AT Habitat, Atlas, & Summit Pictures, ideas, aaand BS

Yes a sub panel. you want the runs as short as possible and make sure you are matching wire guage with loads. Dont want to burn your rig or yourself up. I have 2nd house batt and charge controller behind rear pass seat, added outlet behind center console and to truck bed. Pulled bottom cushion from seat and fridge usually lives there. Or if taking more people run fridge in trk bed. I try and keep it simple and mark all wires makes it easy to id if ya need to troubleshoot.

 

Make sure you have a breaker or fuse close to the start of your sub panel run. I turn my entire sub panel when not in use. The branch line is welding wire, water and oil/fuel proof, extremely flexible, designed for very high current load, and has a working temp far beyond what our vehicles see. Best part is, you can purchase by the foot at a welding supply shops fore about the same cost as crappy ebay stereo amp wire.

All terminals are crimped and soldered units from west marine, then water/fuel proof shrink tubing to cover as much of the terminal and wire joint as possible. Then all terminals are coated with dielectric grease.

The grounding line has bolted contacts on two locations on the truck’s frame.

Wire is routed to allow additional battery in the right rear fender/firewall area.

 

congratulations on that
like that frame you made. that tape is seriously adhesive, i just pulled the L-channel off. mine is two layers, and separated the double layer L-channel from the Habitat shell.

 

Thanks. I was wondering about that adhesive. How did you get it off? It looks pretty strong. I like the fact the L-channel locates the Habitat but I really want access to my bed rail.

 

I pried the double plate off, last twenty inches were difficult, felt i was going to screw up. started with two screw driver and used a five foot steel digging bar to slowly work it up.
these two plates are adhered together and both adhered to the bottom flat plate of the Habitat shell. meant to be permanent. I did not bend-up the L-channel too bad, and can re-use it. From what I see you need the two adhered layers adhered to that Habitat bottom plate. If you just had flat plates, rather than the L-section, you could access the utility channel and use clamps to hold down. I am not recommending you disassemble this L-channel/plate system. If you really want that utility access, that is on you, just saying.
The L-channel and button-head bolts make for a smooth and un-obtrusive interior, just no utility access.
I felt I needed to do this and did, and now have to do some fixing. one other thing I learned from the threads above, is the utility C-track needs to be removed to get the OEM nuts to slide within, the 'other' T-nuts and the nuts for the clamps will probably slide past the C-track screw heads.

 

Thanks for the info. Part of my problem is the habitat came off of a 2005 Tacoma and my third gen has the utility c-track in a different spot (lower down on the bed side). This makes the existing L-channel holes too high to use so I would need to drill new ones anyway and they would be at the extreme bottom of the L-channel. Wanting to used the c-track is really steering me to remove the L-channel but I see the need for structure there.

 

AT might offer suggestions as well, maybe you already spoke with.
makes more sense then, if you do not have to re-use the L track, you could muck it up no worry. maybe you could just saw the vertical off the L-channel, leave the adhesive alone.
I ordered a set of the clamps, have not seen them yet, I would suggest adding extra clamp force,(more clamps) in that 18-24 inches farthest forward.

 

Great advise! I just PM'd Mario looking forward to what he says. Good idea to maybe just cut the vertical off the L.

 

Brings up the question, is anyone removing and installing the hab frequently? What are some good storage and removal methods?

 

Looking at ideas to include a nice sqooshy mattress for the truck half of the tent. One option is the exped double. It’s 52” wide and the gap between the channels is 48.5”, or 1.25” of each side crunches to fit. Looks like the first 2” of the mattress will have crunch.

The only issue is the forward bows. Looking at it, I feel if I flipped the brackets it’ll be a little less sharp objects to much about with.

I wonder if @Mr D would object or weigh in on the idea? It almost looks like my tent now would favor a shift in hinge location, as it appears the hinge is not aligned right.

 

curious..IIRC, my hinges have that similiar non-square placement...thought it was a random placement. as to sharp edges potentially detrimental to a squishy air mattress, i'd think you could wrap that hinge to reduce its sharpy nature. I used to used 4 inch thick closed cell foam, cut to fit, in kayak cockpits for fit. cut, glue, shape with a rasp. you could soften up those edges.

 

The air awesomeness is 4” thick, and already too wide. I was worried about it filling that gap under the aluminum angle then crunching up more around the post, I’m (my wife) is concerned about it mucking with a $300 mattress. I considered a closed cell foam mattress but the storage of such would be detrimental. The angles look good to flip the brackets and reduce sharp.

 

Picked up our Tacoma about two months ago and the Habitat a week after that. This is my third Tacoma and my wife and I are coming from a JKU Rubicon. The Jeep got to be too small for us and we were tired of trying to get the cover on the rooftop tent. Don't have many pictures yet and haven't had time to build out the bed yet. Got our 50qt ARB fridge back there on an AT slide. Reused the Genesis dual battery kit from the JK. Tossed on an OME heavy lift with AAL and some FJ steelies. That's it for now.
I don't want to muck it up too much here, I'll start my own thread elsewhere. We LOVE the Habitat so far and couldn't be happier with our decision to change platforms. Enjoying seeing why others have done with their Habitats.

 

Bahhh this thread is a fantastic shit-show. Muck away.

 

AT is in Santa Cruz this weekend for paddle fest, tempting to go check it out and say hi, but also don't want to deal with the traffic and crowds.

 

It’s just 880 and 17, how bad can it be!!??

 

On one of the few warm sunny Saturdays we've had this year with large sporting events happening? I'm sure the beach traffic won't be bad at all...

 

Well I got impatient and didn’t wait for a reply from AT. After spending 30 minutes trying to remove the L-channel, I gave up on that method. That tape is tough stuff! I got about 10 inches free but couldn’t get any more.
I went ahead and trimmed part of the channel off to access the utility track (for clamps) or make it so I can install a longer L-Channel.
I was able to get my hands on one set of clamps. The clamps are a little cheap feeling in my opinion. I’m either going to get better clamps or as mentioned above, add a new L-Channel to the top of the current setup.
Here’s a pic of the L-channel getting trimmed:

I used my circular saw with an aluminum blade.
Here it is trimmed:

I ended up lifting the Hab 2 inches to not cut into by truck bed.

Here it is with the 4 clamps I have:

 

Trim job looks good, well done. i see you have those ATH units like OP. I'm still waiting on the clamps to see them. was messing with mine today, utilizing the T-nuts and grade 8 bolts for length. the T-nuts seem to be good option, looks like i'm going to use at least 4 T-nut/bolts, and possibly use some clamps...
Your idea about sourcing a L-channel with longer leg is good. The problem with that OEM L-channel is that it is dam wimpy. It will flex past 90*, i mean it opens wider than a 90* angle when stressed with the leverage that the open Habitat sleep platform induces. this a problem I have, and maybe no one else does. I'm going to use the L-channel, but I'm working on a 1/4 inch thick 12 inch section of aluminum channel to place in the crucial most forward 12-14 inches to augment. plan two bolts into utility channel through the extra piece. problem with the heavier gauge aluminum L section is it has curve at the inside angle, so does not fit flush on existing 90* L-channel. plan X is source a 2.5 inch wide 3/8inch thick plate about 14inch long to place between, such that vertical leg fits flush over the C-channel 'leg', and the gap made due to the inside curve is accommodated by the additional plate. I know, you'd have to see my drawing, and i don't have one....

My main point though, is finding a 'square' L channel with a long vertical leg will be the crux, but that is a good idea.

 

Yeah, square L-channel is hard to source. Adding the other backing plate or spacer behind the off-set L-channel is a good idea but starts to get pretty bulky.
I’m actually planning on using the ATH stiffeners to mount a clamp to high stress front area. The plan is to drill a hole in the stiffeners and clamp from the steel plate. This will tie in the front utility channel as well.
Finding an aluminum square tube might work to remove the inner radius of an L-channel but involves lots of cutting.