Finished my Dream Rig

[tripper]

SO I have been working on this setup for years, had to do a lot to get my old Dodge reliable, slotted brake rotors, extra cooling fans dual transmission coolers, air bags, heavy duty camper tie downs plus just a lot of nick knacks.  What I completed is my 1993 4x4 Cummins Dodge truck with a 10' 1974 Alaskan Camper; the camper is a hard sided pop up camper. When it is down the camper has a low profile so the gas mileage does not take much of a hit, there a large hooks around it for tossing a small boat on the roof, it takes 3 minutes to setup, and is bear proof. THe only thing I need to get in the future is build a nice solar setup for it, but honestly I can get by with my small Jackery solar battery pack as the stove, heater and refrigerator do not use any electricity. If you see me out camping please come by and say Hi!

BTW you can use the camper in the down position, the dinette bed is fully ussable.


Truck with camper down

Looking towards front

Looking towards rear

Camper with top popped up

 

[eDJ_]

That's quite a piece of work where all of those details will play well together. Even the slotted rotors if you are up in the mountains. Well reasoned and the Cummins will live long and serve you well. A kid I've known since he was little has a Truck like yours and drives it 30 miles to work and 30 back again each of 5 days a week and dreads
having to drive his gasser "Explorer" when his Dodge is down for repairs. (which is rarely engine related)

I once met this old fellow, a retired trucker, who had a much modified GM pickup where he had installed a set back Perkins Diesel in it. He had a home built top on over the bed of it and as I was looking at it in the parking lot he offered to show me the rig. What really got my interest was a home built blower he had made for the Perkins. He told me that when he was at high elevations he would switch it on from the dash so the engine would get a little extra air. (it wasn't a turbo) His solution was a heater fan and squirrel cage mounted into a plywood box. His air cleaner was mounted to the front of the box. When switched on it was just enough boost he said.

He even had a left wheel spindle with a odometer in it. LOL But he and his little dog traveled all around the USA in it.

 

[bullfrog]

Now just remember to not start cramming it full of stuff, maybe a small 4x4 or ATV on a trailer! Lol!!! Looks really nice!

 

[JohnnyM]

Looks great, Itripper.

Love all that wood paneling. Gives it a nice old school look.

Congrats

Johnny

 

[highdesertranger]

very nice. you even got one with manual locking hubs on the front axle, great find. highdesertranger

 

[tx2sturgis]

Never mind all that!

How long did it take you to set up that shower tent?

I bought one of those a few years ago, from the River Retailer, and after messing around with it for about an hour, and using ALL of my best 'golf words'...I finally gave up, tossed the damn nylon material in the trash and ended up using the aluminum poles for other projects. 

I remember reading in the Amazon description that there were two versions...one that was 'easy setup'...but it cost about twice what the 'standard setup' tent cost. I figured, I'd save a few bucks...and buy the cheap one..."I are smart"...right?

When it came in and I started looking at the 'chinglish' instructions, all the pieces, the colored plastic connectors, the fiberglass and aluminum poles with NO color codes, the
multitude of hooks and clips and pieces of nylon and screening and netting with no indications where they went or how to attach them...and with no one to help hold things in place in the wind, while I tried this and that....and then I read the instructions where it said something to the effect of: "THIS QUALITY (one piece) TENT REQUIRES THE TWO PEOPLE FOR MOST EASY SETUP"

Oh....NOW they tell me!

I left a VERY negative review...but hey, I got years of use out of some of the aluminum poles!

I hope yours was the 'eazzy peazzy' version.

 

[tripper]

Never mind all that!

How long did it take you to set up that shower tent?.....

Well I was bitching about how difficult a two person shower tent was going to be to set up to my wife Rachel, she bought it on a sale. She wanted to prove to me she could do it, it took her a while but she got it. So I set it up myself the next time, it took me a while. Turns out the instructions are in the wrong order, I now can set it up very easily alone in about 10 minutes, that includes strapping it to the rig, it has withstood heavy winds as the rig blocks most of it. I really love the two chambers, one wet side for shower, and dry side for getting dressed and the 5 gallon bucket.

 

[gslanm]

It looks really decent, nice job.

 

[tx2sturgis]

Yes the pickup camper looks really good...all that wood...like a camper should!

I just had to focus on the shower tent since it was front and center in one of the pics....

On the two room shower tent....yeah that's why I had purchased it...this was several years back....and it looked like a nice way to take care of 'bidness' out in the sticks.

I ended up going back to using my little pop-up privy tent...I can unfold it and have it set up and staked down in a couple of minutes.

 

[AeroNautiCal]

Your Alaskan Camper looks really beautiful, the gorgeous wood enhances that Travel Cabin feel.

Great idea of setting up a Toilet/Shower Tent, I've never seen one with two rooms before, that looks to be really practical.

 

[bullfrog]

Our two room shower tent from Ozark Trails was easy to use but the zippers wore out quickly, we ended up sewing Velcro on the door still only lasted a couple years but was nice while we had the truck camper.

 

[MotorVation]

Your rig looks great! Mine is just a bunch of stuff wherever I could fit it. No build. Yet