New England B.S. Thread

Not trying to be a choosy beggar but if someone happens to see a 3g tacoma aluminum utility cap.. I'm sort of kind of looking to get into camping in the bed of my truck to broaden my options especially during ski season

 

Dont you have a 5 ft bed? At that point you mine as well pull a @Brownmatthall and sleep in the cab. Or be a pro and take out your passenger seat like @GarlicFarts

 

Doesn't fit a second person. You're a hair shorter than me I think, right? I'm between 5'9 and 5'10 depending which doctor measures. I was pretty comfortable in the bed as far as space is concerned, diagonally.

Between the wheel wells is exactly the width of an outdoor chair cushion, something like this:





then wider near the tailgate, forget the sizes.

Another option:




Or inside an SUV (I've seen this in a subaru outback, I think)



It depends what your setup is. Some people value the bed space to be rotten stinky muddy salty snowy stuff (boards/skis, wet snow gear, etc) to dry out. Others will roof rack their stuff, and cherish the bed for kipping up.

Check out the ski areas. I know some will allow small campers to park there, with RV parking etc. If the truck footprint isn't big enough for you, you could look at a teardrop or popup.

One person, I would 100% do the cab, but 2+, you're not getting in the cab without some magic and wrenching every night (taking out the driver seat and setting up a second platform for the night).

 

I"d need a full roll cage to have two points I could tie to that would hold up my fat ass

 

$48 VEVOR 5000 lbs A-Frame Trailer Jack, 15" Vertical Travel, Adjustable Drop Leg, for Horse Trailer, Utility Trailer, Yacht Trailer

https://www.amazon.com/VEVOR-Traile...qid=1708021837&sprefix=trailer,aps,143&sr=8-4

maybe these would help

 

5000lbs?

I think the 2000lb jack would be sufficient for me

 

Gotta have room to grow





Just the first one to pop up

 

I've thought about having tie off points on the truck for the hammock for overnights.






^^^ That one collapses down
https://gearjunkie.com/camping/hammocks/mclean-metalworks-hammock-mount-hitch-tire

If you're solo, that's 100x better than a RTT. Decent hammock is in the 100$ range, you can get an acceptable for 50$, or a decent for 250$, underquilt is the way to go for a hammock, 50$ ish. The whole shebang can basically fit into a backpack + the mounting system (however it's done).

Or a collapsible stand, don't need a hitch.

$120 Unbranded Red Portable Folding Hammock Lounge Camping Bed Steel Frame Stand W/Carry Bag

https://www.amazon.com/Portable-Folding-Hammock-Lounge-Camping/dp/B074MBBDCM

Similar to my platform, 2+ is kinda tough.

 

Yeah might just build a diagonal platform so I can have the dog on the inside corner for the non skiing parts of the year.
But for this winter I might just head up to saddleback with a couple sleeping bags and just sleep in the backseat


Honestly the heart kind of wants something like a gfc..

 

I have thoughts of starting to build with aluminum some more and attempt something like that. But I am liking wheeling more and more so my 120lb low camping setup is good for that. Also rather build full skids first.

 

That's the biggest I'd go for a bed camper. Tacomas "can" fit bigger slide ins, but it's shenanigans. At that point just get a dinky teardrop for half the cost. These are (relatively) small trucks.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...eping-platform-drawer-storage-systems.760906/



There are these things/ideas, gets you some more space using the tailgate:



Here's someone who did something in the back seat:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Tacomaworld/comments/14algi5/anyone_else_enjoy_sleeping_in_the_back_seat/

There's this guy who used wire racks to do something similar:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/camping-setup-in-a-5-footer.607111/page-2#post-24996165

I can't find the post but there's someone who did a platform inside from the rear driver side over the passenger seat and toward the front passenger side using those wire racks and some plywood too, looks like it gets a fair bit of sleeping space.

Re: Dog

Here's behind the driver seat in my truck now:






It was originally one piece of ply, but then I realized...it doesn't go in that way so I cut it and actually think it was unplanned success. Now I can get under there without dealing with an unwieldy chunk of ply.

Dog bed:



It can be either dog bed, or cooler/fridge storage.

 

Yeah I get that, for me it’s more of a camping/go outdoors setup that I’m into


@GarlicFarts nice. Thanks, definitely some stuff I have been lookin at too.

What’s your passenger seat area look like? My gf and I take the truck like every weekend into the mountains so I don’t think that one will pan out lol.

I might build a mini platform though to extend the backseat a bit. My dog is small so she can probably sleep at my feet if I ever did something without packing a tent. My dog and I napped together after a sunrise hike in the whites in the backseat but she ended up moving to the floor. Not really sure how she fit but it wasn’t very long lol

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUsbhHisRj0&t=195s

"Blood and Money". Movie setting is North Maine Woods. The movie is very dark, but good.

It starts off at the slow pace. The action picks up as the movie progresses.

 

My dog sleeps in that platform area. When the seat was on there, she'd sleep on that, either folded up with her bed there or whatever. But I just built that big platform for her a couple weeks ago, so that's her new spot. Plenty of space to stretch out, more stable/flat for her, etc.

Right now? Same as yours

By platform is essentially two PVC "boxes", with rails connecting them. The front passenger seat lookslike this, with the two connecting pieces there when the plywood's on there. PVC is super cheap to work with.



So, I think what you might have been asking about is what does the seat look like behind me when the platforms in? I don't have a great picture of that. You can kind of see it here, though, the seatback and bottom are on. Right now, that's taken out, I have no rear seat bottoms, I still have the driver side back, and then two front seats are in.



Two+ is hard. This is almost certainly a no go. You COULD do dog on platform, you drive, her ride Uber style for the drives. If you camp enough to justify that.

Alternatively, the platform is way too easy to take in and out. The passenger seat comes out with 4 bolts and some electrical connectors. I think, now that I've done it a handful of times, I could do the whole shebang swapped from one to the other in 10 minutes or less. Most of that time digging around trying to find the 14mm socket.

 

Its so easy, but robs sleeping platform is very tempting for solo outings now that i have space to stash the seat. @GarlicFarts did you say you were building a new platform with storage underneath? I'll happily rehome the old one

 

I saw my 1st 4th gen Tacoma yesterday on my way home from work. It's a nice looking truck!

 

They exist?!? Was it at a dealership or was someone driving it on the road?

 

Saw one probably 2 weeks ago, looked like a 2.5 gen until I was right next to it and then the rear was a mini tundra basically

 

I’d rather see the tundra like when it first came out, I felt it was like a oversized Taco, that they stretched just enough to slap a big engine in it

 

I'm glad you got some you're getting use out of it. Of course you found a 10mm socket, I probably lost and then found a half dozen.

BTW and totally off topic, but then again this is the off topic thread. I lost one of my Tacoma chip keys in the move. It will likely turn up, but I wanted to replace it. Costco has a deal with Car Key Express to cut and program keys. The price down here is $65.00 for a regular H key. I had them cut one and it worked fine. They will also do the three button remotes for $220.00 down here. That's for a generic one without the highly desirable Toyota logo on it. A key with the remote is $300.00.

Definitely an alternative to going to a dealership or even a full service lock smith.