Monday, May 16, 2011

New Wheels

So I bought a truck. It's a '99 Toyota Tacoma SR5 Xtracab 4wd. The idea is that I want to be able to live out of it full time after I graduate. So how am I going to go about doing that?

Well to start, I bought a camper shell, a Leer 148 for the extra head room. New caps cost anywhere from 1500-2000 dollars or more. I picked this one up used off of Craigslist for 100 bucks.



So what now? As I'm planning out the layout for the truck, I've divided it into four sections. First is the front seat area of the cab, which will be for driving myself and whoever is in the passenger seat. Second will be the seats behind the front seats, which I plan in turning into storage. I'm going to make a platform to level the bench seats and fill the space in between each row of seats, giving me an even platform to store gear. In this space, I see more of my living gear, clothes, blankets, etc.

In the bed, I am going to build a sleeping platform. I haven't quite figured out the exact design, but I want to build it around Rubbermaid containers, so that I have to sections; beneath the platforms, which will be storage for gear, like paddle clothes, cookset, etc. and above which will be the sleeping area, with whatever pad i decide on, sleeping bag, small light, etc.

Another thing I want to incorporate, if I can, is a solar powered battery. I want it to be small, but powerful enough that I can charge my cameras, power my laptop, etc. This way I don't have to poach power with an extension cord.

It's still in the planning stages, but this summer I want to start by weatherproofing the cap and building the platforms. We'll see how it goes

No comments: