Along with thinking of getting a new truck after almost 15 years, been researching outfitting it. I used to enjoy kayaking a lot. When I did, I had a roof rack on my pickup shell for the kayaks, and often a mattress in the bed. Current truck had one flaw to that, a 5.5' bed... New truck WILL have a full length short bed.
So researching camper shells, slide in campers, and various expedition campers and ran accross this concept unit.
ok, it is intentionally mars lander looking, but I love the concept. A slide in box that widens above the wheel wells (probably would prefer to increase that over the bed rails), roof rack ready (make it strong enough to stand on, build ladder into unit), and change the windows so that it can double as a 6'x6' hunting blind (attached or freestanding). Likewise, could drop in on the 4 wheeler trailer if I wanted additional mobility options.
curius, anyone know of something like this premade for a reasonable amount. Seems like a couple evening project if I was forced to diy. While I could easily do it out of aluminum, I am more comfortable building a wardrobe than welding, so most likely would use wood and epoxy paint it afterwards.
So so far the closest I have seen is a custom camper that was way to expensive for a simple weatherproof box (I forget, but almost all started north of 8k, and quite a few were closer to 20k.
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another site that got me thinking of this
Micro camper sorry, not having luck copying an image link. His was a 4x4x8 box with a few windows and a door. Easy, sturdy, cheep, did I mention cheep... I like his concept, but as mentioned before, I think would design it to go over the bed rails for some extra width and to aid with jack instillation.
Since I don't have a brake, I might use commercial trailer coil roofing for an economical once piece aluminum roof cover. That idea was stolen from some (probably expedition) RV thread (that person did larger 8x8x12 (guesstimate) boxes and put them on a commercial truck frame (he made one a living quarters and a second a removable toy hauler workshop-but also had a flat bed that could drop in the same spot-very shinny, but probably well over a 100k diy expedition rig). Doing it cheap and doing it right don't go hand in hand. The roof will add a bill or two, plus probably several more bills if I use camp windows. Have to draw the line with a camper a/c-want a clean roof.
Will probably update date again in a few minutes with a link of something closer on a trailer from a custom fabricator.