Introducing the “NEW” Alu-Cab Canopy Camper

lumis

Member
I’d really like to put to bed the questions of weight and tire size.

How much does the canopy camper weigh before any add-on?

Can the rear door handle a 35/37 and still open to 90deg?
Alu-cab says the rear wheel carrier will handel up to 33 inch. Anything much bigger than that will likely interfere with the doors latching mechanism.
 

seekoutbeauty

Active member
I’d really like to put to bed the questions of weight and tire size.

How much does the canopy camper weigh before any add-on?

Can the rear door handle a 35/37 and still open to 90deg?

I had a 35” (measures 34.6” I think) custom mounted to the door. Fits by about 2mm. It’s offset towards the handle/latch. Opened more than 90.
 

Colby Jack

Traveler
Hive mind,

I have a tendency to dream up ideas and then they wilt on the vine.... BUT NOT TODAY!!!

What do you folks think about mounting a canopy camper to a 1st gen 4runner?

I value your opinions.
 

seekoutbeauty

Active member
Hive mind,

I have a tendency to dream up ideas and then they wilt on the vine.... BUT NOT TODAY!!!

What do you folks think about mounting a canopy camper to a 1st gen 4runner?

I value your opinions.


I was thinking this same thing yesterday... I am trying to plan out a crawler and this popped in my mind.
I think you need to look at the "bed length" and see how close it is to some of the options out there.
Are you thinking of making it a pass through too?

I am confident it could work with enough modification to the 4runner.
 

SoyBoy

Member
Camped with the fireplace.
It was showing 29F on the dash when we turned the truck off at midnight.
Camper was around 70F in an hour or so. (Lowish setting and no Fan - Fan wasn't wired up in time)

Agreed on the ambiance... There is something special about having a flickering flame.
If you are gonna camp in some really frigid temps, but want the flickering flame, I would recommend a buddy heater to take the chill out of the camper and get things up to temp, and the Dickinson can run all night.

I have some plans to add some insulation to the camper. Keep in mind, this is a giant aluminum box, and aluminum is really good at being effing freezing when it's freezing out. Additionally, the water tank has become just about the coldest thing in the camper (You will never get the back wall warm once 13 gallons of water is cold). You can feel the cold radiating from the water tank.
If the water tank wasn't such a pain to install/remove, I would prob throw some insulation behind it. I have some plans to add some to the front of the tank.

I am guessing it was in the mid to low 20s that night and the Dickinson with no fan did a really good job of keeping us comfortable. I wasn't hot, but I was in a -30 Coleman extra large sleeping bag, with no extra blankets, in shorts and a tshirt, with no socks... I woke up a few times and saw the light flickering... I was pretty happy.

The gravity feed on the water tank has frozen up on me 3 times now. It typically defrosts fairly quickly, but it is something that I would like to solve for. (This happened with the Dickinson on as well) It may be worth wrapping the line in something, but I highly doubt that will work. The best solution may be to drain the line before going to sleep.

We also added a full size Roof Rack from Sherpa https://sherpaequipmentco.com/shop. It fit incredibly and really made a different in how the truck looks. The maxtrax fit awesome in front of it and the GNARLY wind noise I had is completely gone. I really want to see if I can squeeze the table in now.

Obligatory Photos from the over nighter:

Camp (Peep the Chimney)
AgM75qD.jpg


Johnson Valley
quL2j4k.jpg


Very nice rig.
I am just in the process of buying a Tacoma Access cab 6' box and going to fit the ACCC to it. Do you think this roof rack will fit with my rig (proposed)?


THX
 
Very nice rig.
I am just in the process of buying a Tacoma Access cab 6' box and going to fit the ACCC to it. Do you think this roof rack will fit with my rig (proposed)?


THX

I think one of the Animas racks will definitely fit as far as space goes. I had actually asked @seekoutbeauty that same question in terms of which one he bought & he had installed one of their normal sized Grand Teton (Dbl Cab) racks, so if one of those fits, I am sure their special camper style racks will, though the best thing to do is check w/ them. I think the Teton is their normal sized rack for Access Cabs.
 

SoyBoy

Member
I think one of the Animas racks will definitely fit as far as space goes. I had actually asked @seekoutbeauty that same question in terms of which one he bought & he had installed one of their normal sized Grand Teton (Dbl Cab) racks, so if one of those fits, I am sure their special camper style racks will, though the best thing to do is check w/ them. I think the Teton is their normal sized rack for Access Cabs.

I should have qualified that I will certainly have the Alu Cab table installed on the underside of the accc overhang which will eat up about 3" of the gap between the accc overhang and the top of the Access cab. So I don't figure a full-length roof rack will fit in that gap - and who needs a full-length roof rack if you've got the accc prohibiting you from actually using that part of the rr.
 
I should have qualified that I will certainly have the Alu Cab table installed on the underside of the accc overhang which will eat up about 3" of the gap between the accc overhang and the top of the Access cab. So I don't figure a full-length roof rack will fit in that gap - and who needs a full-length roof rack if you've got the accc prohibiting you from actually using that part of the rr.

Yeah, agreed on that front. So far I held off on the table, but either way, I do want the benefit of the wind fairing on one of those racks whether it's full length or not more than anything.
 

SoyBoy

Member
Yeah, agreed on that front. So far I held off on the table, but either way, I do want the benefit of the wind fairing on one of those racks whether it's full length or not more than anything.

WRT to the Alu C table, you would need to install the bracket before you install the accc (unless you want to remove the accc later - I guess) So I figure I will install the bracket and likely build my own table to fit in that space. To me it just makes sense to use that dead space with an easily accessible table that is typically a bit of a challenge to find a spot to store it.
 

LionZoo

Observer
I have an Animas B on my dual cab and I needed to chop off the ends of the side plates to make sure there was no interference. The rack physically fits without modifications, but on trail I'm sure movement of the bed would cause the camper (specifically, the table tray) to hit the rack. For you, with an access cab, the A would be the only rack that would work.
 

SoyBoy

Member
I have an Animas B on my dual cab and I needed to chop off the ends of the side plates to make sure there was no interference. The rack physically fits without modifications, but on trail I'm sure movement of the bed would cause the camper (specifically, the table tray) to hit the rack. For you, with an access cab, the A would be the only rack that would work.

Good to know. It looks like a good rack - Are you happy with it?

What is it about the table that makes you like it so much?
 

LionZoo

Observer
The rack only went on a week ago, so I haven't really used it. I will say, the B rack gives decent real estate so I can fit some stuff on it; I just haven't decided what should go up there yet. However, there is no wind noise and it's fairly light, so in general I have a positive impression.

The table is just super convenient. It's so easy to pull out and put them, making lunch on the trail a breeze. You can, of course, store a folding table inside the camper and that would give about the same usefulness. However, we try to minimize the amount of dirt inside the camper, to the point of taking our shoes off before entering, so storing the table outside the camper helps keep things cleaner. Also, the table has a large amount of surface area so you can put a good amount of stuff on it. It's also just conveniently stored in an underutilized area, leaving more space inside the camper for other items.
 

jimdisc

Member
I have an Animas B on my dual cab and I needed to chop off the ends of the side plates to make sure there was no interference. The rack physically fits without modifications, but on trail I'm sure movement of the bed would cause the camper (specifically, the table tray) to hit the rack. For you, with an access cab, the A would be the only rack that would work.

Based on this, it sounds like the Animas B would fit the double cab without modification if there are no table brackets. On the other hand, Seekoutbeauty has the full rack underneath the overhang. I don't think I want the full rack but am considering the D because I like the proportions. I emailed Sherpa this morning to see if they have some dimensions of each size (which I couldn't find on their site) or experience with any of the Animas racks on trucks with an ACCC.
 

LionZoo

Observer
There really is a lot of space underneath the camper if you didn't have the table. However, having the full rack with the camper would be a bit wasteful as you can't really put anything useful on the rack underneath the overhang.
 

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