Anyone living in a shortbed pickup with cap? Am I dreaming or is it doable?

[Tom.Martin]

Anyone living in a shortbed pickup with cap?  Simply put thats what I have and would like to travel from the east to southwest desert for winter.  I have had a trailer before but don't have one now.  I am not sure how to stealth on the way out or setup the truck as simply and cheaply as possible.  Would a setup like this be unbearably hot or cold?  Am I dreaming or is it doable?  Because of my schedule I cannot make the RTR in January but can make it out west in February so I have plenty of time (but not much $$$ budget) to get any small mods done.  I am thinking of cutting a hole in the roof of the cap to add a vent fan.
What would you recommend.

 

[Seminole Wind]

a cheap set up would be a used bed topper, one that bumps up a tad above the roof line of the cab would give you a bit more room. then along one side of the bed just high enough to go over the wheel well make a sleeping platform about 3 ft wide and as long as you need or till you run out of bed legnth. then you can use the sapce under that to store stuff, food water toys what have you.
then, myself, i would put a cook station opposite the bed by the tailgate. lots of options but a cheap 2 burnner coleman type camp stove up on top of a short box or tub, a refillible propane tank make a great and economicle set up. you can keep a pot and pan and cooking utensiles in the box/tub under the stove. i would use a strap to hold the propane from rolloing around but i would make the stove/cook station able to slide out a bit. in blustery weather you could cook under the topper with a window or the back open but in nice weather you could drop the tailgate and slide the cook station to where you can cook standing outside.

now pack a cooler, a camp chair, your bedding and a box of food along with any toys you want to take and hit the road.

of course that is just a simple cheap way to get on the road. you can always scale up from there. lots of little things you could add in the back like shelves or vents. you could add electricity to the mix. on the small side you could run a wire from the engine battery back there to charge your cell phone and run some led lights. adding a low voltage disconnect would be wise so you dont end up with a dead starting battery.

next step up on electric could be adding a house battery in the back that charged off the engine, beyond that it is not really much to pop a couple solar panels on the topper then with the assorted controllers bateries and such you could have quite the electrical system back there even including a min fridge.


as far as sealthing "on the way out" might not be much of a concern. stealth in my opinion is kinda over rated, unless you are trying to LIVE in a city

when you are traveling cross country it is not hard to find roadside rest areas to pull into for the night while you sleep. you can also sleep at truck stops and if you park in a legal parking spot on the public street after dark most places you are fine for the night. especially if you are just off the highway by a restaurant or gas station in a pinch

i ussually just find a pull out along the highway where i can safely get a few car lengths off the road for safety. also i often take a side road or dirt road that i have scouted on google maps satellite so i can get far enough away from the traffic i dont hear it and dont have the lights of passing cars shinning in all the time.

if you are just making your way across the country but not driving straight through there are tons of places to explore and camp along the way. sites like freecampsites.net and campendium are great places to search for free or cheap campsites. there are maps and apps that show where the different public lands are like forrest service and blm among others.


i have been all over the country sleeping in cars and minivans. i always try to stay out of the cities when i bed down for the night. if i am stuck in a city for the night, i will try a large 24 hour shopping center. typically i get there well after dark. then if you look around you can notice where the employees park. there will be a concentration of cars that is out of place, not close to the stores. if you park kinda near them and dont draw atttention to yourself you generally wont be noticed. also sometimes it is pretty clear there are semi trucks and rv's parked ovber night. parking close to them can be good too.

back to staying out of the citys, just outside of most towns you can find dirt pull offs or side roads, an old closed down store or gas station. while you might get a visit from the local law, they are doing 2 things. making sure you are not up to no good and or just checking to make sure you are alright and dont need help. when you get the knock, be polite, tell them you are traveling and you were tired so you pulled off to get some sleep so that you would be safe to drive. they might check your license and reg/insurance but they have always been very nice and some have even ended up giving me good local info on interesting places to see or camp or fish or mushroom hunt. i have only once been asked to move like this and admittedly it was not in the greatest/safest spot to park but it was so foggy it was hard to drive and i picked the best i could see. well the officer that checked on us knew the area and showed us where a better spot was.

it really is not that scarry once you get out on the road. i am more scared of the "city" then out in the country

have a great trip

 

[JohnHarrelson]

Hi Tom,

I'm guessing you are from the northeast , maybe the New England states ?  Some folk in that area of the country refer to a PU truck shell as a "CAP" ..

Different areas of America have different names for PU Truck covers.. CAP, COVER, CAMPER, SHELL, TOP, etc.  
Where I came from (eastern NC/SC) we called them "Camper Shells" 

But the short answer is YES.. you can "camp" in a 6 1/2 ft bed.  if your CAP is cab height it simply means that you must remember not to stand up when the 2:am pee call comes around.   

I've had a couple of short bed trucks and one had a cab height camper shell ... 19" + 23" side rail = about 4 ft inside height 
The other truck had a 36" camper shell ... 36" + 23"rail height = about 5 ft inside height.
The 36" was nice because I could use the porta-potty without bumping my head on the roof. 

I also had a couple of PU trucks with the standard 8 foot bed that had a rail mounted 60" camper shell … 60" + 23" rail = 83" inside height which allowed me to stand up.

I've only had one factory made "Slide-in" camper and it was nice but I didn't like it because I could not take it on and off as easy as the rail mounted camper shells.

As for installing a roof vent.. is the roof surface completely flat or does it have raised ribs or other uneven roof surface.  You can install a vent on either one, but if the roof is not completely flat you will need extra caulking to fill in the gaps around the edge of the vent flange.

Don't forget to run a wire from the truck's battery or other battery you install..  connecting to the tail light circuit or the cargo light circuit won't work because you will need to keep the head lights or cargo light on all the time to supply juice to the fan.

Hope this helps Tom and good luck with your project and proposed trip to the southwest.
John

 

[Tom.Martin]

Well theres one other big thing I forgot to mention that is I plan on carrying a generator and a welding machine w/argon bottle. This equipment will take up about 1/3 the volume of my truck bed and cap. so I guess I can just manage to lay down in the back and not much else.

Yes, I plan to run 12v cable fused at the battery to the truck bed,
thanks for the recommendation.

 

[JohnHarrelson]

a cheap set up would be a used bed topper, one that bumps up a tad above the roof line of the cab would give you a bit more room. then along one side of the bed just high enough to go over the wheel well make a sleeping platform about 3 ft wide and as long as you need or till you run out of bed legnth. then you can use the sapce under that to store stuff, food water toys what have you.
then, myself, i would put a cook station opposite the bed by the tailgate. lots of options but a cheap 2 burnner coleman type camp stove up on top of a short box or tub, a refillible propane tank make a great and economicle set up. you can keep a pot and pan and cooking utensiles in the box/tub under the stove. i would use a strap to hold the propane from rolloing around but i would make the stove/cook station able to slide out a bit. in blustery weather you could cook under the topper with a window or the back open but in nice weather you could drop the tailgate and slide the cook station to where you can cook standing outside.

now pack a cooler, a camp chair, your bedding and a box of food along with any toys you want to take and hit the road.

of course that is just a simple cheap way to get on the road. you can always scale up from there. lots of little things you could add in the back like shelves or vents. you could add electricity to the mix. on the small side you could run a wire from the engine battery back there to charge your cell phone and run some led lights. adding a low voltage disconnect would be wise so you dont end up with a dead starting battery.

next step up on electric could be adding a house battery in the back that charged off the engine, beyond that it is not really much to pop a couple solar panels on the topper then with the assorted controllers bateries and such you could have quite the electrical system back there even including a min fridge.


as far as sealthing "on the way out" might not be much of a concern. stealth in my opinion is kinda over rated, unless you are trying to LIVE in a city

when you are traveling cross country it is not hard to find roadside rest areas to pull into for the night while you sleep. you can also sleep at truck stops and if you park in a legal parking spot on the public street after dark most places you are fine for the night. especially if you are just off the highway by a restaurant or gas station in a pinch

i ussually just find a pull out along the highway where i can safely get a few car lengths off the road for safety. also i often take a side road or dirt road that i have scouted on google maps satellite so i can get far enough away from the traffic i dont hear it and dont have the lights of passing cars shinning in all the time.

if you are just making your way across the country but not driving straight through there are tons of places to explore and camp along the way. sites like freecampsites.net and campendium are great places to search for free or cheap campsites. there are maps and apps that show where the different public lands are like forrest service and blm among others.


i have been all over the country sleeping in cars and minivans. i always try to stay out of the cities when i bed down for the night. if i am stuck in a city for the night, i will try a large 24 hour shopping center. typically i get there well after dark. then if you look around you can notice where the employees park. there will be a concentration of cars that is out of place, not close to the stores. if you park kinda near them and dont draw atttention to yourself you generally wont be noticed. also sometimes it is pretty clear there are semi trucks and rv's parked ovber night. parking close to them can be good too.

back to staying out of the citys, just outside of most towns you can find dirt pull offs or side roads, an old closed down store or gas station. while you might get a visit from the local law, they are doing 2 things. making sure you are not up to no good and or just checking to make sure you are alright and dont need help. when you get the knock, be polite, tell them you are traveling and you were tired so you pulled off to get some sleep so that you would be safe to drive. they might check your license and reg/insurance but they have always been very nice and some have even ended up giving me good local info on interesting places to see or camp or fish or mushroom hunt. i have only once been asked to move like this and admittedly it was not in the greatest/safest spot to park but it was so foggy it was hard to drive and i picked the best i could see. well the officer that checked on us knew the area and showed us where a better spot was.

it really is not that scarry once you get out on the road. i am more scared of the "city" then out in the country

have a great trip

Sounds like you have it down pat S.W... and I agree with the "Stealth" thingy.. it's highly overrated. Like you I park near or next to what appears to be employee's cars at casinos and restaurants. 
One of my preferred places to park for the night is a truck stop because I was a truck driver for a lot of years and I feel safe in a familiar setting with big trucks idling all night, it's a comforting sound that lulls me to sleep...

Some times I also pull off onto the shoulder of the road a little ways out of a town.
Only one time while sleeping on the side of the road did a cop pull up and "check me out".. He asked if I was Ok and I said I was fine, just sleepy and wanted to rest awhile.. He said Ok, have a good night and left.

I am more afraid trying to sleep in a city than along side of a highway cause I've never seen a "Gang of hoodlums" wandering around looking for trouble on the highways like they do in the city.  :-/ 

John

 

[tx2sturgis]

If the pickup has a receiver hitch (most do) you could use a hitch rack to carry some bulky or heavy items on that. If it is a swing-away carrier you can still use the tailgate.

 

[tripper]

Well theres one other big thing I forgot to mention that is I plan on carrying a generator and a welding machine w/argon bottle.  This equipment will take up about 1/3 the volume of my truck bed and cap.  so I guess I can just manage to lay down in the back and not much else.

Yes, I plan to run 12v cable fused at the battery to the truck bed,
thanks for the recommendation.

You cannot sleep in the same area with an Argon bottle, colorless and odorless gas that will asphyxiate you if leaking, you will never know!

By short bed truck you do mean the 6 1/2 foot style, not the new real short 5 foot bed trucks, those would not be doable to sleep in, no way to stretch in bed.

 

[highdesertranger]

where to you plan on using the welder with Argon? shielding gas is next to useless outdoors. highdesertranger

 

[Chief]

Hi Tom.

I'm in the process of doing the same with everyone's help on this site. I'm trying to keep it very simple and modular to start. My cap will have have appx 5" rise. Teton makes a cot that the wheel well doesn't interfere with. I've also purchased mosquito netting for sleeping with the back open, and a Nemo portable shower which will double as an inside spigot. Some other basic items such as stove, different weight sleeping bags etc I already have on hand. I'll probably use painted reflectix on the Windows for privacy. Years ago they made an inflatable square frame that seals between the window of the topper and truck cab rear window. I'm keeping my eye out for one. Yeti cooler, sealable bucket for a toilet are also on the list. My truck is full size with 6'8" bed.

Good Luck !!!

Joe

 

[JohnHarrelson]

Hi Joe,  For many years I used a motorcycle tube to seal between the sliding windows of the PU truck and camper shell.  I picked up a used one with some patches on it for free at the local motorcycle dealer.  After about a year of driving the movement of the shell and the truck cab will wear a hole in the inner tube, but another 10 cent patch and it was good for another year. 

and I never pumped the tube up real big, just enough air to inflate the tube so it stayed in place and kept the rain and snow out.

John

 

[highdesertranger]

my experience with inflatable boots.

if you go from low elevation to high they blow up super fat. if you go the other way from high to low they deflate sometimes enough to fall out. so if you are changing elevation a lot like out west you are constantly fiddling with the air pressure.

then on top of that they wear the paint off the truck and the topper. highdesertranger

 

[WILD@HEART]

Easy-peasy if your a person who's flexible and doesn't mind living simple fulltime and especially for short term trips. I bought a used (private sale $100) fiberglass truck cap/topper/canopy. There are different configurations for setup, use what works best for you. As you use it, you'll figure more what works and what doesn't. Go into it expecting to make changes along the way, It doesn't need to be perfect . I'd take fuction over fashion anyday, but you can have both.  Don't over analyze the details, just move forward and DO IT! I still have to install a roof vent ( a must) but for now i use a 10" O2COOL battery operated (6D size) i wired for 12v, and 2 small 5" O2COOL fans i have in the side slide windows, work great (available @wally-world or amazon). I made a removable multi section platform with storage underneath and keep organized with storage bins  that fit my space. I have metal hooks attached to fiberglass (with 5min epoxy to hang  things like fishing poles, head phones, keys, etc. You can setup a dual battery system,, add an inverter and 12v outlets,, add solar setup, whatever & how ever you want. The truck setup is so flexible, it can be your daily driver, go explore, you can go on the fly with just the truck or tow & park a camper. I can carry and store tools ,camping supplies, kayak ,bikes, tent, chairs, etc. You can add additional exterior storage with roof rack(s) & cargo bags and hitch cargo rack on the back.  "Less is best",  applies to fashion as well as being a nomad. Dress it up or dress it down & Have fun!         Here are some truck cap camping/nomad setup examples i like :


Detecting metal -truck cap setup   
Nomad Steve- truck cap setup     

Edward James -truck cap camper  

 

[WILD@HEART]

Memory foam will be your best freind 

 

[DannyB1954]

Youtube is a good resource for finding out what works for others. You didn't say what kind of welder you had, (mig or tig). Argon is usually not used with steel, so I will guess TIG.  The bottle is a gas not a liquid so it can be laid on it's side. They make low cargo racks that fit into a receiver hitch. A rack for a small motorcycle would work here as well, (they usually have a U channel that you could strap the tank to).

If it is an older truck, you could take the pickup bed off of the truck, sell it and build a structure on the back. I turned my Dodge Dakota into a flatbed with a lumber rack using pressure treated 4 x 4 attached to the frame and then 2 x 6 to frame those in. I used U bolts and carriage bolts instead of screws for strength. The cargo bed is attached to the 4 x 4 with deck screws as these are not structural. I modified and strengthened the ladder rack to fit. You know how to weld, so you could make a frame for a structure out of metal and then skin it with thin plywood or metal siding. The platform over the cab is to keep the sun off of the cab as I live where the sun can be brutal. Left click on the pic for a larger view. It was pretty easy to turn the bed into a 7' length and still not go past the bumper. The tail lights are just trailer lights doubled up.

   

 

[Tom.Martin]

FWIW: 25' #8 AWG ran to the back of my truck along frame rail and up through tail light into bed today. It is fused from the trucks AGM battery this is what I got, 12.37V with 1 amp draw.

 

[WanderingCanuck]

I practically lived in my GMC Canyon Crew Cab for almost two weeks last fall. I had a cap on it, under which the majority of my gear was stored. I had a platform inside the cap too, which separated the space into two compartments - the lower of the two I called "dirty", and the upper "clean".

Sleeping was done in the passenger seat, fully reclined and adjusted all the way to the rear. The back seat had previously been removed and replaced with a piece of plywood to level out the uneven floor. A few of the more accessible items were stored there. Removing the back seat also helped the passenger seat to recline fully without hitting anything else.

I wouldn't want to do it full time, but it was definitely doable and very compact.

 

[Canine]

I lost my apartment when I was a kid and lived in the back of my truck for 3 weeks. It was actually fun. I parked in the shade, at a lot of PB&J, and read a lot. It was a tall, insulated topper so I could sit upright. There's no way I would do it in the winter or in a hot area though and still have fun. The town I was in happened to have a truck stop that had showers for cheap, so I did that every other day. It was a good experience.