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:
Jfet wrote:
We bought some property and unloaded the pods on it for awhile. We then got a new toy!
Can YOUR truck/camper carry this with no trailer? 😉
Nope, but my camper hauler tows a flatbed trailer with my toy which is your toy’s baby brother (U17). Nice machine you got there!
Jfet wrote:
We bought some property and unloaded the pods on it for awhile. We then got a new toy!
Can YOUR truck/camper carry this with no trailer? 😉
Looks like a fun toy. :C
We bought some property and unloaded the pods on it for awhile. We then got a new toy!
Can YOUR truck/camper carry this with no trailer? 😉
Can YOUR truck/camper carry this with no trailer? 😉
We are back in Washington state now, having done a full loop 9 month, 11,000 miles from the west coast to the east coast, sailing in the Atlantic and the gulf on the 17 foot sailboat we tow behind the camper.
Everything has really done great on the trip. The pods don't move or shift on bumps, all of the seams and roof are still tight, no leaks at all.
We had a tiny bit more trouble with the truck it self in LA (lower Alabama). Seems a squirrel in Georgia ate through the turbo boost pressure sensor and the truck went into weak mode and threw a code. Instead of taking the pods off and taking it to a repair center, we just raised the front pod up about 15 inches with the jacks and tilted the cab forward. Worked like a treat and allowed me access to the engine to solder and heat shrink the wires back together. Pic of that below, looks funny with the cab tilted and the camper still on the truck.
Solar is still working well even though I have not cleaned the panels in months. They still give about 700 to 900 watts in the south west and about 200 watts when raining here in Seattle. I think we used the generator twice in the 9 months of travel, although we did sometimes stay at army corp parks with electric hookups.
States we camped in on this trip were: Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon.
Not sure where to next...flipping a coin on Alaska or Maine.
Everything has really done great on the trip. The pods don't move or shift on bumps, all of the seams and roof are still tight, no leaks at all.
We had a tiny bit more trouble with the truck it self in LA (lower Alabama). Seems a squirrel in Georgia ate through the turbo boost pressure sensor and the truck went into weak mode and threw a code. Instead of taking the pods off and taking it to a repair center, we just raised the front pod up about 15 inches with the jacks and tilted the cab forward. Worked like a treat and allowed me access to the engine to solder and heat shrink the wires back together. Pic of that below, looks funny with the cab tilted and the camper still on the truck.
Solar is still working well even though I have not cleaned the panels in months. They still give about 700 to 900 watts in the south west and about 200 watts when raining here in Seattle. I think we used the generator twice in the 9 months of travel, although we did sometimes stay at army corp parks with electric hookups.
States we camped in on this trip were: Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon.
Not sure where to next...flipping a coin on Alaska or Maine.
So wow, it has been awhile since I updated y'all (see I can do that now that we are back in the south and are original southerners)
We have now been full timing in our home-built flatbed camper for almost four months. We have traveled through Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky, and are currently camping in Tennessee.
The build has worked out amazingly well. Solar was as awesome as we hoped and has been able to run the air conditioner during the day as well as provide a little battery charge at the same time. We do use the generator at night for a little bit if the day is hot and muggy. Because we want to sail, we have actually stayed at quite a few Army Corp campgrounds which are on lakes, are cheap, and usually have electricity and showers.
We took the rig up to 8300 feet in the Bighorn mountains of Wyoming and she did quite well on the 8% grade even pulling the sailboat. Not speedy mind you, but we felt in control the whole time.
Took a trip to Devil's Tower and stayed in the national park there with a great view of the monument.
While traveling in North Dakota, after staying at the gorgeous, free Army corp campground right on the water (Douglas Creek, Lake Sakakawea) we noticed our truck was showing an engine light. We bought a $50 code reader and found it was a problem with cylinder #2. Darn, why did I only have injectors 1 and 4 replaced last time I had major service?
Not to fear, this is how we designed the truck pods. We found a nice empty campground outside Fargo in Hannaford, ND ($10 a night with electricity, water, showers) and unloaded both pods from the flatbed truck. We put the WR250R motorcycles on the empty flatbed and drove the truck to RDO truck service center in Fargo. We rode the motorcycles back to the pods and stayed in them for five days while the truck got new injectors for #2 and #3 (and a 2nd inline fuel filter). Repodded (that really should be a word now) and were on our way running better than ever (about 9.5 to 10mpg depending on driving).
We sailed on Lake Winnebago in Wisconsin which was superb (another great Army Corp campground) and also on Lake Carlyle in Illinois.
We found ourselves in Kentucky on Labor day and the only campsite left was an unlevel one nobody wanted. Not to fear, our camper jacks were able to keep the pods level by relieving the pressure on the truck springs on the downhill side.
We are now in Tennessee and have beached our sailboat at the campsite for the first time ever (see last pic). Hopefully we get some wind soon, but it is HOT in the south (92 today).
We have now been full timing in our home-built flatbed camper for almost four months. We have traveled through Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky, and are currently camping in Tennessee.
The build has worked out amazingly well. Solar was as awesome as we hoped and has been able to run the air conditioner during the day as well as provide a little battery charge at the same time. We do use the generator at night for a little bit if the day is hot and muggy. Because we want to sail, we have actually stayed at quite a few Army Corp campgrounds which are on lakes, are cheap, and usually have electricity and showers.
We took the rig up to 8300 feet in the Bighorn mountains of Wyoming and she did quite well on the 8% grade even pulling the sailboat. Not speedy mind you, but we felt in control the whole time.
Took a trip to Devil's Tower and stayed in the national park there with a great view of the monument.
While traveling in North Dakota, after staying at the gorgeous, free Army corp campground right on the water (Douglas Creek, Lake Sakakawea) we noticed our truck was showing an engine light. We bought a $50 code reader and found it was a problem with cylinder #2. Darn, why did I only have injectors 1 and 4 replaced last time I had major service?
Not to fear, this is how we designed the truck pods. We found a nice empty campground outside Fargo in Hannaford, ND ($10 a night with electricity, water, showers) and unloaded both pods from the flatbed truck. We put the WR250R motorcycles on the empty flatbed and drove the truck to RDO truck service center in Fargo. We rode the motorcycles back to the pods and stayed in them for five days while the truck got new injectors for #2 and #3 (and a 2nd inline fuel filter). Repodded (that really should be a word now) and were on our way running better than ever (about 9.5 to 10mpg depending on driving).
We sailed on Lake Winnebago in Wisconsin which was superb (another great Army Corp campground) and also on Lake Carlyle in Illinois.
We found ourselves in Kentucky on Labor day and the only campsite left was an unlevel one nobody wanted. Not to fear, our camper jacks were able to keep the pods level by relieving the pressure on the truck springs on the downhill side.
We are now in Tennessee and have beached our sailboat at the campsite for the first time ever (see last pic). Hopefully we get some wind soon, but it is HOT in the south (92 today).
