I humbly recommend the Thunderbolt Adventure Supply Overland Kitchen with Gear Sled for a premium cooking experience. Super quick set up and clean up. In addition, it's much easier to access all of that gear you're planning to put in the bed with our Bed Glider - especially with the Rooftop Tent mounted over the bed.
Walmart has a cheap canopy under $100 and sidewalls ($50) with 3 mesh and 1 solid wall. I use it sometimes but looking to get an awning instead.I would consider a canopy, instead of an awning. Most awnings are quite expensive. They attach to the truck, which limits where you can sit to take advantage of the shade. They may also not be deployable, if space around the truck is limited. And, what if you need to move your truck, after you have set up that awningA canopy is cheaper and can be set up anywhere, in minutes. I bought a Crown Shades 8’x8’ awning off Amazon for less than $150. I can easily set this awning up, by myself, in barely a minute - seriously, it’s crazy simple and quick. I have only used it twice now, but it has been awesome! On both of these occasions, a truck attached awning would have been completely useless. Can’t attest to the durability of the Crown Shades awning, but, if it last a couple of years, it will have been worth it, at that price.
Definitely the cleanest solve, and top notch gear. Unfortunately $3800 is about 4x more than I'm willing to spend on a setup like this. Maybe if I ever get around to it I'll try my own DIY solution... wish I could afford this one though, such a perfect combination!I humbly recommend the Thunderbolt Adventure Supply Overland Kitchen with Gear Sled for a premium cooking experience. Super quick set up and clean up. In addition, it's much easier to access all of that gear you're planning to put in the bed with our Bed Glider - especially with the Rooftop Tent mounted over the bed.
Here's our truck with the tent open, Kitchen out and the Bed Glider pulled out to access our fridge (Dometic CSX35) which also fits under the tonneau.
Here’s a few pics of the BougeRV in the frunk. I use it all the time when we go grocery shopping. Don’t recommend it staying in the frunk for long periods of time during the summer months because it gets hot in there and makes the compressor work harder to keep the fridge cool. During long road trips starting late Spring through early Fall, I stick it in the cab behind the passenger seat or in the bed of the truck. FYI…I have the 12V in the frunk.
I didn’t answer all your questions before. It’s a 23 quart fridge or freezer. I’ve had it for 2 years now. Wish it was a little bigger, but then it wouldn’t fit in the frunk. With the current size, I’d have to unbox the frozen pizzas to fit it in there. Only issues I’ve had was it trying to keep things cool when it was in a super hot frunk, but I’ve learned to just move it somewhere else in the truck. It’s portable enough that I just bring it in the house full of groceries to unload. It’s also great that I can preload it in the house for a trip and just bring it out and plug it in.
I'm planning to have the RTT over the bed when not carrying bikes, but when carrying bikes I will put the RTT over the cab and use another set of crossbars to house my bikes over the bed. In either scenario, I still have full bed access. That's my plan, as of this moment.I usually have my mountain bike in the truck bed, so using the tonneau is not an option. While I could put the fridge in the bed (w/no tonneau), the Dometic usually lives in the back seat area. I don’t want it sitting out exposed to whateverI just fold one seat, lay down a piece of plywood, set the fridge on top, run the power cord into the gear tunnel, where I can hook it up to my EcoFlow or the truck. I usually use the EcoFlow to conserve the truck battery (don’t have to leave the outlets on full time). Gear tunnel is for folding chairs, table, canopy, hiking poles, EcoFlow, etc. Frunk is for my Solo Stove Fire Pit, plastic boxes for all my cooking stuff and misc. junk. Well, you get the idea. I think I pack pretty much like MountainBikeDude.
Thanks for the thoughts. I have a Kuat Pivot that will swing the rack out, and I have a 1UP USA hitch rack (have had for 15 years). I just really prefer not using the hitch mount on the truck for camping if I can get away from it.FWIW I had the same "tent over the bed sometimes and the cab other times" dream and I think it would be a hassle in practice. I install my tent with a hoist and leaving the crossbars mounted to the tent makes it super easy. But the roof mounting brackets are narrower than the bed points (and I think differently spaced) - you'd have to redo the tent fixing to the crossbars every time you switch, which seems like a huge hassle.
I just got a hitch rack with a swingout for the bikes when I have the tent mounted. If you get the 1UP rack you can add/remove trays as needed so you don't have a bunch of wasted space - I bought the bed racks and then a hitch adapter so I can choose between over-bed, over-roof, or hitch-mounted.
Mileage may vary, but I see a lot of awnings on rigs and almost never see them deployed... maybe because I'm in the northwest. I almost bought one several times but this is one where I'd give it a go without it for a while and see if you really miss it. It's a lot of drag and weight and cost to carry around. (I suspect most people would prefer a freestanding canopy if you really want a rain/sun cover).
IceCo 20 is great because it fits in the frunk, but be warned that it will struggle to keep up in direct summer heat (85+ degrees) - the frunk just gets too hot. The smaller Dometic CFX units fit in the bed with the tonneau closed - or anything under 17" tall.
After much consideration I decided that the only toilet that was wife-friendly was a 20' Airstream
We have the dometic CFX3. It fits fine under the tonneau . We have a gen 1 T if it makes a difference. We've had it a couple of years and have been happy with it. I haven't price shopped against other options. Spendy ..I'm sure we used rewards points at REI.
