🏜️✌️🤠

Totally agree, Life is Good and getting Better!!!

Nice, I'm hoping so too...I just added a camper to the back and am on the way to Alaska for the summer, then spending the next 2 or 3 years driving it to the bottom of South America. Hoping that the good ol' Tacoma can cover all those miles! Cheers!

Yeah! That's awesome! I love the Tacoma, but if I had to change I think I'd go with an older Tundra. Cheers!

Nice! Yeah, the high top is key! Cheers!

Ha, that's awesome! Definitely gotta represent, Chirp Chirp!

Thank you! I had it in the van I was traveling in for the past 3 years and knew I had to find a spot for it in the truck. That was about the only place it would fit! Cheers!

Thank you! Cheers!

Thank you! Cheers!

Haha, thanks! Chirp Chirp!

Yeah!! Cheers!

Thanks! Cheers!!!

Thank you! I'm nearly settled into my renovated slide in truck camper and hope to make a video about it soon. If you're interested in the build for the slide in camper check out my Instagram feed, @ChrisTarzanClemens Cheers!

Thank you! We're really happy with how it turned out, thanks!

Thanks! Yeah, since then I've put a slide in pop up camper on the truck, it's nice for the extra space but I also miss that small, agile and nimble setup with the camper shell. Good luck!

Thanks! Cheers!

Thank you! It was small but worked out really well!

Yeah, that's awesome, Cheers!

Thanks! Yeah, I loved that setup. The slide in camper I have now is awesome for living space, but not as nimble out there on the trails.

Thank you!!!

Thank you! Cheers!

Thank you, Cheers!

Thank you! Cheers!

Thank you! Cheers!

Haha, cheers!

Had to rewatch this vid, after reading your comment. Haha.

Nice! Good luck, having a home on wheels is the best!!! Cheers!

Same :)! my wife and our two dogs are building a 80sqft tiny home on a 10’ trailer with a self made truck topper for added room! Looks good bro! Nice setup!

Thank you! Cheers!

Thank you! Cheers!

@@ChrisTarzanClemens hey buddy fo you still have the Tacoma

Yup, I've got a slide-in pop-up camper in the truck bed now, I just posted some new photos on Instagram, ChrisTarzanClemens

Thanks! Cheers!

Nice! I love the Tacoma...I've got 230,000 miles on mine and it's still going strong! Cheers!

Thanks! Korea is on my list for someday for sure!

Nice! I ended up with an old 1989 SunLite pop up slide in camper. I've spent the past few months renovating it and am getting close to being done. I'll add a video tour of it soon!

Thank you!

Thanks! I'm officially in the slide in now, trying to get it all dialed in then do a video about the new setup! Cheers!

@@ChrisTarzanClemens Sweet bed frame set up. Your stepfather and stepbrother are some really cool dudes. Do you have the bed frame anymore? Since, you are now living in a slide-in camper.

@@Sig721Tau Thanks! Now that I'm living in a slide-in camper in the truck my original setup is sitting in one of the barns out on the farm.

Yeah!!! I wish I could get my hands on a Hilux, the Tacoma is all we have up here! Good luck and cheers!

@@ChrisTarzanClemens thanks Chris!!, will keep you updated!!

Thank you!

Thanks John, cheers!

Thanks for the message! I definitely think a small tent is a much more economical way to do it, but I just didn't want to put it up and take it down every day... Ha, that being said, I replaced this shell with a pop up truck camper, so kinda the same idea! Cheers!

Yup! I thought about setting up something like that for camping, unfortunately the 2 times I got caught in rain & hail I was just stopped on the side of the road in a parking lot making a quick lunch, not really set up in a camp for the night, so that made it hard! But, otherwise I love living in a vehicle and being "forced" to be out in the elements...part of this for me is being much closer to nature than confined in a comfortable, climate controlled apartment, not that that's bad, just not for me!!

@@ChrisTarzanClemens I'm retired now and was forced to downsize to a small double wide trailer with carport. During 1st storm I wondered if it was going to hold up. The rain and wind was so loud. Now I've grown used to hearing the rain especially on the carport and I love it. Its wonderful to be sheltered but still be connected to the sounds of the outdoors. I vow to have a metal roof wherever I live!

Soon!!!!

That's awesome! Yeah, the slide in is much more space, definitely enjoying it!

Chris Clemens hey I was planning on living in my truck but I was wondering if you could answer some questions I have about living in a truck?

@@dillonamon8513 .....ok shoot ....been living out of mine for 10 years plus .....while working winters in mammoth and Tahoe doing the the ski resort life style ....then back to the beach in the Summers working , surfing and fishing away ....so let me know and I will get back to you ......👍

Chris Clemens do you have a snap chat or instagram we could talk on or do you just want to talk on here?

@@dillonamon8513 ....I don't have have any thing but this and a regular E-mail add# .....So I guess this will work ....

Thanks! This was a great setup for me on my own, I now have a slide in pop up camper on the truck for me and my girlfriend to live in, better for 2 people for sure! But, this setup for just me was pretty ideal! The only problem I ran into was cooking dinner on the tailgate during rain and hail storms, ha, so I got the camper instead!

Cheers!

Thanks, cheers!

Thank you! I'm not exactly sure what the width measurement is, but basically it's half the width of the truck bed. We welded the platform frame with two side bars and one straight down the middle, so it's the half the truck bed. Narrow, but more than enough just for me!

Merci!

Greg, I've published a video tour of the slide in truck camper. Thank you!

Thank you! Life with less stuff is pretty good! :)

Yeah, I had some hot days (and nights) in Utah that summer. Luckily I could retreat to the mountains in Colorado for cooler temperatures! Cheers!

Thanks Robert! My step-dad and step-brother are millwrights and quite literally professionals at welding. We custom built the rear bumper with a steel tube and some scraps they had laying around the shop. It helps to have expert welders in the family!

@@ChrisTarzanClemens Ah, I thought it was one I didn't recognize. Looks good / functional.

Basically we bought 1x1 inch steel tube, measured between the bedrails, and made a frame with tubes down the length of each side, one down the middle, and then 3 crossbars, at the front, middle, and back of the bed. For me we cut the cross bar in half at the back so I had the open area. Then, off the middle bar leading the length of the bed we dropped 3 feet of 1x1 tube, welded it in place, and welded large round washers for the feet. The way we secured it was slid it into the bed, it's a tight fit, and then put plastic spacers between the bed frame and the truck bed rails, drilled holes, and then ran 1/4-20 bolts to secure it to the truck bed rails. Hope that helps! Cheers!

Thank you!

Hey Johnna, not really. It was pretty simple, I bought a 9" square RV fan I think, the standard 12-14" fans wouldn't fit because of the raised ridge in the fiberglass down the center of the camper, so I went with the 9" so that all 4 sides were flat on the roof. I simply drilled 4 holes for the corners, and used a saw to cut between them. I slid the fan in, drilled holes, and sealed them with silicone as I put the screws through. I also ran a strip of butyl tape around the whole thing to seal it up. I think I did pretty well, but after a few months I did notice some mold in the camper, I'm just not sure if it was from condensation while sleeping, or if the roof was actually leaking. I hope that helps, let me know if you have other questions!

Check out my newest videos, I put a slide in pop up camper on the back of the Tacoma. Mine doesn't have a bathroom, but it has everything else! Cheers!

Thanks for the message! I'll be making one soon, still trying to settle in and get organized in it. I thought the slide in camper rebuild would be a 5 week project this winter, but it turned into a 5 month endeavor and I think it's almost done! Cheers!

I set up a pretty narrow bed for me, it really was only space for me and just barely that, ha, but I knew I had other gear I needed to carry and wanted at least a space to put my feet down to climb out. I took a lot of my experiences living in backpacking tents, other SUV's, and an old VW van and figured out what I really had to have, it was a tight fit, but very comfortable for me! Cheers!

@@ChrisTarzanClemens i think thats my mistake. My bed is too wide. I have room to put my feet down but this dumb wooden trunk that i thought would be nicr and aesthetic takes up all of my floor. And i didnt make my bed tall enough to fully use the space beneath it. Definitely need to redo the whole setup. Its been 6 months or so of this.

Those clamps are actually just standard truck topper clamps, got them from Amazon, but we had to make sure the bed frame fit around, inside them, and then notched out the wood of the bed platform around the topper clamps. The bed frame itself is attached to the bedrails with regular nuts and bolts run through holes we drilled in the bed frame and truck bed rails.

Awesome! Yeah, unfortunatly the only thing I could figure out how to do was drill straight through the roof to the frame of the truck cab. It wasn't easy, I had the Yakima mounting feet, but even the self securing screws they sent didn't work, I had to totally disassemble the interior of the truck, pull the ceiling out, and DIY the holes through the roof and into the frame. I missed with the first 2 holes, and while I'm happy with how it turned out, I'm not sure I'd recommed doing the same thing... The rack bars are Yakima, and the basket was inexpensive, off Amazon. S few months later I saw another Tacoma in a parking lot and the guy had done the same thing, so, other people have done it too! Good luck!

Thank you

It was actually pretty easy...I did have to get a 9" square roof vent because the standard 12" RV vent was too big for the flat space on top of the shell. I have a ridge running down the middle, so 9 inches was all I could fit. I took the roof vent and measured the frame of it, drilled 4 holes, one in each corner, and used a saw to cut the square out. I made sure to use the RV butyl tape to seal the vent as I drilled it fast through the shell and to the inside frame. It was kinda stressful, but a game changer being able to open the roof vent in warm weather!

@@ChrisTarzanClemens Thanks much. What kind of saw and blade? How thick are these toppers?

I used a little Makita oscillating multi-tool from Home Depot. I think I used actually a wood blade on it, and I believe the shell was about 3/4 to an inch thick. There was a bit of insulation on the inside of mine, and ultimately it was the perfect thickness for the roof vent assembly. I thought I might need to add a spacer on the inside to seal it solid, but the fiberglass shell was thick enough for everything to fit together.

Thanks J.M.! It's a 6 foot bed. I bought an old 1989 SunLite slide in pop up truck camper, the smallest they made, and it sticks out over the tailgate a bit, but fits it well! I'm in the process of rebuilding the camper and hope to have it back on the truck to hit the road in late January!

Thanks for replying Chris and best of luck with your project! I have one concern though. What is the truck payload and camper weight? Many thanks!

Yup, I got it from Walmart, Primo is the brand, I think I had to order it online and have it delivered to the store. Cheers!

@@ChrisTarzanClemens You can also use a bottle tap or a garden tap hotglued to the cap, and place the water jug upside down, or simply hotglue/silicone the garden tap to a side of the water jug. That way, you don't have to pump at all, to get water. It's more of a quality-of-life improvement, but you need to seal it really well, to not get any leakage. There are also beer jugs which can be refilled fairly easily, and some plastic jugs which come with taps already added. All those are good ways to get water without worrying about pumping. In fast, all you need to worry with those is finding a tap which doesn't let too much water through at a time, so you can have it dripping when you want it, a slow trickle / low-volume flow when you want it, and high-volume flow when you want it. I would also use a metal (or enamelware) bowl with a hole to which I glued a cap with a hole in the cap, so I can screw it onto a jug which to store the waste water, so I can wash my hand and cookware/plates/eating-utensils, at least if I had the space. Though I might make the space either way. And since I'm at it, you could simply add an RV vent with a fan, to be able to cook inside. Also, you could add a heat recycling system, if you can afford the cost (of having, running and installing it), in both money, space, and time. But you most likely don't need it.

@@SapioiT Thank you!

I switched for the 4x4 capability to get off the highways and into the wilderness more. My 2 wheel drive van was great, but it limited me to exploring dirt roads. I have less space in the Tacoma, even though now I have a pop up camper in the bed, and I miss being able to just crawl into the driver's seat. The VW Syncro Vanagon would be ideal, but it's expensive. I think a nice rugged 4x4 off road van with a pop up top would be the ideal option!

@@ChrisTarzanClemens yeah I see where you're coming from, I love being out in the wilderness but I personally know I will be spending a lot of time in the city so a truck wouldn't be ideal I guess just picking your battles huh. Thank you for your knowledge its really helpful

Haha, yup!

It was an old LEER shell that came with the camper when I bought it used 2 years ago. You might be able to find one used, it definitely takes a little work to find one that fits though! Good luck!

Chris Clemens I have this shell on my ‘06 Tacoma, it’s a Leer 122.

@@gregflores8959 Thank you! It's definitely a good solid shell!

Chris Clemens Indeed. It’s the biggest Leer makes for trucks our size, purchased mine new 3 years ago, cost about 1700. I am very interested in seeing your new/old pop top camper, I have a lot of questions bout it and how your truck handles it, I’m gonna try and follow in your footsteps, thanks.

Thanks David! I started with an inexpensive Cabela's basket and mounted it to Yakima bars. Unfortunately I had to actually drill through the truck roof to mount the Yakima, but it was pretty solid once I did! Then I added L-brackets and U-bolts to attach everything else!

Hey John, they definitely are a lot of work! I bought an old one and have been renovating it for the past few months....mechanically it looks to be in good shape, I'm mostly cleaning up and doing cosmetic upgrades, but there seems to be no leaking or water damage and I'm reinforcing the pop up mechanism...hopefully it'll all work out in the end!

Thank you!

I don't have AC, so my cooling plan is to try to camp in temperate locations! I did end up in some pretty hot spots in Utah last summer, I wanted to stay but had to leave because it was too hard to sleep in the truck in 90+ degrees at night. I don't sleep in cities very often, but when I do this setup is pretty stealthy. I just try not to draw attention to myself, I find a quite industrial/commercial street and pull in at night, crawl in the back and sleep, and leave early in the morning. I've found that as long as I try to follow all the rules, and don't be too conspicuous, I've had no problem with police. Cheers!

Haha, gotta have somewhere to put em! Cheers!

@@ChrisTarzanClemens cheers brother! Just started on my own adventure in a Tacoma camping! 🙏

Yup, I cut a hole in the roof and put in a standard roof vent. It wasn't powered, but if I did it again I might put in an electric fan roof vent, that would help keep the temps down in the summer!

@@ChrisTarzanClemens appreciate the many posts and shared details And…. 3 pedals 🤙

No relation But someone posted a prinsu roof rack on a first gen extended cab / youtub Maybe useful to others commenting on your post/ that rack you put together

The panels on the roof run dow to a charge controller that the previous owner had installed. From there I ran it through a deep cycle batter (a cheap one from the farm store) and to a power inverter. Most of it is all located under the seat/step to the top bed.

Thanks! It was an old hightop LEER shell. I'm not sure the exact model, but having the hightop in the back was key!

@@ChrisTarzanClemens Thanks Chris!

I'm going to say "LEER" shell ,I've got one but it's not the same model .In the states you can find them on Craigslist or ebay used.happy finding ! !!

Haha, yes, it gets cold in corn country, but this year was the first time I spent winter here in well over a decade! I think I got more than enough cold weather this year, might be another decade before I'm home again in the winter!

Yeah!!! Chirp Chirp!!!!

Thanks! The next year I bought a slide-in pop-up pickup truck camper which offered more living space and storage. That being said, sometimes I still miss the simplicity of such a small truck bed home on wheels!

@@ChrisTarzanClemens you guys did a great build on that truck Bud.

@@donthompson9862 Thank you!

I'm actually living in a slide in pop up truck camper now on this same truck. It has a lot more living space but it's also bigger and much heavier, so the Tacoma isn't as nimble as it was with this setup. I've lived in vans, trucks, and SUV's and I really like the freedom and flexibility it gives me. Of course, it's a bummer not having a bathroom, and really I think the hardest part is showering, but if you're creative you can find ways to live well on four wheels. Cheers!

Yeah I feel ya. I plan on living the trucker shell life with a Zendure 2096 watt solar battery. I bought a 5 gallon stockpot, and rechargeable showerhead you just drop in pot, and use campfire to heat it up then take shower at night nobody really seeing me with flipflops on, lol. Dont know how well this system will work but the logic is there somewhere, lol. Thanks for replying.

I'm not sure, I've since changed to a slide in pop up truck camper, which is considerably bigger and more spacious, but sometimes I miss the small and agile truck bed shell! Cheers!

@@ChrisTarzanClemens thanks for the response,stay safe out there 😎

We actually custom made it... My step dad and step brother are both welders, so we bought some stock steel tubing, cut it to shape, and they welded it together for me. I rattle can painted it at first but it chipped pretty quick so I took it back off and had it professionally powder coated. It's pretty heavy, but it's also built to last!

They both have their benefits. I enjoyed the Westy for 3 years of cross country highway driving. I was able to see a lot of new places, but was more or less tied to pavement. I'm ready now for some more off road adventures, so the 4x4 pickup truck is better now!

@@ChrisTarzanClemens thank you

I grew up in Indiana.

I think it was some free music via KZfaq in their music library.

It's a good plan!!!!!!!

Ha, not as scary as drilling the holes through the cab of my truck to hard mount the Yakima roof rack, especially considering my first two holes through the sheet metal were in the wrong place, ha! But, you live and learn, haha, cheers!

Chris Tarzan Clemens ya sure do! Well kudos on gettin it done! I’m catching up on your other vids now, love that camper! I’ve got a 3rd gen taco and I like sleeping in my Snugtop shell but man I see campers like yours and get pretty jealous!

Thank you! Yeah man, I think if I had to do it all over again, I'd stick with a Tacoma and the Leer canopy, small, lightweight, and nimble, but if I was going for a slide in pop up camper like I have now I'd probably start with a first gen Tundra or old T100, but even then with the weight I'd probably have to go with a custom suspension like I did on the Tacoma. That being said, I've parked the truck camper and have been in Southeast Asia since December, currently on an island in Thailand, and they stack massive leaf packs on tiny Toyota Hilux trucks that carry more weight that I'd be comfortable with on an F-250, ha, so as long as the Tacoma can handle what a Hilux can, I think I'm good to go!

I've got a truck camper on the back now, getting ready to drive it to the bottom of South America!

@@ChrisTarzanClemens Awesome!!!

Chris Clemens Be careful dude, personally I wouldn’t risk it.

Thanks for watching!

Thanks man, I'm pretty happy with my life, cheers!

@@ChrisTarzanClemens Cheers bro lol. Ever find any girls to take home? Lol. Obviously you have money no other DIY truck dwellers do...lol.