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So, here's the deal. I have a friend that bought some rural land for hunting/fishing. This place was once an industrial site the 1950's-1960's, but was abandoned in the early 70's. The shacks that were left were totally shot, so he bull-dozed them. However, it DOES still have functioning electrical lines. He installed a utility box with two 240v outlets and 4 120v outlets. Any future development is a few years off until he can afford to build a cabin and make the road semi-decent again. Until then, it's a fun "roughing it" weekend spot, and I've been invited.

The problem is the road isn't super great for pulling a camper, and I'd rather NOT sleep on the ground. I have a 4x4 truck with posi-rear and locking front axel so getting in and out isn't an issue 9 months of the year, but it's only got a 5.5 foot bed, and I'm 6'5" tall. Tailgate open it's a full 7 feet of sleeping space.

Enter my winter project. I'm designing a "tailgate extension box". Basically I can store it in the bed, and when I get to the campsite it will site on my lowered tailgate (with weather stripping to seal it), hook onto the tailgate posts to secure it, and meet the lowered door of my topper. I think I'm going make it out of a few simple sheets of plywood. With the available power I think I might get a super-small window air conditioning unit too.

Here's a super simple CAD design of my idea, including two opened doors for ingress/egress.

Have you considered converting your legs to Teleskopik ones?

Have you considered the lazier option: the hammock?

Lovely project.

There are a lot of commercially available options where you can probably look at them and get a good idea of how they did it and ideas for your own design.

In a pinch just get a mummy bag, throw down some foam in the back, and open the tailgate.

 Easy E wrote:
Lovely project.

There are a lot of commercially available options where you can probably look at them and get a good idea of how they did it and ideas for your own design.

In a pinch just get a mummy bag, throw down some foam in the back, and open the tailgate.

Yeah, My initial thought was to just keep the topper's door open and drape mosquito netting over it. It's what I'd do if we were miles away from anywhere. However, with available power it's near irresistible to build in some air conditioning. After walking through woods, or sitting in a canoe for hours with the sun reflecting off the water, sometimes you just want to sit in some coolness.