Joe Soper
Member
Looking for a some recommendations on setting up the bed of my 2020 SCAB. Camping season is just around the corner for us here in the United Arab Emirates and we're excited to get back in the sand. We only managed 2 camps at the end of last camping season once I picked up the Raptor and havent got everything figured out yet as far as setting the truck up yet.
I understand that everyone has different needs and preferences when it comes to putting it all together so I'll give a little background first up so y'all can kind of understand where I'm at....
To start it is just my wife, myself and two pooches (chocolate lab and a malinois). We dont do much dune bashing but generally drive anywhere between 25 and 50 miles into the desert. Extremely soft sand for most of the trip, no trails to navigate just good ole GPS and follow the flow of the dunes.... Once we find a spot we like we set up camp and are usually there for 2-3 nights. We always convoy with at least one of our camping buddies.
Our camp setup is pretty extensive as the missus likes to camp comfortable.. Have tried to pare our stuff down to my idea of minimum but she aint havin it. We use a Coleman 6-man instant tent and gotta say it is pretty instant, we can have it up, pegged and completely sorted in about 10 minutes. Because of the extreme sun we always setup the 10x10 Oztrail canopy, then we have the toilet tent and toilet, camp table, chairs, kitchen etc... We used to keep a big cooler full of ice for the trip but a vendor on amazon screwed up and i found a dometic 3fx 55im for less than $400, I couldnt resist at that price, next day it was back to $1000, but of course that meant more money to spend on a way to keep it running. Managed to pick up a bluetti ac500 and 120W solar panels. I can keep the fridge running 24/7 (I tested it out a couple of weeks ago and it works flawlessly, and that was in 110-115f daytime temps)
As you can probably see we carry a lot of crap with us, and that doesnt include the recovery gear, compressor, water containers, food/booze and other stuff.
We're trying to find a better way to get to camp...
I'm currently running with an Undercover Armourflex tonneau and all of our gear is basically puzzled together in the bed. I've looked at racks but not sure what would work with the tonneau without getting way too high. Have also thought about toppers (RSI would be a decent option) but they are almost impossible to find over here. Getting racks fabricated here is relatively cheap but its find the right design that part of the issue. I'd love a rack as it would let me get rid of the separate canopy and replace with a wrap around. I also looked at roof racks but seems they only make them for SCREWS. Another option we considered a couple of years ago but dismissed quickly was a trailer, i tried an ORBIT offroad trailer, not huge but out in the sand it was more like an anchor.
Would love to hear some suggestions from you guys out there. The loss in space from my '14 6.2L SCAB with standard bed to the Raptor short bed seems more than the 12" in specification.
I understand that everyone has different needs and preferences when it comes to putting it all together so I'll give a little background first up so y'all can kind of understand where I'm at....
To start it is just my wife, myself and two pooches (chocolate lab and a malinois). We dont do much dune bashing but generally drive anywhere between 25 and 50 miles into the desert. Extremely soft sand for most of the trip, no trails to navigate just good ole GPS and follow the flow of the dunes.... Once we find a spot we like we set up camp and are usually there for 2-3 nights. We always convoy with at least one of our camping buddies.
Our camp setup is pretty extensive as the missus likes to camp comfortable.. Have tried to pare our stuff down to my idea of minimum but she aint havin it. We use a Coleman 6-man instant tent and gotta say it is pretty instant, we can have it up, pegged and completely sorted in about 10 minutes. Because of the extreme sun we always setup the 10x10 Oztrail canopy, then we have the toilet tent and toilet, camp table, chairs, kitchen etc... We used to keep a big cooler full of ice for the trip but a vendor on amazon screwed up and i found a dometic 3fx 55im for less than $400, I couldnt resist at that price, next day it was back to $1000, but of course that meant more money to spend on a way to keep it running. Managed to pick up a bluetti ac500 and 120W solar panels. I can keep the fridge running 24/7 (I tested it out a couple of weeks ago and it works flawlessly, and that was in 110-115f daytime temps)
As you can probably see we carry a lot of crap with us, and that doesnt include the recovery gear, compressor, water containers, food/booze and other stuff.
We're trying to find a better way to get to camp...
I'm currently running with an Undercover Armourflex tonneau and all of our gear is basically puzzled together in the bed. I've looked at racks but not sure what would work with the tonneau without getting way too high. Have also thought about toppers (RSI would be a decent option) but they are almost impossible to find over here. Getting racks fabricated here is relatively cheap but its find the right design that part of the issue. I'd love a rack as it would let me get rid of the separate canopy and replace with a wrap around. I also looked at roof racks but seems they only make them for SCREWS. Another option we considered a couple of years ago but dismissed quickly was a trailer, i tried an ORBIT offroad trailer, not huge but out in the sand it was more like an anchor.
Would love to hear some suggestions from you guys out there. The loss in space from my '14 6.2L SCAB with standard bed to the Raptor short bed seems more than the 12" in specification.
