EBuff75's Suburban Build

[Crosscut]

Freakin' awesome car camping/BOV setup and a great write up EBuff!  Still going through the gear links but already have a few upgrades for mine in mind.  Looking forward to the after-action trip report too.

[EBuff75]

It's getting closer!  I had to tweak my plans a bit, due to some other things going on, but the trip is coming!  Here are few more updates to the setup, now that I've gotten the truck back from the repair shop. 

Fridge Seal & Ice Cubes

I fixed a slight shortcoming with my fridge.  While there is a rubber gasket around the edges of the lid, there is a gap between the freezer and fridge which is about 1/8 inch tall.  I would have preferred to put the seal onto the lid, but because it can be swapped from side to side, I would've had to put two seals on it, as the divider isn't in the center. 

Instead, I put some foam tape weatherstripping on the top of the divider between the sides of the fridge (you can just barely see it on the left side in the picture).  This seems to have improved the accuracy of the temperature, particularly on the freezer side (which tended to stay warmer than what it was set to). I can now see about a 20F temperature difference on each side of the foam seal that I added, which would seem to indicate that it's working quite well!

One of the more difficult things to figure out was an ice cube tray for the freezer.  While it can fit most full-sized trays, finding one which leaves room for other items turned out to be somewhat difficult.  Adding to that, since the fridge is mobile, I wanted a tray with a lid to keep it from spilling while it freezes.  After three tries, I found this one on Amazon (the others were returned – one because it was broken when it arrived and the other because the dimensions didn't include the lid, which made it too large to fit side-to-side).
 
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Mosquito Repeller & Hanger

I picked up a Thermacell rechargeable mosquito repeller which I've tested a few times in the past month.  From my experience, it does seem to help, although I don't know how much it'll really be needed now that it's gotten cooler. 

Just in case, I'm planning to take it along.  I watched a couple of videos on how to make a macrame plant holder and then made one to fit the Thermacell, so that I can hang it on the awning (rather than having to sit it on a table or the ground).  For storage, I've got it hanging on the 2^nd row grab handle in the truck, right next to the bear spray which is in the seat back organizer. 

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Ladder and Emergency Sanitation

As stated earlier, I'm not bringing the sanitation setup, but I am bringing along some emergency TP, wipes, and a mini-shovel.  Those are all just getting tucked into available nooks and crannies on the passenger side near the fridge.

Since the solar panel and awning are potentially items which I'd need to tweak (tighten bolts, reset wiring, etc.) and it's hard to get up to the roof of a big truck, I bought a collapsible ladder.  It's surprisingly beefy and has air dampening for when you collapse it.  I tried it out on the side of the house and it works quite nicely!  The one I got is 8.5 ft, which makes it tall enough that I could go all the way up onto the roof of the truck and still be able to get back onto the ladder safely to get down.

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What's the Weather Like Today?

The exterior temperature sensor on my truck has been broken since I bought it over six years ago.  In the middle of summer it might read 35F and in February during a blizzard it might say that it's 135F! 

I started looking at cheap indoor/outdoor weather stations and quickly discovered that those outdoor sensors aren't meant to really get wet.  You're supposed to put them in a sheltered place on the outside of your house, something that a vehicle doesn't really have.  I finally had a brainwave that the canopy bag has enough room in it that I could put the sensor in there and keep it out of most of the weather. 

So I ordered a cheap weather station from Wittime and went through all the configurations.  It does allow you to adjust the barometer settings (not all of them do) and it agreed pretty well with my thermometer / hygrometer here at home.  Nice clear display, with a backlight that comes on if you hit any of the buttons.  The only feature it doesn't have is that there's no atomic clock time/date feed, you have to set it manually. I drilled a hole in the back of the frame for the awning and used a zip tie to strap the sensor in place (yes, it's sort of on the huge side - probably 4in x 2in and 3/4in thick).
 
I'll use this for a clock at night, plus it will let me know how cold it is outside whenever I get up to make a run to the bathroom.  That way I can prepare mentally before I open the door! 

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[EBuff75]

I still owe everyone an after-action report from my trip.  It was a very busy week and everything went really well.  I managed to get through almost the whole week before I got some rain and I decided to stay in a hotel that night, rather than staying in a campground where I'd have to walk through the rain/mud to get to the restrooms.  Maybe I'll get around to that next week (I'm off work the whole week).

Anyway, I finally got around to removing the awning tonight.  With the winter storm which is on the way, I figured I should get the truck ready.  The solar is still on it, but I'm not really worried about that.  It can't hurt to have the option to toss a power bank into the truck when I go out and have the ability to charge it up if I get stuck somewhere. 

I have a tire repair appointment for Friday morning.  One of the tires is losing air, probably due to corrosion on the rim, but there could be a nail in there somewhere that I just didn't see.  Now that I've got the awning removed, I also put all of my winter gear in the truck (sleeping bag, blankets, boots, tarp, shovel, recovery gear, food, water, etc.) and repacked the whole cargo area.  I kept the carpet remnant that I use for camping in there for additional insulation, along with the window inserts.  Should I get stuck somewhere and have to stay in the truck, I'll be in much better shape than the average traveller!