Camper shells are a time-honored piece of truck gear, but with modern trucks having increasingly vestigial beds, the length of your overnight abode has increasingly shrunk as well. To combat this problem, [Ed’s Garage] built a camper shell that extends once you’ve arrived at your campsite.
[Ed] wanted to keep things relatively low profile while still tall enough to sit up in for convenience, leading to a small bit of the shell peeking over the truck’s roof. To keep the cold Canadian winter out, attention was paid to proper weather sealing around the sliding portion of the shell so that it stays warm and dry inside.
While this would work on any truck, the mains power plugs in the bed of some modern trucks mean that certain glamping conveniences like a heater and projector can be easily powered while you’re in camp. We get to see the camper shell in action at the end of the video where the pros and cons of having your sleeping space also being your storage while en route become apparent.
If you’re looking for something a little less conventional for your camping experience, how about this solar camper or this retro bike camper?
Making more space reminded me of the 1970s RQ Riley conversion of the VW bus into The Phoenix. https://retro-motoring.com/events/SkegVegas-2016/images/IMG_3837.jpg
HA even better, Colormatched with OPs
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Reminds me of the Brubaker Box, except those were on Bug pans. Still in the category of “The 70’s called. They want their random weird fiberglass kit cars back.”
Brubakers were a typical chopper gun fiberglass molded kit car. Ive owned a bradlet gtii, a laser 917, two sterling gt’s, a couple of dunebuggies, and a 2f1r fiberfab scarab.
The RQriley vehicles were a bit different being sold as a set of plans from the back of popsci/popmechanics magazine, which were then built with a combination of wood, sheets of urethane foam, and hand laid fiberglass. The 2f1r three wheeled trimagnum was his most famous design, though quite a few of the 1f2e three wheeled trimuters were completed over the years. My neighbor built a Phoenix in the 80s so it holds a special place in my heart.
Ive always wanted to do a custom hand built vehicle, but finding old kitcars to finish or clean up is the closest Ive ever gotten.
Makes me think of Cake’s “Short Skirt / Long Jacket”
Glad someone caught the reference!
Looks more like a short skirt with an even shorter jacket. Which is fine too
came to tip the hat
great headline
Why not put one on a Goldwing!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RX5i_swivTU&t=0
That resistive heater near the foam and wood walls doesn’t feel completely ok. Btw. haven’t all these EVs been using heatpumps for interieror heating for at least decade now? It just seems weird leaving cabin with automatic and efficient AC. Can’t just bottom parts of rear seats be folded up and backrests of front seats be folded down? Put some box where pedals are, place matress on top.
A small diesel heater would be way more efficient TBH.
So much wrong with this comment. Skipping the fossil fuel and “efficiency” topics altogether… diesel? Really? Ew. Am I alone in being physically repulsed by the odor of both diesel exhaust and raw diesel? I hate to go near the stuff. I use a propane Blackstone and I snowmobile, I’m not a zealot, but damn, I hate diesel.
Is no one else going to comment on the madness of an electric LUXURY pickup even existing?
Pickup trucks are for doing work.
Luxury vehicles are for NOT doing work.
Having grown up on a farm, I would agree with your assessment, but it would seem that most trucks on the market today are not for doing work regardless of powertrain. Most of the trucks I see here around town are show ponies that rarely if ever see any work.
Kei trucks and the Telo seem like possible exceptions. That said, early data seems to show electric F-150 owners are more likely to use their trucks for “truck stuff” or camping than their conventionally fueled stable mates. Not sure if that’s the case for Rivians or not.
https://electrek.co/2023/03/07/ford-lightning-owners-do-more-truck-activities-than-ice-drivers/
Good ol’ garage queens! I’m with you, your pickup is a piece of junk because that’s what happens when you’re used and abused for decades. My grandfather’s old Dodge didn’t have heat or air, seated up to three people legally, although the extended stick shift made the middle seat a danger to erm..knees, but it towed and carried a load and a shotgun behind the seat. Growing up with that and seeing everyone else with that imprinted in my mind that a truck was tool like any other. Seeing the newer trucks of today, along with their eye watering price tags, makes it more understandable why those beat up pickups are still on the road. I overpaid for an SUV to have my wife drive comfortably, not a sheet of drywall.
ehhhhh I’ll defend the practice a little bit. If you can only have one vehicle, and you occasionally need it for “real work” but otherwise need it for, like, getting the kids to school, groceries, or any other non-real-work purpose, why not both? My dad got a new F150 a few years back and we’ve definitely pulled a lot of boats, trailers, drove around in snow in the mountains, hauled around some engine blocks- you know real manly stuff. moved me a couple times too. But admittedly that was like… 2% of the work life of the truck? Rest of the time it is for schlepping themselves around and it has heated and cooled seats, sat radio, all the nice stuff. It is a nice, comfy ride.
I needed a truck size vehicle last week because i had to move big stuff. So i spent 80 euro and rented a Mercedes Vito van for a day.
Most people don’t have engine blocks (fit in a little trailer) or boats sitting around. For that ‘once in a year’ stuff, the majority of people is better off with renting, or buying a little trailer. Most family cars can legally and safely haul about the same amount of weight you can legally put in the bed of a truck. You gotta take it slower than in a truck i guess, but for those handful of times you need to move stuff that doesn’t fit your car, it’s fine. You’ll manage that trip to the city dump/scrapper/friend’s house who convinced you to help him move if it takes like 20 minutes extra.
I’ve seen people store them with the trailer hitch pointing up, chained against a wall so it’s out of the way too. Of course you can also rent trailers.
Thank you! I have moved house (and renovated a house) with an Opel Astra and a cheap trailer. The 98% of the time that it isn’t doing manly work stuff, the hatchback is cheap to refuel, easy to park, and seems to be invisible to thieves and vandals.
I have no idea why people buy big heavy vehicles for an occasional or aspirational purpose. Is fuel too cheap? Do they have too much disposable income?
Thanks for the replies. that is unironic which is hard to get across in written comments.
Is fuel too cheap? yes
Too much disposable income- debatable.
Opel Astra and 80-euro mercedes van makes me believe you aren’t in US where pick ups make a huge proportion of what is on the road for .. I was going to say “good reason” but just.. reason.
I myself have a hybrid small SUV, borrow dad’s truck when necessary instead of renting, which requires zero planning. Agree with most of your points.
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Will add, my parents are elderly and them getting into and out of a sub-compact … ain’t gonna happen. Bad knees, old age, a little stick shift is out of the question as well. A tank of gas is like.. $70? and they aren’t going far anyway so I’m not sure the fuel is expensive thing is a real penalty at all. Thinking on it, we all (their and my group) use the truck for.. truck stuff.. about once a month so at least at first blush the finances are a push.
Hooray american obesity, excess, big pickups and guns and stuff etc but that is the reality for most of us. Not a lot of downside to a nice pickup, plenty of upside.
best
“Most family cars can legally and safely haul about the same amount of weight you can legally put in the bed of a truck.”
I assume you’re European (as I am). So your statement is correct for Europe, but in the states (and other developing countries) they deem it safe to haul way more on trailers than we do. And I’ve always thought that the main reason for buying a pick up was the bed, but apparently it’s their towing capacity that is the main thing.
In Sweden, on a normal license our total weight (car and trailer) must not exceed 3500kg.
I couldn’t be bothered to google too much but it seems like you can tow up to 26000 pounds (almost 12000kg!) in the states before you need a class A license (whatever that means), provided your truck can handle it.
Craig, you’re brave ;-)
OK I’ll confess too; I have a small pickup as a 2nd vehicle, mainly to occasionally tow a small sailboat. I had some fantasies about it being my ‘fun’ vehicle in early retirement, but so far, partially thanks to COVID, it’s just been a few tows of the boat, and hauling the bicycles to a few different locations. Tying in with the theme here, i even bought a bed tent, but we haven’t used it yet. Hope springs eternal.
I would happily get rid of it if there was a reliable source of rental trucks that allowed towing… there isn’t. Just U-Haul, and their pickups are pretty spartan and not cheap for an extended rental.
Somebody please correct me here if I’m in error, but I believe that in the US, pickups and large SUVs still enjoy an exemption from CAFE standards? And they’re more profitable to make and sell than compact cars. And gas is inexpensive in the US. Hence the big push on them.
Pickup trucks are sold for leisure and have been so for decades. People have a tendency to pretend their toys are actually for something productive
The SUV trend has infected pickups too.
They worked for years to build an SUV that drives, more or less, like a car.
They succeeded, then backported the suspension to trucks.
Only problem is that it ruins them as trucks.
‘Mall Utility Vehicles.’
We’re going to have to come up with a new burn for non 4x4able 4x4s.
Malls are dead.
Doesn’t seem that crazy to me, Luxury vehicles are a nicer place to be in than work trucks (generally anyway) and a pickup unlike that blinged out Range Rover actually does have the ability to do the practical dirty stuff safely away from the nice interior. Giving you actually perhaps the best possible vehicle option if you can’t have multiple vehicles for every task.
I doubt I’d ever have one – here in the UK weather is a factor more often than many places so open at the back probably not a great idea for most. Plus while I wouldn’t quite go as far as to call them luxury, the interiors, ride and acoustics of European market Vans do tend to be at least quite nice – so if you can only have one vehicle that is probably the best choice… But should a luxury pickup fall into my hands out of the blue the only reason I’d not want to keep it is if its not comfortable for somebody my size – not worth the price premium to get such a vehicle IMO, but otherwise as long as it does the job I really don’t care and like higher quality things as much as the next guy.
You know the truth.
The UK is full of thieves.
Pickups are just replaced with white vans.
If you left a huge pile of shit in the back of a pickup anywhere in the UK, it would be gone.
Have you not looked at the pickup truck market in the US recently? There’s folks driving 100k+ luxury tanks that make a Range Rover look like a smart car.
Also, an electric one makes as much sense as any of the others, battery tech is coming on fast and instant full torque from zero RPM with very few moving parts is a fantastic thing for a truck or 4×4.
The “overland camping” trend is weird to me. Instead of that fugly thing on the back of the truck, which looks like a pain to mount and dismount, maybe, buy a used tent trailer for peanuts, or get one for free. Lots of people buy them as starters, and as family expands upgrade to a bigger/nicer trailer. We sold our first trailer for maybe $1000 to a nice couple getting started and that had heat and AC, plus a toilet and kitchenette and all that.
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Maybe the idea is you can 4×4 in to a place that you couldn’t drag a trailer, but that doesn’t make sense either. You are hard core enough to off-road somewhere but too bougie to pitch a tent or something?
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and this from a guy that goes full-blown trailer glamping but also ultralight hike in and bivy from time to time.
It’s more convenient if you’re doing a short stop and saves setting up in the dark. Everyone has different preferences.
Both of those things do not address what I said at all.
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I fully recognize that different people have different preferences. Do you “overland camp”? If so, under what circumstances did you have a “short stop,” that required 4×4’ing in (itself doesn’t make sense), under which circumstance you arrived in the dark and had to “set up”… ? I’ve “set up in the dark” during normal camping using a headlamp everywhere from on a glacier to the high altitude back country and even my own back yard in snow, sleet, rain, or with the sprinklers on to test new gear.
I’ve done several “short stops” (weekend) with a conventional small trailer and set up plenty, if not most times, in the dark. It required unhooking the car from the trailer, then unlocking the door to the trailer and going inside to the cozy, warm interior that has food, water and toilet.
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So other than speculating about what other people do, do you do this? somehow? and if so, what circumstances? You know. like I asked originally. thanks.
I don’t do it in a 4×4 but I have done car camping in an estate (station wagon) with an inflatable mattress and storage boxes (with front opening doors) that let me quickly move them to the front seats to set up. I’ve also been camping with a trailer tent and, while it’s definitely a more complete experience, it’s also a lot of extra fuel to tow and you can’t exactly do it in a car park.
I’m sure you’re terribly good at setting a tent up in the dark/rain/uphill both ways in the snow and I never denied it was possible. The preference here is for moving a few boxes over that effort. I don’t think there’s any ‘wrong’ way to camp, as long as you don’t burn down a forest or litter.
Stopping to sleep is not camping.
Getting rip roaring drunk/stoned while telling lies around a fire is camping.
That said, I just throw my backpack and cooler into the pickup to go ‘national forest truck camping’.
A fairly serious 4×4 is required to get up the logging roads.
You’d be surprised how pissy some backpackers get when they realize they’ve walked for a day+ and aren’t in the official desolation wilderness yet.
Could have just driven there.
That said the altitude change is kind of drastic to just do.
10,000+ feet with no acclimation can be unpleasant to drink at.
I don’t go much past Icehouse reservoir when it’s just a weekend.
Just far enough to leave the 2 wheel drive glamping riff-raff behind.
It’s kind of fun watching them try to build a fire…but not worth it…
Absolute fact
“Different preferences” (or other situational factors) is the answer 100%. I can easily explain/justify with evidence why I have the vehicles (or other ‘stuff’) I do, and while it makes sense for me/my family I’m also capable of understanding that it may not make sense for others. (because of all the other factors unique to them that they have to deal with.) I’m sure all the other, “My setup is right, this example and all others are wrong” comments are just rage bait.
I think we are kind of saying the same thing. you said it better though. I’m asking for people that actually do the thing to enlighten me as to how/why, because I do similar stuff and just don’t get it. Like, I get that it exists, and people do supposedly, but I’m legit curious from those that do … why? Above I pointed out my pickup truck situation, explained how it works for me (not how it could work for me or some other fictional person) with first hand examples. Not to be contrarian to our European colleagues, but to hopefully explain how something that doesn’t make sense to them makes sense to me and works for me.
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Back on topic, The only guy I know that has one of those popup hardshell tent things on his pickup literally told me he spent $6k on the thing, and used it zero times. He’s is a big camper/fisherman/backpacker/white water etc dude. So I feel like I’m not far off.
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Usually at the end of it, the answer is “for youtube clicks and likes” rather than to do the thing itself. And if that’s the case I’d rather people just be honest about it.
appreciate the discourse, thank you.
TL;DW skip to 52 frickin’ minutes to see this thing actually deploy and marvel at how little space there is inside.
This! Why do videos never start with what it is they are about to show us how to make? From recipes to diy, tell me and show me what your result is!
I’ve not seen any other videos from this guy, but wifey doesn’t seem as excited about the whole thing as he does.