M101 CDN Attepmts to Return Home by Swimming Lake Superior

[greentruck]

OK, now that the headline gotcha, here's a report on the first big trip out of town with our mildly built M101 CDN 1/4 trailer. We went camping around the Keweenaw in Michigan's Upper Peninsula during what turned out to be a beautiful fall week.

The headline is actually almost true. Our arrival at Point Abbaye near L'Anse had us thinking we were about ready to drive into a churning Lake Superior. More about that in this UP Overland thread:
Upper Peninsula Overland • View topic - Point Abbaye

I did buy some bung plugs and installed them in the M101. Technically, it's amphibious with those, but the 80 isn't
So no swim back to Canada for the M101

Fortunately, there was room to turn on a dime on the rock to return to a nice camp spot where we stayed the night. In Pic 1 you can see how we used our DAC tailgate tent and part of our awning to give us a little shelter from the wind. Worked great and took about 15 minutes to set up.

Having gear packed in the trailer and easily accessible helps things along when setting up. Drop the trailer close behind, then just peel the tarp back and go to it. Packing up is nearly as easy.

Pic 2 was at our next camp, High Rock Bay at the end of the Keweenaw near the old NASA/Michigan missile range. Here we used the full enclosure and mesh on the awning, although bugs were very light with the first frost having passed. The trailer location is just about right for the 12 foot hose from the bottle in the new bottle rack to our Mr Heater Buddy, which kept us toasty when needed. Unseen behind the truck is our bath shelter. Along with our PETT, a folding shower deck, hot water, and 12 volt shower pump, we're in luxury.

Pic 3 shows how we made hot water, as in past tense. Somewhere between this camp and the next, the circa 1978 water heater died. So no more easy hot water. We've got a Camp Chef Triton to replace it. I've also applied non-skid tape to the top of the DS fender, as this makes it easier to set the water jug there and tip it to pour. A very easy and practical mod.

Continued below:

 

[Brentbba]

LOL - headline got me!!! Nice campsites!

 

[greentruck]

Pic 4 is a rear view of our third camp we called the Echo Camp for the weird acoustics caused by the convoluted small hills around it. It was a little spur off of FR 1500 in Ottawa National Forest near Sidnaw. On the PS side of the trailer is the "wet bar" a 4 foot long table that clips over the top lip of the M101's tub. We do dishes and other messy stuff there where it's easy to set up a dish pan, a LED BBQ light for after dark work, and easy access to water. We were kind of sad about the lack of easy hot water, but we managed.

Pic 5 is a front pic of the truck with the awning. The inside of the awning is our camp space, except for sleeping in the truck, and they can be easily separated to cruise around during the day. The truck has a camper conversion/drawer system that you can read and see more about here:
https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/412084-camper-conversion-drawer-system.html

Together, the 80 and the M101 make a great expedition system. It's easy to erect and overnight camp or one where you're going to stay for a few days. We're making a few refinements, but things worked really well. I was especially pleased about how useful the trailer is when camping, keeping a lot of the mess out of the vehicle while hauling plenty of creature comforts to keep us happy now matter how remote the camping may be.

So a last goodbye in Pic 6 with a classic M101 coda.
Maybe the poor little thing will finally get to visit Canada next year -- and won't even have to swim!?!

 

[photogod]

I love that trip. Especially Copper Harbor and Fort Francis camp ground. There are a ton of roads to drive at the tip.

 

[greentruck]

Thanks, Brent!

photogod,
Yes, really beautiful up there, just the sort of fall spectacle my wife loves. We ended up backtracking to Copper Harbor, but there were all kinds of tracks up there to explore. When we go back, I want to do a lot more poking around past Lost Lake, etc, down the coast to Gay, where there's a bar, I hear...

Seriously. You have to drink to survive, even if you live in Gay.

 

[titanpat57]

Thanks for sharing Mike...scenery looks awesome.....

I also see now where the tent LED mod comes in, great work!

Pat

 

[greentruck]

Pat,
Those LED light strings work great. Here's the link to that over in the Camping forum:
https://forum.ih8mud.com/camping-outdoor-gear/424223-led-lighting-system.html

With two more strings so that we have one on all four walls, which I'd like to get ASAP, most of the shadows will go away. For reading right now, they were a little dim for us +40 folks inside, but sufficient.

One thing about the trailer that struck me was how convenient the open top was. I can leave lots of stuff inside , dry under the tarp and off the ground. I always thought I wanted a hard lid, but now I'm thinking that maybe not because that would tend to limit the easy access of the open top.

 

[photomike]

Where do you get the awning and wraparound?

Cheers,
Mike

 

[greentruck]

Mike,
I got the 8x10 Awning at Dick's Sporting Goods. This size awning is pretty new, but I suspect will become much more common.

We have a 8' panel with a big window that we didn't use on the trip. I do have a pic of it on my test set-up at home below.

The second pic shows how I can use one of the awning netting wrap halfs to close the area under the tailgate. Didn't use that either, because the frost had already killed them off for the season in the UP.

Both the netting and solid windbreak panels are for a 10'x10' awning. This covers the 10' side of the 8'x10' awning well. Then you have extra on the 8' wide front and back of the awning. On the truck side, I use a bungee cord at the top to attach each of the two halfs and the extra length works well with my 80. I got those panels at Walmart, but only because they were dirt cheap on sale and they were the only one with any left when I bought them last summer.

On the 8' front side, the netting and/or solid halfs overlap, helping provide a ready door that works pretty well despite being improvised.

We also have a DAC Tailgate Tent. You can see it in use in the very first pic above. We used it with the awning. That helps seal up the warmth in the sleeper area of the truck when it's cold and keep the skeeters out when it's warm, isolating the sleeper a little bit from the living room/kitchen area under the awning. The fridge is on a slide-out on the left side of the tailgate when the sleeper is in use. A step-ladder on the right side of the tailgate lets us crawl into the sleeper over the tailgate easily.

Now, for the sleeper (3rd pic) here's what we throw our Thermarests down on at night. It's great and my wife loves it compared to sleeping in a ground tent.

 

[photomike]

Mike,

So the 10x10 awning panels are the beige wraparound pieces? Interesting. I like how it encloses the back end.

How do you like the DAC?

Cool setup. We're backpackers, but now that I have the 80, I plan on more car camping. I love being able to have steaks/wine/pancakes, etc and not worry about the oz.'s

Cheers,
Mike

 

[prado t]

I like your set-up Mike, very "home-like" . I havn't been through northern Michigan in about 10 years.
Would like to spend some time there one day. Thanks for posting.

 

[greentruck]

Prado T,
Thanks. Only started going to the UP a few years back, but we love it and it's closer than Colorado if you only have a week. First heard about stuff UP there at a clinic on narrowgauge railroad lines around Hancock and Calumet.

Yeah, definitely don't have to count the ounces with the 80, but it temps one to not count the pounds either. That's why we have the M101. We're old enough to prefer to avoid roughing it too much.

One of the reasons I have a 4x4 is that I've been living with a back injury for the last 20+ years. I love the back-country, but am limited to a light day pack when it comes to schlepping things around on foot.

Mike,

So the 10x10 awning panels are the beige wraparound pieces? Interesting. I like how it encloses the back end.

How do you like the DAC?

Cool setup. We're backpackers, but now that I have the 80, I plan on more car camping. I love being able to have steaks/wine/pancakes, etc and not worry about the oz.'s

Cheers,
Mike

Mike,
Yes, the beige panels and the netting panels are both from a 10'x10' awning. Of course, they're actually 20' long x~7' high.

The DAC is really useful, because it means you don't have to go to the trouble of setting everything else up to make a quick camp. It is kind of one-size-fits-all (although it comes in large, this one, and mini truck sizes.

Thus, the way it fits does not provide enough fabric to let the upper hatch rise all the way. To fix this, I'm going to sew a "floor" into the place where it fits around the tailgate. This will provide enough slack to let the upper hatch rise all the way, then we're good.

It's too cold to work on that right now, but when things warm up in the garage, it won't take long. I'll write it up, but probably put it in the 80 forum when I do, since it's specific to that app.

 

[greentruck]

While it's not exactly a trailer topic, I did want to post a link to the modifications I did to the DAC tailgate tent last weekend. It is part of the way our rig works as a unit, so may be of interest to others.

Basically, I added a floor to the lower part of the DAC tailgate tent by sewing in a panel there that helps enclose the lowered tailgate and relocating the lower shock cord. This has a bonus in that a flap hangs down that closes the area where the wind blows into the awning enclosure from underneath the truck

The mod starts in post #31 on this page:
https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/412084-camper-conversion-drawer-system-2.html

Here's one pic to help envision what I'm talking about here.

 

[PEGUSAS]

While it's not exactly a trailer topic, I did want to post a link to the modifications I did to the DAC tailgate tent last weekend. It is part of the way our rig works as a unit, so may be of interest to others.

Basically, I added a floor to the lower part of the DAC tailgate tent by sewing in a panel there that helps enclose the lowered tailgate and relocating the lower shock cord. This has a bonus in that a flap hangs down that closes the area where the wind blows into the awning enclosure from underneath the truck

The mod starts in post #31 on this page:
https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/412084-camper-conversion-drawer-system-2.html

Here's one pic to help envision what I'm talking about here.

GreenTruck,

Really enjoyed reading your post and looking at all the cool ways you have adapted your rig and your trailer to camp in comfort.

I recently went car camping with my 10 year old son. We took out the third seats and layed down the second seats and setup our air matresses. In order to have enough leg room we left the tailgate down and hatch up. This of course makes the lights in the rig stay on. We were able to over ride the dome lights by switching them to off, however we could not figure out how to shut off the courtesy door lights on the back doors. So we covered the lights with some cloths and hit the hay. This of course is not a good solution as it runs down the battery when you sleep.

Do you know how to shut them off when the tailgate is down?

 

[greentruck]

Pegusas,
Here's the quick and dirty method. To shut off the courtesy lamps, you take a screwdriver and flip the latch jaw on the hatch. This shuts off the lights, but you want to cycle the latch handle to clear the reset jaw before shutting the hatch again.

In the long run, I'm planning on installing a SPST switch in the power line to each door lamp, probably just mounting it next to the courtesy lamp. Others have reported doing this, but I don't believe I've seen a write-up on it.

The factory bulbs in the courtesy lamps waste a bunch of energy. Some have even reported melting the lens. I switched to LEDs. This minimizes the power draw so much that you don't need to turn them off to save power if just overnight.

 

[titanpat57]

Not seeing many updates on trips Mike...


Better stop slackin' off and get camping...


Any new mods or updates?

p.s. the latest tent/drawers came out awesome!!

Pat

 

[greentruck]

Pat,
You've got a point. Unfortunately, I've got a dissertation to finish. Then I got a teaching job, so that doesn't help speed the writing.

Look out 2012, when we hope to make our delayed trip to Newfoundland and the Trans-Labrador