The Memorial F150 Craptor. A semi foamie camper shell camper

[GPW]

Great work Dave !!!

[RJ Howell]

Do a search one the DIY 280° awning. My friend made one that not only wraps the back of his truck but extends forward to cover the doors of his truck. Really cool awning and I'm amazed how well it works!

Next time out with him I'll get some better pictures of the setup.

[dbhosttexas]

Do a search one the DIY 280° awning. My friend made one that not only wraps the back of his truck but extends forward to cover the doors of his truck. Really cool awning and I'm amazed how well it works!

Next time out with him I'll get some better pictures of the setup.

When I come at this with the flatbed conversion, yes I want to do what you did, sort of... I will do that. For now, I am bypassing the installed awning all together and opting for an Ozark Trail tarp rig over the back of the camper shell. I simply could not figure out how to mount the tubes for an attached awning without doing a LOT of fiberglass work due to the recess in the upper part of the camper shell.

Yes, a self supporting awning would be a LOT better than just a tarp rig of course. Again my issue is how to mount it to the not straight or even sides of the camper shell...

[dbhosttexas]

On your door/hatch handles: Mine connected to a rod in the middle. Mounting a handle on that connection could work, right? Also a simple lock for once inside. Hook n Eye is about as simple as it gets.. Toughest thing is lifting the tailgate once inside thought.. Look at some sort of strap, you'll be happy about not having to bend all that way to grab it.. I certainly was!

Coming along there!

I need to climb into the back of the truck and check something. I replaced the lock sets with new ones as the originals didn't have keys, and the new locks were supposed to work on the same key number. They didn't. BUT I believe I can doulbe up the arms that lock engage to at least close the lock so I have inside handles, that solves problem #1. But problem #2 how to "lock" them from inside the cap. I believe there is more than enough surface above each lock on the, well for lack of a better term, striker, where I can drill for a small steel pin A.K.A. a nail. Rotate to locked, engage the pin / nail and locked...

They really should have double sided handles and locks on these camper shell locks...

I am most likely going to be annoying you next spring / summer after I get tired of being claustrophobic in my camper shell looking for build advice. Most notably will still keep the truck bed intact though. Think something along the lines of a foamie 4 wheel campers Project M topper but with tailgate delete, a walk through door and through wall AC... My biggest concern is where your input will help. How to make the pop up section and do it right.

I am just shotgunning the camper shell part of the project just to get mobile, but long term I want a pop up with an overcab sleeper that can handle my considerable weight, and might as well design in for one more, not saying anything is in the works but might as well build for that just in case... I am in my early 50s, too young to be alone for the rest of my life!

Oh and FWIW, when I do the pop up cabover rig, I am planning on doing a DIY 270 deg awning. The big thing is figuring out how to either support from the vehicle, OR have it self supporting. I would prefer not to have poles on the ground as it would be pretty useless for beach use...

[dbhosttexas]

Great work Dave !!!

Thanks. I am getting this done so I can hit the road, or more specifically off road soonest possible. As I mentioned to RJ Howell, I am going to double back and do my full camper shell build so I can get the sleeper out of the truck bed and have more living space. I am aiming for living outside of the camper but I need to have space in there for the just in case factor. I.E. Just in case I get rained / snowed in and have to work in the camper for the day. If I go with a pop up cabover sleeper design like RJHowell, I can probably redesign the current bed / narrow it up for a storage cab / couch and have a full standing room / 6.5 feet to at least walk back and forth and not be driven nuts...

For now though, this is just to get me going and not using a tent, except for the bathroom... And if pressed I can use the port o potty in the camper.

[dbhosttexas]

So my HD winch bumper installation is more or less complete. I need to spend some quality time on my back with electrical crimpers and wire up the lights, then bench press the new winch into position and wire it up... But otherwise, more or less done. and NO I am not super thrilled about the way the hood release got relocated, but I will just have to cope with it. You can't see it here, but it IS harder to get to...

T minus 1 week and 1 day until the tow truck comes and gets this beast for the engine transplant. Looking forward to it being done and ready to hit the road...
Oh, and we did not manage to get to home depot for sheet goods. Ugh...

[dbhosttexas]

So I spent more quality time under the truck before I lost light which is happening VERY quickly now. The bumper is now fully installed. The lights are wired to the OEM fog light circuit with shrinking the heat shrink being the only item pending there.

The Rugcel 12K LBS winch is installed and wired in. Only issue pending is connecting the battery terminals, Going to leave that for the mechanic as he will have to disconnect them so might as well just leave them off



What is left to do?

#1. Finish the bed platform. No running truck, no sheet goods. Has to wait until the truck is happy again.
#2. Install backup camera / tailgate handle and new Android Auto head unit. Since the bed has to come off to get to the gas tank to drain it, that has to wait.
#3. Install BFG AT 33x12.50/17, can't drive to the tire shop yet... wait.
#4. Charge up 200 amp hour Lifepo4, will do as soon as battery arrives / solar setup... Give it a full charge.
#5. Install bedrug. Again, need the bed clear of stuff to remove for fuel tank access. Wait.
#6. Fix suicide doors. Okay there is something I can do while I am waiting.
#7. Swap soft Rancho quicklift coils, for Moog HD coils. Going to wait to see if rubbing is a problem with the 33s. It may not be neccesary.
#8. Coat roof of cap with Henry Tropicool. Not going to paint the whole thing, just going to coat the roof to reduce heat gain and seal up any potential leaks that I have not seen yet...
#9. Build the electronics cabinet / housing. Again, no running truck, no sheet goods. Crud... Has to wait.
#10. Size up and cut out Reflectix panels for the windows. I can do that!
#11. Insulate / carpet the cap. No material, not sure what to use. Would prefer brain dead easy to install material that is not hideously expensive. Options?
#12. Work on making the pins and pin lock holes for the camper shell locks to be able to lock it up from inside. I can do that.
#13. Seal the hatch against the tailgate, I can do that.
#14. Run cable and outlet for 12V power port for fridge from truck bed to back seat of cab. I can do that. And yes I went 14 to avoid stopping at 13...
#15. Install / wire up the charging system / battery / DC to DC charger / Inverter / 12V, 110v, and USB outlets and voltometer. See line about the electronic cabinet.
#16. Forgot this one. Re-spline the window screens. The screen material is fine but the spline popped out of the corners. Need to redo it, or rescreen the thing... I have LOTS of screen material and spline.

So there it is. The progress, and stuff left to do. Still seems like a ton to get done before I can take her out camping, but I am also oh so close...

[dbhosttexas]

Got the bits and pieces for the frame of the battery / electrical compartment cut. The L of the cabinet. Need to drill and screw them together. Still need plywood and XPS foam, but at least making forward progress!

My plan is to build the L box, do the foam / PMF on both the bed and the side box, and after the engine swap screw the side box to the bed frame solidifying it into one piece more or less.

[dbhosttexas]

Tested the bed / bench heaight. Too tall. Need to disassemble and cut the uprights by about 4". I might have to rethink where the toilet is supposed to live.

Can aquatainers hold their water supply sideways?

[dbhosttexas]

Pulled the uprights, cut them down 3", still not happy. This has cut out my ability to stow my water tanks under the bed at the front of the truck bed. Reconsidering how much water I need, and how to carry it. Main problem, I am a big guy, I don't want to be around me if I don't shower daily. But I only need between 2 to 3 gallons to get a shower in. I want to be able to set up camp in the mountains for example, off grid and stay off grid for 5 days or so before I have to come back in for supplies or end the trip.

I can do that with 2 7 gallon aquatainers, and say 5 1 gallon purified water jugs from the grocery store. The aquatainers can ride in the passengers side footwell I believe, need to check that, and the gallons can be stashed in the passenger side rear footwell, or under the bed...

With that in mind, and a potential future installation of say a 21 gallon lowboy water tank under the bed, I don't need to have my uprights longer than 10", this leaves me with MORE than enough space for a lowboy tank, mount plate, plumbing fittings, my 12V pump etc... before we even get to the wheel well... So weight stays in front of the rear axle which is important.

This will be a LOT easier to deal with when I do the cabover sleeper pop up foamie build, but that is down the road, like next year. The concentration if you have noticed has been on getting the truck itself to happy camper status, and kind of pushing the camper shell into service with mostly stuff I can repurpose into a foamy cabover setup. This was always the plan, get me out camping comfortably this season, then when late spring heat starts coming, get to the bigger camper build.

So cutting down the uprights this weekend to 10" so the total height of the bed to the mattress platform will be 13.5", which means 5" gained from where I started. As much squish as the mattress gives, I have no doubt my head will not be in the roof when seated like this, and again, plenty or room for a low boy tank...

Also need to make some adjustments, which require filling the 2x2 cross pieces, The wheel well setback was done too shallow, I need to move the setback in about 3".

The electrical compartment will be kept more or less like it is height wise. I need the height to clear the battery, as well as the charger, and the inverter.

I am going to have to either install the inverter on the outside of that cabinet, create a pass through for the charging cable for the laptop into the cabinet to get to the 110v on the inverter, OR set up a surface mount ouetlet box / outlet and piece of extension cord extension to get it set up correctly.

[dbhosttexas]

Got the wheel well setbacks done, so the bed is as snug as it can be to the passenger side of the truck.

Got the verticals cut to 10", so overall height before the mattress with be 13.5" and sitting in one area on that memory foam mattress it does have a LOT of squish, I doubt even though it is a 6" mattress, the overall height will be 15" when seated, I will have LOTS of headroom now.

This poses me 2 problems. Water, and toilet. The inital idea was to have the AquaTainers stored under the bed, as well as the toilet. I don't mind carrying the toilet in the aisle if need be in transit assuming the double trash bag in case of leaks thing, but that is because I can take it out and put it up in the Ensuite, BUT... if I am lotdocking for some reason. where do I stow the toilet so it isn't in the bed of the truck with me? I guess I can stow it in the cab temporarily, not sure...

[featherliteCT1]

Not sure how tall your water containers are but Walmart has these 4 gallon containers that are 10.75 inches tall.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Reliance-Aqu ... r/21903829

[dbhosttexas]

Not sure how tall your water containers are but Walmart has these 4 gallon containers that are 10.75 inches tall.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Reliance-Aqu ... r/21903829

Actually I looked, my AquaTainers are old, like 20 years old old. The new ones have screw on vent caps that if they don't have gaskets, a quick look through my O ring assortment should give me something I can seal up with. I think my water issue may be a non issue.

I am done with it for today. Going to church in the morning, and will swing my Walmart on the way home to look a the AquaTainers to see if the new version will work...

3 of them should provide way more than enough water for 1 person, and 1 dog for a week between provisions... Probably be more than fine with 2 of them (14 gallons) and a couple of 1 gallon water jugs for drinking water which would be easier to pour from...

[dbhosttexas]

Okay not going to church this morning. I know I should be to be honest doing the whole widower thing, some mornings are better than others, and I just need to put my mind where there isn't so much pain...

I ordered 3 of the new style aquatainers to be shipped from Walmart. my local only has one that I am aware of but they say it will be here today which means their delivery drivers that want tips will be delivering it, and since I had it shipped, not delivered, different way to do it, no tip, so they are going to ignore it until a manager gets on their butts tomorrow about not delivering it today. Yay...

Amazon delivered a better pair of D ring shackles yesterday. Red powder coated with black isolators.

The license plate bracket is supposed to arrive Thursday, the truck is supposed to go to the shop Friday. This is going to be a tight race to get the bracket here, and installed before the wrecker gets here to drag the truck to the shop.

[dbhosttexas]

The bed plaform is almost done. Did my test fitting of the first revision, too tall, cut it down, just right, adding uprights and cross braces today. Power cabinet nex to it. The curve of the truck bed there makes it impossible to get anything in there nice and tight, so I am leaving the gap for bags of hoses and such.

The 2 cabinets are going to get screwed to each other for a single solid cabinet, and then I can start on the tops, and doing the foamie sides...



The red powder coated D rings with black isolators looks so much better than the silver and orange...