Building a camper rig for our F150. Looking for places to get heaters etc from?

[Autism Family Travels]

I am going to start building a pop up camper for our F150. We are using a Canadian built cap with pop up tent and we are going to be using the Road loft systems for internal seating and storage. I am looking for a water heater and a camper heater to install on the cap permanently. I have no idea where to find these items. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[highboy4x4]

For me, the answer is about how much space can you allocate for each device? For the water heater, obviously it will be a propane instant heater. I would recommend that your research include if you can get spare parts. I have found that most, if not all share internal parts with minor differences. I have a GasLand propane heater, bought off Amazon for about $130. I messed up and sent 12vdc to the board instead of the 3vdc like the D cell batteries and fried the control board. I found the only place to get parts was from the more expensive brands. So I bought the board fairly cheap and it worked. :-) Before I bought that board, I did complain to GasLand about the lack of spare parts availability and they sent me a new heater! Bonus... As far as space is concerned, I think the issue is that it is fairly large. full specs here:

Amazon.com

Camper heater: Again I researched this pretty extensively and found out that I pressed the overkill button. I bought a 8kw diesel heater and it is way too much for my truck cap. Hindsight, I would have bought a 2kw. I went with a Vevor only because of cost!! It has worked every time I asked it to!! I did plumb it into the trucks tank and vented it outside with an extension to put the fumes above the cap. Yes it has a home made spark arrestor for those states that require one! It has worked out very nice. An added benefit is that one night we got caught in the rain and our flannels were soaked, I used the heater on max and it dried out the shirts incredibly quick....Overlanding clothes dryer!! Who knew?? :-) Side note: Yeah I cut my bed to plumb it outside but it will never be a normal truck again so I don't care. I used a high heat silicone pad and caulk used for engines to seal and exhaust header fiberglass tape to wrap the exhaust pipes. I can tough it with my hand. I know that others would not cut their beds but I'm not normal! This means that you will most likely place the heater outside and pipe in the hose! Check out a "tire step" to rest your heater on and pipe the hose into the cap. This is probably the safest option but I have fire insurance!! :-)

Everything expressed here is an opinion and what works for me!! Be creative, take you time and be ready to change/switch your project ideas as you will find a better solution after your first trip!! Ask me how I know!!! Looking forward to seeing your ideas come to life!

 

[grubworm]

yeah...ditto on Gasland water heater. I also have a Camplux one and they look identical inside. Both work extremely well and I like the Gasland one better because it has a switch on the bottom to cut off the battery power whereas the Camplux doesn't have the switch and I think the batteries will run down even when not in use, so I just drop the battery door so the connection is broken. There is a reed switch that senses water flow and that signals the D batteries to make the spark to ignite the burner. Pretty simple and robust design. When I cut back on the flow of water, it will heat up enough to scald, so it is a pretty powerful heater.

and also ditto on Vevor diesel heaters. I bought my Vevor heater 3-4 years ago and really like it. All it needs is 12v, so I run it off a separate 35ah battery and that way I can set it outside and use a hose to duct the heat in and leave the unit and its exhaust outside. I have used it with the unit inside, and ducted the exhaust outside and that worked just fine. No smelly fumes or any problems other than the sound of the fuel pump ticking away. Sounds like a mini diaphragm pump, so it can lull you to sleep or annoy the hell out of you...depends on how you sleep. I have the 8kw as @highboy4x4 mentioned, and I used it inside a 16 ft non insulated cargo trailer in below freezing weather and it got hot in there pretty quick and I dialed it back to the lowest setting and it was more than plenty. For a camper top...definitely go smaller than that.

 

[Autism Family Travels]

Either of you have the pop top camper like I am looking at? will heat go up to the tent area with the floor/bed in place.

 

[grubworm]

no, I don't have a pop up and I have never had what is essentially a "second story" to try and get heat to, but I would guess that if you opened a flap up on the tent, it would give ventilation and allow warm air to flow up since heat rises. its not that big an area, but if that doesn't work as good as you like, then maybe run a hose up to the pop up. my diesel heater has a hose that I can add to it and direct the heat that way. my heater has a fan forced nozzle on the front and I can either run it open or it has a cap with diverter fins to spread out the heat or it also has the hose so I can direct the heat specifically to an area a little ways away.

here is a screen shot of my exact heater and you can see the nozzle in front and if you look at the accessories next to it, there is a metal hose for the diesel exhaust and a plastic hose to fit the nozzle blowing heat. you could also make a snorkel out of PVC pipe that would direct the blown heat up to you.

 

[highboy4x4]

Funny you should ask that. Just yesterday I had the pleasure of working on 2023 Rockwood freedom 2318G pop up camper. It got me thinking about how the living space is set up. I would be interested in seeing the floor plan of your pop up. Trying to think thru the “elevated floor design brings questions…
Regardless, the heater output hose can be manipulated anyway you want. Extension hoses, 2 way diverter adapters are readily available. The limits are your imagination and thoughts of safety! I would be diligent in ensuring that you swap out your propane alarm with a dual purpose carbon monoxide/propane alarm. Again readily available. Here is a pic of the general setup of my heater, which is smaller than @grubworm. Please think about the amount of heat that is generated from the exhaust. Plan accordingly!!

 

[Autism Family Travels]

This is the camper top we are going to use.

Camper Canopy - Shop Premium Truck Caps and Overland Accessories in Canada

The TUFCAP Camper Canopy is the ultimate solution for adventurers seeking a blend of comfort, functionality, and durability. Combining a truck cap and rooftop tent, it offers seamless integration for both storage and living space.

ca.tufcap.com

This is the interior setup we are going to use...

Pickup Truck Bed Camper Conversion Kit – Full-Size

Convert your Pickup into a fully optimized camper with our Camper Conversion Kit for Full-Size Pickup.

roadloft.com

I need to get some hot water for showers and heat inside this. it gets chilly in the evenings. We may tow our sylvansport camper as well for kitchen and daytime duties at times.

 

[highboy4x4]

That helps. It’s morning and I’m on the first coffee and I forgot it was a truck topper… not an actual pop up camper. My bad… hold my coffee, let me grab my brain!!

Let me say, IMHO, the 8kw diesel heater will blast you out of that topper! I did a heater test and within an hour of runtime on max, the internal temps of my truck topper was well over 130*. If you strap the heater on a tire step, plumb the hose thru a quick disconnect adapter thru the door or side, you will be set! The advertised gph states that if you run constantly, the supplied tank will run 8-12 hours. As we know, that depends!!
Here’s the catch. Your F150 is regular gas, these heaters would require carrying a yellow diesel fuel can if you go out for a weekend. Another consideration I guess.

The water heater. For me, I made a bracket on the drivers side of my topper and I just hang the propane heater while in use. Easy access to my propane lines, kitchen sink and the water lines can be extended to reach the shower tent

 

[grubworm]

yeah, looking at that in the pic, it doesn't look like the tent is pass thru to the bottom shell, so like Russ just said, you can get a splitter and run a hose low and one high directly in the sleeping area. the hoses are small and easy to deal with, basically vacuum cleaner style hose. that will be a nice set up. I originally thought it was a pop up and open to the bottom so its one space...not separate.
we started off using the propane buddy heater and we had an insane amount of condensate inside the camper...enough to pool up and soak the end of our mattress. with the diesel heater, there is none of that, so also a huge plus going that route

sometimes we go desert camping and take only the truck with camper shell...I do like the set up, but having that pop up like you're showing would be a hundred times more enjoyable to use. the wife could still sleep up there while I do breakfast down below instead of sitting in the cab of the truck waiting for her to get up and also a good place for the kids to hang out while you cook and work below

that road loft set up looks amazing...
since we have to sleep in the shell, I made a platform with drawers under it. mattress taking up all the room and the drawers under for storage. that set up you showed is really nice...you can sit in there and even have a work station if you need to work off the laptop or whatever. way better storage and organization since you aren't fighting having a giant memory foam mattress in there. I'm REALLY digging that set up! if its rainy and bad weather, you have a decent place to go and sit out of the rain

 

[Autism Family Travels]

yeah, looking at that in the pic, it doesn't look like the tent is pass thru to the bottom shell, so like Russ just said, you can get a splitter and run a hose low and one high directly in the sleeping area. the hoses are small and easy to deal with, basically vacuum cleaner style hose. that will be a nice set up. I originally thought it was a pop up and open to the bottom so its one space...not separate.
we started off using the propane buddy heater and we had an insane amount of condensate inside the camper...enough to pool up and soak the end of our mattress. with the diesel heater, there is none of that, so also a huge plus going that route

sometimes we go desert camping and take only the truck with camper shell...I do like the set up, but having that pop up like you're showing would be a hundred times more enjoyable to use. the wife could still sleep up there while I do breakfast down below instead of sitting in the cab of the truck waiting for her to get up and also a good place for the kids to hang out while you cook and work below

that road loft set up looks amazing...
since we have to sleep in the shell, I made a platform with drawers under it. mattress taking up all the room and the drawers under for storage. that set up you showed is really nice...you can sit in there and even have a work station if you need to work off the laptop or whatever. way better storage and organization since you aren't fighting having a giant memory foam mattress in there. I'm REALLY digging that set up! if its rainy and bad weather, you have a decent place to go and sit out of the rain


View attachment 300103

The "floor" of the pop up tent folds up when not in use so that you can stand up inside the topper. Problem is my son is 6'2". that will be his "room" inside the camper when we are sleeping, and the wife and I will be sleeping on the road loft. Yes, that roadloft is killer. Yeah it's 4500 cdn, but it's all configurable, and collapsible when not in use for small storage footprint. Our fridge fits perfectly in the truck itself next to Colin and thats where that will live. It's great to have a self contained setup for travel.