Tacoma Buildout and First Snow of the Season

Toyota Tacoma Bed Camper Buildout

Libby and I cancelled our plans to go climbing in the Swell this weekend because the weather looked bad pretty much everywhere within a 300 mile radius. No snow in the Wasatch to have a meaningful tour close to town, yet too much precip here and in the south, making LCC granite undesirable and sandstone climbing questionable at best. So, what better time to tick off some rainy day tasks?

I recently purchased a truck, and the thought of building out the bed weighed on my mind ever since I got it. With a topper finally in place, the time was ripe to get to work.

Truck camping, sans-buildout, in Indian Creek.

I'm not much of a carpenter nor handyman, but I can saw relatively straight and hammer things in place when I need to. With that being said, I wanted a sturdy buildout that required as little construction as possible. I wanted a raised sleeping platform that would cover only half of the truckbed, leaving the other half of the truckbed available for easily accessible storage, or for sitting upright with ample headroom. But, I also wanted the option of turning the sleeping platform into one that would cover the whole bed, either during the times I'm with Libby, or when I want to leave valuables in the truckbed out of sight.

Lucky for me, the 3rd-gen Tacoma beds are practically designed for buildouts, with really nice geometrical notches and flat, uniform surfaces.

I went to Home Depot and bought two 4'x8' sheets of 1" thick birch plywood (I didn't want to cheap out on the quality of the plywood, since cheaper plywood bows, flexes, and warps much easier), 7'x6' of subwoofer-style carpeting, adhesive spray, a staple gun, staples, and two spring clamps. I had 3" screws laying around, and used only 12 of them. With these materials alone, I made a buildout that I am super satisfied with, and stoked to try out. All in all, it cost about ~$120. I am really grateful to my neighbor Ryan for letting me borrow his power tools, and to Libby for her perfectionist touches. 

Basically, the bed platform is almost entirely supported by the wheel wells and a 1" ledge that runs the entire length of the truckbed liner. This made construction SUPER simple; all I needed to do was build out some support boards for the middle of the bed platform, and slot them onto the notches. The precise measurements of the lateral supports escape me, but you get the picture: 

Notice the nice geometric notches and flat wheel well surface. This provides much of the support for the bed platform.

The only real "construction" required for the whole project. These lateral supports slot onto the bed liner notches, are 30" long, and extend roughly 5/8's of the way across the truckbed. 

It was time to put the bed platform on top of the supports. Home Depot didn't have any plywood sheets that would cover the entire dimensions of my truck bed (74"x57"), so needed to cut two 1" thick 4'x8' sheets of plywood into two 28.5"x6' sheets (this gave me a good bit of scrap, which I used for the aforementioned lateral supports).

The next part was a bit tricky, but not a major pain. The truckbed isn't perfectly rectangular; it tapers off 4" from the tailgate in a series of angles obtuse angles. I wanted the bed platform to fit perfectly, maximizing as much of the bed space as possible, so some fine sawing was in order. This didn't take long, and things started coming together. 

The primary sleeping platform, supported by the bed liner and lateral supports. Notice that I left ~2" of the lateral supports exposed to support the other half of the bed platform. 

Rinse and repeat with the other length of plywood, and things fit snugly. I knew I'd have to do some trimming once the carpet went on, but I'd cross that bridge when I got there. 

The 'full' version of the bed platform. 

Next was the carpeting, which was somewhat time consuming, but well worth it (less condensation, less splinters, more aesthetically-pleasing, more dampening). I used thin carpeting— the type you'd use for subwoofers, or on a pool deck— and fitted it to the plywood with adhesive spray and staples. I trimmed off any bulky excess.

Indeed, I needed to trim a bit of board off of one of the plywood sheets to account for the added thickness of the carpet. This didn't take long.

Voila. Like a glove. 

At this point, I considered it mostly done. With this design, I can either store one half of the sleeping platform in my garage, or stack it on top the other sleeping platform and secure it down with some basic spring clamps. Pictured is the 'stack' method. 

Single sleep platform mode, with one piece of plywood stacked on top of the other. I have yet to decide whether this will be the default mode.

These projects are a lot more enjoyable with good company! Thanks Ryan and Lib.

Ready for the road. I'll probably keep my bag and the memory foam in here at all times for mobility's sake. If someone wants to steal my bag and memory foam pad out of my truck while it's parked in front of my house, they probably need it more than I do. 

First Turns of the Season

A day at the races: the snow falls once again; COVID is still here; Biden is our president elect; Collins at Alta is the only place in the Wasatch (in my mind) where touring makes sense.

I hadn't forgot to tune up my skis and make sure all the bells and whistles were in working order before the 2020/2021 season's first dump. I've been waiting for a system like today's (11/8/20) for a very, very long time. Meteorological monotony has seemingly plagued the SLC area for the past 6 months, with the last major precip event taking place in June. It may have rained once or twice between now and then, but only paltry amounts. Otherwise, things have been bone dry (which, admittedly, has been great for climbing and running up high). 

For better or for worse, I headed to Collins Gulch at Alta, aka the Collins Glacier; the only desirable skiing option right now, since Alta started blowing snow in this drainage some time around October. With 0" of base and forecasted low-density snow, I left the car with very low expectations.

It was a bit of a madhouse, as expected, but the mood was convivial overall. I think people were excited for many reasons, though I reserved some of my own excitement based on how aggressively COVID is spiking. I finished my own bout with COVID back in July, but I couldn't help thinking that, despite this, I was not morally superior than anyone else. After all, I wanted some early season pow just as much as the next Jane and John, and goddamn, had it been a long, hot past few months. Do we all deserve this? Are we doing the right thing?

I stopped about half way up Collins Gulch after someone who'd been riding Alta for the past week told me that this was where the machines stopped blowing, and that just yesterday, any terrain higher than this was rock and dirt. Despite denser-than-expected snow, I didn't want to risk it, so I transitioned and made my first turns of the season down the Collins Glacier. Out of all the turns I've made in my life, these were nothing special. Regardless, those first turns are always exciting— if not for the present moment, then for what the upcoming winter might hold. I got to the bottom wet with storm and sweat, transitioned, and headed back up for one more mediocre lap. 

Winter's here again, and it feels like things are beginning to fall into place.