DIY Slide In Camper questions
Background - I currently have a homemade 8 foot truck camper with a slant front that I built for a dodge dakota. It's just under 80" wide. The end of the camper sits on the tailgate. I had original...
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Several manufacturers are building their floor above the bed rails to give extra floor width so that's certainly doable. Campers are designed to be carried on the pickup bed, so if you're going to build one above the bed rails, you'll want to build it with a basement (great place for your tanks, batteries, and other heaving item storage). Remember, though the bed rails may be able to handle the weight you've put on them, if you build a camper that's 6' above that, you're raising the center of gravity and it will want to rock back and forth causing more stress on your bed rails.
Bel-Air Shells makes campers that sit on the bed rails, but they are really just a shell that sits on top of the truck. They don't have sides or a floor below the bedrails. They're really nice and well constructed for what they are, but they're not a self contained camper.
As far as I know, none of the fully enclosed campers are designed to sit on the bed rails.
Glen-L has been selling plans to build your own camper for decades. You can buy them for $48-$60.
Glen-L Camper Plans
There are some good pictures of their customers building the Oxford and Bayou models.
Here are some good examples of how people have done this before.
https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=tnSJK7cx&id=6C03B52E7BD4EEDB916DCEB6D62C584836630393&thid=OIP.tnSJK7cxi-E6mYbCAU_0TwAAAA&mediaurl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2F736x%2Ffb%2F55%2F85%2Ffb558534556b9be1c0626577e15ad946.jpg&exph=217&expw=290&q=diy+truck+camper+frame&simid=607990717481570558&form=IRPRST&ck=6245F82462ACB49C9A0051D2313DC959&selectedindex=5&ajaxhist=0&ajaxserp=0&vt=0∼=11&pivotparams=insightsToken%3Dccid_hobL0rNc*cp_EFD47BAFD9C1FB73E21ED44B8B8A564F*mid_C3DB295C6E2826D04C375C66BCBD5C058CCF3DD8*simid_608053355285412543*thid_OIP.hobL0rNc0nlm4ZTWE3t!_!_AHaE6&iss=VSI&cdnurl=https%3A%2F%2Fth.bing.com%2Fth%2Fid%2FR.b674892bb7318be13a9986c2014ff44f%3Frik%3DkwNjNkhYLNa2zg%26pid%3DImgRaw%26r%3D0
Bel-Air Shells makes campers that sit on the bed rails, but they are really just a shell that sits on top of the truck. They don't have sides or a floor below the bedrails. They're really nice and well constructed for what they are, but they're not a self contained camper.
As far as I know, none of the fully enclosed campers are designed to sit on the bed rails.
Glen-L has been selling plans to build your own camper for decades. You can buy them for $48-$60.
Glen-L Camper Plans
There are some good pictures of their customers building the Oxford and Bayou models.
Here are some good examples of how people have done this before.
https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=tnSJK7cx&id=6C03B52E7BD4EEDB916DCEB6D62C584836630393&thid=OIP.tnSJK7cxi-E6mYbCAU_0TwAAAA&mediaurl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2F736x%2Ffb%2F55%2F85%2Ffb558534556b9be1c0626577e15ad946.jpg&exph=217&expw=290&q=diy+truck+camper+frame&simid=607990717481570558&form=IRPRST&ck=6245F82462ACB49C9A0051D2313DC959&selectedindex=5&ajaxhist=0&ajaxserp=0&vt=0∼=11&pivotparams=insightsToken%3Dccid_hobL0rNc*cp_EFD47BAFD9C1FB73E21ED44B8B8A564F*mid_C3DB295C6E2826D04C375C66BCBD5C058CCF3DD8*simid_608053355285412543*thid_OIP.hobL0rNc0nlm4ZTWE3t!_!_AHaE6&iss=VSI&cdnurl=https%3A%2F%2Fth.bing.com%2Fth%2Fid%2FR.b674892bb7318be13a9986c2014ff44f%3Frik%3DkwNjNkhYLNa2zg%26pid%3DImgRaw%26r%3D0
