From wide-open flat bed, to loaded utility canopy, to fully packed multi-week expedition camper, the modular canopy camping system from South Africa's Alublack customizes the world's most rugged, unstoppable trucks into personalized adventure partners. Build the components up on the back of a Toyota Hilux or Land Cruiser or slide them off the truck completely and tow them on an equally rugged off-road trailer. We're not sure there's another system in the entire world that combines Alublack's hardwearing go-anywhere construction with sheer user-inspired flexibility.
Alublack is the sister company of Infanta 4x4, and we're honestly having trouble figuring out which company gets office bragging rights for the most creative truck camping solution out there. We think we have to give the edge to Alublack thanks to its modular ecosystem of components buyers can build, tweak, adjust, adapt, rebuild, remove and scale down.
Alublack was founded in 2022 with a focus on trays and utility canopies before rapidly growing its lineup with all kinds of modular equipment and accessories, right up to walk-in campers. It's designed its flexible truck system around some of the most capable platforms on the globe, showing components on the bare backs of Toyota Hilux and Land Cruiser 70 Series, Jeep Gladiator Rubicons, Ford Rangers and Isuzu D-Max trucks, to name a few. It builds on both single and double cabs, letting the buyer dial in just the right happy medium between compact vehicle length and passenger space.
Each build starts by swapping out the stock pickup bed for Alublack's tray with headache rack. The tray mounts to the vehicle chassis via galvanized steel hardware with integrated vibration damping. With a wedge-shaped rear underbody, the tray boosts departure angle and brings along loads of storage space. Buyers now have a large flat bed for carrying cargo, along with a large rear drawer and two to four under-bed storage lockers on the sides.
That might be enough for some tradesmen and day trippers, but what's the fun in stopping at the first piece in a modular product family that runs deep? As the short video below shows, buyers can mount various boxed walls, racks, and partial- and full-length canopies atop the tray to take storage and utility to the next level and beyond.
We particularly like the "Weekend Warrior" and full camper setups that Alublack has developed. The Weekend Warrior is the gnarliest looking of the bunch, appearing more like an all-terrain military vehicle than a simple recreational adventure rig. But it performs the latter function with aplomb, dedicating most of its space to an open rack with half-height walls that drop down for access and double as worktops. Those walls can also be removed in seconds without any tools.
The fully enclosed half canopy up front houses a fridge on an easy-access drop slide. The top of the Weekend Warrior system is designed to carry a rooftop tent, awning, etc., and the angled back houses a fold-out ladder and full spare wheel.
Or at least that's the setup shown below. It can easily be completely rearranged as per the customer's wants, hopes and needs.
Those looking for a more all-in-one camping experience can step up to Alublack's radical climb-in camper. Canopies like Alublack's are usually reserved for housing equipment and general storage space, topped with a rooftop tent if and when camping space is needed. But Alublack turns its canopy into a properly integrated camper by cutting a hole through the canopy top and into the oversized Bundutop tent with electric-lift roof.
The particular Alublack Camper pictured below is based on a single-cab Toyota Hilux and pairs a full and half canopy into a sturdy camping base. The half canopy up front houses is accessible from both sides of the truck, housing a drop-slide fridge, spare wheel, and space for firewood, a grill and other gear.
The main canopy of the camper houses a slide-out Engel fridge/freezer, 205-Ah lithium battery system, inverter and electrical hardware, water heater and pump, and air compressor on the righthand side of travel. The lefthand side includes a particularly sleek slide-out dual-burner gas stove, drawers, a slide-out food pantry with extendable worktops, and an oven/air fryer.
In place of a hard-mounted stainless steel sink, Alublack secures a pair of collapsible bowls at the rear corner next to the LPG tank carrier, just below a hot water outlet for hooking up the sprayer. The bowls remove and collapse for easy transport. As for water, that's stored in an 80- or 160-L fresh storage system with a quick tap integrated in the canopy just behind the right-side door.
Around back, the hatch flips open for ladder access inside. With all that aforementioned equipment already taking up space on both sides of the canopy, there isn't any room left over for a dining or sofa lounge. Instead, there's just enough floor space to get in and climb up through the roof hatch into the tent. There's also an available slide-out toilet that can be used in the entryway space or outside and a shoe drawer for storing footwear away.
The tent itself is a super king-sized Bundutop that lifts at the push of a button. Not only does the 10.1-foot-long (3.1-m) tent house a double bed, it has two seats on the floor to the sides of the rectangular hatch entry, providing the interior sitting space the lower canopy lacks – two campers can sit across from each other with their legs dangling through the hatch. It doesn't look like the type of lounge in which you'll spend the whole afternoon but is designed as an upright sitting option for escaping bad weather without having to lie down in bed.
Of course, that's just a sample layout. Buyers can also get a canopy camper for a double cab truck, which lacks the half canopy; create a closed canopy/half-wall boxed bed system; or go a different route. And they can configure the canopy interior in different ways, loading it with storage and equipment options or keeping things more open. Alublack goes so far as to ask if the buyer has any preferred brands for equipment like refrigerators and batteries.
We've seen a few canopy-camping systems with different levels of modularity, including the award-winning stackable system from Germany's Fiftyten and the Expedition Series from America's Dirtbox Overland. Alublack takes the concept to new heights, though, with a ridiculous number of standard options, configurations and compatible base trucks.
Just to drive the point home, Alublack even offers the canopy systems on a trailer for those who might not want to dedicate an entire truck to weekend adventuring. The same trays, canopies and equipment can be planted on a rugged trailer.
The canopies are also designed for easy removal and swapping. Taking a canopy off is as simple as removing four bolts, raising the canopy via four hydraulic-lift legs and driving the truck out from underneath it.
If anything, Alublack's system might just be so modular as to be intimidating to some buyers. It's like a custom camper van build where you select not only the interior components and layout, but the size and style of the van cabin itself ... and whether it has a motor or tows behind a separate vehicle.
We reached out to Alublack for more detailed pricing on the full camper model, but the company has yet to get back to us. Given the customizability of its products, we're not necessarily hopeful for a neat, bottom-line base price.
We will update if we get a solid price figure or range, but what we know for now is that Alublack has a US distributor, so at least some of its hardcore safari truckin' gear is available in the States. Boise-based Long Range America is an overland company that specializes in high-capacity fuel tanks for long-mileage adventures. It doesn't show the full camper in its lineup of available Alucab layouts, but it does offer the replacement flatbed tray and empty canopy for US$16,950. That base unit also includes a full-length platform roof rack, spare tire carrier and rear-mounted ladder.
From there, buyers can spec the canopy with storage and utility equipment like the slide-out kitchen pantry and fridge drop-slide up to a top-tier price of $22,952. Those prices are based on a setup for a short-bed Toyota Tacoma, and Long Range also offers models for the Jeep Gladiator and Toyota Tundra. Unlike Alublack itself, Long Range does have an online configurator, so you can spec out your own preferred setup and see how much the tab will be.
Long Range does not advertise any equipment options, like refrigerators or electrical systems, so buyers might have to fill out the canopy themselves. While they're at it, they can add a rooftop tent on the platform rack to complete an overnight-ready adventure canopy-camper for roaming the US.
Alublack's walkthrough video below provides a closer look at the details of the single-cab Hilux camper truck. The company also has some good videos of other setups on its Youtube page.
Source: Alublack
