​More work on the tripping truck

[Odyssey]

What about hanging the sleeping bag up rather than stuffing it in a bag? Hanging it will air it out and keep it fluffed up. If you're worried about dust etc, then maybe place it in a garment bag to hang. Some kind of clothesline strung across the sleeping space, removable of course when not in use. We have a laundry line in our laundry room. It is retractable into a plastic housing, but that contraption would be way OTT for an organized smaller space as in a tripping truck. Just a taut cord would do, or the garment bag could hang on a hook.
But if stuff you must, then how about a cotton bag? No sewing required.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Extra-Lar...otton/15746649

 

[BWCA66]

Need to find myself a topper for my truck!

 

[Guest]

What about hanging the sleeping bag up rather than stuffing it in a bag? Some kind of clothesline strung across the sleeping space, removable of course when not in use. We have a laundry line in our laundry room. It is retractable into a plastic housing, but that contraption would be way OTT for an organized smaller space as in a tripping truck. Just a taut cord would do. You might however run the risk of being mistaken for modern day Tom Joad.

In a word, head space. Wait, that’s two words. Max Headroom is still two words.

I expect I have been mistaken for a modern day Tom Joad. Years ago I helped a friend move from Connecticut to Maryland and the only space left for her giant wicker rocking chair was strapped atop the cap. That was pre-Easy Pass days, so I got to ask every toll taker if Granny was still up there. Maybe that was more Beverly Hillbillies than Grapes of Wrath.

https://www.google.com/search?q=bev...s+granny+rocking+chair&*&imgrc=zBnEQKnytwYXrM:

BTW, we too have lines (plural) strung in the basement laundry area. I do not run some tech-wear clothing through the drier; fleece especially (makes it pill more quickly, and it’s dang near dry when it comes out of the spin cycle). Wool and capilene gets hung to dry as well. See also tents and tarps when we get home from a wet trip and it is supposed to rain for a few more days.

About overhead lines or hammock netting. I know some folks have overhead “hammocks” hung inside/under the truck cap, and that netting is actually an option on most caps. It may work if the tiny house beneath is used at most for crawling in and sleeping, but I spend a couple hours a night sitting up in mine, reading or writing. There just isn’t enough room overhead, even with a mid-rise cap, for a clothesline or ceiling hammock.

Plus anything that sags down from the ceiling would reduce my rearview mirror/cap window aperture, and there are enough blind spots with a bed-capped truck as it is.

I do have a tiny mini-hammock slung under one side of the cap near the door. That is for shoe storage when I go to bed at night. There is a serrated edge cut piece of exercise flooring stuffed down inside the mini hammock to help keep it open/accessible. Also keeps shoe dirt and sand from falling into my bedroom.

BTW, I found those mini hammocks at the Dollar Store, intended for storing stuffed animal in little kid bedrooms. Friend Willie found something similar recently at Home Depot. Tiny hammocks have a multitude of possible uses.

BTW II, another critical dimension with a side storage equipped truck cap is having the side shelving/lock boxes far enough apart that I can scoot up to the tailgate and cap door cross-legged, reach out and quickly shut those doors before the rain or bugs fly in. Sounds like a minor concern, but that is a major functional issue.

The big foam pad in the tripping truck is actually slightly tapered. From 32 inches wide at the head and shoulders to 28 inches wide at the cap door. My shoulders are much bigger than my clodhopper feet.

That taper is mostly to accommodate the Igloo Cooler at the door end, and 28 inches wide is just enough for me to scoot up and quickly close the tailgate/cap doors. Any narrower than that and I’d be crawling up on all fours (awkward under the cap) and probably throw out my back out reaching for the doors. 28 inches = easy reach leverage while seated.

But if stuff you must, then how about a cotton bag? No sewing required.

I like that WallyWorld laundry bag idea. I wonder if they come in micro-fiber?

 

[ThreeScoutDad]

First i have seen this thread. Good read and would love to outfit a rig like that some day. However, every Tocoma I have looked at has a max 6' bed. Is everyone here vertically challenged? At 6'3" I would have a hard time stretching out to sleep in a 6' truck bed.

 

[Iskweo]

Mike, Have you ever slept in the back while the truck is moving, like on a long distance team effort, just wondering how it would work out with your set up..

I have done that a few times back in the day. I had an old Ford Courier with a cap and one of us would drive until tired then into the back while the other took over. You could have three people in a two seater that way. I have also camped like that too. And I do mean bare bones camping. There are a few places you could camp at the Provincial parks on the way up also. You will have a tent sooooooo..... We have done that recenty as well.

Why dont you look around for an older slide in camper?

 

[Odyssey]

Yeah, Tom Joad came to mind when I first responded, but being afraid of unintended insults I withdrew my remark. I actually love the idea of pragmatically outfitted vehicles, luxury bedamned, or more to the point luxury redefined. A rooftop rocking chair might be a bit OTT. (Don't take it over 60 if you want her to finish her knitting.)
There are of course truck caps with a single swinging door, the tail gate having been removed. You see these on some commercial vehicles. The rear cap section is also raised to permit the additional head height. Don't know how that effects canoe on top. Or granny.
Eventually all this outfitting takes a cargo space from pickup to van territory. Now there's some potential for man cave misadventure.
It just occurred to me Mike, you're turning a truck bed into...a truck bed. I think I need another coffee. Keep the updates coming.

 

[Guest]

I actually love the idea of pragmatically outfitted vehicles, luxury bedamned, or more to the point luxury redefined.

It just occurred to me Mike, you're turning a truck bed into...a truck bed. I think I need another coffee. Keep the updates coming.

Rob, it occurs to me that I have overlooked a “gear purchase” that was a real game changer, if you can count a buying and outfitting a tripping vehicle as a mere gear purchase.

The tripping truck is by far my biggest $ game changing “gear” purchase, also the most important. I didn’t overlook it; I have had camping outfitted trucks since the mid-80’s, so it seems a standard and important piece of my tripping kit.

Nothing has made as much difference in travel-for-tripping as having a tiny and comfortably outfitted house on wheels. Nothing.

Solo or with companion; eat up the disinteresting miles on cross-country miles with waterproof sleeping area and comfort/convenience accessories, ready climb into bed in an instant, keep on trucking, without paying for motels or campsites.

Haul arse nonstop to the Rockies or desert; driving shift, swapping sleeping shift, short passenger shift and take the wheel while your partner heads back to sleep. Nonstop it is 2000 miles and 30 hours+/- to the Rockies from the east coast.

Three, maybe four, driving shifts hauling arse to more interesting and less populated environs. Quoting an old rock shop geologist in Nowheresville Wyoming, adjacent to where Jehovah lost his sandel.“Plenty of elbow room out here boys, plenty of room” (Hear that wisdom offered in a guttural voice while slurping a can’t-refuse cup of really bad coffee)

First i have seen this thread. Good read and would love to outfit a rig like that some day. However, every Tocoma I have looked at has a max 6' bed. Is everyone here vertically challenged? At 6'3" I would have a hard time stretching out to sleep in a 6' truck bed.

My ’84 Hi-Lux was a long bed. If such a Taco creature was available today I might choose it over the extended cab, and I’m only stretching out to 5 11. The Xtra cab Taco is already as long as our E-150 van, 17 feet from bumper to bumper. I’d like another foot in the bed, but I’m not sure I’d give up the backseat area for gear storage or occasional shuttle passenger seating

Friend Willie here on CT has a 6 foot bed Taco, and he is easily 6 3. Maybe he sleeps in a semi-fetal position. There are cap-end “tent” enclosures that fit over the lowered tailgate and cap door, but that seems inconvenient to install when I just want to crawl in back and go to sleep.

Although, a tented cap end might well be worth the installation effort for base camping in the truck, if only for the space expansion and increased mesh screen ventilation.

I have done that a few times back in the day. I had an old Ford Courier with a cap and one of us would drive until tired then into the back while the other took over. You could have three people in a two seater that way.

Wow, the Courier. I think I’ve saw one back in the 70’s. Not a common light truck in the US despite a 30 year run overseas. I really liked that they kept the bedrail tie down hooks longer into production than Toyota or Datsun/Nissan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Courier

A lot of the early Japanese import/rebadged trucks had tie-down hooks as a contiguous part of the “outwale” bedrail. That was a freaking awesome work truck (RV truck) feature. I would pay extra for that working truck bedrail hook option today. Those external bedrail hooks may be the stupidest thing truck makers ever eliminated in the name of MPG.

I wonder if those bedrail hooks are an aftermarket accessory that could be fitted between the rail and cap?

I’d love to have the cap racked canoes tied bow and stern to the bumper eye bolts and tow rings, and to bedrail hooks as well. Those boats, tied off via every rope to the truck body, are not going anywhere, even in catastrophic rack failure.

Ah, travelling in tiny trucks, especially three people in a two passenger truck. That brings back early tripping truck remembrances and recollections.

Friends Margie, Alan and I bombing hellbent up the old Rte 666 in eastern Arizona in the bench seat Hi-Lux. The Taylor sisters and I on a multi-week cross country ramble in the same two-passenger Hi-lux. Shift driving, except for cute Sister Sarah, who didn’t have a license. Guess who spent a lot of time curled up in the truck bed on that trip? Uh, wait, don’t guess.

Thank you Christine for reminding me of such great memories, experiences and especially the recommendations we received on that trip.

That trip was when I realized that I could get a lot more information and cooperation from Ranger’s and diner-met locals if I was travelling with two attractive women instead of one sleepygrungygrumpy guy companion. “Karen and Sarah, go chat the Rangers up. You know what we want”

 

[Guest]

First i have seen this thread. Good read and would love to outfit a rig like that some day. However, every Tocoma I have looked at has a max 6' bed. Is everyone here vertically challenged? At 6'3" I would have a hard time stretching out to sleep in a 6' truck bed.

My 1984 Toyota Hi-Lux was a “long bed”. I think it was 7 feet long, mighta been more/less, but even at under 6 feet in stature the extra length was welcome. It was an eagerly sought after truck when I sold it and 250,000 miles, to the point that I had a auction in the driveway. Sometimes “OBO” means more than the listed price.

One the other hand I have really come to appreciate even the wee back seats in the access cab, mostly for gear storage, but also to stuff an extra body into on shuttles. The late model access cab Taco is already 17 feet long from bumper to bumper. That is as long as our full sized Ford van. While I could manage driving an 18 or 19 foot long vehicle that gets to be like parking and maneuvering an RV.

The only time the bed length seems bothersome is if I am laid flat and want to stretch my spine from head to toe; most of the time under cap I am leaned up __/ at the head of the bed reading, or side sleeping in a semi-fetal position. CT’er Willie is well over 6 feet and he sleeps in the bed of an outfitted Taco; perhaps he will comment.

I do have some DIY no-see-um netting that encloses the open tailgate and cap, which is great for improved ventilation and legroom, but it is kind of a crude PITA to put on and enter/exit through, and is less than 100% bug proof unless very carefully installed, especially if I am reading in bed with a bug attractant light on.

I recall seeing “tailgate tents” made for just that purpose. If they packed small enough, provided extended rain protection, increased available ventilation and installed without too much hassle that might be just the ticket for warm weather base camping in the truck. The tailgate on the Taco is 20 inches long; that is a lot of extra length in a 6 foot bed.

Googling tailgate tents and, crap, now I really need to do some research. $140, 5lbs, packs to 11x11x6, looks to attach and enter/exit easily

https://www.campmor.com/c/dac-full---size-truck-tent-20745?gclid=COD36qjw_tICFRK4wAodggUBRQ

I’m thinking of spending most of June down south, and gobs of tailgate ventilation would be appreciated. The “fit list” says the mid-sized tent fits the Tacoma tailgate/cap door. I need to give Campmor a call.

https://www.campmor.com/wcsstore/Campmor/static/images/featured_brand/DACTent.htm

Anyone have or used a “tailgate tent” on a capped pickup truck?

 

[boatstall]

Mike, I had a paddling buddy that tried a similar type truck tent for a while. He had issues with the rear crossbar. When canoes were loaded, it forced him to bunch the tents roof material up behind the towers, and because his towers were toward the rear of the cap, getting a good weather seal across the roof line was an issue. He found it to be satisfactory when he didn't have the crossbars on the cap.

 

[Guest]

Mike, I had a paddling buddy that tried a similar type truck tent for a while. He had issues with the rear crossbar. When canoes were loaded, it forced him to bunch the tents roof material up behind the towers, and because his towers were toward the rear of the cap, getting a good weather seal across the roof line was an issue. He found it to be satisfactory when he didn't have the crossbars on the cap.

Well dang, I didn’t think of that.

I almost always have crossbars racks and boats on the roof when tripping travelling, and I am sure as heck not taking them off every night just to sleep.

A “midsized” tailgate tent that fits the Tacoma was $112 from Campmor, with a 20% off coupon and free shipping. If it proves easy enough to install and use I will adapt, improvise and overcome with some crude slicing and sewing to accommodate the rear crossbar towers.

I would really like to have some better ventilation on summer trips at that giant end door.

 

[snapper]

Mike - Obviously you're cap is already in place but can the windows be replaced? The cap I have on my Tacoma (an aluminum ARE cap) has sliding windows on either side with screens. Being able to open those screens and get a cross breeze has allowed me to sleep comfortably in the back of the truck on many evenings. Of course, I'm also only 5'8" so I can lie straight along the length of the bed which in itself makes sleeping back there a bit easier. At this point I'm still just tossing my Therm-Rest pad back there and sleeping with my hammock quilt; a real sleeping bag in cooler weather. So far it still works for me but I've been thinking about an arrangement such as yours so I appreciate all the ideas and seeing your work. Thanks for all of that!

That's all for now. Take care and until next time....be well.

snapper

 

[Guest]

Mike - Obviously you're cap is already in place but can the windows be replaced? The cap I have on my Tacoma (an aluminum ARE cap) has sliding windows on either side with screens. Being able to open those screens and get a cross breeze has allowed me to sleep comfortably in the back of the truck on many evenings. Of course, I'm also only 5'8" so I can lie straight along the length of the bed which in itself makes sleeping back there a bit easier.

The Leer cap on my Taco has screens in the sliding side windows, but that only provides an opening 29x11 inches on each side. The windows on the aluminum cap on my old Hi-Lux were crank-open louvers, which meant the entire window length could be opened, and the louvers helped keep the rain out (up to a point).

I have a DIY screen that attaches easily to the front cap slider window, but that opening is even smaller and only an inch or so from the cab wall, so there isn’t a lot of ventilation provided there. I don’t usually even bother putting it on.

The noseeum screened opening on a tailgate tent is massive in comparison to those wee windows, something like 56x40 inches. That is a lot of added ventilation. It’s worth a shot, even if, as expected, I have to adapt it to work with the crossbars & boats on top. (I have ideas already)

I have probably spent close to 200 nights sleeping in the tripping truck over the past couple years and its biggest drawback, maybe its only real drawback, is a lack of ventilation on warm humid nights. The DIY screen I made to cover the tailgate end helps a lot, but it is a crude hackjob and kind of a pain to put on and to reseal when getting in and out of.

I wouldn’t bother with the tailgate tent much of the time, but on a warm, muggybuggy nights I know having that end open to any available breeze helps.

 

[boatstall]

Well dang, I didn’t think of that.

I almost always have crossbars racks and boats on the roof when tripping travelling, and I am sure as heck not taking them off every night just to sleep.

A “midsized” tailgate tent that fits the Tacoma was $112 from Campmor, with a 20% off coupon and free shipping. If it proves easy enough to install and use I will adapt, improvise and overcome with some crude slicing and sewing to accommodate the rear crossbar towers.

I would really like to have some better ventilation on summer trips at that giant end door.

Mike, I have really been thinking about my buddy that had the truck tent issues since mentioning him to you. Buried him 12 years ago, but this thread conversation regarding truck cap ventilation was almost a trip down memory lane.

I was thinking about the concept and the issues he had, and wondered about a possible fix. If your cap has a fairly smooth roof line, I was wondering if you could sew in a strip of minicel into the hem, to act as a weather "gasket". Sort of like the water shedding dam on your canoe partial covers from the Dan Cook idea, with the minicel sewn into the hem. When the truck tent is installed with the minicel in the hem, with a ratchet or cam strap over it, could be an upside down version of what sheds the water off of your partial cover. Wouldn't take much strap pressure to conform the minicel and the truck tents fabric to the roofline of your cap.

If you are going to cut the roofline material of the new truck tent, rather than cutting around the towers, just shorten it to a hemmed length that would butt up to the rear towers. Run a strap over the minicel strip in the hem, and tension the strap enough to compress the "minicel gasket" to the cap roof. Thinking that might gasket out the weather even with the shortened coverage of the tent over the cap roof.

Not sure this concept translates through my work week tired brain. Trying to explain an idea when tired may make sense to me, but get to you as complete garbage. Just thought I would put it down in print tonight before I slept and it vaporized.

 

[Guest]

If your cap has a fairly smooth roof line, I was wondering if you could sew in a strip of minicel into the hem, to act as a weather "gasket". Sort of like the water shedding dam on your canoe partial covers from the Dan Cook idea, with the minicel sewn into the hem. When the truck tent is installed with the minicel in the hem, with a ratchet or cam strap over it, could be an upside down version of what sheds the water off of your partial cover. Wouldn't take much strap pressure to conform the minicel and the truck tents fabric to the roofline of your cap.

If you are going to cut the roofline material of the new truck tent, rather than cutting around the towers, just shorten it to a hemmed length that would butt up to the rear towers. Run a strap over the minicel strip in the hem, and tension the strap enough to compress the "minicel gasket" to the cap roof. Thinking that might gasket out the weather even with the shortened coverage of the tent over the cap roof.

Not sure this concept translates through my work week tired brain. Trying to explain an idea when tired may make sense to me, but get to you as complete garbage. Just thought I would put it down in print tonight before I slept and it vaporized.

Yup, that makes sense, and is some of the possible retrofit solutions I’ve been thinking about. The cap has a raised, tapered center hump where the cap driving light is molded in on the back, and the crossbar rails are only 3 inches from the end of the cap, so I’m thinking some surgery on the (long) part of the tent that covers the cap roof will be needed.

Sewing is out of the question if possibly avoided. I suck at sewing, and the “fly” material is coated polyester.

One nice thing about Campmor orders; for me they are only one State away. The tailgate tent should arrive today.

In preparation for some tent adaptation I have begun cleaning up some lingering shop projects and making space to back the Taco into the shop. Although the truck is parked all of three feet from the shop past experience has shown that it is wayyyyy easier to bring the truck into the shop, where it is dry and warm and convenient to the tools and benches.

 

[Guest]

At this point I'm still just tossing my Therm-Rest pad back there and sleeping with my hammock quilt; a real sleeping bag in cooler weather. So far it still works for me but I've been thinking about an arrangement such as yours so I appreciate all the ideas and seeing your work.

I can say with conviction that the two most important outfitting pieces to making that tiny house work are both organizational. Yeah, a thick comfy foam pad is nice, a portable potable water supply and accessible cooler convenient, and full curtains, lights and fan are wonderful, but storage and organization are paramount. Even more so if travelling with a companion & extra gear.

Outfitting Thing 1: shelving “benches” on both sides for organization and storage. One side is a closed & pad locked box for protected storage of paddles, poles, sails and etc. Paddles fit so well in that space that I can easily store a half dozen with room to spare. Paddles (and sails) are the items I’d be most hard pressed to replace on the road, so having them locked up and protected from theft or storage damage is comforting.

(That closed paddle box does have an open access hole cut in the side at the head of the bed. My thought was that if something got pushed all the way to the front my arms are not 6 feet long, and I’d need a reach-in hole at the far end. My buddy Smith & Wesson sleeps in that cubbyhole at night)

The other side bench is open fronted shelving for easy access storage underneath. Those don’t need to be big side benches; mine are both 10 inches high x 12 inches wide but still big enough for gear storage atop and underneath, leaving plenty of space for a semi-fetal sleeper’s 32 inch wide foam pad in between.

Outfitting Thing 2: A place for everything, and everything in its place. Having those side platforms created gear storage under and atop the benches, which opened a lot of always-available, just crawl in sleepy time space. I really don’t want to be burrowing around under the cap and moving things off the foam pad to create space before I clamber in to sleep

That side shelving gear storage is a great space saver for packing and stacking gear. Except, if left unsecured, that packed and stacked gear won’t stay in place when driving up a twisty dirt rut & washboard road in the mountains or hitting the brakes to avoid mashing a deer.

I am partial to strategically placed (and lengthed) webbing straps with fastex buckles run through attachment points to anchor gear in place, especially when stacked high along the cab end of the shelves. I can’t look out the driver’s cap side window while at the wheel so I stack things up there near to the roof along the unopenable slider window section.

Same for the pasenger’s side corner at the cap pillar. There is 30 inches height between the top of the shelves and the roof; stack ‘em and rack ‘em, and strap ‘em in place.

I added considerable overkill in the way of webbing loops and other tie down points in the bed of the Taco, like every 9 inches along the benches, bedrails and cap. Having the side shelves makes adding some of those tie downs as simple to anchor as using a wood screw. I don’t even bother taking the straps that restrain my usual everything-in-its-place solo tripping storage, and can easily add more straps to the overkill tie points if traveling with a companion’s gear or unusual load (sometimes I have a truck full of tools as well as camping/paddling gear).

Without some way to hold organized gear securely in place I might as well just toss it all randomly atop the mattress.

Don’t let this be you, or the poor sucker who had to ride in back.

 

[Guest]

Tailgate tent trial results

That’s a nope.

I put the Tailgate Tent on the Taco sans roof racks & boats for a test fit.

On the plus side it is easy to install, four bungie cords and hooks on the tent body and one double ended bungee cord through grommets run under the tailgate. Easy to climb in and out and zip closed, with a good sized panel of no-see-um mesh for added ventilation. Best of all with some simple surgery, one cut on each side of the fly at the towers, it could be used just as easily with the crossbars and boats in place.

On the minus scale, the side panels cover a portion of the sliding windows & screens, so there’s some cross vent lost. But the deal breaker is that no matter how installed, tightened or fitted there are bug gaps galore.

Two gaps on either side of the lower tent body, between the fly and bumper/body, each big enough to pass me a beer without opening the tent. And with the tailgate down there is a finger width wide by 57 inch long gap between tailgate and truck bed. I could occlude the latter with a piece of split foam insulation or rolled towel laid in place after climbing in, but no matter how finicky I fitted and adjusted the tent the side gaps remain open.

I spent a lot of time, effort, foam weather stripping and glued on pieces of custom cut miniel making sure that, when closed, the cap door and tailgate have not so much as a light leak. With those doors closed the cap is 100% bugproof, and I have put that to the swampy camper test.

I’m not giving up bug freedom for increased ventilation; I’d rather endure a sweaty night’s sleep than a bug bitten one. Back to Campmor it goes, and back to the DIY drawing board go I.

Your results depending on rear bumper and body shape may vary, but the open gaps are the fly (or mosquito) in the ointment.

 

[snapper]

Mike - Thanks for your report and evaluation. I'm sure you've saved a lot of people from making a purchase that doesn't seem to work as well as we'd hope.

Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

 

[BWCA66]

No Title

Picked up a used topper yesterday, now to read back through this thread for some ideas.

 

[Sweetfancymoses]

I received a shamelessly commercial email from one of the other paddling websites today which reminded me of the skeeter beaters that I had looked into some time ago. I have to say, it seems like good idea.

 

[Chip]

I regret not dropping in on this thread when Mike was considering the tailgate tent since I could have saved him the trouble. I considered it, ordered it, tried it, and rejected it. It didn't fit my Taco at all well. Additionally, if it rains and you're parked with the tailgate downhill, water will roll back on the roof and get underneath.

The skeeter beaters also seemed like a winning idea until I began wondering to what I'd stick those magnets. The cap is fiberglass and I think all the lift-gate frame is aluminum.

I was considering building my own fan system into the cap. Still am, I guess. However, ran into a fella down in Florida that spends a lot of time sleeping in his van. He had installed a vent cap through the roof and is happy with it. It was something like this one from Amazon, but the fan was much smaller and only took up about a third of the screened vent opening. It's kind of pricey, but will be easier than building my own.

The problem I have with ventilation in the cap is rain. The side of the cap is angled so rain comes right in. I asked the guy in Florida about rain entering the roof vent and he said if partially closed, the vent cap provides enough coverage. For three-fourths of the possible wind directions, I believe him. A second problem, depending on the robustness of that vent top, is I can see myself breaking the vent top with a misplaced bow or stern during loading. The tops stick up 3 or 4 inches from the roof, just about the height of my roof bars.

Any solution with a fan brings up the issue of electricity to run the fan. I'm thinking a second battery and a battery isolator are part of the solution.

So, summer is rolling around and I am still considering my options. Dithering is my downfall. Could be sweaty in the cap soon.