Introducing the “NEW” Alu-Cab Canopy Camper
- Thread starter rino
- Start date
seekoutbeauty
Active member
Delberto Montalban
New member
Hi everyone. Three possibly stupid questions here, and if they've already been asked, I apologize.
1. I assume most folks sleep with their heads toward the back of the camper, right? I'm trying to visualize how one gets in and out of bed with someone else already sleeping up there. Is there enough room to "turn around"? My wife does not take kindly to a foot to the neck, no matter how bad I have to pee.
2. Has anyone figured out a way to put a bike rack on the rear door?
3. Is the mounting system stout enough to stabilize a Tacoma bed, or will I need the bed stiffeners as well?
Thanks in advance for your help/patience.
D.M.
1. I assume most folks sleep with their heads toward the back of the camper, right? I'm trying to visualize how one gets in and out of bed with someone else already sleeping up there. Is there enough room to "turn around"? My wife does not take kindly to a foot to the neck, no matter how bad I have to pee.
2. Has anyone figured out a way to put a bike rack on the rear door?
3. Is the mounting system stout enough to stabilize a Tacoma bed, or will I need the bed stiffeners as well?
Thanks in advance for your help/patience.
D.M.
wackyhacky76CO
Active member
1. Not sure I have an answer for this one, but no matter which pop up canopy camper you pick, I don't know of a set up that is much different than this one in terms of space for exit/orientation. Sorry, but you are probably just going have to piss off the wife.. ha ha.
2. You may be able to adapt something like the Thule Spare Me or Surco (see these parts for reference, https://www.etrailer.com/Accessories-and-Parts/Surco-Products/SPN550.html) which are designed to mount behind a spare tire and slide a hitch mount bike rack into the center of the spare. Never used one myself, but I have seen them in use once in awhile. I am not real sure on the design of the spare tire mount Alu-cab makes though as I didn't plan on using it in my set up. There would probably be some clearance issues to consider though with the height of the tire on the door etc.
3. This is one of the benefits to the Alu-Cab design. The rear structure that holds the door etc. essentially becomes your bed stiffeners, so a set of those is no longer necessary as far as I have been informed.
wackyhacky76CO
Active member
Thanks @seekoutbeauty for that bedding breakdown (and all your in depth analysis on the ACCC frankly) you did on Instagram recently.
I have heard folks make the remark that you could literally lie down up there & shut the lid in terms of the room for bedding etc. That being said, do you think there would be any space issues if you went with a 1" higher mattress (4" versus 3") and the same gear (double down bag, pillows, extra blanket or two etc.)?
I have heard folks make the remark that you could literally lie down up there & shut the lid in terms of the room for bedding etc. That being said, do you think there would be any space issues if you went with a 1" higher mattress (4" versus 3") and the same gear (double down bag, pillows, extra blanket or two etc.)?
Similarly, maybe something like this: https://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Hitch/Curt/13018.html bolted through the door like the spare tire mount and then add a Kuat NV or other hitch platform rack. But like you said, there are some clearance issues.
I'm also thinking of trying to bolt a roof rack tray like this https://yakima.com/products/forklift onto the door vertically with the fork mount above the top of the door. It would need some spacers to sit far enough away from door to allow the fork mount to sit proud of the top of the camper. I would probably also bungee the bike frame to the tray. While the fork mount clamp is probably fine to hold onto the bike, the word in that phrase that worries me is "probably".
I have a 4" (10 cm) Exped Megamat. I leave my 0 degree double sleeping bag and pillow up top and just shut the top. The trick for me is I open the deflate valve for the Megamat so that a bit of air can escape (but it's still partially inflated) to make things easier to close. I also put my pillows on the rear ledge, again for more clearance.
rino
Supporting Sponsor - OK4WD
Thanks! Yes Goose Gear rear seat delete and my fridge is in the back of my cab.
SteamboatSprings
Member
We use the Megamat Duo 10 LW plus a 2" Big Agnes Hinman pad and on top is a Big Agnes Dream Island 15 doublewide sleeping bag. If it's really cold a down comforter on top of that. Open the valves on the pads and the lid closes on all that stuff.
wackyhacky76CO
Active member
Maybe I don't understand the Exped mattress's completely. I know they are mix of foam & air, but do they self inflate? I just don't want to have to pump up a mattress to get ready for bed. When I pop the top & pull the bed down, I want it 100% ready to go, so I want to use the best mattress I can that will fit when inflated.
Delberto Montalban
New member
Thanks guys!
Herbie
Rendezvous Conspirator
They're sold as self-inflating. They also include a small bellows.
Infer from that what you will - but we used an Exped for a couple of years and I always needed to at least "top off" the self-inflation, even after waiting several hours. If you want to quickly go from "compressed" to "sleeping", you'll definitely be pumping. We switched to a tri-fold mattress topper in our van for exactly this reason. It's more of a pain to store, but the transition to sleep-mode is way less hassle.
The ExPed intake has a little rubber valve that tends to block air. If I physically push the valve with my finger, it will self inflate to a normal stiffness. I could just cut the valve away if I wanted it to always be self inflating, but I know I'll always end up pumping because my wife likes her mattress very hard and you're just not going to get that stiffness with any self inflating mattress unless you push a lot of air in.
seekoutbeauty
Active member
We needed a little bit of force to close the lid with what we had in it, but after realizing that the side nearest the back of the truck has even more depth, I think we struggled at times where i pushed things towards the front of the truck.
I have a feeling if we folded the sleeping bag in half, with the front half being empty, and everything else on the second half (extra blankets and pillows), we wouldn't need any extra force.
Also, that Teton queen 0 degree sleeping bag is freaking massive and really holds in air. For perspective, it weighs 16.5 pounds. It's thick and dense.
If you are thinking of putting an inflatable mat up to, i would just add a 12v socket to your electrical panel and get a tiny 12v inflater. Do what others are doing... pull the plug and allow some air to escape, and when it's time to set up bed, plug it in right there and it should be full in no time.