Introducing the “NEW” Alu-Cab Canopy Camper

[colbs]

First off, thanks to everyone in this thread - it’s helped me decide (and day dream). Just put in my order on an Canopy Camper and getting it installed in the next month or so. Stoked! Now I’m shopping around for my suspension upgrades. Mainly what I can’t decide on is if I should go with the Stage II or Stage III Deaver leaf springs (or equivalent). Stage III is rated 700-1000lbs. A local shop is recommending the stage III’s. I’ll be putting in cabinets, fridge, furnace, battery and carrying a mountain bike. And I have the awning. Seems like they are right but I see earlier in the thread folks were going with 660lb constant load spring for similar setups. Do you all wish you had something more hd? It seems like all setups are kind of in between on these load ratings. Don’t want a rake and an extremely rough ride if I can avoid it. Any advice is appreciated!

 

[LionZoo]

I have the Stage IIIs and have the front lifted just a little bit (perhaps an inch or so). When unloaded, the rear is too high and I really wish it would be lower. My expedition setup includes a 60L fridge, cabinets on the left hand side, an electrical cabinet and 100Ah 35 pound LiFeSO4 battery, and various living items, as well as 12-18 gallons of tap water (for shower) + food and drinking water. When loaded, I feel like the rear is still a little too high. I'm even carrying the factory space saver spare as ballast in addition to my full size spare on the rear door.

If I had to do it over again, I'd go with Stage IIs. Stage IIIs start to make sense if you want to lift 2 inches or more, but at my mild lift, Stage IIs are the way to go.

 

[colbs]

Interesting. Why do you believe the Stage III's are better for 2 inch or higher lift?

 

[LionZoo]

Because right now the rear of my truck is a lot higher than the front due to the mild front mild. If I lifted the front more, the truck would be more even.

 

[colbs]

Because right now the rear of my truck is a lot higher than the front due to the mild front mild. If I lifted the front more, the truck would be more even.

Gotcha. Yea, I'm doing a 2 inch lift (and likely throwing on 285s) so perhaps the Stage IIIs are the way to go. I forgot - my bike rack alone is like 75lbs. Need to find a better solution. Appreciate the help.

 

[Beowulf]

I don't think there is any lift that will work great for both laden and unladen use.

I'm trying to figure out what is great for daily driving unladen and see if airlift bags in the coils can make up the difference for loaded up Offroad use.

 

[seekoutbeauty]

Call deaver.

 

[colbs]

Call deaver.

Just did (some peaceful hold music they got). I told him I'd probably be at about 800 laden, and about 100-150 less unladen during daily driving. Btw, I have a 3rd gen Tacoma and aiming for a 2 inch lift. He recommended the Stage IIs. Stage IIIs are intended to give you a 2 inch lift with about a 1,000 pounds. At my weight, I'd probably have a higher lift than that with those. With Stage II's and fully laden, I'd maybe have a little less than 2 inches of lift. I am totally fine with that. Glad I called them.

 

[LionZoo]

Glad you did indeed! I regret not calling them before and just following my friend's advice. I might switch to Stage IIs sometime in the future.

 

[seekoutbeauty]

That’s one of the perks of going deaver. You get to ask true experts exactly what you need. They have been making leaf springs for 100 years. They know their stuff. No sense of asking a friend for advice or picking up something else and later snagging deavers.

 

[Colby Jack]

Apologies for the hiatus, the past few months have been wicked busy and work has left me little time for anything else!


First off I have to say the level of customer innovation for the Canopy Camper blows my mind and being someone that geeks heavily on build out ideas this thread has become a nirvana!

Some updates from our side for those who were asking, the GP Factor Dickinson Fireplace Kit initial batch was launched! Not sure if you have peeked one on our website (https://ok4wd.com/dickinson-p9000-heater-camper-fitment-kit) , but AJ from GP really pushed my simple concept to the next level. As if stainless steel construction was not enough, the bracket is coated cerakote for high temp protection. The whole kit can be installed in a weekend by someone with a decent mechanical aptitude. Someone asked about high-altitude operation, which was a concern on my past trip to Colorado as these heaters are intended for marine applications. At first i kept a close eye on the heater, but ended up using it every night on the trip, some nights as high as 11,800ft.

View attachment 623537


I think it was mentioned earlier, but the water tank kits are now officially available as well! (https://ok4wd.com/brands/alucab/alu-cab-water-tank) More info on the site, but LMK what questions you have.

View attachment 623536

We also were able to test a new interior offering from Goose Gear, which is more of a stripped down simple "L" bench system. The top plates have brackets that attach to the camper frame and simple vertical wall attaching to the baseplate create a super lightweight storage area with room to sit and step to get into the bed section. More info to come soon on this form Goose Gear.

View attachment 623538

Thanks for taking the time to write up a quick review! Where is your fridge? Rear seat delete? I’m loving this new setup!

 

[Mike H.]

Does anyone know what size bolt slides into the T-slot on the roof of the canopy campers? I know the interior bolt sizes are 5/16", but I believe they are too small for the roof

M8 Carriage aka Coach Bolt size 20 head. Size to you desired length in MM. McMaster-Carr has them in a 25ct bag, limited sizes.
Ebay has them in small quantities plus shipping. Both have in stainless. ebay

 

[Bark40]

Apologies for the hiatus, the past few months have been wicked busy and work has left me little time for anything else!


First off I have to say the level of customer innovation for the Canopy Camper blows my mind and being someone that geeks heavily on build out ideas this thread has become a nirvana!

Some updates from our side for those who were asking, the GP Factor Dickinson Fireplace Kit initial batch was launched! Not sure if you have peeked one on our website (https://ok4wd.com/dickinson-p9000-heater-camper-fitment-kit) , but AJ from GP really pushed my simple concept to the next level. As if stainless steel construction was not enough, the bracket is coated cerakote for high temp protection. The whole kit can be installed in a weekend by someone with a decent mechanical aptitude. Someone asked about high-altitude operation, which was a concern on my past trip to Colorado as these heaters are intended for marine applications. At first i kept a close eye on the heater, but ended up using it every night on the trip, some nights as high as 11,800ft.

View attachment 623537


I think it was mentioned earlier, but the water tank kits are now officially available as well! (https://ok4wd.com/brands/alucab/alu-cab-water-tank) More info on the site, but LMK what questions you have.

View attachment 623536

We also were able to test a new interior offering from Goose Gear, which is more of a stripped down simple "L" bench system. The top plates have brackets that attach to the camper frame and simple vertical wall attaching to the baseplate create a super lightweight storage area with room to sit and step to get into the bed section. More info to come soon on this form Goose Gear.

View attachment 623538

I've been waiting for this. Just ordered the Dickinson kit. Sold my uninstalled Propex. Those are hard to find so had people lined up to buy that. Looking forward to installing. Hopeful that the instructions are pretty intuitive. I'm mechanically inclined, so hoping it goes relatively smoothly.

 

[seekoutbeauty]

Now that I cleared out the 900 emails from my work inbox, here is a detailed update on my 10 day trip to the PNW Nov 5th- Nov15th.

The camper saw a lot of rain and snow, cold weather, and some dust.
We did probably 3000 miles on pavement and about 100 on dirt.

The truck is well built with Long travel suspension up front, with King 2.5" coil overs with adjusters, Triple Bypass secondary shocks, and then a 12" shock relocation from Archive, with a tripple bypass 2.5", King 2.0 Hydro bumps, and Deaver Stage 2 leafs.

We added the water tank and filled it to the fill line. I have a Goose Gear seat delete, with a Dometic 65 fridge in the back seat. The bed of the truck has the new Goose Gear build out, that Brian and the team crammed to piece together the night before we left. I have cabinets on the driver side, and then a cabinet and drawer on the passenger side.

We packed liberally (or she did), with 4 or 5 bags of clothes and shoes. A couple of towels, two chairs, skottle, jet boil, general kitchen stuff, fire extinguisher, floor jack, lots of tools, a heavy impact driver, and some other stuff I am likely leaving out.

Why am I telling you all this...the truck was pretty damn heavy. That being said, the girlfriend says that the truck drives better than it ever has.
I had the GFC before, a snugtop with RTT, bed rack with RTT, and she genuinely feels that it has never driven better.
I think that is mostly due to where the weight is, and how the Canopy Camper mounts.


As far as the function of the truck goes... HOLY CRAP. We are amazed and so so happy with it. If you are considering a GooseGear system, get it! it MAKES the setup incredibly functional.
With all the stuff that we brought, we still had a full bed to hang out it.
We spent 5 or 6 nights just hanging out down below and playing Yahtzee. The dog was happy in her bed on the floor and we just sat on the Goose Gear storage and rolled the dice on them as well.
Everything had a place, which is awesome, especially considering we had 0 time to plan where to put things before leaving.

The rain and snow did not make it inside and we had dry bedding and a dry bed the whole trip.
The bed got a little dust in when I was flying down some dirt in the Sierras, but I am sure with another tube of Sikaflex I can help that.

I am not someone who is easily satisfied, and my expectations are incredibly high, but the Canopy Camper is just so damn well thought out, functional, and well built, that I am finally happy with the setup on my truck.

Roof Rack and Fireplace go in this weekend, and then a quick one nighter with my buddy. I think we are going to hit a trail rated "Hard" that really isn't that tough, but the snow could make it fun.
We will see how the truck performs with the extra weight over the GFC. I've ran the trail with the GFC and without, and the truck performed better with the GFC due to the added weight in the rear. I was spinning tires without the weight.

 

[Colby Jack]

Now that I cleared out the 900 emails from my work inbox, here is a detailed update on my 10 day trip to the PNW Nov 5th- Nov15th.

The camper saw a lot of rain and snow, cold weather, and some dust.
We did probably 3000 miles on pavement and about 100 on dirt.

The truck is well built with Long travel suspension up front, with King 2.5" coil overs with adjusters, Triple Bypass secondary shocks, and then a 12" shock relocation from Archive, with a tripple bypass 2.5", King 2.0 Hydro bumps, and Deaver Stage 2 leafs.

We added the water tank and filled it to the fill line. I have a Goose Gear seat delete, with a Dometic 65 fridge in the back seat. The bed of the truck has the new Goose Gear build out, that Brian and the team crammed to piece together the night before we left. I have cabinets on the driver side, and then a cabinet and drawer on the passenger side.

We packed liberally (or she did), with 4 or 5 bags of clothes and shoes. A couple of towels, two chairs, skottle, jet boil, general kitchen stuff, fire extinguisher, floor jack, lots of tools, a heavy impact driver, and some other stuff I am likely leaving out.

Why am I telling you all this...the truck was pretty damn heavy. That being said, the girlfriend says that the truck drives better than it ever has.
I had the GFC before, a snugtop with RTT, bed rack with RTT, and she genuinely feels that it has never driven better.
I think that is mostly due to where the weight is, and how the Canopy Camper mounts.


As far as the function of the truck goes... HOLY CRAP. We are amazed and so so happy with it. If you are considering a GooseGear system, get it! it MAKES the setup incredibly functional.
With all the stuff that we brought, we still had a full bed to hang out it.
We spent 5 or 6 nights just hanging out down below and playing Yahtzee. The dog was happy in her bed on the floor and we just sat on the Goose Gear storage and rolled the dice on them as well.
Everything had a place, which is awesome, especially considering we had 0 time to plan where to put things before leaving.

The rain and snow did not make it inside and we had dry bedding and a dry bed the whole trip.
The bed got a little dust in when I was flying down some dirt in the Sierras, but I am sure with another tube of Sikaflex I can help that.

I am not someone who is easily satisfied, and my expectations are incredibly high, but the Canopy Camper is just so damn well thought out, functional, and well built, that I am finally happy with the setup on my truck.

Roof Rack and Fireplace go in this weekend, and then a quick one nighter with my buddy. I think we are going to hit a trail rated "Hard" that really isn't that tough, but the snow could make it fun.
We will see how the truck performs with the extra weight over the GFC. I've ran the trail with the GFC and without, and the truck performed better with the GFC due to the added weight in the rear. I was spinning tires without the weight.

Fantastic write up! Gotta ask... who’s the Alaskan in the other rig? Would loooove to check it out in person if they come back up.