Find a used tailgate in the junkyard and install the A/C in the used tailgate. Add and remove when needed.

As for those tailgate gaps; get a black pool noodle, cut it lengthwise and you can make custom seals to match the irregular dimensions of the gaps, and they’re reusable.

It is probable youve already considered it, but fixing solar panels on the roof will provide off grid power and also block a lot of the heat from the sun that causes it to heat up in there to begin with.

I love the setup! When I was a kid we used to take camping trips down to the Florida keys. Of course we didn’t have 2 nickels to rub together so my dad took a Ford E350 van that was probably a church bus before we bought it. Anyways he made a bracket that screwed to one of the back doors & we were able to pop out one of the windows & boom instant hotel. Our family of 4 slept in that van many many weekends over a period of 3-4 seasons. Best years of my life. What times we had!!!

I built a tiny camper on a 4x 8 trailer. I have the same size ac and it gets very cold in the middle of summer. Nice build! Love it! Enjoy!

Never seen this before. What a smart way to extend the camping season. Thanks for sharing!

Brother thanks for the shoutout. Definitely not necessary but I appreciate it and I’m glad others have found my random ideas useful. Safe travels and best wishes 👌

Ha! Love your shows man. Incidentally I was just looking at AC solutions for my own truck. Perfect timing.

Brian, that is one sweet set up. Your gears are always turning and making something that betters your outdoor adventures. Good job!

Very cool. Looks like it will work out well. I feel like it is not really possible to eliminate absolutely all of the gaps and make it air tight but it will still work perfectly. I know you and I knew how you were going to do it and make it look like it is actually part of the truck. Great work!

Awesome design Brian! Very clean and functional. Glad you won’t be in an oven this camping season!

Fantastic Brian! What a great idea and great execution. Well done.

Wow, really clean install! Wish I had your skills! lol thanks for sharing Brian. Cheers from Michigan.

Awesome Brian. Always great ideas + some fun.

Good engineering on design. Like the way it fits in and locks in place

Boxing in the area over the tailgate gives you that much more room; put the wooden tailgate at/near the end and have the hatch sit on it. It just adds extra space for longer people to sleep.

I’ve watched several of your camper shell vids and this is the best one I’ve seen, for me at least. I’ll be living out of my truck over summer when we’re at our home unit, and I’m buying a 5000 BTU window unit to keep me cool at night. Those Mississippi summer nights can be brutal. This is genius. I was planning on building out an entire back enclosure for the AC and leaving the window up and getting a little camper shell tent, tent but I love how much simpler this is. This and the angled bed platform KayakUSA1 did are the best videos I’ve seen.

Great job Brian it looks like it will work out well for you.

Really nice design Brian. You are right camping is a great way to relax from the city day to day grind during the week. You really need AC during the hot humid nights to sleep I can deal with the heat during the day but need to sleep in cool air at night. Love the tail gate board looks original to the truck, nice job enjoy the summer with this. Ottawa Ontario Canada.

Looks awesome. Great idea. Thanks for the video.

If you get to camp with no shade to park in, consider putting a tarp over the truck or at least the part being AC'd, be sure to leave a gap and not resting the tarp on the truck. This will eliminate the direct sun and greatly reduce the work the AC has to do to keep it cool.

Very Nice work Brian, looks like she will work well!!

I read a few comments before I wrote this. You like it? I love it. Great work man ! Enjoy using it. I couldn’t camp without an AC either.

That's an awesome setup, I have a bed platform in the back of my Tacoma and been thinking of something like that, I seen the same video link you shared and that got me thinking I need to get it done now. I live in Indiana and it gets hot here and humid but not like it does down where you are at but all the same it gets hot in the back of those trucks and mine is all black to so that doesn't help, lol. Good luck with your new setup, I love it, awesome work on your build.

Very neat and clean!! Can't wait to see your summer adventures. #brianwatersoutdoors

Nice Brian!! Yea that’s a lot easier than your old AC setup for sure👍

you did a great job on that instalation, i have been thinking about doing something like that but really didnt know how to began it gets hot down here in Alabama too. # brianwatersoutdoors #truckcamping #camping

Clean looking install, looks like it will work great.

Nice job Brian. Definitely streamlines your ac set-up when you get to your camping spot. Looks like at least 1-2 banquets of saved time per trip! Cheers my friend

That setup is awesome! Good video 👍🏻

Nice job Brian now you can extend the camping season in comfort!

That is WAY cool. Thanks for sharing this with us.

Hello and greetings from Georgia, USA. What an amazing build! Thank you very much for sharing this. Hopefully, I can construct something similar to this for my 2006 Dodge RAM. As you mentioned, the heat is already on! I’m in my mid-40’s and will tough it out from time to time, but it seems that the heat has certainly made those trips few and far between lately. That being said, this modification gives us the opportunity to get plenty of good rest, so we can enjoy any other outdoor activities to the fullest! Also, that’s really cool that you mentioned the other content creator’s who helped inspire your build. Take care Brian, - Chris from Georgia🇺🇸 (New subscriber here)👍🏻

One thing, I like about your channel is that you finish things out like they were supposed to be there initially, with the carpeting and painting the wood black and adding your logo it really looks nice. The only problem I hate with this setup is having to crawl over the partition. I’m really surprised nobody makes like a 1 or 2k btu window unit that would fit into the sliding window space and somehow vent between cab and bed. Or maybe like a cap manufacturer that would have a dividing rear glass. Half aluminum half glass to accommodate a smaller a/c unit in the aluminum section cut to fit the unit by the customer. Idk just brain storming. The person who does invent something like that will be a rich person.

That is absolutely awesome dude!!!

Very innovative pal. Nice job. I know you happy.

Well done Brian!

Another good video Brian. I would have never thought about something like that but it works. I always wonder what your neighbors think about you when you are filming but I can imagine they are used to it now.

Good information. Thanks Brian!

Nice work. I built something similar a few years ago for the 10-14 nights we need it here in WI. Kudos to you that live in that environment. I’d never last.

Cool set up. I had put a ac unit in my van. Used to much power, didn't want to get a generator and also I wanted to get use to the heat. Got an exhaust fan and a small fan to put on me. Works for what I needed.

As well as insulation around the sides. You should add a layer of reflective insulation as a layer on the inside as well. The outside will reflect the incoming heat, but a layer on the inside will help as well. Also reflective inserts for the windows will further help in addition to added privacy.

That’s genius! Now we know what to do to be able to camp this summer!

Great workmanship !

I guess the next step will be rain-proofing this setup. A couple of shop rags or if you can get ahold of some of that basic gray package insulation (the kind made out of recycled rags, safe to handle with bare hands), those would be good for filling the side gaps. Neat looking build.

Good deal that's going to help out alot thanks for sharing take care

Nice job and it looks great!

Looks great man good job !! 🤙🤙

I did something like this and installed 2 air conditioning units. When one of them is taking a break,,,the other is starting up and pumping out cool air. A con when dealing with window units. Both air-conditioning units are running off from 6000 watt hours of batteries stacked up in the back. Also put two 400watt solar panels draped across the top of camper shelI and truck roof. also used pool noodles sliced down the middle to slide on the window and the plywood to create the barrier this guy made. Works incredibly well

"Double your pleasure, double your fun" with two window units. (...or just one larger window unit). 🌬️🌬️. Super cool.

This is simple but awesome set up! I might copy your set up since i have only one truck to use for work and for camping.

Brian I must admit that you did a great job.

Looks good. I need to finish mine. All I've done is make a bed frame. I really like your setup.

Some great hillbilly inginuity! And as we edge toward the home foreclosure epidemic, a lot of folks living out of their trucks will need this rig! lol.

Nice job, love this idea.

Great job. Gives me an idea on how to rig something for my tailgate.

That was great thanks for all the info.

Great job looks great 👍

Nicely done. Love it

If that’s all you have then kudos to you for creating it. I abandoned trucks years ago and started running vans. Right now I’m running a 2019 Ford Transit 350 HD w/the ecoboost. I’ll never go back to trucks.

This would be perfect for my Powerboost. Very good idea, thank you.

Very clever. Thanks for the video. :)

Looks good, good eye for details

Nice build, man. I’d like to share a tip with you if you’re interested. I did a similar build, but added a hinged door to pass through. Here’s the tip. Build a “box” or a “sleeve” to slide over the back of AC unit when it isn’t being used. I used 3/8” luan to build sleeve. It will protect your cooling fins on the back. Use a bungee or some other way to keep sleeve from falling off. Cheers!

Very interesting. Now you just need a small Honda generator and your good for boondocking. Great video!

Dude, I recognized those wood shims right off the bat, you took those Lincoln Logs out of your kids playset toys!

Nice work! 👍 One issue I think you may have is that rear support. Window A/C units are supposed to tilt away from the interior so that the moisture can drain, if keep it lvl you may end up with water inside campershell. I would suggest using a thinner support AND adding a drain hose or plastic sheet so that your bed rug doesn’t get wet. Just my thoughts

You can’t beat window units, best cooling out there hands down, challenge is finding the lowest size and btu you can, 5000 btu seems to be the smallest. Always wondered why they didn’t make 3000 btu size units which would be even more ideal for small spaces. Btw did you see Shark Tank this week, Lavabox was on there and all the investors were interested. Seems to have great sales, I made my own for about $80, using harbor freight ammo can and sweating copper pipe. love those small form factor fire pits.

Creative , nice solution 👍👍

Very good job. I am impressed. I thought you had 4 A,C unit that set in the back seat and came through the window. Thank you for sharing. Jake McClellan The Oregon Boy 👦

Really cool brother, nice job

I'm on the Texas Gulf Coast, I think about this come hurricane season every year. Would be cool for evacuation. I could just plug in where I end up. Looking forward to see how it works for you.

Its a great idea. I think Id insulate the windows and maybe even another layer on the roof. Use the klix together floor mats from Harbor Freight on the floor... the more you insulate the easier the ac unit can keep the temps down. Depending on where you are camping a large causality blanket/tarp with the reflective side towards the sun can also help

Awesome job.

I like the setup with one exception. I think I'd set it up with a split "false tailgate". The window shaker in one section and make the other section easy to move to get in and out. Maybe have the A/C side braced to the siderail for sturdiness and hinge the moving side off the A/C side. Just a thought.

Thumbs up 👍 cool setup 😊

Awsome just found your channel good stuff keep it up

Great job. Thanks

If you drill a hole in the tray you cannrun a hose to a small igloo and collect cold water off the condensation. You would be suprised how much you would get.

Very nice!🙌

Next next step would be see maybe find a good solar setup.. I went out and got a old army navy tarp threw over the entire truck it really helped out with sunblock.. then I put up cheap blackout curtains..

Nice job, thanks!

Yes, nice setup there ! Me too did it like Idakota, almost exactly 👍

If you want to go where there is no shore power check into a mini-split AC. Add some solar panels on the roof and you can run it for free in the sunshine.

Another great idea! I wouldn't even bother plugging those gaps, unless you just want to, but I would put reflectics in your windows. Well, you usually just overnight, so it shouldn't be much of a problem, but if you did multiple days reflectics would save your bacon. You usually arrive at camp as the day starts cooling off (if ever), so set it up first thing, and take it down last thing. As my grandpa used to say," you are a fart smeller, I mean a smart feller". Lol

I just got my ARE cap installed yesterday and will be working on this AC project this week when the rain stops tonight. I'm thinking of adding a vent fan [I have one extra from another project that I decided against]. The fan will be great on those nights when just a little air flow is all I need. I'll make the AC hole so that I can close it up with a piece of plywood when I don't need AC and will just store the AC unit inside the truck bed [8 foot bed] or on the campsite picnic table. I'm looking for ideas on a double bed setup since there will be 2 of us camping - hoping to make a long trip out West from NM/AZ up to Montana.

Good job, engineering 😎👍

Install ceramic window tint on your camper shell windows - that will really help reduce radiant heat coming through the windows. I just did mine on my ARE topper and can tell a huge difference.

I'm in NW Louisiana. Doesn't matter the season to me although I prefer fall and spring but as long as the temperature is above 50 during the night and below 80 during the day, I don't care what time of year it is. I'm going camping and I tent camp.

you can also DIY a stove jack for the cold weather and put a small stove for hot tents in there. i would put it right next to the door of bed

Great idea.!

Great looking, been thinking about doing this and almost bought the unit Tuesday, gonna have to do this now, awesome job well built. #BrianWatersOutdoors

Nice work. Cut it in half and add hinges in the middle. then you can store it, and open it into place easily from both sides.

Add a plastic boot tray under the AC to catch dripping water and keep your tailgate dry .

I'd add a Reflectix roof cover so I could hide under it from the sun! Nice addition!!

Excellent!

Sweet idea!

Very impressive! You will be very comfortable in your truck bed during hot Texas summers. My thought is that you will spend most of your time inside your truck while out camping...

You might already do something like this but when I was a kid my parents got an inflatable boot that sealed the space between the sliding windows and hooked a plastic dryer hose to an a/c vent and ran it through the windows. That and a 12 volt fan kept us kids cool. Maybe you could use that on the drive to give the window unit a head start.

great setup. my dream is to live in on the road in something like this making videos