Camping Mod? Four man - Two man troop carrier canvas frame MASH UP!!!!!!!!!!!

[McSpeed]

Hey guys...been a while since I posted.

A few weeks ago I put a cheap diesel heater assembly in the back of my M998 and took it out overnight camping. it was AWESOME! But - Mrs. McSpeed won't go out in that kind of cramped exposed space.

So - there is a theme with me. One of my earlier posts here after getting the M998 was putting a truck slide in camper in there...and other things...but it wasn't practical.

Latest insane idea (yes - I'm the guy that tried to install cheap office chairs as bucket seats in my truck! ) - is to mash up a two man troop carrier canvas top OVERLAYED to the four man assembly where I can pop it up in place once we reach a remote overnight camping spot.

I found a WAY too expensive new canvas (unfortunately it is tan - no woodland camo) - but I don't have any poles or framing. Canvas should arrive soon.

Believe it or not - it is hard to find pictures of two man troop carriers with out the canvas on. I know it slips into the troop bench seats - but other than that I don't know what it looks like.

My thought is to build a bed rack that puts tube going forward along the outside edge of the existing roof rails to where the front bow would go.

I'd like to be able to fold the bows down and gather the canvas for trail riding and highway prior to camping.

The manual doesn't give size - just part numbers - locations.

By the way, what is the benefit? It would allow to stand up in the rear - and use the over roof of the four man rear seats as a platform under cover to either sleep or storage, or a cooking surface (mostly to boil water for tea or coffee). The 8KW portable diesel heater should heat it just fine above 0 degree F. In 20 degree F I was sweating inside (with a smaller space not including a rear troop canvas).

I can't be the first person to make this mash up - maybe the first to use office chairs for seats (was a BAD idea) - so anybody else done this - have photos...or ideas?

There is the deal, the trails I run are WAY too tight to have a permanent pop up roof. I looked at fiberglass factory roofs - and even the "low one" that looks like a big SUV station wagon top adds height that I can't afford on the places I squeeze this big fat girl through.

I want to do some overnight runs to the glacier during winter - and some mountain way back overnights in winter and summer.

 

[MattNC]

I don't have a picture handy right this minute, but I had a rear cover but no bows. I made my own using 3/4" galvanized electrical conduit and a conduit bender from home depot. I made the bracket it connects to using aluminum U-channel with holes drilled in it and 3pt hitch pins. Last part needed was some straps that can be tensioned to hold the bows in place against the wind/load. I did add a few cross members to help prevent water collecting dips in the covers. I used fittings from makerpipe to connect those to the bows. Somewhere on the hmmwv forum here the dimensions were posted. I did this over four years ago and drove all over and they've held up fine and come off easy. I'll try to get a pic this week.

 

[MattNC]

I don't have a picture handy right this minute, but I had a rear cover but no bows. I made my own using 3/4" galvanized electrical conduit and a conduit bender from home depot. I made the bracket it connects to using aluminum U-channel with holes drilled in it and 3pt hitch pins. Last part needed was some straps that can be tensioned to hold the bows in place against the wind/load. I did add a few cross members to help prevent water collecting dips in the covers. I used fittings from makerpipe to connect those to the bows. Somewhere on the hmmwv forum here the dimensions were posted. I did this over four years ago and drove all over and they've held up fine and come off easy. I'll try to get a pic this week.

Meant to add, I referenced using EMT because if you need to do trial and error its really cheap to play around with.

 

[McSpeed]

I don't have a picture handy right this minute, but I had a rear cover but no bows. I made my own using 3/4" galvanized electrical conduit and a conduit bender from home depot. I made the bracket it connects to using aluminum U-channel with holes drilled in it and 3pt hitch pins. Last part needed was some straps that can be tensioned to hold the bows in place against the wind/load. I did add a few cross members to help prevent water collecting dips in the covers. I used fittings from makerpipe to connect those to the bows. Somewhere on the hmmwv forum here the dimensions were posted. I did this over four years ago and drove all over and they've held up fine and come off easy. I'll try to get a pic this week.

Yes! That's what I figured out over this last week. Got mine put together - but most important is to be able to take it down and store it on top while on the trail or highway - so i didn't put extra support braces to hold the wind load.

Made a video