Camper Renovation and Capabilities of a 2007 Tundra Double

[Leftcoastal]

Been keeping an eye out for something used the last 6 months or so in the pop up dept not much available so I'm considering a family reno project and modifying a hard shell. We could use pointers and appreciate any help offered!

First off our Tundra 2wd v8 4.7 is outfitted with class 10 Goodyear Duratrac 275 70 18's. No bump stops or bags yet, but looking at Timbren and Firestones. With the payload cap at 1535lbs we're gonna have to do some shaving.

Main goal is to have a camper that is good for 2-5 day outings within a few hundred miles from spring to fall with my 5yo and my lady. Thinking between 50-80 degree camping. Maybe 6-12 outings a year. We're totally green with truck camping but have camped a good bit over the years.

I'm imagining shaving weight by pulling a decent bit of heavy cabinetry/door faces and replacing with alum framing and/or plastic. We may pull the bathroom.. do people really use these? May pull AC. The real objective is to have a camper with Two beds (cabover queen and small single for 5yo), single propane stove,adequate led lighting, and perhaps a pull out awning or hammock. Step up from tent camping without too many modern accessories.

Still trying to sort out a budget but ideally a used camper under $2k and another $2k in reno.

Found this local and it looks like a good deal. Check out this Slide in camper for $1500 on OfferUp

https://offerup.com/item/detail/819917594/

Check out this 95 Northland camper 12ft everything works title in hand for $1000 on OfferUp

https://offerup.com/item/detail/795212363/

[Grit_dog]

mkirsch, imo, the OP will ruin all the “value” he puts into it, which by his account will total about 4 grand.
Not much money for some, but I’m surmising that it’s a significant amount of money for someone with a $4k budget to start with.

[Kayteg1]

mkirsch wrote:
.. A national camper rental service has/had a fleet of F150's with fully self-contained (i.e bathroom) hard sided campers that they rent out.

Have you seen 1 of those?
I have. They are 6 feet something wide, no jacks and I am not sure 6 or 8 foot floor.
Not something I would be comfortable in.
Tents have more space.

[mkirsch]

ppine wrote:
Modifying a camper to save weight by things like "taking out the bathroom" is not a good idea. You will ruin the value of your unit by modifying it. Better to buy a bigger truck.

If you're starting with a $1500-$2000 camper, how much value are you going to "ruin" really???

OP, one thing you'll find is that it's going to be nigh on impossible to do a truck camper on any sort of 15-series, aka "half ton", without exceeding the payload capacity, GVWR, perhaps even the axle ratings. That 15XXlb capacity disappears quick.

There's a TON of debate on this. Truck camper manufacturers regularly advertise campers that weigh in at 2500+ loaded for "half ton". A national camper rental service has/had a fleet of F150's with fully self-contained (i.e bathroom) hard sided campers that they rent out.

[SanCap]

I have been a long time member here with a name change, used to be jimandsue60. we have had a lot of Truck campers, motorhomes and 5th wheels that we fulltimed in. We are now in a home here on Sanibel Island, Florida.

Owning a 2015 DC Tundra we wanted to get back out on the road and get into the back country where we couldn't get to with the full size TC's we have owned.

We researched and went with an AT Summit topper for our Tundra, light weight and basically a tent above the bed of the tundra. We have spent a lot of nights in it. I have a 12 volt fridge/freezer, port potty, solar, large battery bank and inverters to keep the fridge going as well as charging batteries for my drones.

I have added a 10K winch, 2.75 inch lift, TRD Pro sway bar, larger wheels and tires.

There are some pics here, Pics

[JimK-NY]

In addition to storage, internal cabinetry in most truck campers is used to reinforce the structure and rigidity of the camper. You risk disaster if you remove it or try to replace it with lighter, less suitable materials.

[Kayteg1]

Leftcoastal wrote:
..

In the 8'-10' hard shell campers I was thinking the cabinetry was a good 300-400lbs or so? Taking things down to the frame, re-insulating, and covering with a type of hdpe was my thought initially but I'm not sure just how breathable the walls need to be, definitely don't want moisture issues. It would be great to keep all the storage as close the floor as possible.

I am presently gutting Lance camper to reuse interior in my new project and I don't see 300 lb of cabinetry.
Most of internal cabinets/walls ar "toothpick" frame 3/4"x and 1/16 paneling on the side.
Out of curiosity I weight the heaviest doors.
Bathroom door with big mirror 20 lb
Upper cabinet door less than 2lb.
The heavy parts inside are fridge, oven and water system. If you want to delete those, they will save several hundreds lb. Outside - jacks and AC.
Still most of the camper weight is in cabover framing, roof and floor and you definitely want those.
Campers don't have breathable walls. Styrofoam filling with lot of reflective insulation. Fiberglass or vinyl on finishes. None of those breaths.
TC are build with lot of holes around plumbing and electrical connections and that makes air exchange at high rate when you park in winds.

[JimK-NY]

So as I understand it the plan is to buy a used camper for very little money. The camper needs to be small and light weight and then you will work on it to get it even lighter so the Tundra will be able to handle the load.

Getting a decent and appropriate used camper is likely to be more expensive than you want. Then there is all the work and frankly unless you strip everything out, the weight is likely to be more than the Tundra can and should handle. There are some choices for popup campers that might work but finding one is even more difficult since there are relative few popups sold to begin with.

Personally, I would forget the truck camper idea and look for a popup tent trailer in need of some work and loving care.

[JIMNLIN]

You have the truck so drop be a set of CAT scales and get the trucks separate front and rear axles weights. I don't know the Tundras rear axle load numbers but maybe in the 4200 RAWR range....and its rear axle may weigh in the 2500-2600 lb range which leaves the truck with around 1600 lbs in the bed before exceeding a tire/wheel or rear spring pack capacity number.
Weighing before and after tells the tale. Then is the time to think about any rear suspension mods if needed.....or if the camper needs to shed any weight.

[Grit_dog]

Depending how spartan you want to get, you could pull a bunch of weight out of a camper, but the second biggest attraction coming from tent camping, after not having to set up a tent, roll out sleeping bags, etc every time you move is the features you're getting rid of was....
Water, with a sink shower and chitter.
Fridge (the best feature)
Hot water
Heat
Storage, storage storage, not living out of a bunch of Rubbermaid totes.

While your budget may low or you think it's low, buying a cheap old camper and then basically gutting it will make all of it sunk cost, as it won't be marketable.

Buying something in nice shape and keeping all the features in tact and keeping it in the same or better condition than you bought it will basically result in zero or near zero depreciation and if (when) you decide to upgrade, you'll get most all your investment back. And camp in much greater luxury as a side benefit.
For reference, we bought our first TC, 8 years old, used it for 2 years and sold it for more than we paid. Bought another one a couple years older for less than the first one and 6 years later it's still worth 80-90% what we paid, maybe more.
If I sold it today for a modest price, would actually make some money overall.
Long term, you could come out better financially by buying a decnwt used camper and not modifying it than buying cheap and making it less marketable
Something to consider.

[Leftcoastal]

Yes they are nice. Haven't seen many come up though.

[GeoBoy]

Seeing that you are on the west coast, I would look for a nice used Four Wheeler Granby. Perfect camper for your Tundra.

[Leftcoastal]

Really appreciate all the input guys I'm not married to any ideas just yet. Really just seeing where my limitations are. No matter what we get it's going to be used and most likely get a decent update/remodel with paint,lighting,cushions,bedding,etc.. so either way we plan to do some work. I'm not opposed to going the pop up route if something comes up, but would like to try and itemize where all the different weight factors are.


In the 8'-10' hard shell campers I was thinking the cabinetry was a good 300-400lbs or so? Taking things down to the frame, re-insulating, and covering with a type of hdpe was my thought initially but I'm not sure just how breathable the walls need to be, definitely don't want moisture issues. It would be great to keep all the storage as close the floor as possible.

For cabs maybe build some basic frames with 5052 aluminum and possibly hinged or sliding cab faces with honey comb hdpe or acrylic. I've got some carbon fiber rods and laminating resin as well for structural integrity if need be.

Maybe blow up mattresses to save on weight.

Unsure about refrigeration for 2-5 day camping trips. It is a pain to get ice every day for coolers.

For heat how well do the Mr Heater Portable buddies work?

For cooking a single or double propane stove works well enough for us, thinking of building an insert to move our double burner coleman in/out depending on the weather. Most likely wouldn't need a microwave.

For water I'm not sure how much I trust an old used system. Would be ok with bringing or own filters and water containers.


Again guys not married to anything but using this Tundra as it's new to us and we want the reliability that comes with these engines. Kicking myself for not getting the 4x4 but we couldn't find one in our price point that was in good shape and not hammered on.


Appreciate your help guys!

[northshore]

We had a 1997 Lance 165 gave less than $2000, I put it on a 1999 f 250, I since gave it to my Grandson and his family. He uses it on a later model 1500 Dodge Pickup. He has air bags and the pick up handles it pretty good. The Tundra hauling that camper which is pretty close to the smallest I've seen around would be a stretch.
When retro fitting a pop up by pulling cabinets out and replacing with aluminum, and basically removing most everything does not sound like a good plan to me, I've rarely seen this work out to be satisfactory
It sounds to me like the easy solution would be to get a GM Dodge or Ford, bigger the better if you want a slide in camper, or if you want to keep your Toyota, then maybe looking at trailers, any thing from TAB, tear drop, well there are tons of smaller lighter weight easy to pull with a tundra trailers.
Can you find a camper for your Tundra, im sure there is some thing out there, but if you stay in budget that gets to be harder to find, staying with a truck camper you have many boxes to tic to make it work.
When I looked for a short bed camper it was hard to find, maybe out of ten campers to look at, one was for a short bed, then you gotta find one that in decent shape, out 20 camper for sale on craigslist maybe one would be what you could call "good" shape, and it goes on and on.
Im sure you are much luckier than Ive been looking for campers but its a long road.

[Grit_dog]

^ He said tundra not Tacoma so it’s similar in capacity to that Chevy.
But I agree, big camper and little truck (especially if it’s the old style Tundra, those axles weren’t known for their brute strength), not a good combo.
12’ whatever it is, is a 110% non starter.
And like Bedlam said, it would take a fair amount of gutting “stuff” out of most hard side full size campers to make it attractive to haul on a 1/2 ton.
Cool project if the OP wants to embark.
But the most practical options IMO to not tent camp and still be economical are popup trailer, small TT, or ditch the Tundra for a HD pickup If you can’t find a popup TC.
Toyota’s have the best resale value (even though 2wd isn’t worth much) and apples to apples, you could sell the Tundra and buy a comparable 3/4 ton for even money.