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Truck Bed Camping Set Ups

FleshEater

Ordinary Average Guy
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Anyone use a truck cap with a camping set up frequently?

I have a design in mind for my bed frame with 11.5”x45” of storage under the bed frame.

Looking for small heater ideas and maybe some other stuff I haven’t thought of. Not doing long stays. Just a night or two at a time. I can get a deep cycle battery and inverter for free from a buddy. Figured it’d be useful for this.

Post up pics of your set ups!
 
Bed frame built to go over the left wheelwell with storage under it. twin fold up mattress on it. Small table with a coffee maker and alarm clock on it next to that bed at the head. Inverter generator and an electric heater for thos super cold nights. Woke up in a 40 below bag in 14 degrees with a ice river where I was breathing out. fuck that. Now I sleep in shorts.
 
Long bed, short bed, mini truck, foolsize?

I have a cap for my F350 8' bed. Air mattress fits between the wheel wells, low pro toolbox at the front (not over the rails obv :homer:) works as a great shelf for phone+ charger, shotgun, whatever, tailgate wedges mattress against toolbox nicely. Never did cold weather but everyone raves about the Little Buddy heaters, CO2 monitoring, ect. Crack a window and don't worry about it
 
Long bed, short bed, mini truck, foolsize?

I have a cap for my F350 8' bed. Air mattress fits between the wheel wells, low pro toolbox at the front (not over the rails obv :homer:) works as a great shelf for phone+ charger, shotgun, whatever, tailgate wedges mattress against toolbox nicely. Never did cold weather but everyone raves about the Little Buddy heaters, CO2 monitoring, ect. Crack a window and don't worry about it
6.5’ bed. Probably won’t be much room for a shelf, but just looking for one or two night camping possibilities.

I’ve refined my bed frame idea a little bit. Fewer materials and lighter to remove when I need it for working.
 
Make sure there's a way to crack a window or something. Hot weather with no ventilation is miserable.
 
Make sure there's a way to crack a window or something. Hot weather with no ventilation is miserable.
It has two side windows that open out. I just need to rig up some temporary screens on the inside to keep bugs out.
 
I just slept 2 nights in the wife's F150 with a shell. First time I kinda wish I'd had gone longer than the 5.5' bed :laughing: for heat, if truck and she'll both have sliders, you can put the heater on out side air and it will force feed the shell. Works really well heat or a/c. Especially if you have remote start. :flipoff2:

Buddy heaters are killer and would heat the shit out of a shell space. As long as you have a way to secure it.
 
That's small of a space, I'd almost thing heating up a bottle of water in a Nalgene bottle and slipping it into the sleeping bag with yea may do the trick.
 
I don’t know how much I’ll have to worry about heat. Not sure we’ll be camping in the snow, but figured it’s better to be prepared than not.
 
I've slept in the back of my truck more times than I can count, and the only time I was not comfortable was on a Mojave Road trip where the temps dropped into the teens and I only had a 40* bag. A 12v blanket or a better bag would have helped. DT75FLH had a little buddy in his shell, and was fine till it ran out of pane, and then he froze his ass off too. I think we were all happy to see the sun come up.

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Next time out....I had to turn off the lil buddy heater cause I was sweating :laughing:

I remember our water bottles freezing that night :lmao:
 
*not my setup but copied 90% (no ladder rack,went lower on sleep platform) did months out er last year. Gave away as wanted truck bed space back during hunting season and taking that in and out/storing wasnt in the cards.
This “months long out’n” I’m roll up cot/ sleeping pad’n it under the shell on a section berber carpet 8’long 4’ wide.
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DAC half truck tent off Amazon.
Make bed platform low enough so can sit up/turn over comfortably.
Replacing all that w/ Four Wheel Campers “Grandby” before winter/KOH 22’ is the plan.
Edit:
Google image “truck bed sleep platforms” to see a metric ton of ways to outfit a camper from mild to wild for sure can gets ton ideas as well.
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If its in your budget a propex heater is a good choice. Mount it under the bed and pipe it in.
 
DAC half truck tent off Amazon.
Make bed platform low enough so can sit up/turn over comfortably.
Replacing all that w/ Four Wheel Campers “Grandby” before winter/KOH 22’ is the plan.
Edit:
Google image “truck bed sleep platforms” to see a metric ton of ways to outfit a camper from mild to wild for sure can gets ton ideas as well.
50F8003A-59FE-4646-A0A2-5C7F61349F50.jpeg

I used the same, tent setup on my ford from the pic above that rocdoc posted...
 
Originally built it for my Travelall, but after I sold that I use it in my pickup with a shell. I built it so 1/3 of it folded up for the Travelall back seat, or if you are taking taller items that dont fit underneath. It is a bit heavy and headroom isn't great but there is enough room for storage below. Obviously you could do better if you didn't have to sleep 2.

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and in the truck I have now. Probably going to build something that works better with the truck bed allowing more headroom.
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