Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum - EcoModder.com - View Single Post - 4 mpg gain from mod for slide in camper (pickup truck)

electric_ride · 12-13-2010, 02:59 AM

I was not a camper fan AT ALL!!! I mean come on those things are heavy and suck the crap out of your mpg's.

Well my uncle is getting in bad health and he is my last living relative that helped to raise me while my dad was overseas . So if he asks something of me I am gonna do almost anything I can to help him or grant him his wish. This wish was for me to go to LA and go fishing with him . Well BP has everything where we were heading tied up .

So I had to buy a camper or a trailer .

Trailers are taxed extra along with having to be plated so I was like NOPE NOT GONNA HAPPEN. So my choice became a slide in camper but I knew it was gonna KILL my mpg's . So I came up with a GREAT mod .

My truck is a ex cab . So I simply blocked the underside of the camper with a air mattress then boxed the sides in with Plexiglas so I could see out my side windows . The only downside is you can't open you rear doors .

Blocking the underside stops air from coming in and acting as a parachute against the rear of the cab and the front of the camper . I used the Plexiglas from the rear of my front door to the front of the camper to smooth out air flow. I sealed all air gaps with duct tape .

This worked GREAT for about 400 miles when for some reason the air mattress blew and destroyed almost all of my project . Let it be known this will not stop me I will do it again and I will modify my design so this will not happen again . After this event my gas mileage dropped 4 mpg's .

I had to hurry to put this all together and had the camper bought and modded within 1.5 weeks of buying it . Then I was off to LA . Also I now found out IN has changed the law on the extra taxes on trailers . So I have bought two pop ups and am going to make them into one larger one I just have to figure out the best design for airflow over the front of this thing the rest I am good on . Any help one this one would be GREATLY appreciated .

Any comments on the camper project as well I am open to also .

12-13-2010, 02:59 AM	#1 (permalink)
electric_ride EcoModding Lurker Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Clarksville IN Posts: 23 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	4 mpg gain from mod for slide in camper (pickup truck) I was not a camper fan AT ALL!!! I mean come on those things are heavy and suck the crap out of your mpg's. Well my uncle is getting in bad health and he is my last living relative that helped to raise me while my dad was overseas . So if he asks something of me I am gonna do almost anything I can to help him or grant him his wish. This wish was for me to go to LA and go fishing with him . Well BP has everything where we were heading tied up . So I had to buy a camper or a trailer . Trailers are taxed extra along with having to be plated so I was like NOPE NOT GONNA HAPPEN. So my choice became a slide in camper but I knew it was gonna KILL my mpg's . So I came up with a GREAT mod . My truck is a ex cab . So I simply blocked the underside of the camper with a air mattress then boxed the sides in with Plexiglas so I could see out my side windows . The only downside is you can't open you rear doors . Blocking the underside stops air from coming in and acting as a parachute against the rear of the cab and the front of the camper . I used the Plexiglas from the rear of my front door to the front of the camper to smooth out air flow. I sealed all air gaps with duct tape . This worked GREAT for about 400 miles when for some reason the air mattress blew and destroyed almost all of my project . Let it be known this will not stop me I will do it again and I will modify my design so this will not happen again . After this event my gas mileage dropped 4 mpg's . I had to hurry to put this all together and had the camper bought and modded within 1.5 weeks of buying it . Then I was off to LA . Also I now found out IN has changed the law on the extra taxes on trailers . So I have bought two pop ups and am going to make them into one larger one I just have to figure out the best design for airflow over the front of this thing the rest I am good on . Any help one this one would be GREATLY appreciated . Any comments on the camper project as well I am open to also .