so i was pondering if i could make a tent that you could basicaly leave set up in the back of your truck for a weekend of wheeling but i came up with this rough sketch and idk i want to try and make it but still idk
just looking for a little feed back any would be awsome lol and i will take questions

 

Need to make it more see able can't really make out what you have there

 

lol i tried but ill see what i can do

 

The ego i have quoting myself haha

Is that better?

 

Any one srry im really bored lol

 

Are you thinking something like this?

Maybe supported like a normal tent with fiberglass rods, hanging over the tailgate a bit secured with a bungie (The Green) of some sort to keep it from catching wind.

it is a good idea. just how to construct and secure it is a predicament

 

OK so bare with me on this








If you have a boat canvaser in your area you could have them bend the aluminum piping to make the frame and have it bolt to the floor of the bed like the black lines in the picture.

In front you should have one made to the bed floor as well that is flat bar and have it made to have snaps on it to hold the front of the canvas,

on the sides you could do the same thing and either have it snap to the side of the bed or to the floor as well like the front,

the rear depending on how you do it could be either snaps on the inside of the tailgate with a flap of canvas for once you are inside or on the outside of the tailgate for when you are outside it and you would still have use of the tailgate so you could crawl in and out and still button it up and have it as air tight as possible.

Along all the bars sewn into the canvas have ties sewn in to make the canvas solid to the bars to give it a nice tight fit on the frame work or better yet have a few small pockets sewn in for the frame work like a tent has for the rods and the ties so you can pull it tight. Believe me in my brain it looks a hole lot better then in the paint show here but of you think of a 4runner with the canvas top in place of the hard removable top then you can get a better idea of what I am getting at here.

 

Great illustrations! Blew mine out of the water! Go Paint Artists! That is an awesome start Olharleyman.

 

but ya thats like exsactly it lol but i think i would make the outer supports out of like angle iron and maby have the tent portion have like those idk there like rectanglular and they fit in a hole and then spin to lock it in place

 

 

dave, you're talking about enough fabrication to make your own canback. why not get one of these:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Dome-Truck-Tent-...item19b7b4cba8

 

all the information I've found, the fastback or slantback options are available for jeeps and humvees. They do offer the 'soft top' or 'can-back' for regular pickups.

I see as being a 'better' system since it is removable and collapsable with more open space on the inside. No need for a permanent roll bar system or angle iron welded to bed.

 

Just make like this...Egg create and sleeping bag and your all good.

 

it all wouldnt be welded to the bed it would be like bolted but the rest of the outer structure sould be removable but idk you guys got a point

 

Your design is unique. Just install snaps on the cab and down the sides and to the bed, make a piece of canvas (throw in a zipper entrance when you lower the tail-gate...) and you have a cover.

I'd go with SofTop personally. I like the design and the ability to take it out when not using it.

 

What's wrong with a shell? Throw it on when you want to, take it off when you don't. I used to run one in the winter when wheelin', sure held in heat better.

 

Really all the supports are suppost to be to be under the canvas so they are really not outside, I just thought it would not look right if I covered the whole thing because you would not get the (collapsible) frame work idea.

I do like that set up on e-bay but it seems like you would have to collapse it to drive around, my idea was with the design of leaving it set up while driving down the road so when you get where you are going you can either fold it out or have it set up already and then just jump in and take a nap.

 

i'm with ya on the stop driving and jump in for instant nap. i love not having to set up a tent anymore. or taking it down. or being on the ground. etc, etc. the rolling tent is where it's at!

and no i definitely wouldn't want to drive with a bed tent set up back there, it'd blow away or tear up on branches. but the amount of frame work you're describing, to get a slant tent, you may as well make hoops, and copy the set up of a canback. then you have more room to move around inside, you can leave it up, and if you make it out of steel tube instead of aluminum, you can put a basket on top too.

if you know someone with a canback that you can disassemble, make measurements and copy, that would be the easiest, rather than measuring a truck and trying to fabricate with trial n' error.

one of these days i'm going to pull mine off, take measurements of the whole top and the frame, and price out what it costs in materials to make one. for some reason i feel the expense in parts couldn't possibly reach $200. but i have to do some fiberglass work to my hard top before i can put it back on. it leaks.

 

well um idk lol its definatly suppose 2 be easy to put up and down but yet durable enough to leave it up as long as you want and idk i herd that you can get different color canvace and use these to hold it to the bed of the truck

 

This is on my buddies 4runner. It was made by a guy who makes tops for yachts.
And if you happen across this jessie, sorry for posting without permision