Living out of my Toyota Tacoma while traveling North America

[juanm]

Those look very interesting. Have you seen them in person?

Yeah, heaps of them in Australia and German overlanding rigs also tend to be that way. By comparison US-style campers seem very primitive.

What is a Slide-on Camper? A Helpful Guide to Choosing One

Read the blog and find out the use of slide-on Campers. Learn how this slides onto the back of a pickup/utility vehicle with a flat tray or platform. Read online.

www.trayon.com

 

[akash.nu]

Yeah, heaps of them in Australia and German overlanding rigs also tend to be that way. By comparison US-style campers seem very primitive.

What is a Slide-on Camper? A Helpful Guide to Choosing One

Read the blog and find out the use of slide-on Campers. Learn how this slides onto the back of a pickup/utility vehicle with a flat tray or platform. Read online.

www.trayon.com

In the U.K. this type of campers seems to be more popular.

 

[Savage]

Nice one! One question, though: is there a reason campers in the US are so often made to fit in the tonneau instead of replacing it? It seems like it's very inefficient in terms of useable volume. Surely it would make sense to take the bed off, and replacing it with a camper directly over the bare chassis. (like the Tommy campers https://www.tommycampers.com.au). They would be lighter, while offering more space (more usable width and height), and likely be more securely attached to the truck.

I'm not sure if there's a particular reason the US seems to have less flatbeds but there are some pros and cons to both.

A flatbed allows you a bigger camper and more storage. But it also means you have a flatbed now so if you ever want to take the camper off and use the truck to haul things, you have to take that into consideration depending on what you're hauling, e.g. putting a cooler for the beach or some items from Home Depot back there. Switching to a flatbed is also $$$ in an already expensive project.

Edit: I just saw the part about being more securely attached to the truck. The side-in campers mount differently depending on the truck, so this is sometimes true. However, in the Tacoma's case, the camper mounts to special brackets that are bolted through the bottom of the bed and into the frame of the truck underneath. The Tacoma happens to be the most securely mounted slide-in system of the various truck types one could use.

 

[Savage]

Is there an AC unit back there or a fan?

There are two roof fans that can each blow in our out, 6 windows that open, and the door that can be a screen. Between all that, having one fan blowing in and one blowing out creates a nice breeze that can make even the hottest days manageable. I also have some temperature control lining around the top canvas and windows.

You can see the open vents and windows here:

 

[Savage]

Here are a few updated interior photos of our build that I don't think I posted yet. It's almost complete.

 

[Huntn]

There are two roof fans that can each blow in our out, 6 windows that open, and the door that can be a screen. Between all that, having one fan blowing in and one blowing out creates a nice breeze that can make even the hottest days manageable. I also have some temperature control lining around the top canvas and windows.

You can see the open vents and windows here:

View attachment 1798592

Airflow…important. I lived in Texas for 3 years in a 1975 Fiat Spider, no air. Top stayed up in daytime, windows open, and those little vents at the forward of the side windows that could be turn around to direct air on the passengers, I could actually tolerate it. Not now.