So I have been considering a couple of options. I am leaning heavily toward building my own custom topper, so I can build it wider as a camper body that will allow for a short king size mattress above the truck bed rails.
This is not an insurmountable obstacle, but it would be nice to have something I can just bolt on and mod to my needs quickly instead of designing and building from scratch.
I know I can build a platform for my truck using a Leer hi topper, and one of those steel roller bed frames with some pipe segments to suspend it off the floor, and plywood planking, topped by a modded inexpensive (relatively) cut down memory foam mattress. I can insulate what I can with Reflectix and "rat fur" carpeting. The truck bed already has a bedrug installed so there is that.
The big issue though is where and when I intend to travel / camp. It's generally HOT and HUMID. And with 2 adult human bodies in close proximity on the bed, that makes for a sweaty nights sleep.
Much, if not all of my design work centers around getting some sort of real air conditioner in there and working.
The thoughts are...
#1. Smallest roof top RV unit. These are generally speaking HUGE for the application, and of course, the roof on a hi top, unless I go with a contractor cap, isn't flat but slopes quite a bit.
#2. 5K BTU Window unit AC. Easily run with even the smallest generators. But very hard to adapt to the truck bed. I can make an adapter board that goes in place with the tailgate down, but the bed will block all airflow / keeping the cooled air under the bed.
#3 5K BTU Window unit AC with some sort of topper extension that will allow me to drop the tailgate, lift the liftgate, put the extension in place, and put the AC in place toward the back of the tailgate, allowing me room for airflow through the entire camper.
Option #3 seems the most reasonable. There are taigate tent extensions, but no AC port, or I can design / build something maybe using poor mans fiberglass over foam to help with insulation and keep weight down.
I have seen a youtube video with a couple and the specifics are a bit vague right now due to the early hour, but I believe they are in Florida, using a Truck tent on a Dodge / RAM, and they made a PVC pipe support for a platform that simply jams the AC unit against the side screening of the tent. I might be able to rig something to jam the unit against an open window screen, which might be better anyway as it won't hold the output heat under any tarp awning rig I setup off the back of the truck...
So has anyone here bothered to AC the camper shell of a standard bed pickup truck with any success? An 8' bed truck would have been massively easier, but this is what I have...
This is not an insurmountable obstacle, but it would be nice to have something I can just bolt on and mod to my needs quickly instead of designing and building from scratch.
I know I can build a platform for my truck using a Leer hi topper, and one of those steel roller bed frames with some pipe segments to suspend it off the floor, and plywood planking, topped by a modded inexpensive (relatively) cut down memory foam mattress. I can insulate what I can with Reflectix and "rat fur" carpeting. The truck bed already has a bedrug installed so there is that.
The big issue though is where and when I intend to travel / camp. It's generally HOT and HUMID. And with 2 adult human bodies in close proximity on the bed, that makes for a sweaty nights sleep.
Much, if not all of my design work centers around getting some sort of real air conditioner in there and working.
The thoughts are...
#1. Smallest roof top RV unit. These are generally speaking HUGE for the application, and of course, the roof on a hi top, unless I go with a contractor cap, isn't flat but slopes quite a bit.
#2. 5K BTU Window unit AC. Easily run with even the smallest generators. But very hard to adapt to the truck bed. I can make an adapter board that goes in place with the tailgate down, but the bed will block all airflow / keeping the cooled air under the bed.
#3 5K BTU Window unit AC with some sort of topper extension that will allow me to drop the tailgate, lift the liftgate, put the extension in place, and put the AC in place toward the back of the tailgate, allowing me room for airflow through the entire camper.
Option #3 seems the most reasonable. There are taigate tent extensions, but no AC port, or I can design / build something maybe using poor mans fiberglass over foam to help with insulation and keep weight down.
I have seen a youtube video with a couple and the specifics are a bit vague right now due to the early hour, but I believe they are in Florida, using a Truck tent on a Dodge / RAM, and they made a PVC pipe support for a platform that simply jams the AC unit against the side screening of the tent. I might be able to rig something to jam the unit against an open window screen, which might be better anyway as it won't hold the output heat under any tarp awning rig I setup off the back of the truck...
So has anyone here bothered to AC the camper shell of a standard bed pickup truck with any success? An 8' bed truck would have been massively easier, but this is what I have...
