Build Mrburlingame’s 200 Series Build - Garlic

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mrburlingame said:
On another note, while I always travel with a satellite phone to be prepared, I ordered a Garmin Inreach Mini. The simple texting via a paired iPhone with other vehicles on the same trip, as well as the ability to share your location with family, is attractive.
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We have had our mini for 3 years now and it is one of the best pieces of gear that we have. Especially since we mostly travel alone. I wish you could import maps into the Earthmate program, but it’s not too bad otherwise.

Another benefit over a satellite phone is that it has the standard gps features, so you can mark spots that you want to find again later (gas stations, campsites, fishing holes, etc)
 
Roads were clear the whole way through. Started in Willows and popped out near Ukiah.

Awesome about your mini and that it’s been a great tool for you! Have you used Gaia? We have been loading up the route in advance and nice to record. But, not shareable in real time, though I still love it.

1world1love said:
Stunning!

How were the roads? We were going to go up to MNF this weekend but the FS said that there were still a lot of trail closures so we changed our plans.
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1world1love said:
We have had our mini for 3 years now and it is one of the best pieces of gear that we have. Especially since we mostly travel alone. I wish you could import maps into the Earthmate program, but it’s not too bad otherwise.

Another benefit over a satellite phone is that it has the standard gps features, so you can mark spots that you want to find again later (gas stations, campsites, fishing holes, etc)
Click to expand...
 
mrburlingame said:
Roads were clear the whole way through. Started in Willows and popped out near Ukiah.

Awesome about your mini and that it’s been a great tool for you! Have you used Gaia? We have been loading up the route in advance and nice to record. But, not shareable in real time, though I still love it.
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Nice. Sweet campsite too.

We’ve tried all the map apps. Nothing does everything so we end up using the Garmin app for the satellite tracking and the. Gaia for the mvum, and then we always download the official nfs visitors map on Avenza if we don’t have a paper copy. I actually find that the visitor maps are the best. They are almost always out of date, but tend to be more accurate for trails.

I like the idea behind OnX. The iPad/iPhone app sucks but the website version has a lot of potential.

How are you liking the truck now that you’ve had a chance to live with it? Anything about the mods you would do differently?
 
1world1love said:
Nice. Sweet campsite too.

We’ve tried all the map apps. Nothing does everything so we end up using the Garmin app for the satellite tracking and the. Gaia for the mvum, and then we always download the official nfs visitors map on Avenza if we don’t have a paper copy. I actually find that the visitor maps are the best. They are almost always out of date, but tend to be more accurate for trails.

I like the idea behind OnX. The iPad/iPhone app sucks but the website version has a lot of potential.

How are you liking the truck now that you’ve had a chance to live with it? Anything about the mods you would do differently?
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Good to hear. I haven’t tried the other apps but looking forward to checking them out. With the Gaia premium subscription I think I can get most everything or at least I haven’t felt like I’m missing stuff. But I don’t do a ton of trips either so my experience is limited.

Now that I’ve had the truck for one year exactly, there isn’t anything I would have done differently. I’m a happy camper. Having fully built out my 80 and adventuring with it for eight years (still have it), I wanted to solve for a number of things in my 200 build since I was starting from scratch. And thankfully, there are great vendors to partner with like @benc and @TrekboxX who were curious and flexible in working with me to try new things. About a year of (on and off) planning and research went into the build and I am thankful for all the fantastic info I learned in this forum.

With SIP, my stock battery and lithium battery died, so adding the flexible 100 watt solar panel to the top of IKamper will hopefully take care of it. I could have done this a while ago but was driving it often enough (once a week around town) so it was a non issue. Only outstanding things I’d like to do is dial in a ham radio setup, and perhaps an iPad mini mount too.

Where are you located? Would be awesome to connect.

And @stolikat thanks for the kinds words, and @psnyman, you’re in San Jose?
 
mrburlingame said:
Good to hear. I haven’t tried the other apps but looking forward to checking them out. With the Gaia premium subscription I think I can get most everything or at least I haven’t felt like I’m missing stuff. But I don’t do a ton of trips either so my experience is limited.

Now that I’ve had the truck for one year exactly, there isn’t anything I would have done differently. I’m a happy camper. Having fully built out my 80 and adventuring with it for eight years (still have it), I wanted to solve for a number of things in my 200 build since I was starting from scratch. And thankfully, there are great vendors to partner with like @benc and @TrekboxX who were curious and flexible in working with me to try new things. About a year of (on and off) planning and research went into the build and I am thankful for all the fantastic info I learned in this forum.

With SIP, my stock battery and lithium battery died, so adding the flexible 100 watt solar panel to the top of IKamper will hopefully take care of it. I could have done this a while ago but was driving it often enough (once a week around town) so it was a non issue. Only outstanding things I’d like to do is dial in a ham radio setup, and perhaps an iPad mini mount too.

Where are you located? Would be awesome to connect.

And @stolikat thanks for the kinds words, and @psnyman, you’re in San Jose?
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Glad to hear. I love the iKamper. We are debating a teardrop with an iKamper mounted on top.

I’m just up the hill in Hillsborough.

Both batteries dead in 3 months? Seems odd, no?
 
1world1love said:
Glad to hear. I love the iKamper. We are debating a teardrop with an iKamper mounted on top.

I’m just up the hill in Hillsborough.

Both batteries dead in 3 months? Seems odd, no?
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👌 Awesome we are neighbors.

What kind of teardrop? I’m not sure how I’ll love the iKamper on my roof all the time. That could be fun.

I think I have a tiny vampire draw somewhere even though everything says it’s off. I disconnected the lithium from the stock but at that point it was too late. I can plug an extension cord into the rear bumper to charge too but after a while of sitting, like a month, the lithium was tapped. I was surprised and maybe that’s not normal. My Goal Zero lithium has like 80% left after a month of sitting
 
mrburlingame said:
Good to hear. I haven’t tried the other apps but looking forward to checking them out. With the Gaia premium subscription I think I can get most everything or at least I haven’t felt like I’m missing stuff. But I don’t do a ton of trips either so my experience is limited.

Now that I’ve had the truck for one year exactly, there isn’t anything I would have done differently. I’m a happy camper. Having fully built out my 80 and adventuring with it for eight years (still have it), I wanted to solve for a number of things in my 200 build since I was starting from scratch. And thankfully, there are great vendors to partner with like @benc and @TrekboxX who were curious and flexible in working with me to try new things. About a year of (on and off) planning and research went into the build and I am thankful for all the fantastic info I learned in this forum.

With SIP, my stock battery and lithium battery died, so adding the flexible 100 watt solar panel to the top of IKamper will hopefully take care of it. I could have done this a while ago but was driving it often enough (once a week around town) so it was a non issue. Only outstanding things I’d like to do is dial in a ham radio setup, and perhaps an iPad mini mount too.

Where are you located? Would be awesome to connect.

And @stolikat thanks for the kinds words, and @psnyman, you’re in San Jose?
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Yeah, I’m in north San Jose, looking forward to connecting sometime, I’m only just getting started but loving the vehicle and community
 
Enjoying the California sun. Took the 200 out the last four weekends on various camping adventures.

A few recent small things. Picked up the iKamper with LineX finish. So far, so good. I was a little hesitant to lose the storage space, but so far it’s working out well. Most of our trips are one to three nights, so not tons of gear.

Swapped out the orange MaxTraxx for some black ones. Picked up a few new Fenix lights, and a Stahl fire pit after reading the good reviews from Overland Journal.

Other than that, we’ve added a golden doodle to our family and excited for her to join us soon once she is fully vaccinated.

Weekend at Evergreen Lodge in Yosemite:

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Camping near Pescadero, CA.

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My friend built out a sweet JK on 37s.

BB2CF37C-AF66-4469-9C11-0DFCED744F7B.webp
 
mrburlingame said:
Enjoying the California sun. Took the 200 out the last four weekends on various camping adventures.

A few recent small things. Picked up the iKamper with LineX finish. So far, so good. I was a little hesitant to lose the storage space, but so far it’s working out well. Most of our trips are one to three nights, so not tons of gear.

Swapped out the orange MaxTraxx for some black ones. Picked up a few new Fenix lights, and a Stahl fire pit after reading the good reviews from Overland Journal.

Other than that, we’ve added a golden doodle to our family and excited for her to join us soon once she is fully vaccinated.

Weekend at Evergreen Lodge in Yosemite:

View attachment 2384704

Camping near Pescadero, CA.

View attachment 2384707

View attachment 2384706

My friend built out a sweet JK on 37s.

View attachment 2384705
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Sweet! I can’t wait to hear your thoughts in the iKamper. I’m also curious what you’ll do with the new family member? You going to train her/him to sleep alone in the truck or under the awning?

If I were to go with an RTT, it would definitely be the iKamper.
 
1world1love said:
Sweet! I can’t wait to hear your thoughts in the iKamper. I’m also curious what you’ll do with the new family member? You going to train her/him to sleep alone in the truck or under the awning?

If I were to go with an RTT, it would definitely be the iKamper.
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Thanks! So far I am loving the iKamper. It’s pretty much as a good a RTT as you could expect. A number of years ago I had a first gen Maggiolina and this is night and day different. I love how much space it has, quality of construction, the skylight, and the stable ladder. The latches for closing it are not perfect but small nit. I bought it from Rhino Adventure Gear and they said every container they receive has improvements in the product, so cool iKamper is constantly innovating.

For the puppy, good question, I haven’t given it a lot of thought. I just assumed she’d sleep in the iKamper but that’s only for while she’s little. Probably when she’s full grown at 30ish pounds she’ll need to sleep elsewhere, so probably inside the truck. Any suggestions?
 
oh great.... now i need an ikamper
 
mrburlingame said:
Thanks! So far I am loving the iKamper. It’s pretty much as a good a RTT as you could expect. A number of years ago I had a first gen Maggiolina and this is night and day different. I love how much space it has, quality of construction, the skylight, and the stable ladder. The latches for closing it are not perfect but small nit. I bought it from Rhino Adventure Gear and they said every container they receive has improvements in the product, so cool iKamper is constantly innovating.

For the puppy, good question, I haven’t given it a lot of thought. I just assumed she’d sleep in the iKamper but that’s only for while she’s little. Probably when she’s full grown at 30ish pounds she’ll need to sleep elsewhere, so probably inside the truck. Any suggestions?
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I met the iKamper folks at OE and they seemed to be quality people.

One of the reasons that we have not considered an RTT is because our Vizsla is 65-70 pounds and incredibly protective of the kids. None of us would get any sleep if he couldn’t sleep with them. He’d go crazy worrying about them.

I know some folks with small dogs take them up in the tent. I guess that works if they are small enough and don’t need to go out in the middle of the night. I can imagine myself carrying a dog down a ladder in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night, and after a beer or two ;)

Whatever you plan to do, I think I’d start straight off with that. You may consider crating in the truck, and then as she gets older you could eliminate the crate. Honestly, I’d think a golden doodle could be trained to sleep just about anywhere, but probably not suitable for leaving alone out under the stars. If you start her out in the tent, it may be hard to change that expectation later on, though.

We are thinking about an off-road teardrop trailer as another solution. The kids and dog can sleep in the teardrop and we could sleep in an iKamper mounted on top of the trailer. It’s probably not a suitable solution for all of our trips, but would be good for most of them anyways.
 
1world1love said:
You guys staying safe in the hurricane?
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It hit land several hundred miles south of Houston at Corpus Christy. We had a trip to Destin, FL planned and went ahead and skipped town. Other than some heavy rain bands, no issues. Thanks for asking!

As much as I wanted to bring the LX here, we ended up driving the suburban. Can't beat all the cargo room even with a cargo box (I definitely tried).
 
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