Greetings Folks,

My name is Ryan and I'm from a little town in N. Ca. near the Sierra Nevada's. I work for a private hazardous materials contractor as an emergency hazmat technician. The majority of my free time is spent driving up and down dirt roads looking for a quiet fishing hole or finding a good hiking trail. I bought my '00 Tacoma Ex-Cab SR-5 TRD a year ago and have been $h*##*@g my pants with glee ever since.
Since I spend alot of time sleeping in my truck on job sites I figured I will soon install a camper with some sort of sleeping arrangement and necessities. Next month the truck will get a gear upgrade and bigger tires, some performance parts and a camo paint job. I'm going for a desert runner here I guess. Thanks for letting me be a part of yer forum.

Ryan

 

ryan,

welcome to the forum! i can see you are a WWII history buff too

i recommend that you check out bajataco.com. Chris is a great guy who really has created some great webpages on his expedition Tacoma. he's got great photos and writeups too. everything you wanted to know about equipping your tacoma for trekking is in his webpage.

Also, check out our tech section for some writeups on cargo boxes. also, search the term "sleeping platform" too

welcome...and oh, curb the enthusiastic cussing

bob

 

Hi Bob

Already on the Bajataco.com thanks! Chris' Taco is right along the lines I'm trying for.
Sorry bout the cussin'. I am a notorious potty-mouth.
Thanks fer the welcome.
Ryan

 

Welcome! and here is my set up:

 

Hey David,

Please tell me what brand/type of shell ya got there. I am also curious as to how the camper attaches to the rear window. How do you retain the rear window and keep your gear dry? Is there a special boot of some sort?
I have recently taken measurements of the bed to start planning the layout. Gotta have a special spot to park my ice chest, tools for work and fishing rods as well as plenty of water storage and a power inverter.
My wife and I will be heading up to Mendocino County to the World Music Festival (June) for 3 days of camping and lots of reggae. I'd really like to get this baby 80% done by then.

 

Welcome, most shells do not attach to the rear window because the bed moves independantly from the cab. You can get a sliding window for the front of the shell so you can have access though. There are many companies out there, check your yellow pages or do a google search. Expect to pay at least $1000 for a new color matched one.

 

I really like your setup. I would like to do something similar. I wonder how you could go about keeping it insulated?

 

Expat actually showed all of us on the DV trip a neat trick from the Outback. You take a tarp and bungee it over the top of the camper shell and you can also back your truck over another tarp and bungee that as well.

Welcome!

 

From the looks of it that is an ARE cap probably the Z series runs about 1800 installed and is the best cap on the market. Another option is the front window between cap and cab that folds into the cap for cleaning or passing through to the rear window of truck. Nice set up