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Anyone used a bed tent before?

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Arukoru

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Check out the Sylvansport. If I had money laying around I'd buy one.
I've looked at those a bit and discovered a whole category of teardrop campers I had never heard of. I think I'm going to build myself a DIY teardrop out of foam and fiberglass but I haven't committed yet. If I had a lot of extra money I would just buy a 12k one or something.
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I would be happy just to have a good truck bed tent with an awning or something.
Yeah, no. I had one in a 2001 Ranger and it was about the limit of comfort in terms of size (6 foot bed + 2 foot tailgate). It wouldn't work with 1.5 feet less, unless you are a dwarf or for kids.
 
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mamboman777

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I've looked at those a bit and discovered a whole category of teardrop campers I had never heard of. I think I'm going to build myself a DIY teardrop out of foam and fiberglass but I haven't committed yet. If I had a lot of extra money I would just buy a 12k one or something.
Exactly... If only I had 12k laying around. 🤣

I'm probably gonna buy a little trailer and keep all the camping gear in it or just load it in the bed. We don't go enough to warrant that purchase.
 

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Don't understand the interest in this type of tent on a 4.5' bed...just get a regular tent. Get an instant popup on if you want it to be set up in 90 seconds.
 
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Arukoru

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Don't understand the interest in this type of tent on a 4.5' bed...just get a regular tent. Get an instant popup on if you want it to be set up in 90 seconds.
My initial interest was just a quick portable camp, I have a very nice tent already that I can setup in about 5-7 minutes or so but then I need to clear out a campsite for it to sit on which can take about 30 minutes and then get everything pulled out of my trunk and my backseat and then get chopping wood. The bed tent I would've hoped would have a couple extra amenities or something and the bed is 6 feet when the bed is down I believe. But it turns out all the bed tents are kinda pointless and aren't any different than a standard one.

So then I got turned onto teardrop campers which is really what I was looking for, something I can pull up to camp and be practically done immediately with initial setup. The idea of the bed tent was just a cheap way to take some of the work out of camping and be portable enough to take anywhere.
 
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So for my old 2007 Ranger that my Maverick just replaced, I had a truck tent and inflatable mattress. I even added 2x USB and a 12 volt port to the the bed, which gave me a very convenient place to plug in the pump for the air mattress. I used to take it to music festivals and camping with the brother, absolutely loved it. I had a rightline tent and a small pop up shelter butted up next to the tent opening, so I had a covered place to exit the tent and a cover for my kitchen setup in case of rain. Then at the end of everything I would break everything down quickly, throw it all into my truck bed and close the Tonneau cover, sort out the gear at home. Used to take me less than 15 minutes to break camp. However a few issues evolved with time that resulted in me having to change my setup

1. I had an issue with my phone charging one night and some morning dew or something caused the port to short out and actually had a burning smell. We had to run home to backup my phone before it lost a charge completely.

2. I went with my wife for the first time and she HATED IT with a fiery passion, every time one of us moved the other was tossed around so it became a problem, that ended with us buying a new freestanding tent.

So just word to the wise about charging overnight and this is really more of a solo setup.
 

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Not much in that category yet. Aftermarket is still in its infant stages. Really the only thing available at the moment is those rail tents that are about 2500ish. I think once we see aftermarket caps, you'll see a bunch of camping stuff for the bed shortly after.

As others have said though, a 4.4ft bed doesn't really leave much for space, so perhaps utilizing the flex bed as a storage/cooking space would be the most ideal. If you're cool with open air camping, a piece of plywood and an awning/soft pop-up (can't remember the name of them) would probably do the trick on the cheap. Someone mentioned a company is working on one somewhere on here. I see them mostly on Tacomas.
I'm thinking about ways to extend my bed so I can sleep in it myself. Thinking of carving up an old topper from a longer truck.
 
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Arukoru

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I'm thinking about ways to extend my bed so I can sleep in it myself. Thinking of carving up an old topper from a longer truck.
One of my first thoughts was just adding a V to the back of a camper to give you some feetroom but I ended up pursuing another route.
 

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Everybody keeps mentioning the bed is too small, but with the tailgate down it is plenty big enough for average height folks. I bet there will be some tents designed specifically for the Maverick in the future. A couple of posts and a big tarp, and a big camping pad under a sleeping bag would work fine in a pinch. In good weather, no need for even a tarp, just a pad and a sleeping bag under the stars, feet stretched out on the tailgate.
 
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Arukoru

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Everybody keeps mentioning the bed is too small, but with the tailgate down it is plenty big enough for average height folks. I bet there will be some tents designed specifically for the Maverick in the future. A couple of posts and a big tarp, and a big camping pad under a sleeping bag would work fine in a pinch. In good weather, no need for even a tarp, just a pad and a sleeping bag under the stars, feet stretched out on the tailgate.
Well, if you're 6ft tall then your feet are going to be hanging off.

It really just turns out that nobody makes good bed tents for any truck. You can get a bed-based pop-up but it is not easily removable or a camper shell which is still too short.

I just said screw it and I'm going to build a teardrop when I get the truck. That seems pretty ideal to me because it will be more comfortable, involve less setup, and has more utility anyway.
 
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Michaelkov

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I've been looking around for future Mav accessories I'd actually use and I've seen a lot of cool stuff, some appropriate for the Mav and some not.

I don't have any interest in campers because they are either really expensive or way too problematic to remove when not in use. I would be happy just to have a good truck bed tent with an awning or something. Usually I drive out to a nature preserve of some kind and set up my own tent so the truck will already help me greatly by having better cargo & clearance but why not just sleep in the bed instead of clearing a surface for your tent? Makes sense to me.

Anyway, if there exists a trailer under $2k that weighs <1,000lbs I'd look at it but otherwise I really just wanted to know what everyone's experience with bed tents were. Is this a forgotten category where all the products are essentially the same? Or are there a ton of cool products I'm missing online.

Otherwise I'm interested in camping accessories generally, if there's a good use for that 12v in the back I'm interested to hear it.
 

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Well, if you're 6ft tall then your feet are going to be hanging off.

It really just turns out that nobody makes good bed tents for any truck. You can get a bed-based pop-up but it is not easily removable or a camper shell which is still too short.

I just said screw it and I'm going to build a teardrop when I get the truck. That seems pretty ideal to me because it will be more comfortable, involve less setup, and has more utility anyway.
Arukoru, teardrop campers is basically the best choice if you have a maximum of two other people on the campsite with you.
As far as I know, the only significant disadvantage of teardrop campers is that the cheap options do not have good quality sleepers.
That's why I recommend that you, after buying teardrop campers, choose a good mattress for it. Because there is nothing worse than a spoiled dream while resting.
 
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mw_maeve

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I've been looking around for future Mav accessories I'd actually use and I've seen a lot of cool stuff, some appropriate for the Mav and some not.

I don't have any interest in campers because they are either really expensive or way too problematic to remove when not in use. I would be happy just to have a good truck bed tent with an awning or something. Usually I drive out to a nature preserve of some kind and set up my own tent so the truck will already help me greatly by having better cargo & clearance but why not just sleep in the bed instead of clearing a surface for your tent? Makes sense to me.

Anyway, if there exists a trailer under $2k that weighs <1,000lbs I'd look at it but otherwise I really just wanted to know what everyone's experience with bed tents were. Is this a forgotten category where all the products are essentially the same? Or are there a ton of cool products I'm missing online.

Otherwise I'm interested in camping accessories generally, if there's a good use for that 12v in the back I'm interested to hear it.
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