New Member - Unique(?) Expedition Rig

[CoyoteThistle]

Hi all. Been lurking around the site for quite some time. Finally getting around to introducing myself and our expedition vehicle.

First off, sincere thanks to everyone who posts info on their rigs and shares advice on travel destinations. This place is an amazing resource and great source of inspiration!

Anyway, we got a 2010 Nissan Frontier 4X4 about a year ago. Our first off-road trip was 5 days in and around Death Valley last winter. We had a great time but sleeping in a tent or heading towards a motel every night was a bit of a drag. I started researching ideas. Nothing out there quite fit all our criteria - the things that came close tended to be expensive (of course).

So, we started from scratch and made our own creation. We call it - Pro-Rig!

Here it is during recent beta testing in SE Utah earlier this month:

Six feet of head room in the back.

That's a queen size bed over the cab. The fiberglass composite tub that is the base of the bed becomes a "cap" over the bed of the truck in travel mode.

That's an inflatable mattress with a 1" foam pad over it for insulation.

Across the front of the bed of the truck is the "gaucho", the main seating area. Housed within the gaucho is an 18-gallon water tank, deep cycle battery, water pump and some storage. The fuse/switch box is on the port side along with lots of 12v plugs and an amp for the audio system:

The kitchen pops up to make a waist-high counter that holds a 2-burner stove and a sink (we forgot the real counter with the sink and built in cutting board on this trip - stopped at a Home Depot and improvised a basic replacement seen here). Below is a 10-gallon propane tank, storage for the stove and all the other cooking gear. A water line with quick-connects comes from the gaucho to the kitchen where it tees off to a sink sprayer and a hose outlet (for future on-demand heated shower):

A third box just holds food:

All these pieces, plus an action packer, fit snugly in the bed while traveling. There's room around the edges for a roll-up table and other odds and ends under there as well.

An Edgestar 12v fridge (love it!), clothes, recovery gear, etc. ride in the back seats.

The aluminum "superstructure" that holds up the shell is strapped to the top of the cap. There's room for all kinds of other odd things on there as well, including an auxiliary fuel (or water) tank, a tub for trash, a small grill, camp chairs and fire wood. The truck has a 3" lift but with the weight of all the gear, the rear end was back down to stock height (with the water tank full). Even so, we managed to get over Elephant Hill in Canyonlands with mostly only dragging the hitch (a lot!). I think some helper springs are in our future.

Hanging off the back of it all is the custom bike rack/Hi-Lift jack holder. We had no idea if this thing was going to work - we loaded the bikes up for the first time as we were pulling out of the driveway for this trip. Luckily, it worked great. The bikes are super stable even off road and the departure angle isn't reduced. Here's the rack, just some aluminum angle, a few bolts and some fork mount clamps. The jack is held on by some u-bolts:

We came back from the trip satisfied with Pro-Rig, but with a list of improvements. It takes about an hour to do a full setup or take down - longer than I'd like. I think we can get it down to about 45min, but probably not much less. Acceptable for a trip where we move every day - better for spending a few nights at a stop and exploring.

Pro-Rig is really designed for fair-weather exploring. We had a night in the low 20's with frozen condensation inside above our heads, but we slept warm under a down comforter and wool blanket. One breezy night (15-20 mph), the shell was flapping around a bit but nothing threatened to blow up as far as I could tell. The green fabric is waterproof (the burgundy stuff is not, but it is breathable) so the sleeping area will stay dry in the event of a midnight downpour - for rainy weather though, we will use a fly over the back end.

I'll follow up with some details on the build and more technical info if there is interest. In general, it took a lot of hours (especially sewing the shell) but not a ton of money. Most importantly, it was a lot of fun to design and build.

I hope some of you are willing to share thoughts for improvements, additions and so forth!

 

[Mc Taco]

Looking forward to seeing more of the details of your build.

 

[Entropy]

Very cool, how long does it take to set everything up?

 

[mike r]

I would love to see more pictures

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

Nice job thinking outside of the box!

 

[Photomike]

Not a unit for me but WOW, great idea and I love how it all packs down.

Great job!!!!

 

[1leglance]

excellent work showing what a person can do with a bit of thought and handycraft.
always nice to see folks create a solution that works for them

now I am also looking forward to more trip reports

 

[Eric S.]

Looks pretty interesting not for me though. Why can you see the truck under the bed? I would prefer it to be fully enclosed for those windy and wet days. Also keeping the water out on those days might be a challenge too. Especially if it gets packed wet. Good luck on the project!

 

[CoyoteThistle]

Thanks for the comments and interest! I'll get some photos organized and follow up with some more details on the build. Wish I had taken more shots of the set up while we were out on the road, it seems our surroundings drew our cameras attention more often than Pro-Rig (I'm sure a common problem in SE Utah).

Very cool, how long does it take to set everything up?

Plus or minus an hour as it is now. That includes removing bikes and all the stuff strapped to the outside, arranging the interior, setting up the shell, inflating/making the bed, moving stuff from the cab (including the fridge) to the back, setting up the kitchen/bar-b-que and popping the first beer of the evening. I have some ideas to make it quicker though (including leaving that last step until the end:ylsmoke.

Looks pretty interesting not for me though. Why can you see the truck under the bed? I would prefer it to be fully enclosed for those windy and wet days. Also keeping the water out on those days might be a challenge too. Especially if it gets packed wet. Good luck on the project!

Those gaps between the cab and the outside of the bed are just covered with screen now. Kind of the "permanent" ventilation system when the windows and door are zipped up. I figured we would need air flow at night to cut down on condensation since the shell around the sleeping area is waterproof (non-breathable) fabric. As far as water getting in, the burgundy fabric is non-waterproof ripstop, so the fly (right now just a blue tarp) will need to protect the area where those screens are too. Your broader point is right on though - would not be a pleasant set-up in really wet weather. Luckily our ramblings are generally in drier climes than you see up in BC (desert in spring, winter fall and summer in the sierras). The "design" rain event is more the quick cloud burst followed by sun to dry everything out. We'll leave Pro-Rig at home during real storms and chase powder instead!

 

[CoyoteThistle]

Okay, some details on the build. I didn't take a lot of pictures during the build but hopefully I can convey the gist of it.

First of all, a little more on the design criteria. After looking at tons of different set ups, it quickly became apparent that every rig has it's pros and cons. We kind of made a mental check list of our constraints:
1) we wanted to keep the total cost, including interior niceties, under $2k
2) we have no good place to store a camper shell or trailer at home
3) we will use our existing vehicle (which can't have a permanent shell due to it's work/play life outside of travel)
4) have lots of tools, but no welding equipment

and priorities:
1) a comfortable bed
2) stand-up headroom and a place to cook/relax away from bugs and wind
3) Sleeping place for my girlfriends son when he comes along
4) something that wouldn't penalize fuel economy on the road too much (got 19.8 mpg from St George to Barstow)
5) something that wouldn't raise the center of gravity of the rig too much and make driving difficult/dangerous/impossible on more technical terrain
6) easy to store when not in use

From that, we came up with the basic idea. I started with "sketches" in Adobe Illustrator (I envy the CAD skills of some on this site!).

The basic concept was to use a wooden platform that would sit on top of the bed while traveling and then could be moved to the roof to become the sleeping platform when Pro-Rig was set up. A collapsible aluminum "superstructure" would support a shell of nylon fabric.

**note** The wooden platform was later replaced by the composite fiberglass one we are using now, details below

We decided it was feasible and started ordering raw materials. The basic outlay to get the shell built was something like $200 in aluminum, $300 in fabric and fasteners, $200 in wood and hardware.

The wood and aluminum work was straight forward. The Utilitrack system of the Frontier made attaching the superstructure to the bed easy. Here is one of the rear supports that slides off the tracks and rides inside the bed during travel.

The rest of the superstructure was bolted to the sleeping platform. The tall support on the right folds up after the shell is stretched between the front and rear supports to help make the roof nice and taut. The platform is supported by 2X3 wood rails with foam padding that run fore and aft along the "gutters" on the roof. An additional piece of plywood with support rails attaches to the back of this platform to give the bed a full 78" length.

The sleeping platform, in this original configuration, was strapped down to the seat belt anchor points and oh-******* handles inside the truck using a couple ratchet straps.

The original design for the sleeping platform had a few major drawbacks though:
1) heavy! This made it difficult to raise into position
2) it rode on the bed face-up - that meant a dusty sleeping surface
3) the 2X3 rails, when in travel mode, stuck down into the storage area underneath, making packing less efficient.

I decided to re-design it and make a fiberglass composite version that would sit face-down in travel mode (clean bed!), have edges to give about four more inches of space underneath and use removable foam support rails when on the roof. I used 3/4" polyisocyanurate foam (the kind used in wall insulation) because it is much cheaper than the stuff used for boat making and such. The stuff was really flimsy though and I think it would have been easier/faster to get the denser/more expensive stuff and do less glassing. For wall or roof building, I think the cheap stuff would work though. I glued in a couple wooden stringers – key to strength. Here it is after one layer of glass (the brown splotches are the remnants of the backing of the foil coating the panels come with).

Here it is after “finishing”. I can handle the resin fumes and mess associated with fiberglass work, but I hate having fiberglass dust on everything so I kept sanding/finishing to a minimum. Makes for a bumpy finish, but it’s functional. The aluminum mounts for the superstructure are bonded to the fiberglass using a marine epoxy adhesive.

This was a significant improvement over the original design. I've worked with fiberglass a fair bit in the past, but never done a composite like this. Took more layers of glass than I thought but it came out very strong and much lighter. It took about $300 worth of supplies and several million of by brain cells (I don't think those respirators actually help much).

Anyway, back to the original build...

We ordered a sewing machine. Neither of us had ever sewn something like this. It was a steep learning curve.

We started by sewing in the front window and the rear door into a long piece of 140 denier urethane-coated ripstop nylon. We stretched it over the superstructure, attached the front to the sleeping platform with a big strip of Velcro and the back to the bumper with straps and cam buckles.

We then pinned up the side panels one by one and then sewed them in. We used the waterproof fabric to enclose the sleeping area. We would later seam-seal these seams. Here it is after three of the four side panels were sewn in.

The side panels on the rear area are a 70 denier uncoated ripstop nylon. Not at all waterproof, but fairly breathable. We added a large screened window on each side. We added some black 420 denier pack cloth to the lower edges around the back. We sewed in two more tie down straps on each side to this stronger fabric. These straps just use tensioners and plastic-coated hooks that catch under the edge of the body. The flap of black fabric at the back gets secured across to the other side with shock cord and makes the seal at the back pretty solid.

The fabric around the front is secured under the sleeping platform using hooks and shock cord. In this shot you can see the Minicel foam supports for the platform. The red straps hook on to the top edge of the “tub” and go down through the doors and hook securely to the handles inside. It's surprisingly secure - you can shake the whole truck pretty violently by trying to make the sleeping platform move.

That’s the gist of the basic build as it sits now. There's lots of other important little details, but since I don't have good photos, no sense trying to explain it at this time.

I'll get some details on how it all works in "travel mode" next...

Happy to answer any questions or clarify any of that!

 

[davidshourd]

great build man! looks like the set up is working out well, cant wait to see the next version (beta beyond? Pro-rig 2 point ohh?) ha. keep us posted on the build.

 

[trackhead]

Awesome. Nice creative work!

 

[herm]

its a super duper roof top tent!. love the creativity.

 

[pods8]

Any concern of the fabric rubbing/wearing your paint over time, esp. in the wind? I've see traps over pick up truck do quite the number on them...

 

[AeroNautiCal]

That's a unique approach you've taken, and very practical!

I like your utilization of all available space for living, yet keeping everything packed small for travel (and a low cog).

Very well done, and thanks for sharing... I love it!