- 36 minutes ago
Dana’s full-time truck camper setup proves you don’t need a van to build a comfortable home on the road. After outgrowing her 4Runner for remote work and Zoom calls, she upgraded to a Tundra TRD Pro with a Tune camper on top and a Vessel interior inside, giving her room to stand, cook, and work from the middle of nowhere.
Patrick Botticelli tours the rig with Dana and breaks down what makes the setup so practical for off-road travel and full-time living. The Tune’s flared side walls add valuable interior space, while the glass windows, struts, and lightweight aluminum build keep it bright and easy to use. Inside, the modular cabinet system includes a sink with rechargeable Dometic Go faucet, a bar module, fridge and storage, a Lagoon table, heat, fan, solar power, and even a hidden Boxio toilet.
It’s a smart look at truck bed camper living, overlanding, and remote work life for anyone comparing a truck camper, camper van, or overland build. From Colorado winters to off-road weekends, Dana’s setup shows how a compact truck can still feel like a real home.
Ideal for fans of truck camper tours, overlanding builds, full-time RV life, and remote work travel. Searchers looking for a truck bed camper review, modular camper interior, off-road truck setup, or van life alternative will find a detailed, practical example here.
Patrick Botticelli tours the rig with Dana and breaks down what makes the setup so practical for off-road travel and full-time living. The Tune’s flared side walls add valuable interior space, while the glass windows, struts, and lightweight aluminum build keep it bright and easy to use. Inside, the modular cabinet system includes a sink with rechargeable Dometic Go faucet, a bar module, fridge and storage, a Lagoon table, heat, fan, solar power, and even a hidden Boxio toilet.
It’s a smart look at truck bed camper living, overlanding, and remote work life for anyone comparing a truck camper, camper van, or overland build. From Colorado winters to off-road weekends, Dana’s setup shows how a compact truck can still feel like a real home.
Ideal for fans of truck camper tours, overlanding builds, full-time RV life, and remote work travel. Searchers looking for a truck bed camper review, modular camper interior, off-road truck setup, or van life alternative will find a detailed, practical example here.
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TravelTranscript
00:00Hi, my name is Dana. I live and work full-time out of my pickup truck setup.
00:05I have a tune camper on top, a vessel interior inside. The combo has made me
00:10able to travel further and stay out longer. It protects me from the weather
00:15outside. The reason I went with this setup is because originally I had a
00:20four-runner that I was traveling out of. It got really hard to do work from the
00:24road when I had to hop into the driver's seat and take calls. I knew I
00:27needed something a little bit bigger. I've tried a couple different other
00:30options but when I figured out that these companies existed to build out your
00:36truck bed and have a home on the road, I wanted something that gave me the
00:40off-roading capabilities of my four-runner but gave me also that homey feeling
00:44that people get when they have a van. Also with the capability of using it as a
00:49day car, I want to be able to like park in a garage or just get around to run
00:53errands as well which it can be difficult to find that happy medium. So this setup
00:58lets me do all of that. I can sit and work from my lagoon table, I can cook in
01:03my kitchen, I can stand up. That's allowed me to hop in here and work and cook when I
01:08need to especially when bad weather comes in without having to you know deal
01:11with the cons of the other two and I get all the pros so it's it's just it's
01:16been a great system. This is Patrick with New Jersey's Outdoor Adventures YouTube
01:20channel. On today's episode we meet up with Dana. Dana has this really cool truck
01:25camper that she lives and works in full-time and this is pretty
01:28impressive. She's gonna give us a full tour inside now so join us. Hey Patrick
01:33thanks for having me. I'm Dana and I work full-time work and travel full-time out
01:40of my Tundra pickup truck. I've got the tune camper on top and a vessel interior
01:45inside so it makes it really comfortable to live and work out of and don't
01:49forget to meet Coda Bear. She's up top there. She is my companion for all of my
01:55trips and kind of what took me to the road. So the truck that I have here is a
02:03Tundra TRD Pro and I've made some slight modifications to it. I got some bigger tires.
02:10These are 37s. I also put some stronger and longer coils in the back. That was to
02:16support that extra weight. It's not a ton of weight. This is actually a really
02:19lightweight system but I did want it to be pretty level and also they're larger
02:24tires so the extra height did help. This just helps me not get stuck anywhere. I
02:30mean the 37s can pretty much go anywhere off-road so this car is kind of a beast
02:35getting around. I had a 4Runner before this and I really just didn't want to lose
02:40the ability to off-road but I wanted to come more comfort and the trucks given me
02:44all of that because there's just so much space inside. Before we head inside, I want
02:49to talk a little bit about this topper. I spent a lot of time looking into
02:53different toppers and the tune has been unreal. It's made from aluminum. It's
02:58really lightweight. There's T-tracks all over it to add accessories. The coolest
03:04thing about this one that I haven't seen any other topper company, camper company, do is
03:09the glass panel windows. I mean obviously I work remotely and I'm taking zoom calls.
03:14With the extra light that comes in from these things, nobody knows I'm inside my
03:18camper and I can actually work inside when the elements come in outside. Also
03:23what's cool is they still open up so when I do want a nice breeze, when I do want a
03:29nice breeze coming in, I'll just pop these open. It also gives me really good
03:33access to the inside. I can pretty much reach everything in there. I can lock things
03:37onto my molly panel. This system has just been great. And then the last thing or
03:43the last reason I picked this topper specifically is actually because of how
03:47the sides extend. This extends like this on both sides giving you almost a foot or
03:53more of extra interior space which just makes the entire system inside feel huge.
03:59You don't feel claustrophobic at all. It makes it feel like a true home. Another
04:03really cool thing safety wise, I'm a girl traveling off the road, is that
04:07the back has these windows. My truck specifically allows the window to go
04:14down. So what I can do at night is pop that back window open and if I need a
04:19quick getaway I can hop right into the driver's seat and peace out. I also have
04:23my exhaust here for my heat. My home base for the most part is Colorado. It gets
04:27cold. I love to ski. So this is the exhaust for the heat. Makes it really simple. I
04:33don't have to set anything up. I just turn that on and it runs. Another nice thing
04:38about this topper specifically with tune is that it has these struts which makes
04:42it really easy for me to pop the camper up. I mean I'm a solo traveler and I do
04:46it on my own every day. So being able to just pop that up is huge. I'm just gonna
04:53open up this other side to let more light in since it is raining. Checking out the
05:01outside here. This is a part of the interior build and we're gonna take a
05:07look at the it from the inside in a minute. But what's really cool is I can
05:11access everything in this module from the outside. So if it's nice out I don't
05:17want to go inside to cook or work. I'm just grabbing my Coleman grill and heading
05:21outside and cooking. You can obviously jump into the bed but I opted for these
05:27steps. They're actually made for pets. They've held my weight and lots of heavier
05:33folks weight. I'm not liable if you buy them but these have worked great for me
05:38getting in and out of the truck. Let's take a look inside now. So this is the
05:47vessel interior. It is separate from the toon camper. So the toon camper is what I
05:54picked as far as my topper goes and then the vessel interior is what I picked for
05:58having my home on the roads. It really allows me to base camp anywhere if you
06:04will. It's modular so this piece right here is my sink module. This lets me do
06:10dishes wash my face. So we take a look inside here I've got the two Dometic jugs
06:17and then I keep my toiletries underneath along with some extra sponges some soap
06:22cleaning material. So then from up here it runs off the Dometic go faucet. This is
06:28great because it's rechargeable. I can pretty much get two months plus use out of
06:33it without having to recharge it. That way I don't have to use electric and have
06:37plumbing installed. All you have to do is touch the top and it starts running.
06:42Pretty sweet. And then this is a deep sink so I can do my dishes in here. Camping
06:49out of my 4Runner I used to have to do the dishes outside in like a pot and it
06:53was just kind of brutal. So this has actually changed the way I camped the
06:57most I would say. This just it adds so much to being able to stay on the road
07:02full-time. So definitely a really unique and cool system. Also the Dometic
07:07system the Dometico faucet specifically it doesn't use a ton of water. You can see
07:13it comes out in a nice flow but you're gonna save a ton of water. It's it's gonna
07:19make the most of what you do bring on the road as far as water goes. The tops are
07:24made from bamboo which is just like the cleanest style you could ever ask for in
07:30a truck interior. There it's a really hard wood so it withstands pretty much
07:35everything I do to it. And then the sides. This is a black hex material. Vessel does
07:41offer a couple different panel. This one is black hex. There's black rock. There's
07:47birch. So you can kind of pick the panel material that jives best with you. This is
07:53the bar module. This is huge for storage. It's kind of where I keep everything that
07:58would be in your kitchen as well as my electric. So this is the same area that we
08:06were looking at from the outside. I've organized it with bins so that I can
08:11just kind of pull a bin out and grab things as I like. I keep my wine glasses in
08:16here. Anything that I need. My Coleman's in here for cooking. Occasionally when I
08:21don't want to use the Coleman because I just don't feel like paying attention to
08:24something on a stovetop I will opt for my oven. The oven is amazing. I can put
08:29things in and it bakes, it air fries, it toasts, it reheats. So it's a pretty cool
08:35system. That way I can let this run cook my food and I have a projector in here too
08:41so all if it's really cold out I will just be you know put on a show let my
08:45dinner cook for the night and then grab it out when it's ready. Moving into some of
08:51the storage. This is where I keep all my kitchen items for the most part. This
08:56goes all the way back to the end of the truck. I keep a Mr. Coffee, all my pots and
09:03pans and then my EcoFlow. So this is my this is this is where all my electric comes
09:09from. This is running my my fan or my heat depending on where I am. It's running my
09:16it's running my fridge down here. It's running this oven when I'm using it. It
09:23runs Starlink because I do work remotely so when I'm you know need Wi-Fi and I'm in
09:28the middle of nowhere. Aside from how clean and nice the vessel interior looks
09:32from an aesthetic standpoint what's really cool is the way that this has
09:36been built. It's built to make the most of the truck bed and the camper you've
09:42picked. So if you take a look at the side here you can actually see it's been
09:48cut to be flush with how the camper extends on the sides. So it's making the
09:53most of that space and because they've done that they're they they're able to
09:59leave a ton of alleyway space. When I got this installed I was actually shocked at
10:05how much space was just in the alleyway. I thought it was gonna be a little
10:09claustrophobic in here honestly with like how much storage I knew I was gonna be
10:14getting and I thought it was gonna be a lot tighter. When I walked in here and
10:17felt how open it was I was shocked. The floor is it's a wood-based floor and the
10:26way this gets installed is pretty unique because the only thing that's actually
10:31connected to the truck is the floor itself. The floor is connected by four
10:35rib nuts to the floor of the pickup truck and then from there these modules are
10:41actually just installed into that wood floor. So it's the least amount of change
10:46that you would have on your truck. Moving on to the driver side we have our
10:51shorter modules here. This is where for the most part I'm sitting and using this
10:55for storage. This is the rear cab module and this offers the most amount of like
11:01bulk space. I bet you're gonna ask where my toilet and shower are. This is where I
11:07keep it at. You can see the boxeo is in here pulls right out and there you have my
11:15toilet. And then there's a ton of room in this in this specific module. If you have
11:24bulkier items it is the best way to store those things. But Vessel also allows you to
11:31upgrade this one to a drawer system if you wanted to opt for more of an
11:34organized space. I personally have a little bit more bulky items so I kept it
11:39as a door. Last module I have for the Vessel system is the front utility module
11:45here. Vessel really thought of everything when they pieced this together because
11:51they understood that the that most of their customers were gonna put their
11:57fridge freezer situation towards the cab here. So they didn't put a door on the
12:02side because they didn't want you to be blocked from getting into this module. So
12:06it's actually a lid situation. You can easily pop it off and then store items in
12:12there. They can be large items small items. It's kind of my miscellaneous
12:17storage at the moment. But for the most part I'll keep clothes and other things in
12:24there. Lastly, and this is a really cool upgrade that Vessel offers, is their lagoon
12:30table. This thing moves 360 degrees like most lagoon tables do. So anywhere I am in
12:37the camper, so if I'm, you know, cooking, doing dishes, I have an extra table. And then
12:43the other really neat part about it is Vessel's made it so it folds. So these actually open and
12:52it becomes a massive table that you now can eat at, you can work at. It's my dinette,
12:57it's my desk, it's my, it makes my, my office on the road. And then when you're not using
13:03it, all you have to do is fold it back up, pull it out of the way, and there you
13:07go.
13:09Toon also offers moly panels. This is where I hook things that I kind of want access to constantly,
13:16but I don't want to dig them out. So I've used, I've used these moly hooks to keep everything in
13:23place. And then the Toon moly panel to hook on like a shovel, my axe, first aid, things that I
13:31just
13:31really want to be able to access very quick. Other, other really cool thing about Toon and their
13:38accessories that they offer. They have this mount for your propane. They actually installed,
13:46this will move into my heat system, but they installed this when they installed my Truma heater.
13:52So this is something that Toon can provide, which is really nice as far as just having heat that you
13:58can turn off, turn on and off when you need it. And it's out of the way so you don't
14:02have propane
14:03bouncing around your truck bed, you know, when you're driving around and off-roading.
14:08We also have in the Toon a light switch, which honestly I didn't know I was going to love so
14:15much. I'm used to camping with like a headlamp on, but it's a light and it's on a dimmer switch.
14:21So
14:22if it's late at night, you can make it a little more cozy. If you really need to see everything,
14:26you could turn it up to its highest level and, and see everything. Something that I haven't gotten
14:31yet, but I'm debating getting is the bridge panel that Vessel offers. That would connect this side
14:36over to the bar side. Basically it turns this whole seating into an L shape and it covers your fridge
14:42here. Um, just to make everything flush and all around just offer more seating. If you travel with
14:48kids, it's also a great option for getting extra sleeping space. Um, and then over here I have my
14:54Truma heater. We've talked about this a little bit that I showed you where the exhaust was. That's where
14:59this is hooked up to. This is really simple. I can turn it on from this panel when it's plugged
15:03in,
15:04um, and it's connected directly to that propane. So I opened the propane up. Um, I plug it in,
15:10I set it to the temperature I want, and it's going to blast heat. It heats up so fast. It
15:15also has a
15:16sleep mode. So if you are sleeping, it's really quiet, doesn't wake you up. Um, but it just keeps
15:21your overall temperature, um, keeps the temperature where you want it at night and during the day.
15:28Next, I have a fan. This is great in the summer. It keeps me really comfortable when I'm working,
15:34say in Southern regions and it just gets a little hot in here. Koda is a very furry dog. So
15:41she really
15:42loves when the fan's on and when it's cold out, she just sits in the snow. In the summer, I,
15:46it's great having this roof. It's such a lightweight roof doesn't keep heat in. So it
15:52feels really nice there in the winter, um, which I'm planning on doing the next like month or so
15:57I'll add insulation to the top. It does a great job of keeping the heat inside. Um, and I stay
16:01really toasty. You can see these dark spots on the roof. Those are my solar panels. Those give me
16:07about 600 Watts and it goes directly down to my eco flow. And that stays pretty much at a hundred
16:14percent. It stays at 90. If I have everything plugged into it, that's in here, including like
16:20Starlink, maybe even the oven. Um, I am considering getting an alternator. So when I'm driving on the
16:26highway or I'm parked in the shade, uh, it does recharge before I move into, um, how this, the
16:33canopy works and all the mechanics of it. Um, something really cool to know is this window slides open,
16:42uh, tune had a couple options for this being a girl on the road. I opted for this slide window
16:47because, uh, if I really need to, I can fit through this. Uh, when I camp, I leave my back
16:53window here
16:54open, and then I can keep this open and easily hop into the driver's seat for a quick getaway. Now
17:00moving into, um, the topper, um, this camper specifically comes with, uh, 360 windows. So I have
17:09the back three open right now. There's also three more towards the bed. Um, on top of what you see
17:18from the outside, I have an installation package in here that does a really good job of keeping
17:24heat in and keeping heat out if it's really hot out. Um, so I keep it up all year and
17:30it works really
17:31nicely. Um, this also adds for really good ventilation. It's a bug screen. I can see out of
17:36it perfectly, but when it's a nice breeze, I'll keep those open. Alternatively, if it's raining out
17:42like it is today, I do have a rain cover for it. Um, I love this cause I wanted it
17:47to feel as open as
17:48possible in here. So having the most light in here is amazing. Um, this is a plastic cover
17:56that Velcro is on. It does a great job keeping out the rain and, um, it also protects from wind.
18:03So on a windy day, I'll put these up. I'll also close the glass, uh, windows out here and it
18:10still
18:10feels really open because I have a ton of light coming in. Um, but I'm not getting hit in the
18:15face
18:15with wind. So I can just last a lot longer out on the road with this setup. I just want
18:20to show you
18:21from the inside, how easy this is to operate. Um, all I have to do is pull this out and
18:26it easily
18:28will pull the topper down. There's another one on the other side. Um, so it just makes it really easy
18:33to pitch up, pitch down. Um, there's also these bungees, so it connects all the sides. That way you
18:41don't have any canopy stuck out of the tent when it does close. Moving to the bed. I have a
18:47Hess mattress
18:48on here. This is like the queen size bed, I guess you would call it. There's so much room on
18:53this.
18:53Um, but what tune does offer is a bed extender. So when I'm decided I want a little bit more
19:00bed
19:00space, I will pull this out. Code is on top of it right now. It'll pull out and it becomes
19:06a much
19:07longer bed. It actually retracts all the way into these pieces right here and it hooks with this. So
19:14this locks into here and it comes all the way out this far. So you have a king size bed
19:19because the sides of the tune actually extend the bed also extends. Um, so you can sleep side to side
19:25or front to back. It's completely up to your preference. And if you've ever been overlanding
19:30and have tried to park in some rocky terrain, that's not always level. It's nice to be able
19:35to switch around which direction you're laying. Well, that's great. I appreciate the opportunity
19:40to get a tour of your rig. It's not every day in New Jersey that we get to see this
19:45brand
19:46truck camper out here. And, uh, what it is, is a, it's a truck cap. So this goes on top
19:51of the bed
19:52rails and seals all the way around. You got to get it like perfectly straight, right? And before that
20:00cap goes on, you put this floor in, it goes into rib nuts into the bed of the truck and
20:05then the
20:05cabinets come in. So we actually do the topper first because these cabinets are so tall. If you
20:12went with this system, Vessel does offer different systems, but this system specifically, we do the
20:17topper first, but then we install the floor and bring the modules in. But yes, it's just four
20:21rib nuts into the floor. Um, and then the modules can easily go in. Um, if you're interested in seeing
20:28more about how that works, go ahead and follow me and Vessel. Um, I know that Patrick's going to link
20:34us
20:34below. So take a look at that. And, um, yeah, you can definitely check out the details of what
20:39options are out there as far as interiors go. Well, I'll make sure I put those links in the
20:43description because people could be interested in what it's like to full-time travel and work
20:49in a compact truck camper. And, uh, knowing that you had other types of camping arrangements in the
20:56past, uh, and the limitations you could have there working full-time, right? And inkled out weather,
21:01having a, something like this that folds down nice and compact, you could go to parking garage,
21:07you can go on the trail, but look how huge this thing is when it's all opened up. And it
21:12really
21:12doesn't affect your fuel economy much. No, not too much. I mean, it is a, it's a pickup truck. So
21:17like you're going to run into, it'll be like anything. Um, I have been looking at long range
21:24America to get extra fuel. Um, and I know a lot of people who do hit the road like this
21:29will do that.
21:30Um, but yeah, fuel economy is, it's pretty decent because it's not a full heavy camper that's just
21:35been placed in here. And one question that everybody's going to have, we're in here right
21:41now, the tailgate is down and the hatch is up. How easy or hard is that to get that going?
21:48That's a great question. And I can show you exactly how I get in here. So you have a couple
21:54options. You can easily be inside and lift it by hooking your hand. I've also seen some people
21:59replace these two bolts right here with a handle so they can really pull it up. What I do is
22:07I
22:07actually put this up and there's a step back here right near, um, right below where my license plate is.
22:14And all I do is hop over and then I can pull this down for safety. What's really cool is
22:25these windows
22:26actually walk. So we can do here is this piece goes up and down and that locks into place. So
22:33no one can open this from the outside while I'm in here. Um, and that's around all 360 sides. So
22:39you
22:39can lock all sides when you're in here to feel the safest. That's great. No one could lock you in,
22:45I guess, right? You have a way out here. You could go out there. Exactly. Many different ways to go
22:49out.
22:50I'll put those links in the description. So if you click over and follow your journeys and check out
22:55the manufacture of these cool cabinets and maybe the truck cap. This is Patrick with New Jersey's
23:01outdoor adventures, YouTube channel. Thanks for joining us. Heck yeah.