ZoomRoom Sleeper Berth

mazdeuce wrote: Are they specific to a particular truck brand? I can see real value to this if it's going to go from truck to truck. The real question is how many nights a year do you spend in a hotel? And how many of those can you cut out? Even if you're only gone 50 nights a year I can see it paying for itself in quality of sleep and cost fairly quickly.

They make them for all three major brands. The problem is if you're not one to stay with a particular brand. There are lots of guys who only like one make, but I've seen plenty of guys who jump around.

I don't stay at hotels that often because of the cost, but sleeping in the front seat every night is taking a toll on my body physically. This doesn't look like a bad alternative.

I am also 6'2" tall. This thing looks wide enough that I could be comfortable at night.

My other option is to buy a $60k truck and do a $10k conversion on it.

I have also seen people who have added small semi truck sleeper berths to their pickup and it looks awkward and the truck looks like it's going to break in half.

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote:

mazdeuce wrote: Are they specific to a particular truck brand? I can see real value to this if it's going to go from truck to truck.

They make them for all three major brands. The problem is if you're not one to stay with a particular brand. There are lots of guys who only like one make, but I've seen plenty of guys who jump around.

Isn't redesign within a brand a concern? Assuming this is about fitting the cab, I assume that for any brand, the next major facelift could be as differently-shaped as a different manufacturer, thus breaking the forward compatibility that makes it a long-term investment?

Ransom wrote:

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote:

mazdeuce wrote: Are they specific to a particular truck brand? I can see real value to this if it's going to go from truck to truck.

They make them for all three major brands. The problem is if you're not one to stay with a particular brand. There are lots of guys who only like one make, but I've seen plenty of guys who jump around.

Isn't redesign within a brand a concern? Assuming this is about fitting the cab, I assume that for any brand, the next major facelift could be as differently-shaped as a different manufacturer, thus breaking the forward compatibility that makes it a long-term investment?

I would imagine so, but if these stayed cheap enough, you could just sell it off with the truck and buy a new one. A lot of these guys own their trucks for 3 or 4 years and buy a new or newer used. But as long as the manufacturers keep their body styles for as long as they have, it wouldn't be a problem to find another truck if you wanted to swap it over.

If DIY is an option and one decided that the sunroof access is not good, I'd be inclined to look hard at DIY tiny camping trailer construction and custom make a pod that sits in the bed. If you have to access it from the cab (the regs posted earlier suggest yes) then use that accordion seal in the other off road ski truck build and take out the trucks' rear window, and use that seal around the rear window opening.

In reply to klb67:

That still doesn't work for me. Like I said, I have an auxiliary fuel tank and will still need room for a 5th wheel. This type of sleeper berth is actually perfect for that situation.

An 8 foot bed disappears quickly when you start putting stuff in it.

In reply to JohnRW1621:

I'm not cutting a hole in my roof.

This will probably be for the next truck. They made enough with sunroofs out there, shouldn't be hard to find one.

What about one of these: cowtown sleepers?

The whole idea of sleeping up there with the only exit through the sunroof just gives me the creeps.

SEADave wrote: The whole idea of sleeping up there with the only exit through the sunroof just gives me the creeps.

I wonder if any of the windows pop out as an emergency exit?

What about a hardshell roof top tent? Like these http://www.jamesbaroudusa.com/#hard_shell_tents

I don't know what hotshoeing is, but it sounds like you need to sleep in or near your vehicle. I don't know about costs, but they are all over with different versions.

In reply to octavious:

Yeah.. I don't see one of those lasting very long getting set up every night for maybe 300 nights per year. Or being a pleasant place to sleep in the middle of winter or during a driving thunderstorm.

I met guy through the old Cummins forums who did this for a few years about 10 years ago with a modified '96 12V extended cab Dodge. He never actually set up a proper sleeper, usually just sleeping on the rear bench. He used to have a great webpage that described his experiences, but it seems to be down.

Ian F wrote: What about one of these: cowtown sleepers?

I've looked at those too and they don't really leave any room for my fuel tank.

Ian F wrote: What about one of these: cowtown sleepers?

I'd be inclined to get something along these lines. I'm sure one of those designs fits over your auxiliary fuel tank, and entering the side of a sleeping compartment seems much more appealing than clambering up through a sunroof (stepping on the seat, etc).

This isn't a new problem, and solutions have been around for years.

In reply to KyAllroad:

Never said it was a new problem, it just is for me currently and I'm looking for a solution, none which I have liked.

I have to look at the CowTown units in person, I still don't think that they would work with my auxiliary tank. It sticks up a couple inches from the bed rail and the filler cap would be covered up by their units.

A rooftop tent is an interesting idea. People do use those driving around the world so I think it would be up to the task of driving around the states. ExpeditionPortal.com will have everything you need to know about them. In fact, I'm pretty sure the site just did an comparison of a few different tents. FYI: you're still gonna spend at least $1k on one and will need some sort of roof rack to support it.

Here's a link to that article I mentioned.

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote:

Ian F wrote: What about one of these: cowtown sleepers?

I've looked at those too and they don't really leave any room for my fuel tank.

It seems those are often made to order. I doubt you'd be the first one to have an aux fuel tank under the sleeper.

The "pipe-dream" version of this I've thought of would be something like the cowtown sleeper, but instead of the access being through the rear window opening, it would cut out the rear half of the roof and allowing for full standing room where the rear seat used to be. Sort of mimicking a big rig sleeper. Would obviously be non-reversible, though, and would thus stay with the truck. Still - if well done, I could see a used truck like this still having value to a RV'er.

When I had my Dodge - and my current job annoyed me - I thought about doing something like what you're doing. Seems like it'd be a fun way to see the country.

thatsnowinnebago wrote: Here's a link to that article I mentioned.

I know people use them all over. They've just never made sense to me and completely defeat the point of getting an RV.

Imagine SBF finishing up a day of driving... Log book says it's time to take a break. So he has to get out of the truck and set up this roof top contraption. In the middle of a torrential down-pour.

Right.

No. What he needs has to be pretty much ready to go with minimal set-up time and essentially without getting out of the truck.

Reading those DOT regs posted earlier by Alfa, I don't think there is a single alternative option in this entire thread that would be acceptable to the DOT.

The 3 killers are a) Direct access to the cab (no going outside to setup), b) door size (a sunroof is not 18"x36"), and c) Egress.

The fixed to the cab requirement would rule out a few options presented, and others could be hurt by the sealing and ventilation rules.

Not looking too promising based on those regs.

In reply to SVreX:

Reading the site again, part of the Zoom Room is adding a DOT-entry compliant sunroof to the truck.

I have one of the cowboy sleepers that goes across the top of the front of the bed. I used it for my dogs when I had a standard cab truck. It's available for cheap if you want it.

The woodhouse sleeper option is probably the most kosher of all the hotshot options. Basically you take out all the seats except for the driver and set up a mattress across the back. They put inserts in the doors to get the required length but I would probably just get another set of doors and turn them into shells with steel panels to replace the windows too. No leaks, plenty of space.

The passenger front seat has to go to get the 36" wide access from the back to the front. I'm not sure if you could get away with a suburban middle row style fold and tumble jobie into the footwell or not.

alfadriver wrote: Because I was curious, I tried to search for the DOT regulation in the ad. Doesn't exist. In fact, the code is 393.76-

Thanks for pointing this out. I am quite curious about this myself. I'm wondering why they gave a bogus DOT statute.

oldopelguy wrote: I have one of the cowboy sleepers that goes across the top of the front of the bed. I used it for my dogs when I had a standard cab truck. It's available for cheap if you want it. The woodhouse sleeper option is probably the most kosher of all the hotshot options. Basically you take out all the seats except for the driver and set up a mattress across the back. They put inserts in the doors to get the required length but I would probably just get another set of doors and turn them into shells with steel panels to replace the windows too. No leaks, plenty of space. The passenger front seat has to go to get the 36" wide access from the back to the front. I'm not sure if you could get away with a suburban middle row style fold and tumble jobie into the footwell or not.

Yeah I pointed that out earlier and I don't like that particular set up mainly because I sometimes have a passenger. I need to have a passenger seat.

mtn wrote: This seems like a lot of investment to get something that is still a lot of hassle (not counting the tax deductions though). I'm assuming you're on these trips solo, and I'm assuming you don't drive this vehicle much outside of work. Would it be possible to remove the passenger seat and build a platform that covers that area, then lay a mattress diagonally from the passenger seat to behind the drivers seat? That seems easily DIYable for not much investment, and would potentially be a lot easier to actually use.

I like this idea.... Un-bolt the passenger and rear seat, build a platform to fit, incorporate storage underneath.

Nevermind, just read the part about DOT compliance even inside the cab...