Good Evening
It has been a journey getting here! I'll give you guys a bit of run down on myself and rigs and how I ended up here. I grew family camping with dad snaking an Aerostar van into places it should not have gone. I did fair bit of backpacking as a teen and still enjoy that today.
I started wheeling and crawling Samurais as a teen and into my mid 20s. I would sling a tarp off one side and sleep under the tarp with a surplus bivy sack and down bag. I got married and as awesome as my wife is I knew I had to upgrade some of our stuff. Bought an 09 double cab TRD Tacoma and a small wall tent with wood stove. Kept it stock besides tires. Quickly ran out of payload so got a utility trailer to put out junk in. This worked well for us with our large dog for about 8 years. I got an itch for a truck I could wheel so bought an FJ-60. Cool truck but was a 4 speed manual that got approx 11 mpg with a mild lift and 33s. Not capable enough without high dollar upgrades and I couldn't justify the 30k to get it where I wanted it. Insert child into equation and wifey wants " hardsides" for sleeping arrangements, I don't blame her, we camp in Grizzly country occasionally and havinga baby/ toddler while setting up a wall tent is a frustration. These trips we go on are supposed to be "vacation".... right?
Ended up with a 2004 Dodge CCSB diesel for cheeeeeap. Not a wheeler by any means but good enough for Hwy travel and 95% of FSR. Shortly thereafter I picked up a 70s Alaskan cab over camper. Built an aluminum riser with a swing down "back porch". We have used the heck out of it for almost 3 years. We are now ready to move on from the Alaskan. Our trusty Dodge has also succumbed to the rusty rear fenders. The box is toast and not worth salvaging. It will be getting flatdecked shortly.
So here I am soon to have a flat decked short box Dodge without a camper. I have a bit of experience with welding and fab and want to build my own. Our thoughts are we want simple inside, we find we don't want a fridge, toilet, oven or a lot of other things that come in campers. We found the Alaskan was long on nooks and crannies but short on "space". We prepack a lot of our food and keep it simple when camping/fishing/hunting/dirt biking.
I want to build a side entry pop up or tilt up camper. I am unsure if I should just do it from sheet aluminum or frame it out of square tube. I also have no idea how to insulate it. These are my 2 biggest obstacles right now. There will be no interior plumbing. A one burner stove and only a sink that drains into a 5 gallon bucket outside. I want to use either a small diesel heater or propane hear that runs only off of a thermocouple like the heater in the Alaskan. I am a firm believer in keeping it simple. In thelong term I may do a wall tent style enclosure off the side for our late fall trips where we are camped in the same place for a week or so. I look forward to feedback and suggestions.
Thanks
Warren
It has been a journey getting here! I'll give you guys a bit of run down on myself and rigs and how I ended up here. I grew family camping with dad snaking an Aerostar van into places it should not have gone. I did fair bit of backpacking as a teen and still enjoy that today.
I started wheeling and crawling Samurais as a teen and into my mid 20s. I would sling a tarp off one side and sleep under the tarp with a surplus bivy sack and down bag. I got married and as awesome as my wife is I knew I had to upgrade some of our stuff. Bought an 09 double cab TRD Tacoma and a small wall tent with wood stove. Kept it stock besides tires. Quickly ran out of payload so got a utility trailer to put out junk in. This worked well for us with our large dog for about 8 years. I got an itch for a truck I could wheel so bought an FJ-60. Cool truck but was a 4 speed manual that got approx 11 mpg with a mild lift and 33s. Not capable enough without high dollar upgrades and I couldn't justify the 30k to get it where I wanted it. Insert child into equation and wifey wants " hardsides" for sleeping arrangements, I don't blame her, we camp in Grizzly country occasionally and havinga baby/ toddler while setting up a wall tent is a frustration. These trips we go on are supposed to be "vacation".... right?
Ended up with a 2004 Dodge CCSB diesel for cheeeeeap. Not a wheeler by any means but good enough for Hwy travel and 95% of FSR. Shortly thereafter I picked up a 70s Alaskan cab over camper. Built an aluminum riser with a swing down "back porch". We have used the heck out of it for almost 3 years. We are now ready to move on from the Alaskan. Our trusty Dodge has also succumbed to the rusty rear fenders. The box is toast and not worth salvaging. It will be getting flatdecked shortly.
So here I am soon to have a flat decked short box Dodge without a camper. I have a bit of experience with welding and fab and want to build my own. Our thoughts are we want simple inside, we find we don't want a fridge, toilet, oven or a lot of other things that come in campers. We found the Alaskan was long on nooks and crannies but short on "space". We prepack a lot of our food and keep it simple when camping/fishing/hunting/dirt biking.
I want to build a side entry pop up or tilt up camper. I am unsure if I should just do it from sheet aluminum or frame it out of square tube. I also have no idea how to insulate it. These are my 2 biggest obstacles right now. There will be no interior plumbing. A one burner stove and only a sink that drains into a 5 gallon bucket outside. I want to use either a small diesel heater or propane hear that runs only off of a thermocouple like the heater in the Alaskan. I am a firm believer in keeping it simple. In thelong term I may do a wall tent style enclosure off the side for our late fall trips where we are camped in the same place for a week or so. I look forward to feedback and suggestions.
Thanks
Warren
I am tempted to build this out of 5x12 .100 or .125 aluminum sheet and have the walls also be the structure. I am by no means an engineer but am pretty good at turning simple metal ideas into a reality. I just don't want my camper to be a poorly engineered nightmare.