Because I have never done anything like this before, it was difficult to know where to start and how to proceed. To be honest, I didn’t even really research my camp setup. Meaning, I didn’t watch a bunch of YouTube videos from people who had done this before.
Fortunately, my friend Vince was decking out his van so he had some good input. He gave me a pre-done bed and I had some scrap shelving that could act as my storage compartments. Take a look at how we set up the bed and storage for my first trip.
Camp Setup: Sleeping
As I mentioned above, Vince had a bed he created for his van that he wasn’t using. He was on iteration number two. So, we modified the bed and added some foam to the bedding. That is where we got with this one for today. Later in the build, I cut the foam to fit better and add a bed sheet to keep it all together. I knew that I was on a time crunch so I wasn’t too concerned with getting everything perfect.
Also, I knew that I would critique and modify my truck build over the next few months.
After completing the bed it fits perfectly under the side rails of the truck bed and having notched out the legs, it fits snugly on the truck bed. This was a good option and allowed for some storage under the bed.
Camp Setup: Storage
Next, we created the storage for the truck bed. We used leftover pine shelves from a previous project. This worked nicely and was able to fit this along the inside of the right side of the truck bed. Again, this was placed just under the rails and had a good amount of shelf space. In addition, the unit allowed for a countertop for placing loose camp items like my backpack.
Camp Setup: Flooring
Finally, we created a floor that served two purposes. First, it smoothed out the truck bed so that I didn’t have to crawl on the rough truck bed surface (Raptor Liner – See Previous Project). Second, the floor acted as a wedge between the two modules, bed, and shelves. Therefore, holding them in place so they didn’t slide around during driving.
Final Thoughts
I liked this setup at first glance. It is very basic but it served its purpose for my first camp trip. Unfortunately, as I will see during that trip it wasn’t as functional as I thought it would be. So, I quickly went back to the drawing board.
Check out my entire build history here.
