How I Decked Out The Back of My Truck For Camping
It’s always been a dream of mine to make camping and traveling affordable by cutting down on costs but also making the experience easier overall. This is a big reason not only for the bed but for the drawers with the grill set up as well. I wanted to make set up and take down nearly nothing so that it wasn’t a big deal to grab the truck and have a blast with little planning. Between saving on set up time, having a comfy dry place to sleep, and making food nearly anywhere, I think it was well worth the investment of a few days of hard work and a little $$.
First I’ll start with the type of truck so you can understand what kind of vehicle I am working with. I have a 2014 Toyota Tacoma with a 6ft bed. 48” between wheel well and 54” wall to wall. a Full size mattress topper fit perfectly on the bed. Not real big but just big enough for two people!
For this build you will see two drawers, a pull out cutting board, a pop up counter top, removable drawer spacers, and the whole build having the option of being removed.
To start this project I used about 3, .75 inch plywood and 1, .5 inch plywood for drawers. I might have had some extra scraps as well so it might not be the perfect amount that I used. I watched 5-10 different YouTube videos and tutorials on these types of builds and ultimately took a few and made up some of my own needs. For the under frame I wanted maximum airflow and also not super heavy so I cut it like this and then glued it together with wood glue. Knowing I was going to pocket drill the frame to it and secure it that way I wasn’t too worried about the structure being perfect yet. As you can see in the top photo the back frame was wider. This is to go against the back wall so that my corner pockets(which you’ll see later) had something to rest on. This also helps secure it not being able to slide out from the truck because these would hit the wheel well first.
I tried using a circular saw for this project and it definitely didn’t work. I ended up asking a friend to use their table saw for a few days and cut the rest that way. (you can rent one from Home Depot) It’s important to have straight and squared edges for this project.
Three things I wanted from the frame.
Light weight (so no 2x4 boards)
Not drilled into the truck at all(removable)
Maximum space for sleeping(fully flat on top)
Once the frame was built I added the drawer sliders these are rated for 500lbs and are 60inches, I placed them about 1-2 inches in from front of the drawer and about 10 inches form the back of the drawer. Later you’ll see I cut out a square to reach the unlock for the drawers while the drawers is shut. This is so if you park on a slope the drawers aren’t sliding out when the tailgate is down. You really wanna think about getting good drawer sliders or having a stand that kicks out under the end of your drawer when it slides out. After your drawer is full of food and gear it can get really heavy so without the 500lb sliders. I don’t know if a 6ft drawer would be very secure on its own, but then again i’ve seen it done on other peoples set up and it seems fine.
The Pocket Hole Jig was definitely a necessity, especially because I was using some thin wood, it would have been hard to drill it all together nicely without it. Especially the drawers would have been super hard to put together nicely. This multi tool wasn’t a necessity but it came in handy when I had to cut the drawer slide lock cut outs and for the grill set up. This is mainly cause I did a lot after the drawers were assembled, this was an error on my part to not have that planned before assembled.
Check out this list I linked here for all the tools I used and the mattress topper for the bed!
Next we tested the drawers and screwed them on to the sliders on the frame like this. It is super important to leave a gap under the drawers so that it rolls in and out smoothly. I used a 1/8 board but would have used a 1/4 looking back on it now, especially because of the weight in the drawers themselves when loaded. I also decided I wanted to have drawers with dividers that could be adjusted and taken out. I wasn’t sure what was gonna go in each drawer and camping gear can be all lengths, so I didn’t wanna commit to a size. As you can see I made a little track where our dividers could sit in and be taken out from at any moment. This was also done after the drawer was built. Which if you’re doing this plan ahead and it will be much easier to get all the way down to the base and not just half way like mine are haha.
Finally with drawers assembled I started the top frame. This frame is not screwed in at all, it is all easily removable pieces. the farthest back piece is as wide is the drawers and bottom frame(46”) and comes in to about where the wheel well starts. Then the next piece is the biggest, it’s 54” and covers on top of the wheel wells fully. The next piece could have been one whole piece but I didn’t have the right size board available so I made it into two. This again only covers the drawers and sits on the frame exactly. You can see there are four corners missing. This is because those are spaces for storage(truck stuff like jumper cables, rope, hitch etc) there they can still be in the truck but not in the way of anything. We often use the front two gaps for dirty shoes and firewood and were super thankful we left them open like that.
I added a grab hole that way it's easy to lift the back corners up. I also added two sturdy handles to pull the drawers in and out.
This last step was absolutely my favorite, I decided after a few weeks of having the bed mad I wanted some custom drawers for maximum use. I wanted a space for my grill to sit and be used at all times, I wanted extra counter space and a pull out cutting board. Yes this seems extra, but it was the coolest part to figure out. As it was before, my grill would sit way too far in the for me to use it as easily as I wanted to, and I wanted it to be able to sit in the drawer while I cooked. So I created a shelf, and then under that shelf I left a gap to add these sliders before attaching it to the drawer itself. You can see in the photo below how it turned out. Now I can keep that grill in there at all time and use it immediately.
For the pop up counter space, this was only hard to get level and screw it on perfectly. But im so thankful I didn’t give up after many redos. Now it sits down flush with the drawer but I can also pull it up for a nice level coffee bar.
Two things to note:
Polyurethane or seal where you can. This keeps water from ruining the wood and is a washable surface if it gets dirty. I sealed the counter and cutting board. I am planning on coating more of the exposed wood itself because there’s so much humidity and I don’t want the boards rotting.
Line the drawers with some sort of liner. This is normal cupboard liner and has been super helpful keeping the drawers clean and nice when things spill.
Removable drawer dividers*
I am so thankful to finally have made this bed set up because it doesn’t take us nearly any time to set up and take down camp. This saves us so much money just knowing we have an easy set up to make food and its not a huge process while we’re starving, and its a super comfy place to sleep. We have a 4 inch full mattress topper in there and it’s comfier than our bed at home. We also keep our gear in the drawers so that we are always ready for a camping trip!
Tips on what I would change!
I would have planned every aspect in detail before assembling it! I definitely ran into issues doing it backwards.
I would have used a table saw for the whole thing, starting with a circular saw messed some of the beginning cuts pretty badly.
I would have created a bigger gap between the drawer and the bottom frame(it’s barely enough room to slide in and out rn)
I would have sealed all the front areas before assembling, they are exposed to water a lot and I’m worried it could mold.
I probably would have only made one drawer with adjustable dividers and then left the grill drawer dividers screwed into place.
