bicyclist
Guest
I haven't been on the forum much lately because I've been doing some travel prep. Last May, I rode out to Utah and had a look around on my NT. Because of all of the off road riding available there and all of the unpaved passes in Colorado, I decided to build a rig that would let me haul my dirt bike, camp and do loop rides. The plan was to get this done over the Winter and make a run to Utah in May. The long, cold Winter interfered with my plans and I wasn't ready in time. However, I have the opportunity to do local trips and work the bugs out before I go next year. So, this is what I've been working on.
My car was 16 years old and I have plenty of use for a pickup truck, so I found a used Tacoma in good shape and bought it to replace the car. The idea is to sleep in the back of the truck. I found a tall shell that provides space to sit up inside and built a 30" wide sleeping platform with storage space underneath. With the aid of a couple of YouTube videos and a 1950s Singer sewing machine, I figured out how to sew a cover and made a foam mattress for the platform. The shell needed power for lights, miscellaneous, and a deep cycle battery to run a fridge and fan. I built a couple of wiring harnesses and ran them from an aux fuse box for the light stuff and a heavy constant duty relay switchable from the cab for the deep cycle battery. An LED strip that I sewed to the shell liner provides light. The truck also got a transmission cooler and trailer hitch. The deep cycle battery lives in a box, connected to a pair of locking power outlets, a pigtail for an AC charger, the heavy DC charging cables with Anderson power pole disconnects and a voltmeter with a momentary switch to monitor the battery. All of it run through fuses. The fridge is mounted by the tailgate and will slide out when I find some undermount slides for it. The truck has an extended cab with useless jump seats in the back. I removed them and built a platform with storage underneath. So that's the truck, so far.
My ancient Cox trailer has 8" wheels and I wanted something with bigger wheels for the long haul across the country. A bunch of guys have found Harbor Freight trailers satisfactory and ya can't beat the price. I grabbed one on sale and with the 25% coupon, paid $270 for it. The cheap Chinese bearings and hubs need to be disassembled, cleaned up and packed with good grease. Once that's done, they give good service. I decked the trailer with pressure treated ?" plywood painted with a couple of coats of porch paint. A Harbor Freight wheel chock is bolted to the deck and I installed a bunch of tie down rings. I found a truck tool box on Craigslist. After cleaning it up and coating the inside with primer, I bolted that to the deck. A carefully trimmed loading ramp fits perfectly in the top of the box and there's lots of space for camping gear and sundry crap. I still need to come up with a good mount for the spare tire, but the trailer is mostly ready.
My first test run with the rig was to an event in Natural Bridge, VA. I had a room, so there was no need to sleep in the truck, but I got to test the trailer and used the fridge in the room with a 12V supply. Everything worked fine and I had a good time riding the forest roads on the Honda.
The next trip was to the Cass Rally, a BMW event in WV. This time, I slept in the truck. It was a whole lot more comfortable than sleeping on the ground. The fridge ran for 2 days without charging the deep cycle battery and didn't pull it down much at all. There's a ton of great forest roads and great scenery in the area. I managed to find a road up to get a pic of the Cass Railroad climbing the mountain. They used Shay engines back in the day to haul logs off the mountain. The railroad has been restored and takes passengers up the mountain.
The third trip was to my local club's rally. Again, I slept in the truck, everything worked as expected and I had a blast riding Michaux State Forest in PA. riding some of the Trans Eastern Trail.
Now I need to do a trip where I'm camping away from any facilities. Gotta figure out a meal prep routine and so forth. I've rigged up a 2 gallon pump sprayer using a kitchen sink sprayer for a shower. I tested that in my shower at home and it worked fine.
My car was 16 years old and I have plenty of use for a pickup truck, so I found a used Tacoma in good shape and bought it to replace the car. The idea is to sleep in the back of the truck. I found a tall shell that provides space to sit up inside and built a 30" wide sleeping platform with storage space underneath. With the aid of a couple of YouTube videos and a 1950s Singer sewing machine, I figured out how to sew a cover and made a foam mattress for the platform. The shell needed power for lights, miscellaneous, and a deep cycle battery to run a fridge and fan. I built a couple of wiring harnesses and ran them from an aux fuse box for the light stuff and a heavy constant duty relay switchable from the cab for the deep cycle battery. An LED strip that I sewed to the shell liner provides light. The truck also got a transmission cooler and trailer hitch. The deep cycle battery lives in a box, connected to a pair of locking power outlets, a pigtail for an AC charger, the heavy DC charging cables with Anderson power pole disconnects and a voltmeter with a momentary switch to monitor the battery. All of it run through fuses. The fridge is mounted by the tailgate and will slide out when I find some undermount slides for it. The truck has an extended cab with useless jump seats in the back. I removed them and built a platform with storage underneath. So that's the truck, so far.
My ancient Cox trailer has 8" wheels and I wanted something with bigger wheels for the long haul across the country. A bunch of guys have found Harbor Freight trailers satisfactory and ya can't beat the price. I grabbed one on sale and with the 25% coupon, paid $270 for it. The cheap Chinese bearings and hubs need to be disassembled, cleaned up and packed with good grease. Once that's done, they give good service. I decked the trailer with pressure treated ?" plywood painted with a couple of coats of porch paint. A Harbor Freight wheel chock is bolted to the deck and I installed a bunch of tie down rings. I found a truck tool box on Craigslist. After cleaning it up and coating the inside with primer, I bolted that to the deck. A carefully trimmed loading ramp fits perfectly in the top of the box and there's lots of space for camping gear and sundry crap. I still need to come up with a good mount for the spare tire, but the trailer is mostly ready.
My first test run with the rig was to an event in Natural Bridge, VA. I had a room, so there was no need to sleep in the truck, but I got to test the trailer and used the fridge in the room with a 12V supply. Everything worked fine and I had a good time riding the forest roads on the Honda.
The next trip was to the Cass Rally, a BMW event in WV. This time, I slept in the truck. It was a whole lot more comfortable than sleeping on the ground. The fridge ran for 2 days without charging the deep cycle battery and didn't pull it down much at all. There's a ton of great forest roads and great scenery in the area. I managed to find a road up to get a pic of the Cass Railroad climbing the mountain. They used Shay engines back in the day to haul logs off the mountain. The railroad has been restored and takes passengers up the mountain.
The third trip was to my local club's rally. Again, I slept in the truck, everything worked as expected and I had a blast riding Michaux State Forest in PA. riding some of the Trans Eastern Trail.
Now I need to do a trip where I'm camping away from any facilities. Gotta figure out a meal prep routine and so forth. I've rigged up a 2 gallon pump sprayer using a kitchen sink sprayer for a shower. I tested that in my shower at home and it worked fine.
