thatguyonthe_left
2️⃣ Bronze
This past weekend was fall break for me, so I had the opportunity to do a bit of solo camping and experiment with my set up. Normally when I go camping I just have a cheap pop up tent, which was ok until it began to fall apart. So I decided to try and see if I could just use the 10’x12’ tarp I always keep in my truck to pitch a tent over the truck bed.
The first iteration was with my old blue tarp (which I got for maybe 12 dollars at rei). I had been at rei and decided to get 75’ of rope (only 5 bucks) to try and make this setup work. Basically I just have the rope tied to the top of the stick in the truck bed, and I used a bungie cord to put tension in the other direction on the stick so it would stay in place. It was a great prototype, but didn’t have a lot of head room, and the stick being in the truck bed made it so there was much less space. I didn’t take a picture but to close it up at night I pulled my hammock tarp over the front of the opening to make sure everything was closed off. The improvements I wanted to make were to use a better tarp, and two lengths of rope to make a bit more headroom. Went home, Sunday since I had to do some work, and j my way back out Monday I stopped at harbor freight. Picked up another length of rope (which I most likely didn’t need since 75’ was most likely enough, but it was only 5 bucks so whatever) and realized they had 10’x12’ canvas tarps for only about $70. Immediately grabbed one and hit the road, and I am so glad I did.
It’s very rare I have the occasion to go camping, go home, then go camping again. When I set up the tent this time, I was able to improve on it immensely. I found two sticks that were as tall as my truck (maybe a bit taller) and rounded then off on on end so they wouldn’t damage my tarp. I also carved a shoulder into them so the rope wouldn’t slip down when I tied it to the top of the stick. I wedged each stick against the tail gate, tied the rope to the rope of each stick, and then ran the lengths over the roof, to the two recovery points underneath the front bumper. Without the tarp on it, it looks like this.
Once I had that done, I was able to just throw the tarp over it and stake off some of the corners. The tie downs going beneath the truck are pulling the two corners together, this put a little too much tension on the tarp and ripped one of the eyelets a tiny bit. It wasn’t a terrible rip though, and it’s still sturdy. All in all, I really loved this setup. The second iteration gave an insane amount of headspace, and using the hammock tarp really sealed everything off quite nicely. The only thing I would do differently is maybe figure out a way to pin the sticks out a bit away from the tailgated that way the extra canvas can be used as an awning. I definitely will be camping like this more In the future, and the best part it was all in all under 100 dollars. 70 dollar canvas tarp + 2x5 dollars for rope + a few dollars for twine or cordage of your choice. The one thing I am concerned about is water trickling in from the roof if it were to rain, which I’m not sure how commercial tents like this prevent that. I’ll continue to experiment with this, but all in all I love this setup, and I definitely think it’s worth trying for any truck.
