washington taco
Explorer
This truck is awesome! Mike @ VMI does fantastic work! He built my front bumper back in 2010.
Post build ..uh.. build thread.
- Thread starter ericvs
- Start date
bknudtsen
Expedition Leader
Thought so. I immediately noticed it as we passed, as I had been research Ute style canopies recently. It appears to be fairly compact for what it is. Nice work, especially the camper jack setup.
ericvs
Active member
Cool. Thanks for all the kind words. I am very happy with it and have been using it much more than I even envisioned I would. Makes me feel good about the design and the work. Here it is on Camano Island post kite session.
You can see the 5gallon propane tank mounted behind the rear wheel. Runs the heater and I can connect the BBQ to a quick disconnect.
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You can see the 5gallon propane tank mounted behind the rear wheel. Runs the heater and I can connect the BBQ to a quick disconnect.
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Thanks! Your truck looks pretty rad too! I need to do something for the front of mine. maybe back to VMI?
Thanks. Yeah, it is pretty compact. Under 7'-6" and just about 20' or so without the bike rack. Can take it downtown pretty easily. A backup camera would be pretty handy, but it isn't bad. You are welcome to take a tour any time. It won't take very long, haha.
ericvs
Active member
Shakedown trip. Decided to do a trip around the penninsula for our first big trip. The plan was to do some kiting and biking.
Left Seattle with bikes loaded on the NorthShore Rack and headed to Damon Point for a fun day of kiting. Was really nice to be able to change in the back with the propex heating up the cold wetsuits. My idea was to be able to use this for short day trips with minimal setup. I wanted to be able to get to the beach, turn on the heater for about 5 minutes while everyone changed then shut it all down and go have fun. Then when the session is over, get back to the rig, fire up the heater, change out of your suits and close it all up and head home. Total setup time is about 1 minute. Just have to undo the snaps holding the fabric roll, push the 'top up' bottom and turn on the heater. Overall, I think it works really well.
Here is an interior shot, the bed isn't set up in this shot, there is one bed panel in there and we add one more panel + the mattress. We can fit a full mattress. I found a 4" thick tri-fold mattress that is very comfy. The gf and I can sleep side to side in the back cause we are short enough. This leaves enough room for a mini change room when the bed is deployed. You can also see the keypad to the right of the door. This locks the back door and the two side doors with the push of a button. This is a nice feature as it allows multiple people to access their gear without having to do a key exchange out on the beach. I originally thought this would be a more fluff piece of equipment, but it has turned out to be a really nice feature. We used trimark handles/locks and keypad. There is also a key override in case anything happens with the auto locks.
Damon was 9m! Nice!
After that fun, we headed around the peninsula and spent the night in LaPush. Luckily didn't see any vampires, but it sure did rain a lot. The bed was nice and cozy and the heater did its job.
We only stopped here cause I like Tulips so much
LaPush for the night, taken between breaks in the rain squalls that were rolling through.
Woke up in the am and headed to Port Angeles for a killer build/ride day at Dry hill. Overall, a successful first trip!
Left Seattle with bikes loaded on the NorthShore Rack and headed to Damon Point for a fun day of kiting. Was really nice to be able to change in the back with the propex heating up the cold wetsuits. My idea was to be able to use this for short day trips with minimal setup. I wanted to be able to get to the beach, turn on the heater for about 5 minutes while everyone changed then shut it all down and go have fun. Then when the session is over, get back to the rig, fire up the heater, change out of your suits and close it all up and head home. Total setup time is about 1 minute. Just have to undo the snaps holding the fabric roll, push the 'top up' bottom and turn on the heater. Overall, I think it works really well.
Here is an interior shot, the bed isn't set up in this shot, there is one bed panel in there and we add one more panel + the mattress. We can fit a full mattress. I found a 4" thick tri-fold mattress that is very comfy. The gf and I can sleep side to side in the back cause we are short enough. This leaves enough room for a mini change room when the bed is deployed. You can also see the keypad to the right of the door. This locks the back door and the two side doors with the push of a button. This is a nice feature as it allows multiple people to access their gear without having to do a key exchange out on the beach. I originally thought this would be a more fluff piece of equipment, but it has turned out to be a really nice feature. We used trimark handles/locks and keypad. There is also a key override in case anything happens with the auto locks.
Damon was 9m! Nice!
After that fun, we headed around the peninsula and spent the night in LaPush. Luckily didn't see any vampires, but it sure did rain a lot. The bed was nice and cozy and the heater did its job.
We only stopped here cause I like Tulips so much
LaPush for the night, taken between breaks in the rain squalls that were rolling through.
Woke up in the am and headed to Port Angeles for a killer build/ride day at Dry hill. Overall, a successful first trip!
ericvs
Active member
Thanks! Very happy with it so far!
ericvs
Active member
Storage thoughts and action
The most important part of my idea was making sure there was enough dedicated storage for all the things, plus I wanted to be able to easily carry just about everything else. When the bed is in place, there is a little less versatility, but when it is just in 'day mode', it will swallow lots of gear and people. Pickup beds are great and can carry everything, but it tended to need lots of gear moving to be able to make it work. We would carry everything from bikes and muddy riding gear to a bed and kiting gear all in the same weekend.
Overall, We can carry lots of fun gear. 4 sups, two peoples worth of kiting and surfing gear? yes.
I wanted the side boxes to hold most of the stuff, and have the back open for the rest. I also didn't want the stinky activity gear in the same place that I sleep, so the side storage boxes were born. The boxes can hold up to four 6'0" surf boards or multitudes of other stuff. The overall plan didn't have a galley in it, but when camping for multiple days, we tend to turn one of the side boxes into the food prep/galley area and put the rest of the gear elsewhere.
Bigger surf board fit in the back- across the bed (I have a 7'9" that just fits on the diagonal, great). I am not a huge fan of strapping surf boards to the outside on the roof if I can help it, so the long boards normally ride inside until we get to the destination.
The side box is 23" deep & 16" tall inside. You can either hold the side door up to make a shelf, or unclip the red amsteel lines and have it fold flat against the side of the truck. Very handy.
Here is my 7'-9" ready for loading
Here is another view of the side box, full of food and kites oh and beer.
Another fun option is to load the bikes up in the back for longer trips. We have to pull the front wheel as the overall length is about 5" too short to hold the bikes with the wheel in place, dang, didn't think of this during the initial design. No biggie though, couple bolts and they are ready for loading. This was on a trip to Whistler. We loaded the bikes in the back for the trip North, then unloaded them when we arrvied and used the bike rack for the weekend and loaded them up in the back for the trip home. All the sweaty, stinky riding gear was loaded in the side boxes at night so we didn't have it in the sleeping area with us, just the stinky bodies, haha. You can also see the surf board we have strapped to the inside of the roof - ready for any adventure! - I used a climbing daisy chain fastened to the roof and then some tie down straps to hold the boards. This frees up lots of space in the side boxes for other gear.
(The gf loves all the different flavour chips up north. We always buy about 5 bags of fun flavours, America doesn't have All dressed or Ketchup! what the heck?)
Some action shots from one of our Whistler trips this year.
Hitting Duane Johson on a demo Session 9.9, this was scary big. I guess Crabapple is next??
Joyride roll
Taking a break in the middle of a 45minute Freight Train/No Joke/Dirt Merchant/Del Boca Vista/Lower A-line/Hornets/GLC lap at the top of the Creekside chair.
The most important part of my idea was making sure there was enough dedicated storage for all the things, plus I wanted to be able to easily carry just about everything else. When the bed is in place, there is a little less versatility, but when it is just in 'day mode', it will swallow lots of gear and people. Pickup beds are great and can carry everything, but it tended to need lots of gear moving to be able to make it work. We would carry everything from bikes and muddy riding gear to a bed and kiting gear all in the same weekend.
Overall, We can carry lots of fun gear. 4 sups, two peoples worth of kiting and surfing gear? yes.
I wanted the side boxes to hold most of the stuff, and have the back open for the rest. I also didn't want the stinky activity gear in the same place that I sleep, so the side storage boxes were born. The boxes can hold up to four 6'0" surf boards or multitudes of other stuff. The overall plan didn't have a galley in it, but when camping for multiple days, we tend to turn one of the side boxes into the food prep/galley area and put the rest of the gear elsewhere.
Bigger surf board fit in the back- across the bed (I have a 7'9" that just fits on the diagonal, great). I am not a huge fan of strapping surf boards to the outside on the roof if I can help it, so the long boards normally ride inside until we get to the destination.
The side box is 23" deep & 16" tall inside. You can either hold the side door up to make a shelf, or unclip the red amsteel lines and have it fold flat against the side of the truck. Very handy.
Here is my 7'-9" ready for loading
Here is another view of the side box, full of food and kites oh and beer.
Another fun option is to load the bikes up in the back for longer trips. We have to pull the front wheel as the overall length is about 5" too short to hold the bikes with the wheel in place, dang, didn't think of this during the initial design. No biggie though, couple bolts and they are ready for loading. This was on a trip to Whistler. We loaded the bikes in the back for the trip North, then unloaded them when we arrvied and used the bike rack for the weekend and loaded them up in the back for the trip home. All the sweaty, stinky riding gear was loaded in the side boxes at night so we didn't have it in the sleeping area with us, just the stinky bodies, haha. You can also see the surf board we have strapped to the inside of the roof - ready for any adventure! - I used a climbing daisy chain fastened to the roof and then some tie down straps to hold the boards. This frees up lots of space in the side boxes for other gear.
(The gf loves all the different flavour chips up north. We always buy about 5 bags of fun flavours, America doesn't have All dressed or Ketchup! what the heck?)
Some action shots from one of our Whistler trips this year.
Hitting Duane Johson on a demo Session 9.9, this was scary big. I guess Crabapple is next??
Joyride roll
Taking a break in the middle of a 45minute Freight Train/No Joke/Dirt Merchant/Del Boca Vista/Lower A-line/Hornets/GLC lap at the top of the Creekside chair.
ericvs
Active member
More adventures!
Snowing a ton out here this year! It is real nice having a heated change room for the apres-ski at the Summit.
Little boarding at the Summit.
Little biking at Mt. Constitution on Orcas Island
and a little kiting at Cline spit on the penninsula.
Good stuff!
I have some lower lights that will illuminate the ground in front of the rear tire. I found that at night it was pitch black down there and if you dropped anything, it was gone. These lights really help light up the area without blinding everyone around you. I have found, however, that they are not super helpful with backing up at night at the tire shadows the area you are trying to look at. Thinking about adding some lights behind the rear tire to light up that are as well.
Snowing a ton out here this year! It is real nice having a heated change room for the apres-ski at the Summit.
Little boarding at the Summit.
Little biking at Mt. Constitution on Orcas Island
and a little kiting at Cline spit on the penninsula.
Good stuff!
I have some lower lights that will illuminate the ground in front of the rear tire. I found that at night it was pitch black down there and if you dropped anything, it was gone. These lights really help light up the area without blinding everyone around you. I have found, however, that they are not super helpful with backing up at night at the tire shadows the area you are trying to look at. Thinking about adding some lights behind the rear tire to light up that are as well.
Bubblegoose1
@PNWINFERNOPRO
Great setup. Love the trip posts.
Taildragon
New member
Keep the pic coming, freaking love your setup. Now, what to do with my 05 cc dodge?
ericvs
Active member
Thanks! Lots more adventure photos in the works.
I have some ideas for your '05 ...