Let's see those Alu-cab setups

Post #78 of my build thread is a great place for you to look: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/another-around-the-world-tacoma.746226/page-4

 

Very curious to get input on likes/dislikes on the Alu Cab Canopy Camper. I currently have RSI smart cap + CVT RTT on my 2020 OR 5' bed. I like it but on extended trips and any bad weather I (an mostly my wife) are missing a place, beside the cab of the truck or the RTT, to hunker down or just chill in the bed of the truck. Obviously the ACCC is not a cheap path to build out nicely. I am evaluating 4 wheel camper project m or their slide in pop up along with scout or perhaps Kimbo. Keep going back to ACCC for the ability to seal it and maximize useable space in the bed and actually stand up without some monsterous slide in.

Bottom line intent is to either upgrade what I have or pivot to a bigger rig to make for more comfortable extended trips ie weeks at a time for my wife and me. Either way ain't cheap and don't want to regret decision

Appreciate any pro/con input on the ACCC from those with experience

 

I think it’s great. Having the back door and eliminating the tailgate is by far worth the extra dough. The only issue I have sometimes is with the sleeping platform down if someone is sleeping or up there and you want to hang in the bottom you can’t lift the bed. In the others they just stay over the cab. But no regrets I would Deff buy it again

 

Anyone know key differences between the contour and expedition canopy? Is it worth the price difference? Do all the accessories work on both canopies, e.g. side cupboards, side table, stainless steel table mount etc.

 

Thanks. The full door is definitely slick. My thinking is to do some seating so can hang when the sleeping platform is down. Is there enough room in the back of the bed w the extra platform up? Thx

 

What's the best solution for interior lighting in the Explorer canopy? Have one coming in the spring and trying to come up some decent ideas. Not much out there for detailed imaging of the interior of the Explorer to get some ideas flowing.

 

my explorer has a light strip on each door from the factory. Just have to supply power to a harness that is inside the drivers rear corner.

 

Great to hear. Adequate light output?

 

I bought an ACCC for many of the same reasons you mentioned. Maximizing usable space while keeping weight down and my maneuverability high.

The ACCC fits my bill perfectly, but it simply doesn't hold a candle to a bigger camper on a bigger truck in terms of comfort and 'daily life' usability.

The ACCC works for my fiancé and I, with one pretty big caveat; While it is leagues above any other setup I or my friends have ever had (sleeping in empty bed of truck, ground tent, soft shell RTT, hard shell RTT, GFC) it is still plenty uncomfortable. We both know this and simply accept it. It is not a house. It is not spacious relative to a slide in or travel trailer. You will be twisting and turning as you work your way 'downstairs' or while you are getting dressed with the bed down, or even with the bed up. It certainly helps to be athletic/flexible, and to have a high tolerance for routine discomfort.

With that said, I would not go any other way. The ACCC is precisely what I want and need. It is very enjoyable to relax inside while it is snowing/raining outside. It is remarkably easy to spend ~18 consecutive hours inside of it.

To answer your quoted question, yes, there is. The lady prefers to lay down to be comfortable, and I prefer to sit. She lays up top with the bed down, and I sit down low (6'3" tall), near the rear door (due to the storage I have built. You could sit anywhere under the sleeping platform, on the floor of the truck, if your storage allows it). We raise the smaller platform to communicate. She lays on the bed, and I lean against the side of the truck bed with a pillow stuffed against my lower back. The bed rug keeps my butt comfy as well.

All of what I wrote above is tailored towards camping where we have/choose to stay inside of the truck due to cold weather (what we have been doing recently). When it's warmer a lot of this goes out of the window, as we switch to using the ACCC as a base station that houses our water/food/kitchen/clothes/etc. while we sit outside.

 

Plenty and each light has its own switch so you can turn them on/off individually.

 

MR E30 ... thanks for the comments. I line w what I expected and thought. From what I can tell the ACCC is best option if I stick w the Tacoma. Now need to decide if I go full size w 6.5 bed with a cushier slide in. Pros and cons to both.. Love the tacoma for daily and off road but no question a full size, with slide in like 4WC Hawk, would be super nice and cost wise, appears not that different than fully loaded ACCC.

 

So I finally got my Contour canopy. Shout out to Tiny Rig for hooking me up and getting installed after a loooong drive.
My plans are to mount my Gen 3 on top. As I already owned the gen 3 I went this route. I have a whole host of alucab accessories to install myself and will update as I go.

 

Last Sunday started the install of the canopy accessories. Get the ammo box slide and large cupboard installed. Not without a lot of challenges. The bolts really hate to slide in the tracks. I think alu-cab needs more work on the engineering and tolerance side if things. I can tell Tiny Rig struggled getting the canopy mounted due to the same clearance issue. I had to get the bolt barely started by hand then use a hammer and drift to tap it into the channel. I am also not a fan of how the light interferes with the cupboard, I will be relocating the light to sit above the cupboard to light that area specifically. Perhaps adding bolt locations instead of riveting the light in would be better. I love the end result but it was not easy.

 

I noticed the holes always seemed to have a little material left behind from machining. I used a pick, deburring tool and a small file to clean up the affected areas. One hole was particularly bad so I just used a different hole on the roof and slid the bolt over to that side.

 

Anyone know if a prinsu camper shell rack could fit on the Contour canopy? I am going thr Contour route and already have a prinsu rack, so if I could throw it on top that would be awesome to save me the hassle of selling it and then buying the alu cab load bars

 

I measured track to track on my contour canopy, approximately 46 1/2" across. Hope that helps.

 

Thanks, that's actually a huge help. Just need to measure my racks feet

 

Alucab sells feet for their crossbars. It's what I purchased to mount my frontrunner rack.

 

They have low pro, medium and high feet. Bet one of them would work.

 

I bought a Prinsu top rack to mount on top of mine, but I haven't installed it yet. I also reached out to Prinsu and Alu-Cab to ask what kind of brackets I might need to make this work. Neither of them were able to give me a confident answer. With that said, I plan to put the rack together and see how it lines up before purchasing anything. I'll let you know how it goes and what I ended up needing (assuming I do need the additional mounting feet).