Our Truck Camper and the Philosophy Behind It
This is our 2002 Toyota Tacoma 4x4 truck camper. While the Tacoma platform is obviously a very popular one for this style of travel, not too many people seem to set theirs up in this manner. Here, I’ll go over how we set up our camper for living out of for up to weeks at a time.
We bought this truck from the crew over at Squirrel Concepts - it has been well loved, but well taken care of. Definitely hit them up for any early Toyota truck needs.
What are we using the truck for?
This is an important place to start. I don’t think there is any one way to set up a truck/anything for travel, and have it work for all scenarios, for all people. The following is how we use the truck as a base camp for getting into the backcountry.
We do not go out camping for the driving. Sometimes I do enjoy a good drive, but most of the time we are trying to get out of the city, post up somewhere beautiful and then do our exploring on foot or bicycle.
So, no, the truck is not built to go tackle tough 4x4 tracks. It’s basically a stock SR5 with some suspension upgrades. This means it does have a rear e-locker and a 5-speed manual transmission, but it still has stock sized, 265/75R16 tires. Of course these have been swapped to BF Goodrich KO2s because after the 10’s of thousands of miles I’ve put on BFG All-Terrains I've never had an issue, and that’s good enough for me.
With that said….
The philosophy behind this build was to have a truck that can get us much further than most of the Sprinters and Subarus, while giving us a comfortable sleeping space, and enough storage to bring all the gear needed for hiking and cycling - all while not breaking the bank.
Today’s modern campers like the GoFast Campers are really nice, but they also cost over 2x what this camper costs, so factor that in on your own build. Our camper was built by Bel-Air Campers in Garden Grove, CA. We originally got it made to fit on my 1985 Pickup, but swapped it over to this Tacoma last year.
The camper mounted to my 1985 Toyota Pickup.
Our initial setup, with full-length drawer and without the cutout detailed below.
The interior is set up to maximize storage while allowing for me (6’1”) to also be able to sit up inside - all while giving us about a queen size mattress to sleep on.
No, we cannot cook inside here, and nor do we want to. Many people love vans for the fact that you basically have a miniature house once you shut the doors. But we wanted the opposite of that. We are going out be in nature. So, I want to spend 99% of my time outside of the camper. I want to cook outside, I want to hang out outside, I want to drink outside - I want to be outside.
However, we do like having a nice place to jump into at night. This is especially comforting when it's the full family out on a trip - the two of us and the dog. Now, I’ve done my fair share of tent camping. A couple years ago I did nearly three months out of my pickup with not much more than a mountain bike and a ground tent. So to say this truck camper is spoiling me would not be untrue.
See gap in bed, this is where the removable piece gets put to create the full bed. When not in ‘bed mode’ the wood piece slides under the mattress in front of it, and the mattress section is stored in the cabover.
The truck’s bed is 6 feet long. That means some shifting needs to be done in order to have a way to allow someone to sit upright (in a chair position). The top platform has a removable cutout that gets slid under the mattress when not in ‘bed mode.’ The mattress section is then tucked above in the cabover section and is stowed out of the way.
Not only does this allow us to sit in the camper more comfortably, but it also lets our cooler (which is taller than the bed platform) fit on the base of the truck bed, and not on top of the bed platform while we drive.
This removable section also eliminated the need for a large, heavy sliding drawer like we had initially built into the camper. By removing the section I can easily reach back and pull out anything under the bed platform that is back against the cab. All of this simplifies everything too. Without a drawer, there is really nothing that can ‘go wrong.’ It's as fool-proof as possible, and that was by design. With some access ports cut into the top for reaching some of our seldom used gear, and spare tools that are stored behind the wheel wells, everything is still within arms reach.
Electrical
For electrical power, we currently just use a Bluetti EB3A. This is a 600W portable power station with a built-in inverter and solar controller. So, if we needed we could run standard 110v power out of this. But to be honest, we pretty much just use it to charge our phones. It is nice to know we have plenty of power in case we wanted to bring a laptop (which I have done when shooting digital to offload files). But because I’m shooting 100% film these days, I no longer bring a computer.
However, when I swapped the camper to this truck, I opted to rewire its electrical connectors to a 12v cigarette lighter plug as opposed to the direct starter battery connection it was first installed with. This was so we can run the camper’s 12v Dometic ceiling fan, or interior lights as much as we’d like from the Bluetti without the threat of waking up to a dead truck battery.
Then, the power station is charged from the truck’s alternator while we drive. For the small electrical consumption we use this has not been an issue. If we had other power needs, we’d maybe pick up a solar pannel.
Weight
I think weight plays a very big factor into several aspects of a vehicle, like fuel consumption, handling, engine strain, and even top speed and acceleration. My ‘85 Pickup really taught me how to be weight consious because wow, do you really feel every pound when you try to get on a highway with that little motor.
So, I wanted to be sure this truck remained under its GVWR, even when full loaded - and it does. With everything, full gas tank, full water capacity, food, camping gear, two bikes, the two of us and the dog we are still under its payload capacity.
This allows us to still cruise at highway speeds, while yeilding a managable 0-60 time when merging. And it keeps my mind at ease knowing I’m not putting too much of an excessive load on this 20-year-old engine. I cringe everytime I see a Tacoma with any Four Wheel Camper - even the dry weight of those are as much as a Toyota is rated to carry, so you better not be bringing much else!
After a couple years with this camper and just over one year with this truck, we still love it. There’s really nothing I want to change. It does exactly what I want it to do, and that’s all I can ask for.
We had initially considered several other trucks before deciding on this camper. The first idea was to get an imported Toyota Hiace van. At the time we were living in Arizona, so registering it wouldn’t have been an issue. The platform is also a great size for a van - small enough to drive down tight doubletracks, but bigger inside than a truck camper. But ultimately we opted against this because of one reason, they are imports. Right now these vehicles (Hiace vans, other Land Cruisers, etc.) that are now beginning to meet the US’s 25-year-old import law are really popular. But because they were never designed for the American market, it can be rather challenging to find parts.
Now, I know Toyota is very good about reusing parts from other vehicles, so there certainly are some overlaps where it might be easy to find a couple spares at your local auto parts store. And yes, it's not a big deal to order something and have it delivered in a day or so if the car is at your house already. But, I’m more concerned with when you are stranded somewhere because it’s happened to me.
Full top end replaced in a gravel driveway on a 100 degree day in Arizona. It’s nice to know you carry enough tools to do this job though, I guess. August, 2019.
I have been in the position where I needed an entire 22R-E head, cam, and all the gaskets that go along with that install - and I was leaving in three days… With most of these imported (typically) diesel trucks/vans this would have been impossible. But because the 22R-E (and the 5VZ-FE that is inside our new-to-us Tacoma) is such a popular engine here, I was able to source brand new parts and have the truck running in time for a three-month road trip.
Other than all that…
The camper aint much! It’s simple and it works for what we do. It gives us more usable storage than a regular, cab height shell, and a queen size bed. It’s our little escape to sleep every night, but it still keep us outside all day, and most importantly, it lets us easily get out into nature to go do the things we love.
Over the years, the truck has become less and less of the reason I enjoy camping. I am finally realizing that the truck is just the means to get away, so the simplicity goes a long way.
K.I.S.S. : Keep It Simple, Stupid
Thanks for reading if you made it this far. If you have any questions on the truck, or the camper, leave them down below and I’ll be sure to get back to you!