Can 2 adults be comfortable in a Pick-Up?

[WeNeedaChange]

Hello. Just wanted to shoot this out there. Is it possible for 2 adults to stay comfortably in a Toyota Tacoma pick up with a cap/topper? We have one and was just wondering if it was possible? Not at the point of living in it, but traveling and staying in it for a month or two? How does one outfit it? Any ideas?? Thank you in advance.

 

[rruff]

Hello. Just wanted to shoot this out there. Is it possible for 2 adults to stay comfortably in a Toyota Tacoma pick up with a cap/topper? We have one and was just wondering if it was possible? Not at the point of living in it, but traveling and staying in it for a month or two? How does one outfit it? Any ideas?? Thank you in advance.

I lived in a smaller '84 Toyota PU with 3 different roommates over a 13 year period (fulltime). I thought it was comfortable, anyway. YMMV.

It's much nicer if you are able to sit up straight and comfortably in the back. If you can't find a shell that tall, then you can build one... it's easy to do. Having a cabover for storage is nice also.

You'll want to have a bed that converts into a couch... question is, how big a bed do you need? We slept on a 36" wide foam pad... very cozy. You could fit one a bit wider that that, but not too much. Building your own shell would give you more space options also; straight sides and a little wider than the bed rails for instance.

If you are just camping for a couple months you could get a nice tent and sleep in that, and use the truck for storage. I guess another option if you need a wide bed would be to make a platform in the truck with storage underneath and bed on top. If you want to sit somewhere then on rainy days, you'd need to be outside or in the front seats.

Climate (will it be cold, hot, rainy or snowy?) and your desires/wants/annoyances are big factors as well. What do you want to do while camping/traveling?

 

[WeNeedaChange]

I lived in a smaller '84 Toyota PU with 3 different roommates over a 13 year period (fulltime). I thought it was comfortable, anyway. YMMV.

It's much nicer if you are able to sit up straight and comfortably in the back. If you can't find a shell that tall, then you can build one... it's easy to do. Having a cabover for storage is nice also.

You'll want to have a bed that converts into a couch... question is, how big a bed do you need? We slept on a 36" wide foam pad... very cozy. You could fit one a bit wider that that, but not too much. Building your own shell would give you more space options also; straight sides and a little wider than the bed rails for instance.

Thank you. How does one go about building a shell? What material would you use? I am assuming wood would be way too heavy and insulation would be needed also.

 

[JDelete]

I once had an 86 Toyota PU. I slept in the back of it many times and it was comfortable. The newer Tacomas, however, don't have as large a box once they added the extra cab space. Before I got my 4Runner, I was looking at Tacomas. Most come with a 5 foot box. One person could sleep in it if laying diagonally. I can't see how two people could sleep in that arrangement. A few special models have a 6 foot box. With those, two people could sleep in it if you stay really cozy. If you do have a 6 foot box, a test for you would be to see if you and your partner can sleep on a twin size bed and still have a relationship in the morning.

If you do have a 5 foot box and build a shell of some sort that takes advantage of the space you gain with the tail gate folded down, then it would be doable in the same way as I described with the 6 foot box. If you build a platform to get the sleeping bed above the wheel wells, then you could gain extra elbow room for sleeping.

 

[rruff]

Thank you. How does one go about building a shell? What material would you use? I am assuming wood would be way too heavy and insulation would be needed also.

Wood is not heavy at all if you use it properly.

I built a full camper in 2001 with panels made from 2.7mm thick luan plywood skins, with XPS foam and vertical pieces of fir every ~17" in the core. At that time I could get 3/4" foam, and the 1x2 boards are 3/4" thick so I didn't need to do much cutting. All glued together with construction glue (PL Premium is a good choice). Then an external coat of hand laid fiberglass, and then paint. I was very pleased with how it turned out. Light, cheap, nice wood interior, insulated, and tough. Happy to give more details if you are interested.

One thing that just occurred to me is that newer Tacomas have a composite bed, and I'm not sure if you could put much weight on the bed-rails. Also all of them have torsionally flexible frames (the old PU frames were fully boxed and stiff) which makes camper mounting more of an issue. The problem is if you hard mount the camper to the frame or bed rails, then when the frame flexes the camper needs to flex as well. The panels I described above are stiff, and I'm not sure if they could take that. If the back is just a big hatch/door it would probably be fine, as an open-ended box flexes more easily.

Oh ya, as JanaBanana said, if you have the shortbed, it's going to be tight trying to sleep back there.

 

[MA-Rider]

If you can, try it for a weekend or more to see if it could work. The space between the wheel wells can be awful tight!

 

[WeNeedaChange]

I once had an 86 Toyota PU. I slept in the back of it many times and it was comfortable. The newer Tacomas, however, don't have as large a box once they added the extra cab space. Before I got my 4Runner, I was looking at Tacomas. Most come with a 5 foot box. One person could sleep in it if laying diagonally. I can't see how two people could sleep in that arrangement. A few special models have a 6 foot box. With those, two people could sleep in it if you stay really cozy. If you do have a 6 foot box, a test for you would be to see if you and your partner can sleep on a twin size bed and still have a relationship in the morning.

If you do have a 5 foot box and build a shell of some sort that takes advantage of the space you gain with the tail gate folded down, then it would be doable in the same way as I described with the 6 foot box. If you build a platform to get the sleeping bed above the wheel wells, then you could gain extra elbow room for sleeping.

thank you !!

 

[WeNeedaChange]

Wood is not heavy at all if you use it properly.

I built a full camper in 2001 with panels made from 2.7mm thick luan plywood skins, with XPS foam and vertical pieces of fir every ~17" in the core. At that time I could get 3/4" foam, and the 1x2 boards are 3/4" thick so I didn't need to do much cutting. All glued together with construction glue (PL Premium is a good choice). Then an external coat of hand laid fiberglass, and then paint. I was very pleased with how it turned out. Light, cheap, nice wood interior, insulated, and tough. Happy to give more details if you are interested.

One thing that just occurred to me is that newer Tacomas have a composite bed, and I'm not sure if you could put much weight on the bed-rails. Also all of them have torsionally flexible frames (the old PU frames were fully boxed and stiff) which makes camper mounting more of an issue. The problem is if you hard mount the camper to the frame or bed rails, then when the frame flexes the camper needs to flex as well. The panels I described above are stiff, and I'm not sure if they could take that. If the back is just a big hatch/door it would probably be fine, as an open-ended box flexes more easily.

Oh ya, as JanaBanana said, if you have the shortbed, it's going to be tight trying to sleep back there.

Thanks for the info. I am pretty sure we wouldn't build one but it is fun to think about. I think we would go the route of a plain old Cap for the back made for our Tacoma. I know it will be tight. Maybe a platform and /or 2 bunks that flip up on the side. We don't have an extended cab model so the bed is big enough, but snug. Not planning on living in it forever, just to try it out for possible long trips. Would have a screen tent along to "live" in and a commode/shower tent for potty. Just in the planning stages at this point.

 

[WeNeedaChange]

If you can, try it for a weekend or more to see if it could work. The space between the wheel wells can be awful tight!

Agreed. We would try it out for sure lol.

 

[JDelete]

Maybe explore some of this guy's videos. He has a Tacoma with the short box and found a creative way around it. He also has a pretty good tent setup.

https://www.youtube.com/c/OffGridBackcountryAdventures/videos

 

[WeNeedaChange]

Maybe explore some of this guy's videos. He has a Tacoma with the short box and found a creative way around it. He also has a pretty good tent setup.

https://www.youtube.com/c/OffGridBackcountryAdventures/videos

Thank you!!

 

[JDub]

You should be pretty comfortable in the space a shell provides - at minimum you could do something like this:



Here's a bunch of ideas from an internet search. Lots of cool stuff.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=toyota+ta...ab&atb=v168-1&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images
Good luck on your journey.

 

[WeNeedaChange]

You should be pretty comfortable in the space a shell provides - at minimum you could do something like this:

View attachment 30226View attachment 30226

Here's a bunch of ideas from an internet search. Lots of cool stuff.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=toyota+ta...ab&atb=v168-1&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images
Good luck on your journey.

Thank you!!!

 

[rruff]

You should be pretty comfortable in the space a shell provides - at minimum you could do something like this:

View attachment 30226

That's simple and great for sleeping... but if it's cold or rainy, you don't have a decent place to hang out or sit. It also doesn't look like they can access the storage without going outside.

 

[JDub]

This one is more practical but it's a single bunk, hard to get a double bed in there without sacrificing room for a lot of other things...

 

[JDub]

This one is nice.

 

[bullfrog]

My wife and I used a 2013 single cab 6’ bed Tacoma with a wedge ARB topper. Two drawers below the platform at wheel well height and a single tee rib for the center of the platform front to back as a divider and to provide a ledge for two panels in the platform at the front of the bed. I later enclosed the opening at the tailgate end which could be rotated 90 degrees with the tail gate open to extend the platform when sleeping in good weather. We left the tailgate down and the topper open with a mosquito netting draped and tied over the opening. We had a shower tent and later much more gear as later in a 10’x14’ Kodiak tent, in fact so much we bought a small utility trailer to haul gear and later enclosed it as well. tnttt.com foamies section and the site in general will show you how to build almost anything you can imagine.

 

[rruff]

This one is more practical but it's a single bunk, hard to get a double bed in there without sacrificing room for a lot of other things...

View attachment 30229

You can make that bed platform slide out into the open area, with a two piece mattress. That's how I did mine. It would not be a double, but over 40" wide anyway.

 

[scaredycat72]

That's a couple on YouTube doing it with their dog. Just search for vanlife truck and I'm sure you'll find it.

 

[metaglypto]

Hello. Just wanted to shoot this out there. Is it possible for 2 adults to stay comfortably in a Toyota Tacoma pick up with a cap/topper? We have one and was just wondering if it was possible? Not at the point of living in it, but traveling and staying in it for a month or two? How does one outfit it? Any ideas?? Thank you in advance.

That depends almost entirely on the couple. Two fairly short people might be able to do it somewhat comfortably if you don't mind the hassle of the other person getting up in the middle of the night to pee. An older couple, not so much, especially considering the fact that the older you get the more unpredictable and frequent "calls of nature" can become. I have done it in a Dodge Dakota by myself, and issues like I have mentioned, coupled with arthritis and disabilities, created situations quite unpleasant in the middle of the night.

I have since switched to a Chevy Silverado with a high top canopy. I have a cot sized bed that is quite comfortable, and when nature calls, I just swing my legs out of bed, and stand up (bent over) to pee in a urinal.

I believe that ALL camping, nomading, overlanding, etc., is a trade off for a certain level of comfort and convenience that we may be accustomed to, for the experiences of discovery, adventure, and just fun in the outdoors. Everyone's level of "roughing it" is different, whether they camp in a tent and travel by motorcycle or have a Class A motorhome with every modern convenience. The size of the rig largely determines your overall comfort, but it also limits or allows you to go to the places you want to experience.

Bottom line IMO, is "just do it". I know you are probably wanting to be totally prepared for every contingency when you go camping, and that probably won't happen. You need experience, and it seems with me at least, I gain the most experience from making stupid mistakes. It is part of figuring out what it is that YOU need. I think the best advice I could give at this point is to get a canopy with as high of a top as possible. They are easier to get into and out of in the middle of the night.