DIY Slide In Camper questions

WarrenS65 wrote:
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.

Good points. Most of the models I have seen have slides and weigh upwards of 4500lbs. If I build it it won't be anywhere near that. And no slides. My current TC is 800-ish and I believe I could manage to build one at around 12-1300lbs dry weight. The basement is also another good point. Storage of the water tanks, batteries, and gear will keep the wight down in the bed. I would probably also mount the fridge and other heavy stuff on the floor to reduce top heavy-ness. I think I can come in under 11 foot on the truck which isn't really much higher than most prebuilt ones.

WarrenS65 wrote:
***Link Removed*** 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.

I debated doing something like that where I could make use of the existing ladder racks and use removable panels, but the matress takes up so much room that having it side to side gives more floor space than front to back.

I will look at the links(thanx). The main reason I ended up building my own was cost and customization. I really couldn't find a non-cabover one that would work on the Dakota. I probably have about $500 in the current one(used a good bit of reclaimed material). I will probably budget around $2k for a bigger one(have access to more reclaimed materials). If I had the Sierra when I started I would have went bigger. My current TC is barely wider than the bed of the Sierra. I have 2 winch/jacks(one for each side) that I got free with a bad TC and it's harder to back the Sierra under the camper.

Honestly the biggest thing I couldn't really do with the current TC was have a kitchen sink and a shower - that's what I would like to have in the new one. I have a fold down table on the back above where the propane tank is mounted that I use for my grill/cooktop because cooking inside makes too much heat and fumes. I have a Buddy heater and it's too much for the current TC on 4000 BTUs so a diesel furnace is also a desire.

The cab-over part is really my main concern. The rest doesn't look too bad.