OK, now the camper built-ins.
After dust sealing the truck bed, the two things I did before getting the camper and putting in the Bedrug that I was really glad to have done first were:
1-- Take pictures of the naked truck bed with measurements for where the ridges, flat spots, bed bolts and other features were. This has been super helpful as I've added things and needed to know where to anchor them and where flat spots, etc were. Don't forget interior bedsides too. Of course, if you're not doing a Bedrug or are laying a baseplate over, never mind . . .
2-- Fitted the fridge slide and drilled holes in my truck bed to through bolt it, as well as rivnut and VHB'd short pieces of L-track to spots on the bedside where I planned to have some cam straps terminate (Rollercams -- really great product. Holds way better than others I've used). I also VHB'd a couple of 12" long, 1/2" single lot 8020 pieces to the floor in front of the wheel wells. All this was covered with the Bedrug, but then easily accessible through slots and very useful later. Bedrugs, BTW are tough to cut through, though no problem, and you end up making some big flaps. You can add rivnuts or VHB that way, but if you can plan out anchor points, etc its just a LOT easier.
I knew I wanted a shelf/bench across full the bed width that allowed the full 78 inches of bed length to be used. Most builds I had researched built a free-standing structure with legs, put it in place and stabilized it against the bedwall or bedrail. I decided to make a hanging bench from the Toyota bedrail system (which I added). It's rated for 800lbs, kept the build light, and could be made pretty stout with 8020. I purposely avoiding tying any structure to the camper. It's quite rigid, but the Tundra beds flex, as do most truck beds, though the Tundras flex more. Having structures anchored to both is a bad combo off road. Even with bed stiffeners.
We purposely keep the P-side corner of the bench and cabinet open for storing tall vertical things -- full sized Maxxtrax, shovel, camp chairs, etc.
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I bought the all the extrusions and hardware from Tnutz, not 8020. 8020's website and catalog are great for research, but their prices and wait times (this was Aug/Sept '21) are ridiculous. Tnutz has a more limited, but still great selection, they are a 1/3 to half the price, the extrusions are the same and they were shipping within 2 weeks or less vs 80 to 90 days from 8020.
I went with 10 series extrusion and standardized all hardware to 1/4-20. Many people will say use 15 series, but I've worked with it and it's unnecessarily heavy and expensive.
For the attachment ledger strips to the Toyota bedrail system, I used 1"x 2" 10 series and on the D-side 1"x3". For two reasons:
1-- I trialed a scrap piece of 1" and it was just barely too narrow to securely bridge the Toyota bed rail width and would slip under pressure.
2 -- My 1"north/south crossbars could be held with a gusset on each side AND one underneath in the second or 3rd slot. They easily hold the combined 300lbs of me and my wife on the bench
The front rail of the bench that stretches completely across the bed is 1x2" as it has a long unsupported span. 8020 has a great deflection calculator that you can model stuff like that with.
I decided to keep the plywood "step" over the P-side wheel well as it's very stout and I could avoid legs.
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Got these bed rail nuts on Amazon. Bomber! 3/8" tapped stainless. Had to shim them up for my ledger rails with 1/8" aluminum bar. I used Grade 8 bolts in holes drilled through the extrusion. It's all very stout, no deflection and still pretty lightweight. ALL of the extrusion and hardware from Tnutz was 40lbs (I weighed the package) and that included 18' of additional extrusion for another project Plus, I cut a lot down (using a table saw). I estimate the weight of 8020 in the project was about 30lbs, plus the plywood, which weighs 43lbs for a 5x5 12mm sheet. I used a sheet and a half. So all told about 90-ish lbs.
I've worked with 8020 before (rack system), but never something complicated. This wasn't hard, but took a lot of planning and multiple revisions on paper. The time spent ahead is worth it, as well as living with a minimal build for a few trips to figure out what we really wanted.
Also, either a chop saw or table saw is critical if you're going to custom fit pieces as you go (I did for several reason). A drill press or drill stand is also super helpful if you're drilling though the extrusion. It tends to catch a hand drill for larger holes.
Made the bench top liftable to access the battery.
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Here's the final finished product
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Made the counter extension a flip up so the heater is still usable where it is. We also found it's very handy to have a surface reachable from the pulled out bed, sort of like a night table. Also put a very low shelf for the propane to allow my slide out tailgate cooking counter to fit under. Used a large quick fist with a 1" ratchet strap laced through the quick fist.
The middle compartment has 1/4" baltic birch cutouts slid into the 8020 slots with a liner from my wife's unused yoga mat. I made another coroplast drawer, using an even easier technique. The stove is sitting on top of the counter since that's where we store it strapped down while traveling.
Here's the pack bag I mention we put under the rear seat platform. We love this thing. Holds a ton, very organized. It's like a lightweight chest of drawers. Hangs from the camper bedrail. Also, you can see where I move a water jug for gravity feed water. The spigot hose isn't attached. Works great. If it's freezing no pump or plumbing to worry about. I also use a Rollercam strap vertically to hold the jug to the platform. I can leave the hose/spigot attached and it's solid enough to bounce around offroad and off camber.
I should also say the bench cushions were custom cut 3" medium firm foam from
https://www.foamorder.com/ with a Dacron wrap. We got the sunbrella fabric from
https://www.sailrite.com/ (great DIY resource). It's super durable. Very easy to cover your own cushions IF you use a solid base so you wrap the fabric around and staple the bottoms. No sewing!
If we need to stealth camp or close down the top, my wife can sleep on the bench and I can sleep north/south under with my Thermarest. Our goal with this was NOT to have it built out inside like a FWC, but to be able to retreat inside as needed for a day or two. Mostly it's tailgating for us, sitting outside, and retreating in for bed. That said, the bench is comfortable seating with a pillow behind us, and there's enough room with the top down to clear my head, so I'm sure we'll hang out inside more than we think.
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One last organizational issue is the kitchen.
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This lives on the inside D-side barn door that's reinforced. You can see it stowed in my electricals post. This is ALL of our kitchen stuff. Saw it on iKamper's website, and hoped it would work. The pockets surprised us with the roominess. Holds our pot set, dishes two Yeti mugs, a GSI skillet plus everything else. Eliminates need for more storage construction and super handy.
I'll post a little more I'm sure on odds n' ends, but that's the bulk of it. I left out some details, sources, links, etc so as not to hog this thread (at least too much!
). Happy to answer questions or provide more info. Just ask.
We're going somewhere in about 3 weeks (still figuring where). I'm going to try to force myself to get it weighed again fully loaded, and I'll post that if I do.
Good luck on your builds!
