Great description of how your table choice was made based On your needs. I too considered the tire table and as you mentioned the downside of having to store yet another thing was something I tried to avoid. I’ve got a small camper and a small truck with a growing family and somethings gotta give haha. With that said I like the height of it for sitting next to so I could see myself having one but I think I would go with an aluminum one to save some weight.larryqp said:Nice job bimmeryota.
a comment to goinoregon:
I use the Tailgator Tire table, available on Amazon for $139.95. Originally I was going to do something similar to bimmeryota, but then when attending the Overland Expo in AZ a few years ago, I found the Tailgator Tire table and have been very happy with it. Yes the hassle is you have to store it somewhere, but I strap it against the back wall in my cab where the 2/3 seat used to be. It is very quick to set up, but more importantly, even easier to move from one side of the truck to the other. While camping in the Big Bend area, I always faced the truck south, which gave me the ability to drop the front of the camper roof to tilt my solar panels, ( got a 2 amp gain with my 200 watts of solar at mid day). Back to the table, I would cook on the western side in the evening to get sunset, and then after dinner it took less than a minute to move the table to the east side. In the morning I would cook breakfast on the "sunny side".
The ability to move the table quickly also came in to play on windy days, I would move the table to the leeward side of the truck. I think all of us would agree, that there is no perfect solution, everything is a compromise with gear.
have you thought about stowing the table in the pickup box, between camper and the front of the pickup box? i read a post somewhere, where the fellow made a narrow box that fit in that spot, and he dropped in various things, with a hinged top with lock.larryqp said:Nice job bimmeryota.
a comment to goinoregon:
I use the Tailgator Tire table, available on Amazon for $139.95. Originally I was going to do something similar to bimmeryota, but then when attending the Overland Expo in AZ a few years ago, I found the Tailgator Tire table and have been very happy with it. Yes the hassle is you have to store it somewhere, but I strap it against the back wall in my cab where the 2/3 seat used to be. It is very quick to set up, but more importantly, even easier to move from one side of the truck to the other. While camping in the Big Bend area, I always faced the truck south, which gave me the ability to drop the front of the camper roof to tilt my solar panels, ( got a 2 amp gain with my 200 watts of solar at mid day). Back to the table, I would cook on the western side in the evening to get sunset, and then after dinner it took less than a minute to move the table to the east side. In the morning I would cook breakfast on the "sunny side".
The ability to move the table quickly also came in to play on windy days, I would move the table to the leeward side of the truck. I think all of us would agree, that there is no perfect solution, everything is a compromise with gear.
When I had the camper in my other truck there was space there but in my T100 the front of the bed is not flat and tapers in from the top so the bumpers actually barely keep the camper from touching the top of the front of the bed. I'm glad I don't have much of a gap from an aesthetics standpoint, but I wish I could have some wasted space to use up. It is too close to even install the AT Overland rotopax mounts that bolt to the front jack mounts and fit between the camper and the cab of the truck.goinoregon said:have you thought about stowing the table in the pickup box, between camper and the front of the pickup box? i read a post somewhere, where the fellow made a narrow box that fit in that spot, and he dropped in various things, with a hinged top with lock.