Campervans, small RV options, roof top tents, trailers, we’ve spent the past year or so researching them all. Then, thanks to pandemic, we spent a few more months persuasively narrowing down our favorites by looking into pricing premiums and, with an interest in camping suddenly surging amongst pandemic closures, availabilities. After discussing our camping desires, storage space, setup requirements and adventure options, we finally settled on our next camping upgrade setup; an iKamper Skycamp Mini.
Not only did this option come in at a perfect price point, it utilizes our TRD Off Road Taco (Tacoma), Roxie, and provides easy hauling opportunities, even when we aren’t planning on camping. We especially liked this setup because it allows us to take our outdoor sleeping arrangements off the ground, and it fits perfectly with our style of camping by offering easy and quick setup for the freedom to partake in quick overnight trips when we are just looking for an escape from the city and the heat. Plus, the Skycamp Mini is reasonably lightweight at only 125 pounds, which allows us the flexibility to take it on and off when needed, without needing additional people to help us move it (an incentive to maintain a regular lifting routine in our home gym).
When it came to the mounting aspect of the iKamper, there were two things that were important to us; we didn’t want a ton of wind drag and we wanted to be able to still use the Tonneau bed cover so we could keep our gear locked up safely in the bed of the truck.
We reviewed a number of mounting bars and bracket setups and ultimately settled on BillieBars since they mounted close to the bed but had enough clearance to be mounted with the bed cover securely in place.
Both the bars and the iKamper mounted relatively easily, with measuring for center placement being the only real setup concern. Even with only 125 pounds of weights, due to its size, I was pretty glad that I’ve been doing strength training lately since lifting the iKamper’s weight definitely was an initial concern of mine. I was pretty much worried about my abilities until I lifted it over my shoulders and realized we had it covered, that is once we got on the same page of whether lifting was “on 3” or “after 3.”
Once the iKamper was mounted, we did a quick demo in the driveway and were very happy with the ease of setup. I’ll wait to share more about the functionality of it until we can use it overnight. And now, our Skycamp Mini is ready for the road and Roxie officially has a partner in crime for future adventures! Now we just have to give it a suitable name and get some campgrounds booked.
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