Let's see those Alu-cab setups

Forgive me if this thread is already in existence.

We attended Overland Expo West this year and had the opportunity to checkout several Alu-cab outfitted rigs. It was evident that this setup would be the perfect setup for our Tacoma. Our goal was to move our gear to the bed of the truck, but in order for us to do that we required a shell/canopy to help keep the dust/silt down. We wanted a solid canopy to be able to support a RTT without any issues. After running the CVT Mt Shasta Summit series RTT on our KBvoodoo bed rack for a year we wanted a tent that would be easy and fast to setup and tear down. Last but not least we really loved the 270 Shadow awning. Being able to quickly setup and stow the awning is big plus for us. All in all we decided the Alu-cab products offered us plenty of future options for upgrading in the near future.

After months of scrimping and saving it is finally time to order our new Alu-cab explorer canopy, Gen III RTT, and 270 degree awning from OK4WD. In the mean time would like to hear everyone's feedback and see all the different ways members are outfitting their setups.

Looking forward to posting our experience once it all arrives.

 

Have you looked into the Go Fast Camper? Sounds like it fits your needs.

I haven’t seen too many Alucabs on this site. They are just grossly overpriced.

 

Yes, and would love to have gone that route. Unfortunately the wait time is pretty long and we needed a new setup soon. Another deciding factor for the Alu-cab is the ability to remove the RTT when not in use. We have a ceiling hoist installed in our garage to store the Alu-cab tent as well

 

I've been slacking lately with posting.

We ordered the Alu-cab canopy, Gen 3 tent, 270 shadow awning, awning to tent brackets, and 1450mm crossbars from @ok4wd. Rin was a tremendous help with answering all our questions before, during and after we got everything in. All the products were in stock so the only wait time I had to deal with was waiting to return from my deployment before they shipped everything out. Shipping was free to my doorstep.

I was contacted by the freight delivery company to confirm shipment the day prior. Rin told us to inspect everything prior to releasing the driver and to annotate in the shipping acceptance form of any damage (big or small) on the boxes. This will come in handy in the event we discover something is damaged later on.

The shipment arrived the next day and we did notice some damage to the boxes right away. The driver was awesome enough to hang out to help me unpack everything and give me plenty of time to inspect the shipment. We were lucky that nothing was damaged.

 

The Alucab dealer in Seattle is selling their demo rig, might be a good deal for you?

https://www.instagram.com/p/BqaM3pQF2kq/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=16in43ynrf8hd

 

Install day

Very surprised how light the canopy weights (125lbs)

We did run into an issue with not having the correct amount of canopy mounting brackets. Ok4wd got the brackets mailed out to us and we were good to go within a few days.

 

Looks so good. That is what I wish the base of the GFC looked like.

 

Tent and Awning install.

Awning brackets were pretty straightforward. Required drilling holes into the tent to get them mounted. Sealed up the new holes with silicone to help keep things sealed up. Once we determined what set of holes to use when mounting the awning we then drilled holes through the awning cover. The awning definitely requires 2 people to mount as its pretty heavy (53lbs)

Having a Racor Hoist already mounted in the garage made installing the new tent super easy!

 

Made some improvements to whats already an amazing tent. The 3" mattress that came with the tent wasn't the best so we decided to add a 2" full size memory foam topper that we found on Amazon. The ladder that came with the tent was not adjustable so we picked up an 8ft expandable ladder and simply transferred the mounting bracket over to the new one.

 

Nice looking setup. Can't wait to see picks of it finished and out in use.

 

First night getting to use the new setup on the Mojave trail. Coming from a CVT Mt Shasta Summit series we had high expectations; especially with spending the extra coin on a smaller tent. First night we had 40mph gust come ripping through early that morning. Decided to stow the awning before going to sleep just to play it safe. Originally parked the truck facing into the wind, but the wind shifted in the opposite direction later that night. So the wind was no longer blowing toward the hard top. Even with that being said the tent remained super quiet on the inside. The only thing that woke me up was the sound of everyone else's tents flapping in the wind. The tent is very well insulated and heated up nicely once inside. With all the windows closed it was nice and dark on the inside. I actually got to sleep in for a change. Couldn't do that with our green CVT tent, once the sun came up it was too bright on the inside to even think about trying to go back to sleep.

Overall we are very satisfied with how easy camp is to setup and tear down. We usually arrive at our established campsite late at night and leave somewhat early to make the next spot, so this has met all our requirements and then some. The awning is easy to deploy we now look for reasons to deploy it and find ourselves more likely to use it. With the new setup we have more time to relax and enjoy our surroundings instead of being rushed to get everything packed away.

 

I have noticed improved fuel economy as well.
(4.88s with 285/75/17s)

My fuel mpg averages:

With CVT Mt Shasta mounted to KBvoodoo rack - 12.5-13.5mpgs
Without tent and bedrack- 15.5mpg
With Alu-cab canopy-16.5mpg
With Alu-cab canopy, tent, and awning-14.5-15mpg

 

Now that we have extra real estate to work with on top we have a good spot to add a 100w Renogy solar panel. To avoid having to drill into the canopy we just ordered the alu-cab side cupboard to mount our solar controller and inverter. Will post pics once thats in place, but for now we just have the panel mounted to the load bars on top.



The canopy does come with one light towards the back, but we opted to replace it with LED strip lights.



Jeff from Expedition Essentials made us some Roadshower mounts as well. Since we use a water heater theres no real need for it to mounted on top anymore.

 

Man I love it

 

Awesome looking truck and great setup!

 

Thanks man

 

Can the alucab tent attach to a prisnu rack or are the mounting points wider than a prisnu?

 

Looks like it might work. I know a few 4runners that have them mounted to front runner racks