Baja Camper ?!?!

[laffin_boy]

To make room for my "new" Baja ('05 NA MT + ARE cap) I recently sold a custom minivan camper that i'd built. And after missing the MV camper I got to wondering if it would be possible to make the Baja camp-able. Here's the list of requirements I came up with:

• able to sleep comfortably inside the vehicle (1 person)

• built-in propane cookstove

• built-in decent sized 12v refrigerator

• sink with pumped water for cleanup & "showers"

• enough built-in food & stuff storage space for a week-long trip

• and all of this had to be completely removable so I didn't lose the utility of the "pickup" bed

And now, 6 months later, I have myself a stealth micro-camper that checks all those boxes. Let me show you a few pics in case you'd like to do something similar to your Baja. Here's what you see when you open the rear window of the Cap:





This is a 2 piece plywood shelf that sits on the framework that the drawers hang from. (shown next) And when you open the tailgate you see this:





Both drawers pull out on 40" full extension slides that hang from the support structure. They clear the floor by ~ 3/16". L & R drawers each have smaller, full extension drawers for better organization.




The propane for the stove lives in the stove tray and the flex hose is pre-connected to the stove so I just screw on a bottle, hit the igniter and i'm cooking.







The top of the compartment to the right of the stove is a cutting / prep board which also





pops up to access more storage. Note the lower drawer that only opens 1/3 of the way because I forgot about the TG support cable! The water jug on the shelf is drinking / cooking water - the wash water is another system (that i'll show later)






The left box holds the collapsible sink, the plumbing, the 12v water pump, electrical connections and the 12v refrigerator.





The sink with the "faucet".






Water pump hides behind the pull out drawer at the end of the box.

the refrigerator holds ~ 20 quarts (IIRC) and draws ~ 3.5 amps max. (talk about electrical later)





The "wash" water comes from a modified Swiss Army surplus 5 gal water bag that hangs from brackets I added above the left window in the cap. One of the advantages of this setup is that when it's hot out I can take the bag out and set on the roof to heat up during the day and then have a hot shower - with 60 PSI water pressure - at the end of the day!







The 3/8" hose from the bag connects to the box plumbing with a quick disconnect.

The advantage of this setup is that I can remove the bag, set it on the roof in the AM and then, later in the day, I can hook it up again and take a hot shower - with 50 PSI water pressure!






The power cable connects to the box wiring with plugs. The refrigerator has a built-in Low Voltage Disconnect circuit but it's set way too low so I added a LVD circuit board so I can dial in the disconnect point - 12.1 volts - to a value that will actually protect the camper battery bank (more on this later)





This is enough for tonight - i'll post more soon to show the rest of the mods...

[laffin_boy]

OK, this post is about the support system for the boxes. The design requirements were:

• Light as possible (since i've got the be able to carry all of this stuff and i'm older than dirt ;^)

• Stiff enough to support the weight and

• Constructed in such a way as to be able to fit through the tailgate opening - ie: modular

Here's what the frame looks like:





The height of the slides on the right box were set by the need to get them below the cutout for the stove controls. On the left box I was able to mount them as high as possible. And, obviously, I didn't want the slides back to back on the middle bracket or i'd have mounting hardware problems. (the slides are mounted with #10 x 5/8" countersunk head screws)

Also let me point out here that the 40" slides were too long. The right slides just clear the TG but I had to notch the TG liner on the left side to clear the release knobs on the slides. Use the next size down from 40"

The height of the left slides above the deck turned out to be crucial to getting the assembled support structure into the bed. The right side goes in angled up with the left side down.





Once installed the framework is held in place by turnbuckles
.
.
.






As you can see the supports for the front of the structure are permanently attached while the supports for the rear of the structure have to go in after the framework is in place:




Yes, there was a lot of trial & error in getting this to work since nothing in this space is straight or level. The bed & the TG actually form a very shallow "V" so you've got to create an imaginary floorline from the fr & R high points to design to.

[laffin_boy]

This section will outline the electrical mods I made to power the camper package. I wanted to be able to keep the refrigerator contents cold for 2-3 days without having to run the engine and I also didn't want to risk running the main battery down and get stuck somewhere in the boonies with a dead battery. And solar isn't a realistic option on the Baja roof. So this meant:

• a separate camper battery bank that would be recharged only by the Baja's charging system

• AND had enough capacity to power the fridge for 48 hrs or so without any recharging

• AND would fit in the bed without interfering with the pullout boxes

So I bought four 35AH AGM batteries that just fit in the recess behind the wheel wells. And, starting from the main battery. I ran 6 ga flexible welding cable through a 200A fuse and then to a charge controller which only connects this cable to the camper battery bank when the car is charging. Like this:




The cable runs under the vehicle and is secured to keep it away from anything hot or in motion. It enters the rear bed through the drain vent in the front of the bed as you can see in this pic:




Where it ends in an Anderson plug. The separate rear cable holds 4 pairs of 12 ga wires - one pair for each battery. (4 x 12 ga = 1 x 6 ga) Also connected at the output of the Anderson plug junction is one 14ga cable pair to power the box.

Here's what the battery setup looks like on the right side:





and on the left side:





Batteries are held in place by an aluminum channel bracket and two 1/4" bolts + one 1/4" "J" bolt on each side. So that when all of the camper gear is removed the only thing left in the bed are two of the retainer brackets on each side which are pop-riveted through the bed liner. The brackets are just 1" steel strapping with a netsert in each one to accept the bolts.

[laffin_boy]

Probably the most unorthodox things i've done to make this Baja into a camper aren't in the back but in the interior. First of all I never carry passengers in the back seat. So I removed it - as well as the rear seatbelts. In it's place I built a shelf with out-of-sight storage below it as well as much more convenient carrying capacity above it. And probably lost 50 lbs of dead weight.










Note the angled recess on the right side of the tray. This is to be able to recline the rt ft seat all the way back. I mentioned earlier that I planed to sleep in the car and your natural reaction may have been: "No way! - I'd rather sleep on the ground!". Perhaps you've tried sleeping in the fully reclined position of either front seat and found, as i did, that the contour is great for sitting in but doesn't work as a recliner. The problem is that there a nasty "V" between the bottom & the backrest right where the small of your back wants to get supported and doesn't. But this is easily fixable. I made a medium density foam pad that's contoured to transition the backrest smoothly into the seat bottom. And now the fully reclined seat is very comfortable to sleep on. On your back or on your side. Then I made a pillow out of soft foam that attaches to the headrest (so i don't have to chase it around during the night). Here's what it looks like:








(I apologize for the pics - it's hard to get a shot that shows the actual profile.)


And the last interior item that's really useful if you're on the road is a steering wheel tray.











Ok, that's all my camper mods. If you have any questions just post them here and i'll try to answer them.

[dease42]

Really impressive, lots of good ideas here and great use of space. Fantastic build quality too..

Great work!

[20Baja06]

Agreed - really impressed with the fabrication and seeing your vision through! Very, very nicely done!

[ltdan12a]

Nicely done! I'd be curious what the weight is after the conversion...

[CNaylor]

Amazing in bed build. Thanks for sharing.

I just question sleeping in the passenger seat. Why not add a rooftop tent is so easy these days. Or remove the shell, and build a rack over the bed to mount to if you want less wind drag.

[Twempie]

Well done, this is great, and I wish I had the skills.