Ok, I am going to collect random thoughts and progress pictures and put them here in a thread.
Goal: Construct a true flatbed camper with cabover, no slideouts but full 8 foot floor width inside. This will mount on a 2006 Isuzu NRR truck with a GVWR of 19,500 pounds and a current dry weight of 8700 pounds. The truck has a 20 foot flatbed that is 8 feet wide. The camper will take up 11 feet of the flatbed and the remaining area will be home to a future garage for our toys. We will install a hitch so we can pull our 17 foot Montgomery sailboat (trailer + boat is about 2200 pounds). The camper and garage will be removeable so the flatbed can be used for other purposes, or in case the truck needs extensive shop repairs down the road. Or if we are in Alaska and want to go pick up 3 cords of firewood or something 🙂
Here is a picture of the truck with some important dimensions:
Goal: Construct a true flatbed camper with cabover, no slideouts but full 8 foot floor width inside. This will mount on a 2006 Isuzu NRR truck with a GVWR of 19,500 pounds and a current dry weight of 8700 pounds. The truck has a 20 foot flatbed that is 8 feet wide. The camper will take up 11 feet of the flatbed and the remaining area will be home to a future garage for our toys. We will install a hitch so we can pull our 17 foot Montgomery sailboat (trailer + boat is about 2200 pounds). The camper and garage will be removeable so the flatbed can be used for other purposes, or in case the truck needs extensive shop repairs down the road. Or if we are in Alaska and want to go pick up 3 cords of firewood or something 🙂
Here is a picture of the truck with some important dimensions:
DONE!
(well, not really, but it is close)
Today we pulled the finished garage pod out of our garage and mounted it on the truck. Everything fit the way we planned and it looks reasonable.
The ramp door, powered by twin 3500 pound capacity winches, works beautifully. In one of the pictures you can see where we have it level as a porch but have removed the winch cables and use the truck jack stands to hold up the end. The standoffs on the ramp have receivers for the jack stands just like both pods.
I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.
(well, not really, but it is close)
Today we pulled the finished garage pod out of our garage and mounted it on the truck. Everything fit the way we planned and it looks reasonable.
The ramp door, powered by twin 3500 pound capacity winches, works beautifully. In one of the pictures you can see where we have it level as a porch but have removed the winch cables and use the truck jack stands to hold up the end. The standoffs on the ramp have receivers for the jack stands just like both pods.
I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.
A little bit more work done this week...getting mighty close now to pulling the garage pod out of our garage and seeing it on the truck.
We installed the floor mat and toy tie downs, put in the second 3700 lumen LED light over the workbench (more light now than an operating room), and wired in the inverter, switches, breakers, bus bars.
As you can see in the picture, the garage pod only has one Lifeline 125AH AGM. It has a smaller Magnum true sine inverter/charger (1kW with 1600 watt surge, compared to the 4kW monster in the main pod). It still is decent for running small tools and the built in 50 amp 12V charger will keep the Lifeline happy enough. The plan is to have just one 120VAC cord from the garage pod to the main pod and the garage pod will suck some juice from the main pod inverter output when the 1100 watts of solar have fully charged the main camper batteries and are just idling. It will also be nice having the garage pod self contained power for the times when it might sit by itself (not sure exactly how often that would be, but could happen).
We installed the floor mat and toy tie downs, put in the second 3700 lumen LED light over the workbench (more light now than an operating room), and wired in the inverter, switches, breakers, bus bars.
As you can see in the picture, the garage pod only has one Lifeline 125AH AGM. It has a smaller Magnum true sine inverter/charger (1kW with 1600 watt surge, compared to the 4kW monster in the main pod). It still is decent for running small tools and the built in 50 amp 12V charger will keep the Lifeline happy enough. The plan is to have just one 120VAC cord from the garage pod to the main pod and the garage pod will suck some juice from the main pod inverter output when the 1100 watts of solar have fully charged the main camper batteries and are just idling. It will also be nice having the garage pod self contained power for the times when it might sit by itself (not sure exactly how often that would be, but could happen).
We have been working on the garage pod for the past couple of months and it is within days of completion. We painted the aluminum siding with the same paint as the camper pod and covered the aluminum roof with Raptor truck bed liner. We also covered the ramp door surface with the Raptor liner (with a little sand mixed in for grip). If it doesn't hold up long, we will probably use some of the rubber mat we plan to use on the inside floor.
The inside walls were covered in 1 inch of polyiso rigid foam (2 inches for the roof) and then we attached 0.090" FRP, screwed into the steel frame studs. We still have some trim work and wiring to do, as well as finishing the built in shelves. The built in work bench is awesome!
The main light is a 3700 lumen LED fixture made to look like a florescent 4 foot shop light (Costco, $36). I took it apart and did some microsurgery to convert it to run on 12V DC. We have a pot to limit the current and can make the light run from about 6 watts to 30 watts. We have another unit that will mount above the work bench cross ways and they are each controlled separately by a wall switch. Extremely bright light, which will be nice when working on engines or what have you.
We have the winches removed in the pictures but they are wired and fused. The door can easily be raised with several people on it (probably not wise though). Oh, and we installed the little teardrop trailer type door to have access when the ramp door is closed.
Can't wait to get it on the truck. It is going to be heavy...my guess is about 2200 pounds (was shooting for 2000, but with the roof rack, shelves, bench, winches, battery, things add up).
The inside walls were covered in 1 inch of polyiso rigid foam (2 inches for the roof) and then we attached 0.090" FRP, screwed into the steel frame studs. We still have some trim work and wiring to do, as well as finishing the built in shelves. The built in work bench is awesome!
The main light is a 3700 lumen LED fixture made to look like a florescent 4 foot shop light (Costco, $36). I took it apart and did some microsurgery to convert it to run on 12V DC. We have a pot to limit the current and can make the light run from about 6 watts to 30 watts. We have another unit that will mount above the work bench cross ways and they are each controlled separately by a wall switch. Extremely bright light, which will be nice when working on engines or what have you.
We have the winches removed in the pictures but they are wired and fused. The door can easily be raised with several people on it (probably not wise though). Oh, and we installed the little teardrop trailer type door to have access when the ramp door is closed.
Can't wait to get it on the truck. It is going to be heavy...my guess is about 2200 pounds (was shooting for 2000, but with the roof rack, shelves, bench, winches, battery, things add up).
