3 replies to this topic

[ckent323]

This is pretty cool.  Cooking are in tailgate and mini bar in taillight slide out

 

https://www.blackshe....com/blacksheep

 

[DavidGraves]

Efficient use of space IS always pretty cool.

 

Speaking of which, how is that custom bed coming ?

 

As for the you tube video, those cans of liquid will get pretty shaken and dusty on their shelves.....but the core concept is clever.

 

David Graves

[ckent323]

David,

 

I got the body guy to start work on it again a couple of months ago.  We fit the camper to it and there were no issues. I have about 3/4" to 1" clearance between the camper floor box and the sides of the cargo bed storage boxes.

He ran into a problem with the flex of the fold down door sides (former outer skin).  I came up with a fix by welding 5/16" dia S7 rod around the perimeter.  Pretty stiff now.  So he is working on the seals around the door and cleaning up the rework caused by the welding.  Now he can reinstall the interior side skin of the doors (which serve as flat tables when open). Also there are some small holes I can see daylight through in the weld line of the custom fabricated cargo boxes so I am having him close those out as well. These closeout details are going to take several hours of work so I am pushing him to stay on it  (he continues to use it as fill in work to keep the cost down).

Hoping to be prepping for paint and painting in October.  

I need to decide if I am going to keep it all white or go with a two tone coleor - something like light silver top and bottom and a light blue or darker gray band around the side.

Alternatively I may paint it white and then do a partial wrap on the sides and hood with a custom design.

I have a concept for holding the camper down. The OEM turn buckle system will no longer work due to the new side compartments filling that space and I will be removing the eye bolts from the camper once I swap the cargo bed onto the truck.

My new hold down concept is a variation of what Nimble/XP Campers have.  It will be a steel insert into four of the stake bed pockets with a slot on top running fore/aft.  The camper side will have a steel block bolted to the part of the camper that overhangs the side of the bed with a tab that slides into the sots of the stake bed part.  Of course the camper and the stake bed interfaces will be beefed up to handle the load.  A matching through hole in each of these parts will allow a clevis pin to be installed and thereby hold the camper to the cargo bed.

The final (known) challenge will be routing the fuel filler pipe.  I left the original fuel door in place and I need to figure out how to seal it with the fuel pipe when the door is closed.  I have some sketches of a concept with employs a fixed sleeve in the cargo bed storage box and a custom cut rubber gasket that the door will seal against.

Anxious to get this wrapped up and in use!

 

Craig

 

Edited by ckent323, 12 September 2022 - 08:30 PM.

[DavidGraves]

All Very Exciting... !

 

As per usual the devil is in the details.

 

Clever concept for securing the camper.

 

DG