Tunnel between cab and cap.

[Newtothis123]

Hello all,

Good to be newly involved with the community here. I have learned a lot of insightful things about modifications on this website, but there is one question that I've yet to see pop up. I would like to be more stealthy about living in my truck. I sleep under a fiberglass cap on the bed of my pickup. Every night i have to sneak in the rear hatch of the cap to get to bed. Instead, i would like to remove the rear window of my cab and the front window of my cap in order to crawl through the opening. My only issue is thinking how to build this mini-tunnel so that it is ready for the elements. The gap is no more than six inches wide.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

[hepcat]

It's called a truck cab boot and they come in various configurations, prices, and manufacturers.

https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=truck+cab+window+boot&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

 

[highdesertranger]

what you want is an accordion boot. I made some posts explaining them with pictures in this thread,
https://vanlivingforum.com/Thread-T...ng-into-camper-shell?highlight=accordion+boot
highdesertranger

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

Wow, those accordion boots are really neat. No idea those existed. HDR, in that thread you linked you show a picture of your truck from the inside with the boot on and then the outside is the bed of your truck with no cap on it. I'm confused, what is your boot installed on if there's no cap?

 

[highdesertranger]

I don't have a full cap I have a sleeper.  here's a pic from the outside,







highdesertranger

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

Sweet set up!

 

[Newtothis123]

This is exceptional! Thank you HDR. Looks like the accordion boot is the way to go. Now in regard to this, my next question is fitting the boot to the two windows. I understand that it mounts onto the pinch weld after both windows are removed. However, my concern is that the two windows are not identical. As I had learned from your post in the thread you linked, the difference between the window measurements can be amended by using fiberglass or aluminum. Would you care to explain this further? 

-My appreciation.

 

[highdesertranger]

leave you truck cab alone. look at the cap. the opening on the cap should match the cab opening. on mine I fiberglassed the cap opening. I took some flat fiberglass panels from another cap and fiberglassed it in. don't worry about what the hole looks just as long as it's smaller than the cab opening. you could even close the opening completely. you will cut the hole in the cap latter. then mount the cap on the truck. then scribe a line following the cab opening. then cut this out to match the cab opening. when you install the boot it helps to use some 3M weather strip adhesive to hold it in place.

now if you don't want to fiberglass or you have an aluminum shell. you can use 1/8 aluminum. basically everything the same only you are dealing with aluminum instead of fiberglass. you can bolt or rivet the aluminum but make sure it is a solid mounting, you don't want it flexing.

if you look at my sleeper it had side windows too, I used the same method there. I also cut the sleeper in half and added 15 inches to the center to make it wider. any more questions feel free to ask. highdesertranger

 

[Newtothis123]

Forgive me if I am misunderstanding any information here. (It doesn't help that I cannot find videos online where this procedure is explained.) As I am understanding it then, the procedure is not as simple as attaching the boot to the pinch weld around the rear window of the cab to the pinch weld around the front window of the cap? To put it more concisely, I cannot just remove the windows and attach this boot between them, correct? So what you are recommending is to modify the size of the window on the cap. Ideally, this would be making the cap window smaller than the cab window, yes? So the procedure here is to either take small pieces of fiberglass panel and make the hole smaller...or put an entire piece of fiberglass panel over the window, scribe the measurements of the cab window onto this fiberglass panel, and then cut out the hole to those measurements. After doing this, the accordion boot should fit on real secure. Now you've got me wonderin', how do you secure this separate fiberglass panel to the existing fiberglass of the cap? Like, Elmers glue...haha. Or am I misinterpreting the information you offered prior?

 

[highdesertranger]

with your end result you want both openings to match as close as possible. the closer the better. you attach the fiberglass with fiberglass. go to Home Depot in the paint section they have Fiberglass. it's 3 parts, the fiber(use the mesh not the chopped), the glass, and a hardening agent. if you have never worked with fiberglass read the instruction and watch some vids and practice on something. it's not that hard, really. highdesertranger

 

[Newtothis123]

Great! I'll keep this in mind and seek to pay a visit back to this thread in case any other thoughts come up. One final question, what risks are run if the windows are uneven and the boot is installed?

 

[highdesertranger]

you can't do it. the circumference of both opening must measure the same. if they are not the boot will not install correctly. if the cab opening is 96 inches and the cap is 94 inches the boot will not fit right you will either be 2 inches long or 2 inches short. where are you located? highdesertranger

 

[Newtothis123]

you can't do it.  the circumference of both opening must measure the same.  if they are not the boot will not install correctly.  if the cab opening is 96 inches and the cap is 94 inches the boot will not fit right you will either be 2 inches long or 2 inches short.  where are you located?  highdesertranger

I see what your point is here. I'm residing up in fair weather Michigan.

 

[Svenn]

I solved this issue by buying and installing a rear cab window with a slider middle window and then a cap with the same. I'd open both windows, crawl back, then close. No need for boot or accordion. Got a lot of bruises on my thighs and honestly no one with hips over 36" could probably fit. Had a big girlfriend once, took some effort to push her back there.

 

[masterplumber]

I solved this issue by buying and installing a rear cab window with a slider middle window and then a cap with the same.  I'd open both windows, crawl back, then close.  No need for boot or accordion.  Got a lot of bruises on my thighs and honestly no one with hips over 36" could probably fit.  Had a big girlfriend once, took some effort to push her back there.

I used to do that, when I was younger and skinnier. The problem with the newer trucks is if you can find a slider for it, it's uber expensive and only has about a 1' square opening. The one for my Ram is something like $850!

 

[Svenn]

I used to do that, when I was younger and skinnier. The problem with the newer trucks is if you can find a slider for it, it's uber expensive and only has about a 1' square opening. The one for my Ram is something like $850!

Yeah it took me forever to find an after-market rear window with a slider; the new ones are now only like 10" square if that.

 

[closeanuf]

So you really do size up your girlfriends now?

 

[ArtW]

'gee you're a swell girlfriend'
'I can't wriggle through the window'
'it's over'

 

[Newtothis123]

If there is one thing to put a damper on a romantic evening, it's your girlfriend trying to fit through the rear window of your truck and getting stuck. You'd just have to drive her on down to the market like that and get some Crisco to loosen her up.
...Anyways, originally I was thinking about just replacing the cab window with one that slides. Since my shell already has one, I figured I could just squeeze on through and call it a day. The only problem: the sliding window on the shell is only about 15" diagonal from corner to corner. After trying the 'cut the same size square in cardboard'' method and attempting to squeeze my body through, I realized it could only be done nude, and nearly dislocating a shoulder. Sure would be nice to find some sliding windows with 36" though...I could manage that. Plus, there wouldn't be the heat loss and road noise compared to installing an accordion boot (which isn't ideal anyways because it means taking a sawzall to the cap). Any ideas where to look for these rumored windows with 36"? What about contacting a glazier for such a thing?
Thanks for the interesting thread guys.

 

[closeanuf]

It might help if we knew what vehicle we are trying to help you with.