Truck Bed Camping Setup

[StarLord]

Hey all,

With the seasons changing, and the ever lasting mandate to be socially distant, I am hoping we can share some ideas for a wicked bed setup! I am seeking some inspiration for mine.

Ideally sleep/storage/camping/offroad-get away type of deal. Home made or purchased are both acceptable. Not everyone is an engineer LOL

I work as a Climbing Arborist/Wild Land Fire Fighter in BC Canada and will be utilizing storage areas for chainsaws, ropes, rigging equipment, as well as fire and living gear.

If you have something cool in or on your bed, post it up for all to see!

Picture of my Ranger doing some 4x4'n this weekend!

 

[Edd]

I too, am looking for a decent setup.

 

[armoredpig]

Yes! I am trying to do the same thing! Now, I I haven't figured out the storage or sleeping part yet, but for shelter I went with a bestop supertop

 

[RoadBoss]

This is the setup I've been working on. it's just about done, but have a couple more details to do.

Pull out kitchen/fridge on the right, low storage drawer on the left. For some reason I don't have a picture of the drawer open, and its snowy so I don't want to go outside right now. But it holds my tent/air mattress, camp chair,tarps, large pots/pans, hammock, and a bunch of other stuff. everything except my bulky sleeping bag. Also at the front there's a spot to store the electronics - two small batteries, DC to DC charger and solar control panel and fuse panel. lower half of the kitchen box is the food pantry. and the entire tailgate is cutting board material.
Also the fridge is accessible from the side of the vehicle so you can just open up the softtopper to grab a drink or snack instead of sliding out the whole thing.

I also designed it with the idea one person could sleep on top of the storage box, though unless you're really short you need the tailgate down and a cover over the end, though I intend to sleep on the ground in my tent most of the time. My dog rides on top of it normally.

 

[Tinkerer]

My long term goal is to get an ARE or Leer topper, but due to current circumstances, might have to go the less expensive route temporarily and make one!

Here's the current work in progress, probably aluminum clad plywood.

 

[Firestud5]

That is a damn good setup. Kudos.

 

[Rinn69]

Check out this kids build. I was going to take a trip to Alaska and camp in it....simple and innovative design. There are 4 or 5 videos and takes you through his entire build process.

 

[egilbe]

This is the setup I've been working on. it's just about done, but have a couple more details to do.

Pull out kitchen/fridge on the right, low storage drawer on the left. For some reason I don't have a picture of the drawer open, and its snowy so I don't want to go outside right now. But it holds my tent/air mattress, camp chair,tarps, large pots/pans, hammock, and a bunch of other stuff. everything except my bulky sleeping bag. Also at the front there's a spot to store the electronics - two small batteries, DC to DC charger and solar control panel and fuse panel. lower half of the kitchen box is the food pantry. and the entire tailgate is cutting board material.
Also the fridge is accessible from the side of the vehicle so you can just open up the softtopper to grab a drink or snack instead of sliding out the whole thing.

I also designed it with the idea one person could sleep on top of the storage box, though unless you're really short you need the tailgate down and a cover over the end, though I intend to sleep on the ground in my tent most of the time. My dog rides on top of it normally.

This is very similar to what I have planned, using extruded aluminum. I came across the PullKitchen video a few months ago and think I can adapt that idea to the ranger with its 5 foot bed. Fridge, storage and a folding table on 500 pound sliders. Pull out drawer on the unused space. As soon as my Ranger is built and purchased I'm ordering a Go Fast Camper. It will be a nice road trip driving to Montana to pick it up next Summer.

https://pullkitchen.com/
https://gofastcampers.com/

I've been going back and forth between roof top tenting, towing a small travel trailer and tenting. I think with the GFC camper I can happily ditch the tent and trailer. I liked Wes Siler's idea with the flat water container in the front of the bed, with a LiFePo4 battery or two and a couple solar panels, I can probably live off the grid for quite a while.

 

[Dr. Zaius]

Really looking forward to the ideas you come up with.

I kept going back and forth between truck bed setup and off road trailer setup.

Each have their pluses and minuses.

I currently have a RTT for my SUV and I really like it.

The only downside is you have to pack everything up if you want to go exploring.

I'm currently building an off road trailer to attach the RTT to so that we can leave camp if desired.

I figure I'll try it this season and see if it improves on the SUV setup.

Plus my wife would like the tent a bit closer to the ground for those occasional middle of the night restroom excursions. A 6 foot fall with a full bladder would probably ruin your night quickly.

Of course a Ranger bed setup would be much lower than my SUV rooftop.

Why can't choices be easy?

 

[Spiritfish]

I didn't want to lose the open bed so went with an in-bed style tent...my kitchen set up is a propane 2 burner with all cast iron ware which is in one box. I load everything, drive to ocean and unpack/set up in about 20 minutes...Oh, and a beer cooler.

 

[Mcoop57]

Here’s mine. Roof Top tent mounted on Retrax slotted cover. Fantastic set up for us.

 

[Stephen Abbene]

Here is my set up. Just some plywood and 2x12s.

 

[Rviator]

I didn't want to lose the open bed so went with an in-bed style tent...my kitchen set up is a propane 2 burner with all cast iron ware which is in one box. I load everything, drive to ocean and unpack/set up in about 20 minutes...Oh, and a beer cooler.

Thanks for the photo as I have that same tent for my scab. I haven't been able to use it yet as the state parks here are closed.

 

[Rviator]

This time I'm planning on the bed tent setup, but my old Ranger setup was a topper with a cot for sleeping, a 12v fridge, and a small set of drawers for storage. I strung some coat hangar type wire to hang plastic curtains on the windows for privacy.

 

[Andy]

I went for the easy load and unload camping setup so I can shed the weight when I don’t need all the gear. Everything I need is inside two pelican cases and then I add the chainsaw and camera gear in their respective cases.

Sleeping bags and pillows fold up in the tent so those are always ready to go.