Shapeshifter
Restless Adventurer
I have an OVRLND pop top on order so I decided to get serious about a heater. It's a cheap knockoff heater from amazon (). There are too many knockoffs to choose from and I chose this one based on reviews and the fact that the temp readout is in fahrenheit.
Once you get over the fact that you need to cut holes in your truck, the rest is easy. A challenge was the corrugated structural "ridges" typical on the floor of pickup beds. I wanted a flat surface to mount the heater plate to so I used a flanged ring I had leftover from the solar vent fan.
This is a 5kw heater and is frankly too much heat for my current camper shell, but should be perfect once my OVRLND top is ready and installed.
These heater installations are well documented throughout the web, so I'll just post some pics of my install. I'm happy to answer any questions.
Current topper on truck while waiting for new OVRLND top
Flanged ring (leftover part from different project) was my choice because I had it laying around. This allowed me to locate the heater where I wanted it regardless of the high or low ridges of the bed.
The unit came with a 10liter fuel tank witch is too big ti fit in a Taco. I wanted a way to remove the fuel tank for filling outside the truck in case of spills while filling so I'm using a 3 liter removable tank. This is the finished location of everything in the bed of the truck. The unit is powered by a Jackery 240. The control panel will be mounted via velcro for now...
To keep the heater plate level, I just made some aluminum spacer blocks to fit between the ridges. The plate fits flush on top of the flange ring which you can see from the underside in the picture below.
The fuel line runs through a hole in to the hollow space between the bed sides.
..and here is all the plumbing. There is just enough slack in the fuel line for me to remove the tank above for filling. The intake air filter is behind the license plate. I will likely re-rout the exhaust and put the included silencer on later but for now this works great! I also plan on wrapping the fuel pump in foam to make it a bit quieter.
I was using a Mr. Heater Little Buddy but this is by far a better solution for a camper shell IMO. Now I have to wait for my OVRLND to be built.......
Once you get over the fact that you need to cut holes in your truck, the rest is easy. A challenge was the corrugated structural "ridges" typical on the floor of pickup beds. I wanted a flat surface to mount the heater plate to so I used a flanged ring I had leftover from the solar vent fan.
This is a 5kw heater and is frankly too much heat for my current camper shell, but should be perfect once my OVRLND top is ready and installed.
These heater installations are well documented throughout the web, so I'll just post some pics of my install. I'm happy to answer any questions.
Current topper on truck while waiting for new OVRLND top
Flanged ring (leftover part from different project) was my choice because I had it laying around. This allowed me to locate the heater where I wanted it regardless of the high or low ridges of the bed.
The unit came with a 10liter fuel tank witch is too big ti fit in a Taco. I wanted a way to remove the fuel tank for filling outside the truck in case of spills while filling so I'm using a 3 liter removable tank. This is the finished location of everything in the bed of the truck. The unit is powered by a Jackery 240. The control panel will be mounted via velcro for now...
To keep the heater plate level, I just made some aluminum spacer blocks to fit between the ridges. The plate fits flush on top of the flange ring which you can see from the underside in the picture below.
The fuel line runs through a hole in to the hollow space between the bed sides.
..and here is all the plumbing. There is just enough slack in the fuel line for me to remove the tank above for filling. The intake air filter is behind the license plate. I will likely re-rout the exhaust and put the included silencer on later but for now this works great! I also plan on wrapping the fuel pump in foam to make it a bit quieter.
I was using a Mr. Heater Little Buddy but this is by far a better solution for a camper shell IMO. Now I have to wait for my OVRLND to be built.......
