For Sale: 2005 Toyota Tundra with a custom fiberglass pop-up camper.
See video walk-through here:
Extra photos:
drive.google.com
THE BACK STORY:
In the summer of 2021, my wife and I quit our jobs. We spent around 4 months full time building this camper (after around 1.5 years of design work). When the camper was done, we spent a year driving around the US and Canada. We spent most of our time boondocking in the national forest and seeing what these amazing countries have to offer. We drove this camper through sand, mud, snow, rivers, high wind, rocks, ice, you name it. Alas, our trip came to an end and we moved back to a sedentary life with full time jobs. Unfortunately, this camper does not really fit into our new life. So I figured maybe it would be a fit for someone else out there!
THE TRUCK:
• 2005 Toyota Tundra.
• 4WD.
• Automatic Transmission.
• 4.7L V8 Engine.
• 227,000kms. 141,000miles.
• SR5 Trim.
THE CAMPER:
It is a flatbed pop-up camper. This means you are low profile going down the road and the trail, but have generous standing room inside at the campsite. There is a dinette area inside which comfortably seats 3. The dinette table drops down to convert to an extra bed. The seat cushions are custom foam with removable covers.
The kitchen has two large countertops. The passenger side has an undermount sink and flip-up table for extra counter space. The water pump and tanks live under the sink. The water system is 4 7-gallon jerry cans. Three for fresh water and the fourth drains the sink. This is nice as you can bring the jerry cans wherever to fill up. The driver’s side has a full row of drawers. The drawers are quite large and can fit a lot of food and cooking equipment. The floor of the kitchen is actually raised 7” from the floor of the camper, and there are large compartments for even more storage! Perfect to keep the heavy stuff down low.
The mattress is 73”x53”. The dinette table is designed to fit between the countertops to expand the bed. We didn’t use this much as the bed was plenty comfortable for two medium people. The front of the bed lifts up to reveal more storage. The back of the bed folds up to become a lounge/couch.
There are two baggage doors on the outside. The front one is accessible from both the outside and the inside. It made a great place for the laundry. The rear one is quite large and spans the full width of the camper. Great for camping gear!
There is an 8 foot awning on the passenger's side. It works quite well.
There is an 8-gallon water heater that is heated by the engine. It will heat all 8 gallons in 5-10 minutes. It is in the truck cabin, in place of the rear seats. I kept the rear seats though, so I could remove the water heater and swap them back in if that’s what you want. We used it mostly for washing dishes and for outdoor showers.
CONSTRUCTION:
The camper is built entirely out of a fiberglass-foam composite sandwich. Specifically, 20oz (two layers) of fiberglass on the outside, 1.5” of high density EPS, then one layer of 9oz cloth on the inside. This construction is very strong and very lightweight. The lower box is one piece, so no seams, glues, or screw to come apart and leak. The roof is the same fiberglass-foam sandwich. Epoxy resin used throughout.
All of the structure (seats, cabinets, etc.) on the inside is all welded from lightweight aluminum tube. The drawers are ¼” baltic birch plywood and have withstood an impressive amount of abuse.
The camper itself sits on an aluminum sub-frame. The aluminum frame mounts to the frame of the truck in a flexible manner, to allow the frame to move without stressing the camper shell.
The “canvas” is 18oz vinyl coated polyester.
The camper is 7’6” tall in the closed position. The roof goes up 30”. It is 20’ long including the bike rack.
ELECTRICAL:
• 100AH LiFePO4 battery
• 2x100 watt solar panes on the roof.
• Renogy DCC50S. MPPT solar charge controller and 12v DC-DC charger that draws from the alternator. It will do 25amps of solar and 25 amps off the alternator at the same time.
• Victron Smart shunt to monitor the battery charge and voltage from their app.
• Heavy gauge pure copper wire used throughout
• Truckfridge TF49 12DC fridge and freezer. Works well and is very efficient.
• TecNiq interior LED lights. There’s a cabin “zone” and a bed “zone” with dimmers. Very bright strip lights over the kitchen area are nice for cooking.
• 3000BTU diesel heater from China. This worked really well. We regularly camped in below-freezing temperatures in relative comfort. Also works well to control moisture in the camper.
• 12V Roof fan from HikeCrew. 3 speeds out, 2 speeds in.
• 500w inverter.
THE BAD/UGLY/THINGS I WOULD CHANGE
Here is a pretty comprehensive list of everything I know which is less than ideal about the camper. I figure it’s best to just lay everything out and be as transparent as possible. That way I’m not wasting anybody’s time.
• We took this camper through some pretty tough off-road trails. The sides are definitely pinstriped as a result of this. The rear bumper is bent up a bit from where I back into a rock in Joshua Tree. There are a couple small (quarter sized) cracks in the windshield.
• The camper door is a little small. It was the only reasonably priced one I could find at the time. It’s ok once you get used to it, but neither my wife nor I are very tall.
• The swivel table I built is less than ideal. It should be stronger and more rigid. We used it for a year without issues, but you definitely can’t put anything too heavy on it.
• After a year of use, the velcro window flaps don’t line up perfectly anymore. I didn’t notice any leaking problems because of this though. The corners of the windows do occasionally have a very small leak. Resealing them every few months prevents this.
• It is currently running the stock leaf springs. It would definitely benefit from a heavy duty pair of leaf springs.
• The cushions are not positively affixed to the seats, and will fall off during vigorous off roading. They stay on fine during normal driving.
• I inspected the timing belt around 3,000 miles ago. It looks good, but could probably be changed soonish.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Overall, this camper has performed very well. It it quite comfortable, and can take you pretty much anywhere. Even after a year of continuous use, it is still holding up great. The fiberglass shell is very strong, and shows no sign of wear. I am honestly quite heartbroken to sell the camper we put our blood, sweat, and tears (and hours, so so so many hours). But, that’s how life goes sometimes and I just hope there’s someone out there who wants to make some incredible memories in this camper like we did.
If you’re interested, or have questions, please reach out. I designed and built the entire thing from scratch, so I could literally talk for hours about it. I'm happy to work out a deal. Camper is located outside Fort Langley BC Canada.
Price: $35,000CAD OBO
See video walk-through here:
Extra photos:
Truck Camper Photos – Google Drive
drive.google.com
THE BACK STORY:
In the summer of 2021, my wife and I quit our jobs. We spent around 4 months full time building this camper (after around 1.5 years of design work). When the camper was done, we spent a year driving around the US and Canada. We spent most of our time boondocking in the national forest and seeing what these amazing countries have to offer. We drove this camper through sand, mud, snow, rivers, high wind, rocks, ice, you name it. Alas, our trip came to an end and we moved back to a sedentary life with full time jobs. Unfortunately, this camper does not really fit into our new life. So I figured maybe it would be a fit for someone else out there!
THE TRUCK:
• 2005 Toyota Tundra.
• 4WD.
• Automatic Transmission.
• 4.7L V8 Engine.
• 227,000kms. 141,000miles.
• SR5 Trim.
THE CAMPER:
It is a flatbed pop-up camper. This means you are low profile going down the road and the trail, but have generous standing room inside at the campsite. There is a dinette area inside which comfortably seats 3. The dinette table drops down to convert to an extra bed. The seat cushions are custom foam with removable covers.
The kitchen has two large countertops. The passenger side has an undermount sink and flip-up table for extra counter space. The water pump and tanks live under the sink. The water system is 4 7-gallon jerry cans. Three for fresh water and the fourth drains the sink. This is nice as you can bring the jerry cans wherever to fill up. The driver’s side has a full row of drawers. The drawers are quite large and can fit a lot of food and cooking equipment. The floor of the kitchen is actually raised 7” from the floor of the camper, and there are large compartments for even more storage! Perfect to keep the heavy stuff down low.
The mattress is 73”x53”. The dinette table is designed to fit between the countertops to expand the bed. We didn’t use this much as the bed was plenty comfortable for two medium people. The front of the bed lifts up to reveal more storage. The back of the bed folds up to become a lounge/couch.
There are two baggage doors on the outside. The front one is accessible from both the outside and the inside. It made a great place for the laundry. The rear one is quite large and spans the full width of the camper. Great for camping gear!
There is an 8 foot awning on the passenger's side. It works quite well.
There is an 8-gallon water heater that is heated by the engine. It will heat all 8 gallons in 5-10 minutes. It is in the truck cabin, in place of the rear seats. I kept the rear seats though, so I could remove the water heater and swap them back in if that’s what you want. We used it mostly for washing dishes and for outdoor showers.
CONSTRUCTION:
The camper is built entirely out of a fiberglass-foam composite sandwich. Specifically, 20oz (two layers) of fiberglass on the outside, 1.5” of high density EPS, then one layer of 9oz cloth on the inside. This construction is very strong and very lightweight. The lower box is one piece, so no seams, glues, or screw to come apart and leak. The roof is the same fiberglass-foam sandwich. Epoxy resin used throughout.
All of the structure (seats, cabinets, etc.) on the inside is all welded from lightweight aluminum tube. The drawers are ¼” baltic birch plywood and have withstood an impressive amount of abuse.
The camper itself sits on an aluminum sub-frame. The aluminum frame mounts to the frame of the truck in a flexible manner, to allow the frame to move without stressing the camper shell.
The “canvas” is 18oz vinyl coated polyester.
The camper is 7’6” tall in the closed position. The roof goes up 30”. It is 20’ long including the bike rack.
ELECTRICAL:
• 100AH LiFePO4 battery
• 2x100 watt solar panes on the roof.
• Renogy DCC50S. MPPT solar charge controller and 12v DC-DC charger that draws from the alternator. It will do 25amps of solar and 25 amps off the alternator at the same time.
• Victron Smart shunt to monitor the battery charge and voltage from their app.
• Heavy gauge pure copper wire used throughout
• Truckfridge TF49 12DC fridge and freezer. Works well and is very efficient.
• TecNiq interior LED lights. There’s a cabin “zone” and a bed “zone” with dimmers. Very bright strip lights over the kitchen area are nice for cooking.
• 3000BTU diesel heater from China. This worked really well. We regularly camped in below-freezing temperatures in relative comfort. Also works well to control moisture in the camper.
• 12V Roof fan from HikeCrew. 3 speeds out, 2 speeds in.
• 500w inverter.
THE BAD/UGLY/THINGS I WOULD CHANGE
Here is a pretty comprehensive list of everything I know which is less than ideal about the camper. I figure it’s best to just lay everything out and be as transparent as possible. That way I’m not wasting anybody’s time.
• We took this camper through some pretty tough off-road trails. The sides are definitely pinstriped as a result of this. The rear bumper is bent up a bit from where I back into a rock in Joshua Tree. There are a couple small (quarter sized) cracks in the windshield.
• The camper door is a little small. It was the only reasonably priced one I could find at the time. It’s ok once you get used to it, but neither my wife nor I are very tall.
• The swivel table I built is less than ideal. It should be stronger and more rigid. We used it for a year without issues, but you definitely can’t put anything too heavy on it.
• After a year of use, the velcro window flaps don’t line up perfectly anymore. I didn’t notice any leaking problems because of this though. The corners of the windows do occasionally have a very small leak. Resealing them every few months prevents this.
• It is currently running the stock leaf springs. It would definitely benefit from a heavy duty pair of leaf springs.
• The cushions are not positively affixed to the seats, and will fall off during vigorous off roading. They stay on fine during normal driving.
• I inspected the timing belt around 3,000 miles ago. It looks good, but could probably be changed soonish.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Overall, this camper has performed very well. It it quite comfortable, and can take you pretty much anywhere. Even after a year of continuous use, it is still holding up great. The fiberglass shell is very strong, and shows no sign of wear. I am honestly quite heartbroken to sell the camper we put our blood, sweat, and tears (and hours, so so so many hours). But, that’s how life goes sometimes and I just hope there’s someone out there who wants to make some incredible memories in this camper like we did.
If you’re interested, or have questions, please reach out. I designed and built the entire thing from scratch, so I could literally talk for hours about it. I'm happy to work out a deal. Camper is located outside Fort Langley BC Canada.
Price: $35,000CAD OBO
