I designed this Tacoma Camper for a client that really liked my T100 build. The concept is that this camper drops into the truck bed and turns it into a functional camper in about 20 minutes. A platform bed, a front bench, a sink unit, and a fridge unit, all connecting with threaded inserts and machine screws so you could put it in and take it out as many times as you wanted without wearing any components down. I developed off of my previous design and think it’s more functional with the use of things like aluminum sign board for structure, function and weight savings.

The constraints were tight with the client being out of state, I only had 3 hours to take all measurements and scribes for the build before jumping into CAD. This is kind of how I work best though, I am able to think fully about the design and install in my head beforehand and able to plan around all things that might come up. For a first prototype that has to be also an end product, everything gladly fit right into place (I wasn’t stressed at all about this, right?). The scribes, the tolerances, all of it landed perfectly. I still think about how awesome it was to install this in a single day.

Although the intention was to make more of these, this didn’t turn into a successful business. Every truck was unique and every customer wanted something a little different, so the "standard" system kept becoming custom work, and the price I'd have to charge was more than most small truck owners with canopy toppers wanted to spend. I also realized I was getting back into creating custom furniture again, and there was a reason why I stopped doing that ( see hours worked, amount of overhead, physical toll, maintaining a woodshop). This project is currently on the back burner with a few concepts in the works to bring it back to the masses. I am thinking about a more DIY friendly build solution that you can customize, and a system for figuring out how to plan these parts. Quite the undertaking for a single truck model/topper, so you can see why it’s still on the backburner.