My Offroad Trailer

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Somewhere I had read of another person who had added lights into their RTT by reworking an IKEA LED strip setup that was for lighting under cabinets. I found the "DIODER" at IKEA, eliminated the AC transformer and replaced the AC plug with a cig lighter plug.

A few low quality night shots. ;)

Lights on inside the tent with a fuzzy moon up above in Death Valley last Saturday.

Enough light for s shaky non-flash photo!


There are 9 white LEDs per strip. I zip tied them to the top pole.

 
Here is the whole excuse for a roof top tent: slushy cold mud, ice and a thin layer of crunchy snow on the ground!



Overall area


Here is an interior shot of the tub loaded up

3 large and 2 small Action Packers, 4 Scepters full of gas, PETT seat and tent, 2 folding chairs, folding table, tarp, shovel and other stuff.

Heading home!!
 
Damn I hate you:flipoff2:


What awesome action shots!!!



Thanks for sharing Jim!


PS..sweet lighting mod....el linko?
 
Damn I hate you:flipoff2:


What awesome action shots!!!



Thanks for sharing Jim!

I hate you too Pat :D

Here is a teaser for a trip report so that you can really hate me
 
Thanks for the link...and really enjoyed the blog..you must have b*lls of brass to climb that high...(or a screw loose...but thats' probably not the first time you've heard that)

If you get a chance and don't mind sharing, I'd love to see a shot of the bottom of your lid..

Thanks
 
Damn fine craftsmanship. i'd like to see it on the trail someday.
 
Here is the finished light cord for power


The little junction box was for the original four cords to go to four light strips but I only plug in one cord now. The black plug is fused. The on/off switch is the original.

I just snake the cord through the tent's hinge cover and plug one end into the nose box outlet.


This is all of the junk that you don't need.


The tiny 12v power supply might be useful for some other low power project. The other cords I'll keep as spares in case the one in the tent gets whacked.
 
Thanks for the link...and really enjoyed the blog..you must have b*lls of brass to climb that high...(or a screw loose...but thats' probably not the first time you've heard that)

If you get a chance and don't mind sharing, I'd love to see a shot of the bottom of your lid..

Thanks

I'm a sucker for a good challenge, but some do seem to require being a few fries short of a Happy Meal.

Here are a few extra lid pix in no particular order.

Left side towards the hinge. Reinforced point is where one of the tent rack's feet go.


Right hinge area


The square tube down the middle of the lid is where the two sheets of steel are welded together. The bolts sticking thru are for the solar panel's slide mount.

One of the reinforced points on the latched side of the lid


Different view of the latched side


There are some more lid shots in post #2
 
Last edited:
north county san diego teotwaki!
 
very nice work!

Where did you get all the electronics components?
 
very nice work!

Where did you get all the electronics components?

Thanks! Roughly as follows are the sources:

From EBay:
Solar charge controller, Best Marine battery tender, large Blue Seas fuse box

From my garage:
Aluminum panel, wire, crimp lugs, terminal strips, switch, relay

From private sales on forums:
100 Amp resettable breaker, small Blue Seas fuse box, 30 Amp thermal breaker

From West Marine:
Best AC weatherproof inlet (EXPENSIVE!). Could not find any worthwhile deals on the net.

The breakers can be found on-line for good prices. If anyone wants make/model/number info just ask!
 
Thanks for the info!

I like that AC weatherproof inlet. I always forget about West marine.

How's the Camping Labs tent doing for you?
 
Thanks for the info!

I like that AC weatherproof inlet. I always forget about West marine.

How's the Camping Labs tent doing for you?

I've only slept in it on 3 trips but here is what I've experienced.

Very comfortable & roomy. After years of using mountaineering tents I am now very spoiled and this tent will make family more likely to join me on trips. :D

Deploys easily but takes just a little more work to collapse and tuck everything in so that the cover's zipper won't catch on tent fabric. I've gotten faster each time so it is not an issue but more about acquiring new knowledge and skills.

The sleeping pad is held in place by four 1" x 7" Velcro strips on the bottom which had become detached from matching straps on the tent's floor. This allowed the pad to become misaligned as well as catch in the full width 2-part "hinge" between the two platform halves when deploying the tent. Somehow this velcro method needs improvement. It is a PITA to reattach the mattress to the matching velcro straps because the mattress is wide and thick.

Somehow during towing, air going over the truck gets into the cover and makes the center part around the ladder sort of balloon up. Proably worsens my gas mileage.

All of the materials seem heavy duty and don't seem to show wear or tear yet.

On the last trail run the night time temps outside dipped to 36 degrees F and inside the tent it was 42 degrees. For family use I've bought a small Mr. Heater "Little Buddy" to briefly heat the interior of the tent when going to bed and when rising in the morning. I use good down bags rather than planning to run a heater all night.

The small triangular velcro covers that are on the exterior where the frame hinges are could be better designed. To keep cold air out I just stuffed a plastic bag in that area inside the tent.

I've yet to have it out in a good windy rain storm so am anxious to see how it does.

The main door flaps have zippers that run vertically up the sides but nothing at the bottom althought the flap extends a bit and is weighted by a sewn in pole. It may be a source of drafts in high winds but may be minor.

All complaints are relatively minor and fixable but I thought I'd catalog them here. :hhmm:
 
I finally installed the last two marker lights for the trailer. The spot on the angled face of the nose box allows them to be seen from the front when the trailer is unhitched.
holes drilled...

...and presto!

Repeated for the other side then wired them, integrating the wires into the split loom and tapping into the terminal blocks.
 
One of my planned mods was to figure out how to mount my Fiamma Pro 35 awning to the trailer. I was lucky enough to be able to buy a used pair of A/T Trailer mounts from Dave (AdventureDuo) even though I was not sure how I'd mount them I figured there had to be some way.

Here are some photos of the first phases of the project.



I had some nice s****s of aluminum angle stock, fairly hard alloy about 1/4" thick. This shot is on the trailer's left side, opposite of where the RTT opens. I also chose the corners of the trailer's lid so that I could get some height as well as avoid banging things into each other. This spot also gives good clearance to the zipper of the RTT's cover.

The garage floor home machine shop. No vanilla wafers this time.


Starting to take shape!


Another test fit.


This time with bolts and not clamps!




I need to primer and paint the angle brackets, true up the mounting and also make up some mounting plates for the awning. I also bought some new retainer pins. More pictures soon!
 
Looking good. I plan to copy this bracket on my trailer. I especially like your electrical work too - very clean.:flipoff2:
 
Pin

Did you make the retaining pin cable? If so what did you use? Thanks
Robert
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom