- 25 minutes ago
Stealth, storage, and pirate-themed design come together in this unusual truck camper build on a 2003 Toyota Tundra. Parker, an industrial designer and author, built the rig in two months so he could live on the road during a year of book touring, and the result looks like a cool topper from the outside while functioning as a compact mobile home inside.
The tour covers the practical side of the build as well as the fun details: a 2x4 frame, plywood exterior, hard foam insulation, helper springs, air intake and exhaust through the cannon ports, overhead vents, tinted windows, mirrors for brightness, and a power setup for lights and heating. Parker also shows the fold-out desk, locking drawer, safe box, storage nets, water tank, sleeping platform, and the second-bed option for a friend.
Alongside the camper walkthrough, the conversation touches on his book Pirate Parables, the coin hunt planned for the tour, and why a truck-based setup helps him stay under the radar compared with a larger van. The tone is practical, creative, and a little quirky, making it a strong watch for fans of DIY truck camper builds, stealth campers, tiny home tours, and custom travel rigs.
Search terms like DIY truck camper, pirate ship truck topper, stealth camper build, mobile home on a pickup, and full-time truck bed living all fit this video. It is ideal for anyone looking for camper conversion inspiration, small-space engineering ideas, or a unique road life and overland living tour.
The tour covers the practical side of the build as well as the fun details: a 2x4 frame, plywood exterior, hard foam insulation, helper springs, air intake and exhaust through the cannon ports, overhead vents, tinted windows, mirrors for brightness, and a power setup for lights and heating. Parker also shows the fold-out desk, locking drawer, safe box, storage nets, water tank, sleeping platform, and the second-bed option for a friend.
Alongside the camper walkthrough, the conversation touches on his book Pirate Parables, the coin hunt planned for the tour, and why a truck-based setup helps him stay under the radar compared with a larger van. The tone is practical, creative, and a little quirky, making it a strong watch for fans of DIY truck camper builds, stealth campers, tiny home tours, and custom travel rigs.
Search terms like DIY truck camper, pirate ship truck topper, stealth camper build, mobile home on a pickup, and full-time truck bed living all fit this video. It is ideal for anyone looking for camper conversion inspiration, small-space engineering ideas, or a unique road life and overland living tour.
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TravelTranscript
00:00It's pretty rare to have somebody living in a truck. So when people see this, they just think,
00:05wow, that is a really cool truck topper. And they have no suspicion that, oh, he's living in that
00:10thing. I go under the radar a lot more often instead of a 30-foot van. This space feels
00:16larger than it actually is. I'm hooked now. I'm like, what's the next pirate ship going to be?
00:23This is Patrick with New Jersey's Outdoor Adventures YouTube channel. Today, we're going
00:28to have a pirate adventure. I have Parker on the show. He's going to give us a full tour of
00:33his
00:33truck camper he built out. And yes, that is a pirate ship. And it's really cool. He's going to be
00:38traveling the country on a book tour. And you got to check this thing out. So join us for the
00:43tour.
00:44All right. Hey, Patrick. Thanks for having me on the show. Really excited to share about my pirate
00:49ship build for my book. I'm an industrial designer and also an author. And I'm going on book tour all
00:57of 2026. And I was thinking I could stay in hotels for this, but I have these skills of building
01:03stuff
01:04and why not try to build something that works for my requirements? I don't need a lot. I'm just a
01:10single dude traveling the road. And, um, and so this is, this is a really fun challenge for me of
01:16function meeting art and, uh, just being my own boss with it. It was really fun. It took two months
01:24to
01:24build this thing. And, uh, and I already had the truck. And, uh, so let's just dive into this bad
01:31boy. This is a 2003 Toyota Tundra. It's a V6 and it's only got 105,000 miles on it. So
01:41this thing
01:42will go for the whole book tour and beyond, which I'm thankful for. I did put a lot of weight
01:46on it.
01:47So I had to upgrade the suspension with some, uh, helper springs. Those are Hellwig easy nine nineties,
01:56I believe. And, uh, I don't normally do truck work or car work, but, uh, that was, that was stretching
02:02my skills and, uh, had a blast doing that. So this is plywood on the outside and it's a two
02:11by four
02:11frame on the inside. It's fully insulated with two inch hard foam. And I've got these cannon ports.
02:21Everybody asks if the cannons shoot, the cannons don't shoot cannon balls, but there are cannons in
02:27there. They're made of a PVC. And, um, on this side they are, let's see if I can get this
02:34quirky
02:34mechanism. Um, they are, so it's PVC on this side, just pipes that are intake for air. And then on
02:42the
02:43other side, it's, uh, exhaust fans. And so it creates a really nice draft of air for warm weather. And
02:49it's decent for cold weather. I have a heater. I'll show you guys in a little bit. Um, I can
02:55open this
02:56one as well. Let's see here. At first, uh, at first when I made these, I had little metal pegs
03:07holding it up and I would bump them and they would fall on the ground and it was pretty miserable.
03:12So,
03:13um, I spent a lot of time on the design of this, trying to make it look like an authentic
03:19pirate ship
03:20scaled down onto the bed of a truck. So this is like the captain's quarters of a pirate ship
03:26with the scaled down windows and rigging up top. I, I, maybe I'll put a mast on top someday, but,
03:34uh,
03:35right now I'm just, uh, just, uh, we're, we're, we are where we are and I just gotta be content.
03:41So,
03:41uh, I've got flags. I got a little ladder for some minion pirates to climb up and, um,
03:48and vents up top here for, uh, when I cook indoors, if it's, if it's cold or rainy outside and
03:58then
03:58some, um, polycarbonate windows up top that are not tinted. And I'll show you on the inside when
04:06we get in, I put mirrors in there so it bounces the light up and then diffuses it and creates
04:12a
04:12decent amount of light, even on a cloudy day. And then these are polycarbonate tinted windows,
04:18um, which help with just some privacy and the whole pirate aesthetic. And then on the back here,
04:27we've got a little awning. This helps with, uh, rain, not just drenching me if I'm getting in on a
04:34nasty day. And this is a, this is the logo of my book, pirate parables. It published last year,
04:42uh, in 2025 got fully funded on Kickstarter and never thought I'd write a book. Um, and here we
04:48are. And, uh, I'll tell you more about that at the end. I put a power input here, just a
04:54normal,
04:55um, just a normal power cable can fit in that that helps with charging the battery and powering my
05:01heater. And then right side is pretty much the same as the other side, except I'll show you a little
05:08glimpse at this side. Um, looks the same, but it's got a little fan in there. Um, and that helps
05:16us so
05:17much with, uh, just getting, getting some oxygen so I don't pass out when I'm sleeping. Let's take a
05:24peek on the inside of this pirate ship. The tailgate still comes down, which I was intentional about.
05:34So I could fit some larger things in if I need to. And, um, I've got a, uh, a temporary
05:44solution for
05:45blinds. These are just sheets of cardstock paper that I hook onto my windows. I would actually be
05:52curious if any of you have, uh, suggestions on how to make a more functional blind system. Just put
05:57it down in the comments. Um, I just finished this build a month ago. I've been living in it for
06:04a
06:05month and, uh, and it works. Um, but we're still making tweaks all the time. Five gallon water tank.
06:11Let's hop inside. Uh, all right. So inside of this pirate ship is a whole bunch of fun,
06:22surprises. I built some, some fold out desk storage right here. Um, desks, desk space is rare in these
06:30things. I've got a locking drawer. This is where I put my cookware and, um, I've got all sorts of
06:39fun
06:40stuff in here. Always adding to that collection and refining. Um, and on the left side here,
06:49we've got a, I call it my safe box. So, uh, this is only accessible from the outside and the
06:57tailgate
06:57locks it in place. So if I want to lock anything in there for, uh, you know, just, uh, just
07:02for safety
07:03reasons, then I can do so. What else we got in here? This is my toiletries storage. Um, got some
07:13shoe
07:13storage down here and, uh, trash can. Um, and then storage up top. I got real creative with just trying
07:23to find all the space I can for storage because space is hard to come by in this thing. And
07:31then
07:31these are the mirrors I was talking about. Um, I've not seen this done in other RVs. Maybe it is
07:38done,
07:38but, um, I was really proud of how that this mirror system turned out just to diffuse the light. And,
07:45um,
07:46I put marine carpet in, uh, in the bottom and in the roof, uh, so that it could deal with
07:53moisture
07:54if, if water spills somehow or vapor comes up from boiling water. And I'm really happy with how this
08:00turned out. It creates a warm feel and, uh, and there's insulation above this as well. So it just, it,
08:08it, it's acoustically sound. The carpet helps with that a lot and the insulation. And, um, so thankful
08:16with how that turned out. Um, and here we have chest storage is my part of my wardrobe. Um, there's
08:25chest storage actually going all the way back here. So this is my cookware and food. I'm, uh,
08:31running low on groceries. So I've got, gotta get some more of those soon. And then, um, we've got
08:39the, uh, these are the cannon, the PVC cannons I pointed out from the outside. And, uh, and then
08:46this is the last, uh, storage container, um, in this section. So I sleep on this section right here.
08:55This is a tri-fold, um, I'm gonna take my jacket off. It's getting toasty in here. Um, this is
09:01a tri-fold,
09:02um, mattress that acts as a, acts as a lazy boy during the day. And then I fold it out
09:12and I sleep
09:12here at night and, um, I can show you how that looks real quick. So I just, uh, take it
09:23out like this
09:25and voila. Oh, oh yeah. Oh, perfect. Good night. So this is a, this is a cozy spot. Um, this
09:37is my
09:38heater. I don't have propane heat or, uh, or diesel heater yet. Um, but once I sell enough books, maybe
09:48I will once, maybe, maybe I'll add that in here, but right now it's just, uh, powered through the
09:52power input. So I'll just hook up a power cable and then, um, and then it runs through and powers
09:58this thing. Got a little knife cutting, cutting some celery or carrots. That's a Jimmy Duresta knife.
10:05If any of you are familiar, Jimmy is a builder on YouTube and he's, he, uh, he inspired me to
10:13make
10:13stuff as a little kid. He's the only reason why this is here, why I did product design or anything.
10:19And so I'm just really thankful for, um, just thankful for Jimmy and moving back. We have
10:26a, uh, this is, this is a, uh, my friends call this my toilet. This is, uh, it's actually a
10:33cup
10:33holder, uh, modular cup holder, but it does look like a toilet on accident. Um, got a Jackery 600 V2
10:40and that is what powers, uh, these lights in here. It powers my technology and, um, and it's been,
10:49it's been a great purchase. Um, and this desk system folds out as well. Just a little bit of
10:57extra space. So when I'm sitting here in the lazy boy, then, uh, I can have some storage for a
11:03computer
11:03or something. I've got these nice cargo nets up here. These help with just throwing stuff places.
11:09These are the vents up top you saw on the outside. And, um, that's, uh, it's really nice for two
11:16reasons. One for when I sleep, I'll turn one of these fans on and then it'll suck air from out
11:23of
11:23here. So it's not cold air and just like running into my butt or something. And, um, it's, uh, it
11:30works
11:31out. It's a great system. So, um, I also use those for cooking. Let me show you how this, um,
11:39how this
11:40system works for this, uh, the secondary bed. So I built this with rails so that a second bed could
11:50be
11:50placed on this. Um, I might just put this here for a second. So, um, so there's three of these,
12:01three of these little platforms. It's a little clunky to get it out, but it does work. And, um,
12:11and, uh, I can have a friend in here, set up a second bed. Um, and, uh, and let's do
12:20this fully.
12:20Let's go big or go home. All right. There we go. Perfect. So I built this to be able to
12:35sleep two
12:37people. Um, if need be, it's a little tight, but it does work. And, uh, and I was, and I
12:43was happy
12:43with that. Um, it was, it was hard to design a system that, let's see here. It's hard to design
12:53a system in this small of a space that works for so many different purposes. But, um, I think I
13:02did
13:02a pretty decent job, did the best I could. All right, let's put these back.
13:13There we go. All right. So we got a little bookshelf. Gotta have a bookshelf if, if you
13:22wrote a book, right? This is my book, Pirate Parables. It's a illustrated book of a hundred
13:28parables that help the reader discover hidden keys that unlock, uh, spiritual treasure. And,
13:38uh, and it's all just a hundred beautiful illustrations. Um, so I'm really excited to share this with
13:44the world. And, uh, yeah. Um, what else we got in here? Just got my bedding storage tucked away back
13:56here. And then, um, I don't know if we can move this, but behind this, I have a Yeti cooler
14:03and that's
14:04where I store cold foods when I need to, um, and decorated this place to make it feel like home.
14:15Some of my artwork and past things that I've, uh, past things I've done. Well, this is really cool.
14:20I appreciate you on your book tour stopping by here in New Jersey before you go to your next stop
14:26to showcase this build. You know me, I geek out over design, craftsmanship, just art in general. And I
14:35think this checks off all those boxes and it's highly functional too. Thank you. You got a way to cool
14:41food. You got a way to cook food. You got a way to heat yourself. You have ventilation. What we
14:46didn't
14:47see is a toilet and shower, but you do have a jug there. I got a little jug for when
14:52I need to take a
14:53whiz. And then, uh, and then I, uh, I just decided to be flexible with going, uh, you know, just
15:00go
15:00number two, stopping at places. And well, you're going to be on a book tour, so you're going to be
15:04in city areas, right? So you can always do the planet fitness. I'm not going to be up in the
15:09Yukon
15:09for, uh, for a month at a time. Uh, it's pretty hard to sell books in the Yukon alone. So
15:15this is
15:15going to be a full year all over the whole entire country. That's the plan. And just to give us
15:19a little
15:19bit of background so our viewers can understand, uh, what the book tour entails. Yeah, it, it entails,
15:27uh, the main focus of it is a coin hunt. So I'll be hiding these coins, a thousand of them
15:34all across
15:35the country in businesses, small businesses to help get feet in the doors of businesses and grow
15:42curiosity about the book. And, uh, there'll only be 20 of these hidden per state. So a thousand total
15:49and one of them will be a gold coin, a $10,000 genuine gold coin. And so somebody will have
15:57this
15:57awesome experience of finding a gold coin. And, um, and so I'm just excited to share the book with
16:05the world and do it through this really fun medium of a treasure hunt, which is letting anybody
16:13essentially live out the life of a pirate, like pirate search for treasure. And so anybody who's
16:18curious and just wants to get out in the world and have an adventure with their friends, then they can
16:24kind of live that life of a pirate and, uh, and then find the treasure, get a free book when
16:29you get a
16:30coin and, uh, and just experience it that way. So this is great. And you're getting that adventure
16:36to now living in this full time and going all over the country. And a lot of viewers, I know
16:41they're
16:41going to have a lot of questions, right? Like why not a van? Why not an RV? Yeah. Yeah. Well,
16:46I had
16:47this truck, so, uh, it was like, well, we have it and, um, why not use what we have? And
16:56then, uh,
16:56and then just tour the country in that. So it was a practicality thing and also a challenge.
17:03I like a good challenge, uh, seeing how much I could physically fit into such a small space.
17:09And I've never done anything like this before. It was my first time working even with two by fours.
17:13I've done specialty woodworking stuff, but structural things I haven't done a lot of,
17:19um, or really at all. So this was a lot of asking questions to people who know more than me,
17:25looking up YouTube videos. And like I said before, I built it in two months and it's watertight.
17:31It works. It's, it's good enough. And, um, and people are loving seeing, it's making people smile
17:37all over the highway. It's a billboard. You know, you pull up to a bookstore and you have this out
17:41front. People are going to say, what's going on there. We got to go check it out. They come in,
17:46they check out your book, they hear your story, right? Because that's part of it. People like to
17:50hear what inspired other people to do certain things. Now, is there a website or
17:55social media that people could like follow along on your tour? There is just pirate parables. It's
17:59either at pirate parables on any of the social platforms or pirate parables.com is where you
18:06can buy books, uh, for a certain amount of time. Yeah. And so it's a, it's a blast. Well, this
18:12is cool.
18:12I'm impressed. It's got everything you need. And, uh, I mean, this is like pretty stout.
18:18It is. Oh yeah. Off camera. We kind of went through it ahead of time just to know what we
18:22were getting
18:22into. And I was like, man, this thing is like bulletproof. It is. It's a, it's a, it's a pirate
18:27ship. It has to be. What else can it be? It can be cannon proof. If you ever decided to
18:31switch out
18:31trucks, you could just take this off and put it on another one. Yep. Yeah. It's just bolted into
18:35the rail. So there's four bolts going into the rails on each side of the truck. And then, um, the,
18:41all the bottom furniture is not connected to the top stuff. And so it's just, this can all come out
18:47vertically. Yeah. It looks pretty permanent, but it's, it's not that permanent. Um, and no, it's,
18:54it's pretty rare to have somebody living in a truck. Um, and so when people see this, they just
19:00think, wow, that is a really cool truck topper. And they have no suspicion that, oh, he's living in
19:05that thing. And, uh, and so I think I go under the radar a lot more often instead of a
19:1130 foot van
19:12that'd be like, okay, there's clearly stuff happening and they, we don't, we don't want
19:15them in our parking lot or wherever it might be. And so, uh, I'm learning more of the strategy
19:20of this, even as I'm, even as I'm living and something else that I, I noticed after making
19:27it was, uh, this space feels larger than it actually is. And I think that's because it's
19:35a, it's a large thing, like a pirate ship scaled down. So it tricks your mind into thinking,
19:41this is a bigger space than three and a half feet by five feet. And I've talked with friends
19:46in here for two hours and it doesn't feel cramped. When I go on my Airstream trailer, 16 feet,
19:53you know, from the outside, it's so small, but when you get inside and you sit down or
19:56you lay down, you're like, Oh my God, this thing's huge. You know, it's really cool. And
20:00you have that aha moment. You're like, this is all I need. I'm hooked now. I'm like, what's
20:05the next pirate ship going to be? So I'm, uh, I, I, I really like this lifestyle already.
20:11Just the freedom of it. Being able to go anywhere. I love nature. I love simple living and more
20:16healthy living, living less with technology. And, um, so yeah. Well, I'll have you on again
20:22if you build something else. I wish you luck on your book tour. I'll put those links in
20:26the description. This is Patrick in New Jersey's Outdoor Adventures YouTube channel. I'll see you soon.