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My winter/spring project was to turn my hybrid '23 MAV into a mini RV - I needed to drive from Illinois to Sacramento CA to pick up 2 motorcycles. Sure GFC makes a cap/tent combo but you're looking at +/- $8K to purchase. I figured I could build something similar for half of that, fully loaded with electricity, water, etc. Plus - while I like the "enter from the bed" idea of the GFC, it seems it makes carrying stuff much more difficult - when you want to enter the tent through the bed you have to take most of the stuff out.
So first I built the "topper". Framed it with white oak, plywood over the frame. Put woven fiberglass over the plywood, resin, then 3 coats of roll on bedliner. The side doors are metal "access panel" doors. The front window is a shed slider and I have a rear slider on the MAV - so my cat (which went on tour with me) could pass from the cab to the topper. The topper has a 3/4" plywood floor so I essentially have two levels - above (in the topper, for food, cooking, electrical) and below (in the bed for my solo stove, sleeping bags, tools, stuff). While it doesn't seal perfectly, 2" wide closed cell foam was used on all 3 sides to seal the topper to the bed rails.
Above the topper I welded up two overhead rails. Since the topper was framed in oak, I had no strength problems bolting the rails through the oak frame. It's plenty sturdy to support the tent. I had 2x2 steel on hand - which was overkill. Doing it again 1.5" square tube would have been plenty. The rails sit "high" above the topper because I'm 6'5" tall and I wanted the extended rails higher than my forehead so I didn't continuously run into them with my head. Plus I wanted to put a side awning on and be able to be under it without stooping over.
From Amazon came a Naturenest hard shell rooftop tent. Jackery supplied a 2000Ah powerbank. The two 12V flexplugs in the bed were utilized - one to charge the Jackery and one to run the refrigerator while the truck is running. My neighbor helped me wire in a relay so when the truck is powered the system runs off the truck, not the Jackery. I wired both white and blue LED lights on the inside of the topper, inside the bed, and outside for lighting. 16QT Vevor refrigerator came from Amazon. FB Marketplace turned up a nearly new/unused Coleman dual fuel stove and lantern - I wanted dual fuel so I could run them off of unleaded gas and not white gas. I carried a 1 gallon rotopax can to fill the appliances (and have extra fuel just in case). I installed a 20 gallon plastic tank in the topper for water (gravity fill and drain). StarLink offered me the new "mini" so I snapped it up before my trip for WiFi connectivity. I had most of the camping gear already, so I culled through that (plates, cooking gear, sleeping bags, etc) and built a kit for two people (my GF would be joining me for part of the trip).
I didn’t weigh it but I’m guessing – fully loaded with water, camping suff, and tent – the whole thing probably weighs 700#. So even with 2 people well below the MAV’s 1500# capacity.
So......I was on the road for nearly 7 weeks. Total of about 6000 miles. I pulled a 5x8 enclosed trailer with a kayak and mountain bike on top. I rode 23 different mountain bike trails systems in 8 states (CA CO MN ND NV SD UT WY). I visited the Bonneville salt flats, Yosemite, Lassen, Mesa Verde, Rocky Mountain, and Zion National Parks. We visited the Redwoods, camped on the Pacific ocean. Visited public land hot springs. I used the iOverlander app and never once paid to camp (far easier out west than in the Midwest). I spent some nights with friends so wasn’t in the tent every night.
Pulling the trailer loaded with two motorcycles (didn't weigh it but was probably right at the 2000# limit) I averaged 20.9 mpg from Sacramento back to Illinois. I did all two lane highways and was usually going 60mph.
While in California I wasn't pulling the trailer and averaged 33.0mpg with the topper and tent. My "normal" driving without the topper/tent usually nets me 40-42mpg for reference. So the topper/tent "costs" about 10mpg and pulling the trailer "costs" another 10mpg. Overall I couldn't have been happier with my MPG.
After spending 7 weeks on the road I have a list of "upgrades". I have a 6x8 tarp I used as an awning off the top rack, but will probably invest in a pull out type mounted awning. I plan on a 5 gallon top rack mounted PVC water / shower storage system for showers. This winter I'll build a bed mounted "drawer" system to store a lot of the stuff that I carried in plastic tubs.
My 15 year old cat came along for the ride and seemed to enjoy the trip almost as much as I did.
Rough costs were:
Tent - $1300 on Amazon
Jackery $1500 for the 200Ah unit
Building Materials $500
16 qt Fridge $125 on Amazon
Misc Amazon stuff $300
I had some materials already like the steel, oak, paint, water tank. Adding that stuff in I probably would have spent $4000 all in. So I hit my price target of about half of a GFC camper.
The whole unit bolts to the bed with 4 custom made brackets at factory mounting points, so today I unbolted it and lifted the whole thing off the MAV with my 25hp Kubota. On/off takes less than a half hour.
So first I built the "topper". Framed it with white oak, plywood over the frame. Put woven fiberglass over the plywood, resin, then 3 coats of roll on bedliner. The side doors are metal "access panel" doors. The front window is a shed slider and I have a rear slider on the MAV - so my cat (which went on tour with me) could pass from the cab to the topper. The topper has a 3/4" plywood floor so I essentially have two levels - above (in the topper, for food, cooking, electrical) and below (in the bed for my solo stove, sleeping bags, tools, stuff). While it doesn't seal perfectly, 2" wide closed cell foam was used on all 3 sides to seal the topper to the bed rails.
Above the topper I welded up two overhead rails. Since the topper was framed in oak, I had no strength problems bolting the rails through the oak frame. It's plenty sturdy to support the tent. I had 2x2 steel on hand - which was overkill. Doing it again 1.5" square tube would have been plenty. The rails sit "high" above the topper because I'm 6'5" tall and I wanted the extended rails higher than my forehead so I didn't continuously run into them with my head. Plus I wanted to put a side awning on and be able to be under it without stooping over.
From Amazon came a Naturenest hard shell rooftop tent. Jackery supplied a 2000Ah powerbank. The two 12V flexplugs in the bed were utilized - one to charge the Jackery and one to run the refrigerator while the truck is running. My neighbor helped me wire in a relay so when the truck is powered the system runs off the truck, not the Jackery. I wired both white and blue LED lights on the inside of the topper, inside the bed, and outside for lighting. 16QT Vevor refrigerator came from Amazon. FB Marketplace turned up a nearly new/unused Coleman dual fuel stove and lantern - I wanted dual fuel so I could run them off of unleaded gas and not white gas. I carried a 1 gallon rotopax can to fill the appliances (and have extra fuel just in case). I installed a 20 gallon plastic tank in the topper for water (gravity fill and drain). StarLink offered me the new "mini" so I snapped it up before my trip for WiFi connectivity. I had most of the camping gear already, so I culled through that (plates, cooking gear, sleeping bags, etc) and built a kit for two people (my GF would be joining me for part of the trip).
I didn’t weigh it but I’m guessing – fully loaded with water, camping suff, and tent – the whole thing probably weighs 700#. So even with 2 people well below the MAV’s 1500# capacity.
So......I was on the road for nearly 7 weeks. Total of about 6000 miles. I pulled a 5x8 enclosed trailer with a kayak and mountain bike on top. I rode 23 different mountain bike trails systems in 8 states (CA CO MN ND NV SD UT WY). I visited the Bonneville salt flats, Yosemite, Lassen, Mesa Verde, Rocky Mountain, and Zion National Parks. We visited the Redwoods, camped on the Pacific ocean. Visited public land hot springs. I used the iOverlander app and never once paid to camp (far easier out west than in the Midwest). I spent some nights with friends so wasn’t in the tent every night.
Pulling the trailer loaded with two motorcycles (didn't weigh it but was probably right at the 2000# limit) I averaged 20.9 mpg from Sacramento back to Illinois. I did all two lane highways and was usually going 60mph.
While in California I wasn't pulling the trailer and averaged 33.0mpg with the topper and tent. My "normal" driving without the topper/tent usually nets me 40-42mpg for reference. So the topper/tent "costs" about 10mpg and pulling the trailer "costs" another 10mpg. Overall I couldn't have been happier with my MPG.
After spending 7 weeks on the road I have a list of "upgrades". I have a 6x8 tarp I used as an awning off the top rack, but will probably invest in a pull out type mounted awning. I plan on a 5 gallon top rack mounted PVC water / shower storage system for showers. This winter I'll build a bed mounted "drawer" system to store a lot of the stuff that I carried in plastic tubs.
My 15 year old cat came along for the ride and seemed to enjoy the trip almost as much as I did.
Rough costs were:
Tent - $1300 on Amazon
Jackery $1500 for the 200Ah unit
Building Materials $500
16 qt Fridge $125 on Amazon
Misc Amazon stuff $300
I had some materials already like the steel, oak, paint, water tank. Adding that stuff in I probably would have spent $4000 all in. So I hit my price target of about half of a GFC camper.
The whole unit bolts to the bed with 4 custom made brackets at factory mounting points, so today I unbolted it and lifted the whole thing off the MAV with my 25hp Kubota. On/off takes less than a half hour.
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