So what did you do to your Truck Camper today?

Although not directly to my Truck camper, I am building up a 8 ft, truck bed trailer for cargo, food, water, fuel, and just stuff for extended camping comfort. In the last 48 hours, I have made a front cargo platform to carry two 5 gal fuel or water cans and one 20lb propane tank. The propane tank rides in an old milk-crate that is bolted down, perfect fit.
Installed 16 tie-down points on the exterior sides of the trailer.
Installed new safety chain, used a tow chain with a 3500lb limit. I centered the chain on the frame, ran it through the cross-member and over the welded in place hitch pipe, then bolted it in two places to the existing cross-member. It can be unbolted if needed.
Added a pair of steel wire racks to top of exposed frame rails for light cargo and/or as a step when coming out of the truck camper. Mounted a fold-away trailer jack with dual wheels to front of trailer, Harbor freight, 1500lb. Mounted a pair of heavy duty caster wheels to bottom of rear bumper for steep driveways and ramps.
Installed a simple throw bolt to lock the tail gate as the existing latches were broken. It can be kept latched with either a cotter pin or pad-lock.

Please note the maximum photo width=640

Maybe keep doggy in the cab of the truck while you sleep in the camper.

Took delivery of a Viair 450P compressor. I had use of one last year and it saved my bacon and another fellow with a tag along.

Good idea about the styrofoam. I also like to sleep in the cold and when it got hot, I rolled over towards the cold wall. I just don't want the sheets and mattress wet.

It wasn't outrageously bad...(I am a drama queen) I have slept alot worse! I figure after being on the boat/fishing all day all of us will sleep like the dead! Ms Dorothy too. We have a week long fishing trip planned to Alabama in April and I am still assessing whether or not little princess goes. She loves to travel, but I think we will be better off without her until later in the summer when we are pros at this.
Also, scouted out camping area at local lake were we do lots of tournaments. Previously my husband wanted to still stay in a hotel for the one night, but I believe he is coming around. No hook-ups, so we can get by with minimal set up and just lower the top and be the first one's in the water.

First night jitters, you'll sleep better with the fan noise once you are relaxed. Same with the dog; they sense you are a bit keyed up and respond in kind. I think a direct heat source like a catalytic heater is going to add to the condensation problem so keep working with the forced air version if you can.

I wonder if a few stiff sided styrofoam panels could be cut to size and fit the canvas areas to help with condensation? They sell sheets of it at Home Depot made of various materials and thicknesses with aluminum foil bonded to one side. You'd only need it on the coldest nights, but it might be cheap enough to keep on hand. Just a thought.
I prefer to keep it cool in our camper after bed and layer up with blankets than to heat the camper. It'll get plenty warm once you are up and fixing breakfast and making a pot of coffee anyways.

WVbassmistress wrote:
Didn't actually do anything TO it, but we did spend our maiden night in it on Friday. Like most things we do, it was a many faceted, self-induced train wreck.... not really that bad...just not alot of sleep. It got down to about 25 that night and we fired up the heater. Fan is pretty loud and every time it kicked on it woke us up. We do normally sleep with a fan or white noise machine (which I didn't bring along) but this on and off thing didn't work for me. Looking into other options. Then, we decided to bring the dog along since she will be camping with us. First she whine because she couldn't get up in the bed, so we put her in the bed solving that problem. Then, one of our cats was outside doing that baby squalling cat noise. (wasn't about to let him in)
The heat was too hot then we took it down a notch and it got pretty cold. I know we will primarily be warm weather camping, so that didn't bother us. The condensation was a factor also. Not sure what to do about that with the soft sides.
About 4, all of our bladders got the better of us, so we ran inside and the dog did not make the return trip. That helped! We slept in til about 7:30 ( I would have slept later!) It gets pretty bright in there, not sure what to do about that, but when camping, I like to get up early.
Fired the fridge up as well and it ran like a top. (whatever that means)

Sorry to hear that thing's went a little rough your first time out. Regarding the furnace, look into getting a catalytic heater. They're quiet and run on propane only, no noisy fan or battery power to run.

kerry4951 wrote:

meatwagon wrote:
Installed a corner shower rack to hold soap,shampoo, tooth brush ext., it also has mirror for shaving. It fits great.:C

Without posted pics it never happened. LOL

[i

mg]http://imageshack.us/a/img32/1323/phoenix2013021500041.jpg[/img]

Didn't actually do anything TO it, but we did spend our maiden night in it on Friday. Like most things we do, it was a many faceted, self-induced train wreck.... not really that bad...just not alot of sleep. It got down to about 25 that night and we fired up the heater. Fan is pretty loud and every time it kicked on it woke us up. We do normally sleep with a fan or white noise machine (which I didn't bring along) but this on and off thing didn't work for me. Looking into other options. Then, we decided to bring the dog along since she will be camping with us. First she whine because she couldn't get up in the bed, so we put her in the bed solving that problem. Then, one of our cats was outside doing that baby squalling cat noise. (wasn't about to let him in)
The heat was too hot then we took it down a notch and it got pretty cold. I know we will primarily be warm weather camping, so that didn't bother us. The condensation was a factor also. Not sure what to do about that with the soft sides.
About 4, all of our bladders got the better of us, so we ran inside and the dog did not make the return trip. That helped! We slept in til about 7:30 ( I would have slept later!) It gets pretty bright in there, not sure what to do about that, but when camping, I like to get up early.
Fired the fridge up as well and it ran like a top. (whatever that means)

Installed a few LED Lights and pulled the cook top & sink to clean.



Above the kitchen sink...



Above the dinette....