Camping Equipment for Our Trucks

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"Feb 5, 2009 - ARB was pleased to select Dometic, one of the world's largest manufacturers of air conditioning & portable fridges, to manufacture their fridge. " The press release link I got this from is now dead, ARB took it down. Dometic's other re-brands are also hard to find.
 
Dometic had a 20% off sale until Sun. I guess I will have to wait a little longer.
 
Santa came today. Decided to go ahead with the purchase since I am so close to finishing the trailer.

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EDIT - Brought it in the house and plugged it up to 110 volt and the unit cools like a champ. No light weight by any means, easy to figure out the controls, has a WiFi set up through an app and will fit, snugly, in the space the cooler would have occupied. Will post the 65 quart cooler for sale later once I can clean it up more.
 
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Finally have time for electrical wiring. I have 12 volt wired in and starting on the 110 volt wiring.
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The tongue box looks a little empty but will see more things added as time goes along.
 
Found these at Costco last week. A three pack for $19.99 with batteries. Bright setting, dim setting, red setting and flashing red setting. Collapses down to 1/2 the the shown height. Thought I would pass this along.
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GLTHFJ60 said:
I'm a big proponent of old coleman camping equipment because of the low weight ( :lol: ) and small footprint. The stoves and lanterns are very efficient with fuel and can run on gasoline in a pinch, which means if you're out of fuel to cook food, you've got bigger problems :hillbilly: (coleman stoves can't run on diesel :( ) A properly working coleman stove isn't the fastest to boil water, but it gets hot enough that I couldn't imagine needing more heat. It singes the sides of the drawer it lives in when on full bore with a big pot on top.

Last tidbit about old coleman, if you have any issues with a stove or lantern, they're field-serviceable. I had a problem with my stove this past week where it wouldn't build pressure. Allen's buddy Dale came over and showed us how to take the pump apart with nothing more than a pair of pliers and that we could use a few drips of engine oil off the dipstick to lube up the leather. Worked like a charm and used it for the rest of the week! If one of those butane stoves breaks because it's bouncing around in the truck, (although I have no experience with them) you'd be hard-pressed to break it.

A two burner stove is perfect for two people and (I would think) a three burner would be ideal for a family of four. A cast iron skillet, a cast iron dutch oven and a small aluminum skillet all ride in the truck 100% of the time and a middle compartment in my drawer is reserved for utensils, spices and a few other small things. I don't have a camping table so I use my tailgate as a prep surface and bench to sit on, camping chairs as overflow. That sherpa table looks nice, but I don't see the benefits of that over storage drawers and a tailgate inside the truck. Seems extraneous to me. Storage drawers in the truck can be made more space efficient by running them without slides.

IMHO having a fridge for overlanding is over and above more important than having a table. If you've got means to cook food, it sucks to only be able to bring cooked food with you in the cooler. After a way to cook food, the 12v fridge should be the next purchase.
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Sorry to jump so far back on a thread, but I see that a lot of folks like Coleman camping gear like myself. Here is a good resource for extra parts and instructions on how to work on those old, cheap Coleman stoves and lanterns: OldColemanParts.com
 
Thanks to whoever mentioned the Slumberjack July 4 sale. I didn't have it in time for Coal Mine Cruiser Classic but it DID conveniently arrive the evening of the day I left for there, ha! I'd like to give it a demo here at the house but it's gonna be 99*F for the next 3 days. Instead, I'm gonna hit the grocery and beer stores tonight and see how long I can go without leaving the house. Supposed to be 83 Monday...much better.
 
Sadly, the Dometic fridge Amazon sent was previously owned and used. There were two deep gouges on two bottom corners, the power cords had been unwrapped, there was evidence of another shipping label on the box and I was concerned about the model since it doesn't appear on Dometics web site. I contacted Amazon and all they would do is authorize a return even after I provided photo proof of the gouges and other things. Not even a small I'm sorry this happened. Will be picked up by UPS today. Now to start another search for a camper fridge.
 
Buy it from somewhere other than amazon.
 
David70FJ40 said:
Sadly, the Dometic fridge Amazon sent was previously owned and used. There were two deep gouges on two bottom corners, the power cords had been unwrapped, there was evidence of another shipping label on the box and I was concerned about the model since it doesn't appear on Dometics web site. I contacted Amazon and all they would do is authorize a return even after I provided photo proof of the gouges and other things. Not even a small I'm sorry this happened. Will be picked up by UPS today. Now to start another search for a camper fridge.
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David, this is happening more and more frequently due to Prime's generous return policy. I have returned numerous items in the past but I have always packaged the item back up like it was new.
 
JohnVee said:
Is Fred Anderson Toyota still an ARB dealer? Do we get a discount on that stuff? Buy once, cry once. *

*Says the guy rocking the $100 Envirocooler...until it dies.
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I believe so. Phil isn't there anymore, but they still carry ARB stuff.
 
Brown Santa made a stop.
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Sent back the used Dometic and a NEW ARB was delivered. Dometic offers a 2 year warranty and ARB offers a 3 year warranty. The ARB was also $100 less and larger. Go figure.
 
My trailer is coming along. Today I decided to test the set up in my back yard to see what I could improve on or just set it up for the first time so I don't look like a total dork when I set it up in front of the club. Just a few more details and I believe it will be ready for occupancy.

You may remember this is what I started with. Dry rotted tires, the tongue box literally fell off when I pulled on it and the lid leaked badly, all the drawer slides were rusted and one fell apart, the tongue jack was a joke, flimsy, held on by a prayer and the frame had been hit hard enough the jack leaned badly, the floor of the RTT was rotted which was hidden from view, the water tank wasn't plumbed well and I felt the weight was to high up so I removed it and it needed a total cleaning. And those hideous stickers!

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So I pulled it to the back yard and let it sit until the weather warmed up enough in March to start work.

Here it is today.
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I fixed the tongue box, wired it for 12 volt and 110 volt service, did the best I knew how to do to waterproof it so the rain wouldn't run past the lid, oiled the crap out of all the drawer slides and replaced the one which exploded, added a 16" tall storage bin on top and mounted a new RTT on it, added an awning, added an annex room under the RTT, put tires and wheels on to match what is on the 40, took out the cooler and added a ARB fridge, added LED lights under the awning for night time use, LED lights on the back if needed, small LED strip lights in the side storage bins, new tongue jack and leveling jacks in the rear. Take a look at the following photos and tell me what I need or what I missed.
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