Tacoma: Dream Set Up Help/Advice

[mwilkins]

Hey everyone-

I finally just traded in my lovely Honda Fit, and taking the leap to begin building out my dream truck/adventure mobile. I'd love some advice.

I bought a 2013 Tacoma Access Cab 4X4. I found it with only 17k miles on it, and stupid cheap! it's a dream come true!

Now, I've been looking at what type of shell I want to put on it so that I can start to build a bed frame, storage, etc. in the back and hit the road.

Here's my stipulations:

I have 2 dogs that I do NOT want to put in the cab. I'm TIRED of so much dog hair in my life. Obviously, while they are riding in back, I won't have my bed/clothes/etc. set up. I need to figure out a way to store my bed, and have their beds available when I'm in transport.

I've read other threads about not going for the cab-level shells because head room is so crucial. I would love to be cozy and have that extra head room, especially if I'm sharing the space with dogs or another person.... BUT, I really need a rack on top for my 12'6" SUP board. I can't do a rack on top of a taller shell and have the nose of the board sticking so far out, unsupported.... Any advice??

I have some friends that are hangglide pilots, and they have an extended rack coming off the front of their car to support their long gliders, but I wasn't sure if that would work the same on the truck/high top shell?

Any ideas? I'm fine with putting my bikes on a tail gate rack, but how to transport the SUP while also having headroom in the camper is stumping me...

THANKS!

 

[mwilkins]

Here she is.

 

[forty2]

Build a cradle for the sup, just a simple mohagany spine that extends all the way to the front and most of the way to the back with two tie down ribs that brace off of a roof rack. Go over cab height on the shell and build an interior platform with a stowaway center so the dogs aren't messing up your sleeping area in transit. I'd post some pictures to illustrate, but I'm at work at the moment. If someone doesn't beat me to it I'll add some pictures of what I have in mind tonight.

 

[dman93]

I had a taller-than-cab-height shell on my old truck. It was a FlipPac in fact, but looked at just as a shell, it was kinda ugly and very roomy. My new truck came with a cab-height shell. It looks really nice, but it's MUCH less useful. The bed is also smaller, but the height is the most limiting factor, to the point where there are many things that don't fit, and I'll probably end up selling the shell and buying a taller, and uglier, one.Your Fit (hah) may actually have had a taller cargo area than a Tacoma with a low shell. Don't worry about matching the cab height to carry a 12' board. There are many rack options available, or roll your own like forty2 suggests.

 

[Adventurous]

I would echo those sentiments. I have a cab height topper and while it is sleeker looking, I would much prefer to get something significantly taller. It would just be much more useful for a lot of reasons.

 

[mwilkins]

Build a cradle for the sup, just a simple mohagany spine that extends all the way to the front and most of the way to the back with two tie down ribs that brace off of a roof rack. Go over cab height on the shell and build an interior platform with a stowaway center so the dogs aren't messing up your sleeping area in transit. I'd post some pictures to illustrate, but I'm at work at the moment. If someone doesn't beat me to it I'll add some pictures of what I have in mind tonight.

Yeah, pictures would be great. I think I can picture what you are talking about, but would love to see a visual. I stopped by the gear shop I work at to brain storm with some of the people I work with.... they said that I could just center the SUP on the rack of the over cab height shell, so more would be hanging off the back, but that it would be supported/safe. That may be an easy way out, but I'd like to still brainstorm ideas about how to not have it hang off the back and be supported in the front.

Thanks!

 

[forty2]

Yeah, pictures would be great. I think I can picture what you are talking about, but would love to see a visual. I stopped by the gear shop I work at to brain storm with some of the people I work with.... they said that I could just center the SUP on the rack of the over cab height shell, so more would be hanging off the back, but that it would be supported/safe. That may be an easy way out, but I'd like to still brainstorm ideas about how to not have it hang off the back and be supported in the front.

Thanks!

I can't seem to find the board support photos I was looking for, but I used to run a setup as described in the 90's to transport my windsurf board on top of my Civic hatch that only had a <24" bar spread. I had a little fiberglass cap that the nose of the board fit into to keep wind from forcing it up from underneath and the spine and ribs were both well scribed to the board and had some foam tape to keep them from tearing up the board too much. Made a lot of runs from Spokane to Hood River with that setup without incident.

As for the inside of the shell, I was thinking about something like what I used to run in my old Toyota pickup, a couple of those pictures I can actually find:

 

[::Squish::]

It would take some fabwork and a the right on, but you could use a ladder rack under and outside of the canopy/camper shell for a taller but not cab over version.

This would enable you to carry the SUP along with a roof rack box that would get some more stuff out of the bed of the truck making it more comfortable for both you and the dogs.

 

[Shradicalwyo]

It would take some fabwork and a the right on, but you could use a ladder rack under and outside of the canopy/camper shell for a taller but not cab over version.

This would enable you to carry the SUP along with a roof rack box that would get some more stuff out of the bed of the truck making it more comfortable for both you and the dogs.

I'd go this route, I went from just having a normal topper with a thule rack to having a roof box and cab racks. It gets everything out of the bed, and on the last trip we could set up and break down camp in half the time. and we could keep anything dirty/smelly in the roof box so we left sleeping bags and the mattress rolled out in the bed for the week we camped in it.

I have a few friends with toppers and ladder racks and they use them all the time for raft frames and kayaks.

 

[robert]

Or just put a single rack on the cab that matches the shell height; it's not hard to get taller uprights. Most of the newer camper shells go over the bedside so adding a ladder rack may require either cutting or drop brackets.

Get wider bars for whatever shell you get; you can always cut them shorter depending on your needs. IIRC mine are the 66" Yakimas and I carry my bike outboard on the driver's side, (occasionally) a Yakima box on the right and a 17' sea kayak in the middle with no problem.

My sleeping areas have always been on the bed of the truck, not raised, as it makes it more useful for everyday tasks, gives more headroom and allowed the dogs to move around (last serious girlfriend had a Newfoundland (drool machine) and a yellow lab). I roll my sleeping stuff up towards the front and toss a Mexican style blanket over it then a tarp (drool); clothes go in semi-dry bags (I like the North Face Base Camp series). No dogs now so no need for the tarp to keep things dry.

Add the protective screens over your side windows or expect the dogs to punch their noses through them eventually. I had a computer fan in the back on one of the windows that I could run when we'd stop for lunch or something. I've been thinking about cutting a hole in my current shell and putting one of those solar/battery powered fans in; actually bought the fan but been too timid to cut the hole.