I’m loading my 7 year old son, best friend, two large dogs, myself, and enough gear to for a week camping (exploring WA State on way up) into my FJC and heading from Cen. Cal. to my cabin in Canada this summer. Too much gear to take the 73 40 and not as comfortable as the FJC on a trip this long.
Because of the huge increase in ferry fairs and gas prices, I will not be able to bring my camping trailer which normally holds most of our gear. I have a full length roof rack and will have two plastic roof top carriers, 4 18”by 24” storage boxes, and two 5 gallon tanks for water and fuel on the roof. Clothes, food etc will be in there.
The rear area of the FJC is for the dogs and my son needs at least a seat in the back so there is only a 3x3ish area for gear inside the rig. A quick fix would be to make a hitch mounted carrier and load my large Contico (37X21x20) storage box on it for the heavy camping gear. Pro Tuff Bin, 37 Wx21 Dx20 In H - Tool Chest & Side Cabinets - Tool Storage and Transfer Tanks - Hand Tools : Grainger Industrial Supply
Problem is, I need the carrier to either slide out or swing out so I can open the back hatch to let the dogs out. I have a metal dog cage that separates the dogs from licking the back of my son’s head raw the whole trip so the dogs can’t load-up through the front of the rig.
My only thought would be to slide a 2” length of square tube into the hitch and have a slightly larger ID tube slide over that and grease it. Remove a pin and the rack should slide over the 2” tube to give me enough room to load the dogs in the hatch. I am concerned that for this to slide out far enough, it would stick out really far and it is already low to the ground. Any suggestion on how to raise it higher than the hitch and slide out would be helpful.
Anyone have a better idea? I don’t want to spend a lot of money since this will seldom be used (once a year on trip up to Canada).
Because of the huge increase in ferry fairs and gas prices, I will not be able to bring my camping trailer which normally holds most of our gear. I have a full length roof rack and will have two plastic roof top carriers, 4 18”by 24” storage boxes, and two 5 gallon tanks for water and fuel on the roof. Clothes, food etc will be in there.
The rear area of the FJC is for the dogs and my son needs at least a seat in the back so there is only a 3x3ish area for gear inside the rig. A quick fix would be to make a hitch mounted carrier and load my large Contico (37X21x20) storage box on it for the heavy camping gear. Pro Tuff Bin, 37 Wx21 Dx20 In H - Tool Chest & Side Cabinets - Tool Storage and Transfer Tanks - Hand Tools : Grainger Industrial Supply
Problem is, I need the carrier to either slide out or swing out so I can open the back hatch to let the dogs out. I have a metal dog cage that separates the dogs from licking the back of my son’s head raw the whole trip so the dogs can’t load-up through the front of the rig.
My only thought would be to slide a 2” length of square tube into the hitch and have a slightly larger ID tube slide over that and grease it. Remove a pin and the rack should slide over the 2” tube to give me enough room to load the dogs in the hatch. I am concerned that for this to slide out far enough, it would stick out really far and it is already low to the ground. Any suggestion on how to raise it higher than the hitch and slide out would be helpful.
Anyone have a better idea? I don’t want to spend a lot of money since this will seldom be used (once a year on trip up to Canada).
