Alright, so I've got some ideas, some plans and some questions.

The wife wants to go on a cross-country road trip next summer and the plan is to set my truck up as a mini-camper. I'm going to set a truck cap on the back and cut a mattress to fit between the wheel wells for the dogs to ride on / sleeping arrangements. We're going to want some sort of ventilation/air conditioning setup.

I'm thinking of installing some sort of roof fan/vent to keep the air moving for the pups while were riding (don't need any carbon monoxide poisoned pups) and also somehow rigging up an a/c unit for comfortable sleeping quarters.

So aside from obvious fitment issues, what should I do for batteries/power setup? Will a double deep-cycle setup power a small A/c unit for 8hours and still start the truck the next morning? Should I have a third battery to switch in and out to ensure starts? I do have a jumper box, perhaps charging that while we're on the road will be sufficent?

Thanks for your input guys!

 

Are you talking about running them off a converter hooked to the 2 batteries? If so its going to take a big wattage converter to run the a/c but its going to take more than 2 batteries to 1 have enough power to handle the load on converter and 2 to make sure there is enough to run the a/c 8hrs.

 

Yeah, I would probably run an inverter. Perhaps I could run a timer/thermostat to keep the A/C unit running at a minimum. I can't imagine it would take much to cool off the bed of a truck and foam board insulation could be an option to make it more efficient.

 

you might be better off with a small generator and very small a/c unit. like the smallest of window units would be way overkill for what you are doing. as for noise well you can get some very quite ones. you can even set in front of the front bumper at night to help get it away from you. also you could chain it to truck at night so it doesn't walk off. or you could maybe get a hold of a small camper trailer?

 

I agree on the camper trailer idea. Go on craigslist, for less than $2000 you can get a nice used small camper. Then you'll be comfortable and have realistic living quarters.

 

Besides the **** poor mileage I get without towing, I like the freedom of going places a trailer won't follow.

 

I am not sure you considered this or not. There are truck bed campers that would fit what you describe. It's tough to find smaller truck bed campers but it beats the snot out of a

Some examples on new ones can be found at this site.
http://www.six-pac.com/fits.htm

I looked around Harrisburg Craigslist for truck campers and there are a few, but again it's just tough on our size trucks.

 

Found this in your area... If you are a handy man you could really customize this and have a serious setup rather than something that really won't fit your need/want

http://delaware.craigslist.org/rvs/3135621704.html

 

Something like that would be pretty awesome, actually. I have an 8ft bed so that one wouldn't work too well.

The only issue I'm seeing with it is I'd like a pass through from the rear window to the back area so I can make sure the dogs are doing okay. I'm pretty handy, maybe I'll build my own camper back

 

They make them with pass through windows.

Also if you do decide to build one, as a tip use as much aluminum as possible. Weight is our enemy as some of those things require 2500+ frames to handle the weight.
Some of the lightest/neatest insulation would be foam block that you can buy from Home Depot/Lowes.

Craigslist can maybe find a fridge, a roof heat/AC unit?

Good Luck and please post pics of the build