Truck'n'Trip - Planning

[Kuroo]

Hello all, I been around the site and have seen many neat plans and idea for many times of vehicles. I just got a top for my Chevy Avalanche truck and loving it. I was planing on going cross country drive with a friend. But I had some ideas and would like to share them so I can get some feedback on how to improve them. So I be going into areas that will be of course be cold. From the route I going the areas get to about minus fifteen degrees fahrenheit. I was going to put the tonneau covers on the truck with the shell top on and convert the truck bed into two areas. The top and bottom divided by the tonneau covers. The top area I can store plastic totes fill with stuff for my travels and the bottom area I can sleep in. Now my main concern is cold weather, as I’m be traveling in the north areas. My idea is to take out the rubbing lining that is at the bottom of the bed of the truck and clean the whole area out then install Bedrug Bedliners in it. Than where the tonneau covers the mid-section I can get some type of Reflectix insulation and get some blackout curtains from K-Mart or something and sew them on to the Reflectix. Than I will apply it to the under part of the tonneau covers and lock them in when I place the tonneau on to the truck. This will keep the silver part from showing and keep the heat into the bed part of the truck. Than I be getting a good quality memory foam bed from Costco and a minus thirty degree fahrenheit sleeping bag from REI. I be laying the front seats down and have access to the back seating area. I was thinking about having some type of curtain or something hanging from the bed to the cab so that any heat can stay in the bed part to stay warm. So that my idea so far and I can’t figure out what to do to the tail part so heat won’t escape. I have link pictures of my truck so you can get an idea of what I’m talking about. If you have an ideas or suggestions please do reply.

Here is the link to the three images.
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B1sNj6LN4vvwOFptbEVWdjA1bjg&usp=drive_web

 

[escadventure]

Trying to sleep under your tonneu would too much resemble a coffin for me. I'd rather try to sleep in the drivers seat if I had to.

Why not ditch the tonneu, leave the top, and build a rack on one side, inside the bed to hold all your goods using vertical space. Perhaps that would free up enough of the other side of the bed for a more comfortable sleeping arrangement.

 

[Kuroo]

There space it close but some that it won't bother me as I try it already. I was thinking about keeping the tonneu so if I need to sleep I can be more in stealth mode if need be.

 

[Camelfilter]

Trying to sleep under your tonneu would too much resemble a coffin for me. I'd rather try to sleep in the drivers seat if I had to.

Why not ditch the tonneu, leave the top, and build a rack on one side, inside the bed to hold all your goods using vertical space. Perhaps that would free up enough of the other side of the bed for a more comfortable sleeping arrangement.

+1.

 

[takesiteasy]

...Why not ditch the tonneu, leave the top, and build a rack on one side, inside the bed to hold all your goods using vertical space. Perhaps that would free up enough of the other side of the bed for a more comfortable sleeping arrangement.

+2. I would put some foam-type building insulation on the bed of the truck and invest in a good sleeping pad and high quality cold-weather sleeping bag. Being able to sit up to get dressed, look out a window, read, access gear and whatnot is pretty important to comfort. From experience I know that memory foam gets hard as a rock when it is cold- not comfy.

 

[brian90744]

a better way

Its maybe cheaper to use motels for what you spend on some foam-type building insulation on the bed of the truck and invest in a good sleeping pad and high quality cold-weather sleeping bag, or rent a trailer for a week. We have all slept in a pick-up bed in the summer, when we were younger and just starting camping.= good luck. brian