I dig on those baller rigs we all see rolling across our digital dashboards as much as the next guy, truly. I also have no idea how being $100k deep in a truck camper works for the majority of folks.
Enter quick and dirty Craigslist. It is the Mos Eisley of the internet: ever shifting, full of scams and scamps, and ridiculously intoxicating.
After 18 months of digging around on CL I finally found a rig that scratched the itch I had been reaching for the past few decades. Sadly, it was on the other coast. Happily, my parents were close enough to give me the green light on its condition and I bought it sight unseen.
Pretty standard truck with low miles and a good price…bought it, had a new set of tires put on it, front brakes, and the water pump/timing belt routine done then hit the road for the 2,500 mile drive home...got out of the truck 42 hours later, but none the worse for wear.
Tried tent camping with the rig...pretty much of a wreck, aside from the location.
Started digging on CL for a shell for Mr. White…surfboards, tools, materials, and the rest of your junk never has legs until you leave it in the bed of your truck while you pop into Cuernevaca for a taco. I wanted a hightop because the end-ish game involved a bed platform with drawers beneath and a side bar for light duty kitchen and living.
After a month of frustration I found a cat selling his single cab pre runner with an ill fitting access cab top on it. I asked him if he would sell just the shell and he said, “Sure, it has yakima bars on it…how about $200?” which is a smoking deal in SoCal. I told him to sit tight, I’d be there in 45 minutes.
Once I had a new hat in place, the guts started to come together in my mind.
We did another short hop with just the topper and we were convinced we needed to get the bed sorted out.
A few days later it materialized in a few hours.
View attachment 247844
At that point, expo told me I could only put up ten photos in a post so I quit.
Enter quick and dirty Craigslist. It is the Mos Eisley of the internet: ever shifting, full of scams and scamps, and ridiculously intoxicating.
After 18 months of digging around on CL I finally found a rig that scratched the itch I had been reaching for the past few decades. Sadly, it was on the other coast. Happily, my parents were close enough to give me the green light on its condition and I bought it sight unseen.
Pretty standard truck with low miles and a good price…bought it, had a new set of tires put on it, front brakes, and the water pump/timing belt routine done then hit the road for the 2,500 mile drive home...got out of the truck 42 hours later, but none the worse for wear.
Tried tent camping with the rig...pretty much of a wreck, aside from the location.
Started digging on CL for a shell for Mr. White…surfboards, tools, materials, and the rest of your junk never has legs until you leave it in the bed of your truck while you pop into Cuernevaca for a taco. I wanted a hightop because the end-ish game involved a bed platform with drawers beneath and a side bar for light duty kitchen and living.
After a month of frustration I found a cat selling his single cab pre runner with an ill fitting access cab top on it. I asked him if he would sell just the shell and he said, “Sure, it has yakima bars on it…how about $200?” which is a smoking deal in SoCal. I told him to sit tight, I’d be there in 45 minutes.
Once I had a new hat in place, the guts started to come together in my mind.
We did another short hop with just the topper and we were convinced we needed to get the bed sorted out.
A few days later it materialized in a few hours.
View attachment 247844
At that point, expo told me I could only put up ten photos in a post so I quit.