The Official Unofficial Super Pacific X1 Camper Thread

I've never seen or heard of a 5x10 sheet of plywood. The American standard is 4x8 on pretty much any wood. You can find birch (Baltic birch) in 5x5's from specialty lumber places though.

 

See below.

 

I just bought a 5x5. But I have a long bed. I guess I go get a 4x8 too

 

Is it possible to run the shitco/gzila brackets and a rear awning (eg. CVT Hybrid) at the same time?

 

No personal experience with both, but my Gzila awning poles (same or similar to Shittco) go out to the side and up in a way that I don't believe will impact an awning.

 

That's interesting, and answers a lot of questions. Looks like the doors in the Room would work pretty well in wet weather but would let a lot of bugs in through that area under the tailgate. It's looking like I'll need to create my own bug room, sew it together in a way that fits the tail of the SP. That might be preferable, as I'd prefer magnetic closures rather than zippers. Lot of work, though.

 

Planning ahead.
I like the idea of an attached awning to keep things simple on the road but a 10x10 popup still works wonders (outside of extra weight and storage in the bed). Haven't seen too many pictures or discussion of that combo

 

I purchased a 5'x5'x3/4"sheet of baltic birch at a specialty wood store.

 

Yeah I just purchased a 5x5. However, that works for a short bed but I have a long bed so it will be about a foot short. Im debating doing the 4x8 or 5x5. Using the 4x8 its really only 3" short than full width of the bed and looks like that is what the majority of people do.

 

I originally made a base plate for my long bed out of two 5x5 sheets of Baltic birch. One main piece and a shorter wide piece at the front of the bed, connected with joining plates. That joint would have been underneath the cabinet I was building so I wasn't concerned about it. It was solid and looked pretty nice.

In the end I didn't like the feel of walking on plywood so I ditched the plate and kept my rubber floor mat as the base instead. The cabinets I built are attached directly to the bed rails, and have been rock solid. The cut up base plate now makes up the top pieces of the cabinets.

 

nice def interested to see how that turns out. I plan to make some netting for the truck in general. those bugs get in there easy and the kid is not a fan.

 

nice looks killer. whats the best spot for 80/20? I want to move my fridge to the rear and likely will go that route to keep weight down. any wood add up and can get really heavy.

 

Thanks! Mind sharing how you connected to the bed rails? This is very similar to what I have planned. Already have all the lumber and 80/20 just need to get to work.

I have a bed mat also and am going back and forth using the bed mat or the 4x8 cut with carpet. I too didn't want to attach the two 5x5 sheets with a joint.

 

What light strips did you install? Debating about ordering that kit that GTFO is selling or just some cheap Amazon lights? Anyone else have a recommendation?

 

I've had a great experience with a Bedrug as a base instead of a rubber mat. Just as weatherproof and feels great under the foot.

 

I used Tnutz.com. Can't say if that place is best or better than anything else, but compared to 8020.net or Mcmaster I found it easier to navigate, pick out and customize items (cut lengths, tapping ends etc). They did take longer to process the order than estimated. I had to email and call them before finally getting an email saying my order was being shipped, and that was days after I was supposed to have it in hand.

I connected it using the most ghetto method possible. Just went to Home Depot and got angled plates from hardware dept. I drilled holes in those to line up with 8020 and nut serts in the camper. T-nuts connect the bracket to the 8020, and M5 (6?) bolt is screwed directly into the camper. I used 21" height for the cabinet which lined up really well with everything. My fridge is mounted at the end so that the top is flush with the cabinet. That way I can use it as a sleeping platform when stealth camping. If your cabinet is lower you could still connect it this way, you might just have to flip the bracket upright rather than angled down. I used smaller angles at the front since the cabinet is right against the cab there. Along the side it sits about 3" from the bed rail - due to all the little things that stick out from the camper wall this is as close as I could get it without modifying the cabinet. But with 3 brackets on the side and 2 up front it doesn't move at all. It is the exact length of the bed so with tailgate up it can't move forward/backward at all.

I really like the bed mat base. You don't need the base plate to keep things in place if you can anchor it to the sides firmly. I put strips of 1/2" foam insulation in the grooves in the bed, then a layer of reflectix over that beneath the bed mat. Its actually really nice to walk on, and hopefully the insulation will help a bit in winter. The bed mat is easy to clean when it gets dirty, which it does since I store the MTB in there. The wood base plate would have been easy to sweep out too but I think it would have gotten scratched up badly in short order dragging stuff in and out all the time. Plus, stuff would slide around a lot more on it than on the bed mat. Since you have the bed mat already, give it a try. You can always switch it out later.

This is the GTFO kit. Went back and forth between spending $$$ on that or less on something cheap from Amazon that I'd have to piece together - switches, dimmers, LEDs etc. The GTFO kit is pretty easy to install and everything just plugs in so I ended up with that. The only thing I had to modify was chopping off the cig lighter plug in and hard-wiring it to my system. The wires were not side by side - this was one where positive wire is in an inner sheath and negative is in an outer sheath surrounding positive, so it was kind of a pain to get those soldered to a plug without them touching (electrical noob here).

The light works great. I mostly use the orange since it attracts fewer bugs. But it does still attract some - moths, little aphids and a few others mainly. I got an electric fly swatter to help. Most places I've camped bugs haven't been terrible, definitely not bad enough I'd consider bug installing bug netting.

FWIW, I did add the second controller so I can turn on the short light which I mounted on the rear hatch, separate from the two main lights.

 

If you want to make them lower, you can go right to the bedrail too

 

Truck is pretty dirty from the drive out but here she is!!! Just left the guys at SP, what a great group of people!!!

 

I've been debating on what type of awning I wanted to install and on which side of the truck. Never thought about the rear. I dig that set up. Question is, not sure if the 55" would fit, beings the measurement between the handles in 54.5"

 

Nice looks great. I had a previous setup made from wood that mounted similarly with HD parts.

I mounted my wood setup similar to this but with wood and angled brackets. Glad to see similar setup will work with 80/20. I was thinking similar to this.