On Board Air (for the F150 Flatbed)

Given that I had not one, but two On Board Air (OBA) entries for Vandalf, I suppose this project was inevitable.  The ability to air-down one's tires is easily one of the most important little tricks of spending time on dirt - lowering the pressure increases the tire's footprint, decreases the loading pressure of the vehicle on the surface, and generally improves comfort for the occupants while also being gentler on both the vehicle and the trail.  In short, there are precious few reasons NOT to air-down whenever practical.  For a more detailed review of airing-down whilst offroad, try this article.

Nobody wants to admit it, but I think the primary reason people don't air-down as a rule, is that it can be a hassle to air-up again at the end of the trail.  The solution, then, as with so many of my little projects, is to reduce the hassle-factor as far as possible.  Eliminating all the barriers to good behavior is the surest way to prevent bad behavior, as it were.  

Dashboard Accessory Mount

Just a couple of miles on a washboard road is all you need to convince yourself that you want all your dashboard accessories firmly mounted and easily visible.  I have gone through a significant number of phone and tablet mounts that either vibrated terribly, or just failed to hold on to the items in question.  After a couple of iterations, I finally solved the problem in our Astro van by just bolting a length of T-track to the dashboard

Everybody Poops!

Jokes aside, during the early design phase of Vandalf, our first camper, it became clear very quickly that family happiness depended, at least in part, on making restroom use convenient for my ladies. This was a point simply not worth arguing or trying to game. For the van, I ended up building a cabinet that was large enough to hold a 5-gallon Porta-potti. (Either the Dometic 976 or Thetford Model 365 - we ended up with the Dometic.) This style of toilet has worked well enough for our needs - while not a joy to service, the process isn't terrible and fits better with the "weekenders and occasional long trip" usage pattern versus a composting style toilet. Given where we live in San Diego, a traditional RV black water system was out of the question - the nearest dump station is 30 minutes in the opposite direction from where we usually adventure, which would add at least an hour of overhead to the end of every trip. 👎(Hard pass.)

We got a new rig! (Two years ago.)

In typical fashion, I'm finally getting around to writing a blog entry about the fact that we got a new truck - only 23 months after the fact!

The plot goeth thusly:

Vandalf the Beige, our 2003 Astro Van with a self-transplanted GTRV Pop Top, has been in the family since my daughter was only 3 months old. I purchased the van with the specific intent of converting it to a pop-top four wheel drive camper, and making sure that my daughter grew up knowing how much fun family adventure could be. On that score, mission-accomplished. That said, while a mini-van (or as the Astro/Safari folks generously dub them: "Midi-Vans") has proven to be a tidy package for fitting into tight places and narrow trails, the fact is that things were getting cozy now as our daughter became a teen. 😱 An upgrade in size was in-order.

Furthermore, Vandalf was 99.999% DIY (and I don't mean "Built not Bought" the way the Jeep guys say it 😛) - I literally did everything myself, from the Pop-Top and 4WD conversion to the upholstery. The only work not done by my own hands was the re-gear and setup on the axles and the replacement of a seized brake caliper that happened en-route to Mountain Rendezvous. 

I'm proud of that build, but the truth is that I don't have it in me to tackle that kind of project again. I have a lot of thoughts and feelings on that subject that I'll get into at some later point. I will still get my hands dirty on the new rig, but frankly I don't have enough weekends left with my kiddo before she leaves for college to spend them scratch-building a truck.

Given all of that, 2021-2022 sounds like a perfect time to shop for a new camper, right? Nobody else is buying stuff like that as a global pandemic wreaks havoc on supply chains and buying trends? 😢

There are a lot of options, and we spent literally years exploring everything from bigger/fancier vans, to slide-in campers, to bespoke habitat boxes mounted on ex-military trucks.  Many of my friends in the various Expo/Adventurist/Vanlife spheres have been witness to me checking out rigs at events, and cyber-stalking various truck and van owners for quite a while.  Additionally, our somewhat-short (22') suburban SoCal driveway limits us to either short-wheelbase vans or extended-cab, shortbed style trucks - No 170" Sprinters, quad cabs, or longbeds need apply.  After getting a chance to thoroughly climb through a Four Wheel Campers Hawk Flatbed at an event in ~2018, the Mrs. had long-since settled on that camper as her preferred solution to the question, and this is one area where deferring to her preferences is worthwhile. 

Well, the diligence paid off - when this truck and camper hit the Expedition Portal classifieds, I was on it in a flash.  Is she a perfect fit for our needs? Not 100%, but damned close, and the price was right to enable me to get the rig purchased and dialed with enough time for a big Summer 2022 family adventure. 

Turn-key package-wise, this was pretty spot-on to find a 2020 Hawk Flatbed already mounted on a 2018 F-150 Extended-Cab, shortbed truck.  Most of the truck options are exactly what I would have opted for: the long-range 36 gallon fuel tank gives us about 500 miles of range, even with the camper; the rear axle has the electronic-locking differential for more technical off-roading; and the V8/10-speed powertrain is the right combination of robustness and capability.  

On paper, the F150 might be slightly under-spec'ed for the load, and I agree that a full flatbed camper on a half-ton truck is at the limit.  That said, this particular truck has the right options for a 2200lbs payload, so I'm taking a wait-and-see approach.  So far it seems like the previous owner did a great job with suspension upgrades - there are custom rear leaf springs to match the camper's weight, and the TeraFlex Tow/Haul shock kit levels out the ride height and makes it very easy to toggle the damper settings for on or off road behavior.  Overall, the truck handles great.

Aside from a few tasteful cosmetic updates from the original owners, the interior layout is pretty standard Four Wheel Camper for now.  I will note that we probably would have opted for the "cassette toilet", but this camper was ordered with a storage cabinet instead.  This is probably actually better, since it includes an upper storage area for food/dry goods and a lower cabinet that still houses a "porta potti" style toilet after a few modifications.

The photos above courtesy of previous owner @dalday and I thank him for building such a nice rig!



The Voyage Home

My habit of finding and purchasing vehicles from very far away continues unabated. (Our 2003 van was a fly-n-drive from Arizona, and the 1995 GTRV donor van was a fly-n-drive from Vancouver, BC.) This truck/camper package was listed for sale in Little Rock, AR, which posed a few new challenges, but nothing insurmountable. I'm not sure any of these merits a full writeup, unless there are questions, so I'll just give a bulleted list of things that I needed to deal with in the run-up to, and the immediate aftermath of the camper purchase:

• This particular F-150 was built for, and originally sold to, the Canadian market, then re-imported to the USA. I had no interest in accidentally having a grey- or black-market truck, so some due diligence was in-order. Having already done a Canadian vehicle import once, I knew the things to check and the people to contact. After verifying all the Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and Emissions labels, and obtaining a copy of the original bond-release paperwork from when the truck was imported, I felt safe in the truck's provenance and went forward with the sale.
• Money Matters - we were paying cash for this rig - that meant moving funds around between our own accounts, but there was a bigger problem - none of our banks had an office in Little Rock, and I didn't blame the seller for being shy about accepting an out-of-state cashier's check, given the potential for fraud there. Instead, I ended up opening an account with the seller's bank and doing a wire-transfer to get the funds into my account there. Not difficult, but it can take a couple of days to move large sums of money like this. On the day of the sale we finished our transaction at his branch, which went very smoothly.  The bank manager even let us use his office for the final signatures!
• Getting all the "stuff" home - Along with the truck and camper, there were quite a few parts that were included in the deal that needed transporting - biggest of which are the drop-sides and tailgate that came with the Ute Ltd flatbed (which let it function more like a regular pick-up truck when the camper is not fitted). Fortunately the seller was able to wedge these into the space between the flatbed and frame and lash everything in place well enough to get them home. The backseat was also filled with four camper jacks still in boxes and a bunch of ancillary bits.
• Air Travel to Little Rock - I figured the cost of a 1-way ticket to pick up the camper was part of the cost of doing business, but timing worked out such that I was originally supposed to fly on the day of that big winter-arctic blast thing that dropped ice and snow all over everything from Colorado down to central Texas and Arkansas. Cancelled flights and delays ensued, but we adapt.
• Driving route was also adjusted due to the weather - that storm left a lot of ice on the roads on my preferred route.  I'd originally intended to check some Route-66 segments off my bucket list, but I diverted south to avoid ice, so that's an adventure for another day. The downside of the southern route is only that you spend almost two days just driving across Texas.😡   I used to be a bus driver, so I'm used to long stints behind the wheel, but this was, to date, my longest un-assisted haul in such a short time span. (Approximately 1700 miles in about 48 hours!)
• Freezing me arse off in Arizona - The upside of buying a complete camper is that very little extra gear is needed to turn a Fetch Quest into a full-blown Adventure.  I packed my backpacking sleeping back and a couple of days of warm clothing into my carry-on bag, and flew out.  After taking possession of the truck, I stopped at a Home Goods and Dollar Store for a single saucepan, a knife and fork, and some basic provisions.  With that, I was ready to camp.  The seller had demonstrated all the functions were working on delivery, so I was good to go.  Except that, maybe, the first (of two) propane tanks wasn't quite as full as expected.  On the last night of the drive, somewhere outside of the Coyote Mountains Wilderness, the heater died at about 2am. Being inexperienced with the new rig, and given that it was hovering just below freezing, I didn't think to climb out and swap to the 2nd propane tank.  I shivered in my bag for a few hours until dawn.
• Registration in California - As noted in this thread, I had a little snafu with getting the truck smogged. One failure was an issue of an overzealous and misguided visual inspection, the other was a quasi-legitimate concern about the change to the fuel-filler neck resulting from the flatbed conversion. The details are in that thread, but there was a delay due to needing to source a couple of adapter parts and waiting for California Bureau of Automotive Repair referee appointments. In the end, being prepared with good documentation and a cheerful attitude paid off - the BAR referee was a cool guy and the whole appointment was very smooth.  The truck is now legal and tagged as a "Permanently Mounted" camper (passenger vehicle), rather than a commercial flatbed truck, which saves on taxes and potential hassles at weigh stations.

Now, let the fun begin!

Dutch Door Rack Simplification

"Simplify, and add lightness" - Colin Chapman

It's not just for race car engineers, it's good for overlanders too.

Like a lot of folks in this hobby, I've expended a fair amount of time and energy on figuring out cool ways to bolt useful things to our rig. The irony is not lost on me, therefore, that much of my latest work on the van involve either setting aside previous projects, or undoing them altogether.

Prior to our 2016 California Coast roadtrip, our first excursion as a family longer than a weekend, I had undertaken adding a second load-carrying rack to the passenger-side dutch door, and adding a Pelican iM2720 case to the driver-side rack. This was at least partially motivated by the need to free up a little more interior storage space.  The revamped left-side rack also saw the addition of a step which made accessing the roof basket infinitely easier and safer.

Rear Suspension Refresh

Aside from a few COVID-projects to optimize a couple parts of the van, things have been pretty stable/reliable for a while.  After a particularly hard push at the day job, I took advantage of a free day to take a solo overnighter up to one of my favorite areas in the San Bernardino National Forest.  Access is via a pretty good FS road, but there are a few spots where the graded dirt gives way to a vein of rock poking through the terrain.

On-Board Air Update

A while back, I'd gone through the effort of fabbing up some brackets so I could sling a Viair 2.5 gallon tank under the slider-door sill area.  

However, not long after that project, I realized how heavy my rig had gotten, so I started questioning all my life choices.  Eventually, I bagged that project and embarked on a more holistic pursuit of putting the van on a diet.  I have, however, followed through on mounting a compressor.  My justification is that I'd be carrying a portable compressor anyway, so this was a worthwhile trade-off for a supreme convenience.

Now-abandoned OBA tank

I have been using a Viair 400p since our first American Adventurist Desert Rendezvous in 2012, and found it to be more than adequate for my ~30" tires.  A few years ago, I scored a good deal on a used 400c (the fixed-mount version) at another American Adventurist gear swap, and I figured a one-to-one exchange would work out well.

Made in the Shade - Awning Bracket Upgrade

 Of all the creature comforts on Vandalf the Beige, the one that is the most valuable, and most consistently used, is our ARB 2500 awning.  Our "living room" is defined by the space under the awning, next to the van.  Whether it be sun, rain, or bugs, the awning (and accessories) helps protect us and make our time outdoors more enjoyable.

But all was not perfect in awning-land.  We were in desperate need of an upgrade.

Photo courtesy Martin Meyers

Water System Upgrades

It's time to revisit one of the oh-so-sexy topics of van and camper building: Water Supply.

Management of your water stores is not something to be taken lightly.  You simply must have it.  Moreover, the fact that it's heavy and fluid means you really to make sure you've done a proper job of securing it.  Lastly, you don't want upkeep and usage to be a hassle.

The fresh-water system on the Gandalf-the-Beige has gone through a couple of evolutions that I've failed to document.  Since I just did a little cleanup on that system, I figured it was a good time to finally pen an update. You can catch up on the original installation here.

Retro Post: Our Portable Firepot - Roadii Fire Grill Clone

This past weekend I undertook some upgrades to the portable firepit system we often use when camping.  When I started writing things up, I realized that I hadn't really ever documented the original construction and use.  So before I cover the upgrades, let's back up slightly and talk about how we do campfires.

Bespoke Luggage for the Discerning Overlander

A careful reading of this blog will generally confirm one overriding theme:  Wherever possible, I try to optimize every facet of our overlanding experience.  Usually, patience and careful "spec-shopping" nets me a low-cost, lightweight solution.  Sometimes iteration is required, and I work from a coarse solution to a finer one.  The end of that trend-line, though, is that at a certain point, if things are going to get any better, I need to go custom.  And usually, that means making it myself.  This project follows that arc perfectly.

Off-the-Shelf vs. Custom

Chuckbox 102: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

As I have mentioned in my previous post Chuckbox 101, gear storage is a "continual improvement" process for me.  I'm constantly refining how I pack, store, and use my gear to improve my experience and gain efficiency.  Things have changed enough that rather than simply update old posts, it's time to present a whole new write-up.

Two factors drive the most recent change:  First is that small organizational changes as noted in this post have let me reduce (or at least relocate) the volume of gear in my kitchen kit.  Secondly, I'm on a larger push to put the rig on a diet to ensure we stay under our GVWR.  This involves lots of steps such as the recent roof reconfiguration.

Cutting to the chase, here's the new package.  Read on to see how I built it:

Solar System Upgrades and Roof-Diet

We've been rocking a hybrid roof-top/portable solar system for several years now.  Having the flexibility to either use the panel fixed on the pop-top roof, or to unlock it and move it for better sun exposure has been excellent.

With our original 60w panel and an inexpensive PWM controller, we had a great budget solution, but it struggled to keep our house battery fully charged when the loads were high. (Usually hot days in the desert when the fridge works hard)

Shooting timelapse at Vista del Malpais

I've experimented with timelapse shooting a few times in the past.  Here's a brief result from our recent trip to Vista del Malpais, overlooking the badlands of Anza Borrego Desert State Park


These aren't my best results, but for posterity, here's the setup for the new "sub-Kilo" timelapse system I'm putting together:

• GoPro Hero2, 5s interval shooting
• Turnspro panning station, 75deg pans over 20 minutes each
• Mini tripod
• LRTimelapse for post-processing

Total weight: ~600g 

Improvements for next time:

1.  Adding a bubble level to the rig - with the small and lightweight rig, it was very hard to eyeball "level" and the original shots ended up visibly tilted. Correcting those tilts in post is the likely cause of the slight judder in the video.
2. Switching back to a small Canon P+S hacked with CHDK so we can get raw images for improved processing, or upgrading our venerable GoPro...

Campervan Curtains Update: Leather Tie-Backs

Back in 2016, just before our California Coast Roadtrip, I had finally got round to finishing the installation of curtains in the van.  For curtain tie-backs, I used some 1" Nylon webbing I'd found in a matching color.

Reupholstering the Rock-n-Roll Bed

After I built a steel-framed VW-style Rock-n-Roll bed last year (Part 1, Part 2), I had big plans to quickly purchase some made-to-order box-cushion covers from one of several online vendors who have leveraged CNC pattern cutting and inexpensive overseas labor.  I was hitting project fatigue on the whole seat/bed thing, so I just wanted to get it over with.

Quarter-Window Utility Rack

A quick update, now that I've finished the build on my utility rack that spans the rear quarter window between the C and D pillars on the driver's side.  Like many of my projects, this starts with inspiration provided by the wonderfully rich aftermarket available to the Volkswagen crowd, which I then shamelessly copy and duplicate DIY-fashion for the Astro van and its (non-existent) aftermarket.  In this case, I took inspiration from the Campervan Culture "Side Mount System".

Roof Rack Improvements

It seems that one of the universal farkles of any overland vehicle is a stout roof rack - usually overloaded with Jerry cans of fuel, dented aluminum cases, and tools.  Clearly, in building an Overlander out of an Astro van, I've eschewed some of the more de rigueur "fashions" of overlanding, but let's face it, a roof rack is just so damned useful..

Chuckbox 101

So after my last post about organizing my food box, in which I referenced the Chuckbox, I got some questions about the box itself, and figured I was due to write that up as well.

Trying to describe our portable camp-kitchen is a bit like trying to hit a moving target - it's constantly changing, and it packs in a lot of functions.

Overland Organization (aka DIY TrekPak inserts)

Those who know me know that I'm constantly working to better organize the stuff in our Adventure Rig.  The available space is quite small, so it needs to be used efficiently.  I've spent years refining how stuff gets stored in the van, replacing a "good" container with a "great" container whenever I can pick up a few more cubic inches of utilized volume or something that makes using the system just that little bit easier.

My "chuckbox" is a prime example. It is under constant revision; each time I can find (or eventually learn to make) a better item that helps me to efficiently store and use the items within, it changes.  It's a dense enough topic that it has its own post, and a second follow-up.

Kitchen circa 11/2016 - I've already changed some things since.