a full face shield and safety glasses, lots of flying bits.

 

[Paul Kemp]

Definitely agree with the others- a fine tooth saw blade in a Circular saw or table saw is the hot ticket. My crews do this all of the time. Face shield, glasses, eye protection, gloves, and aluminum securely clamped is a must. We all do dumb stuff from time to time but metal in your eye is a big no-no and there will be tons of little aluminum chips. A 4" grinder will knock off the burrs. Good luck!

 

[djmase]

Thanks guys!
My neighbor recently moved and gave me a pretty ratty old circ with a blade in it, think I will flip that blade around donate that bad boy to the cause. I'll let you know how it plays out.
Thanks!