The Getaway...Crom's build and adventures

Most of my time in my flippac was spent in DV. Those cold windy noisy nights are a thing of the past with the FWC. Even in my buddies Frontier which has a shell is warmer/quieter than the flippac.

 

This is one of the main reasons I love sleeping in my shell. I have the same shell as Crom but with a 6' bed. I went camping last weekend with some friends and most of them were in tents. It was super windy at night to the point where some of our tarps we had setup got blown down. One of my friends came to me in the morning and said "Holy it was windy as hell last night, I could barely sleep!". Besides seeing the evidence from the tarps I had no idea it was that windy overnight.

 

One of the things I like with my raised floor configuration on my truck is that when solo in poor weather I can sleep very comfortably in the back with the Flip-Pac closed and really not have to move much of anything out of the back. The Flip-Pac tent is noisier than hell when it is really blowing so having the option to sleep with it closed is nice. I wonder if the tent on the new AT Habitat is any quieter. It really seems to be the long vent design on the top of the Flip-Pac tent that makes the most noise and a different design might not make quite as much racket (though of course all tents are going to be rather noisy in wind).

 

Hey thanks, that's great info!

 

Our Kodiak canvas tent is great in the wind, no noisy laminated poly /nylon flapping in the wind. Which reminds me I have to order the King Kong sized Monk industries tent stakes.

I wear ear plugs at night when solo camping.

It's a technique I picked up from a friend and fellow backpacker years ago. He did it in the Navy and when he got out he found he could not break the habit.

I tried it and it works really well. Been doing it now for a little over 5 years...

The habitat for Tacoma looks cool. I still don't understand how it works, load support wise.

 

To support the load while opening/closing it uses pneumatic struts - just like the ones that help open a hood or the rear door of a shell (except much stronger). If you look at the pictures you can see these mounted at the rear of the shell. The bottom of the struts are mounted to the very rear of the shell while the top of the struts attach to the lid a bit forward of the rear. Thus they are diagonal when the lid is closed. The geometry is such that when the lid is vertical the strut will be at its longest and when the lid is closed or open it will be at its shortest. Thus the strut provides no lifting force when the lid is vertical (just like the Flip-Pac torsion bar) and maximum lifting force when the lid is open or closed (again like a torsion bar). The lid flips backwards primarily so they can use this strut system instead of a torsion bar (if flip forward the struts would interfere with vehicle doors when lid open and it would be impossible to design an "overhang" for a short bed version as well).

In addition to that there are also two static supports that are attached from the rear of the shell to the lid when open - similar to the Flip Pac's front supports.

 

Hmm. I don't know if that would help or hurt. I think my mind might get the best of me with ear plugs.

 

Same here. I want to be able to hear what's coming.

 

One of my hobbies is/was Amateur Radio. I haven't done much with it in the last two years, but in the last month or so, I've picked it back up and having a little fun with it.

This weekend I dusted off an old scanner antenna I had laying around and mounted it up to my rig. The antenna feeds into a modest hand held radio (HT), but one day will go to a more serious radio scanner like a Bearcat or SDR.

I've programmed the HT to monitor CalFire MV, and USFS Cleveland, because forest fires, and I want to be the first to know so I can GTFO if I'm in the back country.

The radio turns on automatically when the rig is running and shuts off with the ACC circuit.

So far performance is great! And I have very little money into it. Antenna, radio, plus parts, are under $50.









After testing it out off road, I took it off and painted it all black, and reinstalled, to make it more stealthy. I like it a lot and very functional.

 

I was fortunate to have organized a target shooting trip, and got in some badly needed trigger time in with old friends.

Good to be on the gun.






This is Bert Gummer.

Bert asked for a magazine... Yep!

 

Lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcsLaSBWG9k

 

Tremors - one of the best B (or maybe C) movies out there. Shot mostly around Lone Pine, CA. In fact the scene where the work crew hits one with a jackhammer is Whitney Portal Road. And of course lots of scenes shot in the Alabama Hills right there as well. They built the town mostly from scratch on the floor of the Owens Valley to the south of Lone Pine I think. The director I think it was, who may also have done the screenplay, actually worked at China Lake to the south years earlier and conceived of the idea for the movie while working on the base there. Specifically the idea of hopscotching from rock "islands" to avoid something living in the dirt came to his mind while working on the ranges.

 

ROFL!!! Thanks. . Love that scene.

Thanks! Movie was great. I remember in the opening sceene the Eastern Sierras, being drawn to the mountains through the film. I'm like, wow! I have to go there. anyways i probably watched the movie 2 dozen times with my brother growing up. Good memories.

Thanks for your writep on how the Habitat product works. Appreciated.

 

A few weeks ago I replaced my auxiliary battery in the truck as it was showing signs of weakness. I use, abuse, and replace as necessary.

I received 1,163 days of good use from it. It will have a second life as a +12v source for my VHF/UHF base radio at my home.

Fresh New battery:

• EverStart Brand
• Group Size 24DC
• 690 Marine Cranking Amps
• 101 Amp Hours.
• Built in April 2016
• Weighs 46.08 lbs.
• Cost $76 plus $12 core, because I kept my old one.

Hooray for +12v power. lol

 

I picked up a CTEK MUS 4.3 battery charger.

It's a great tool to have.





I also bought an

$12 EZRED SP101 Battery Hydrometer, Factory

E-Z Red SP101 Battery Hydrometer for testing individual cells of wet cell batteries. Works great!

 

Hey @Crom , I seek your infinite wisdom!!! Bought the Indel-B fridge on the recent group buy and want to do a portable setup on the Tundra bed. I was thinking of using a wood panel and bolting the Fridge using the mounting bracket I also bought and do some kind of battery/charger contraption. Any recommendations you may give will be greatly appreciated!!!

 

Thanks. Make a thread for your idea, and invite me in. I'll do my best to help.

 

Will do, let me get out of work and put my thinking cap on at home!!! Thanks buddy!!!

 

Nick, The folks at American Tire Depot cant seem to get the balance right on my tires. I almost always get a little steering wheel shimmy at 55-65 mph. I know its the tires just from past experiences. Your using balancing beads right? Just wondering if I should give that a try?

 

@Crom well this is a very unfortunate development. I was really becoming enamored with OME BP-51 and hoping the shocks, especially rear, would have better travel, but I just asked Dan at Wheeler's Offroad to measure the ones he just received and...no. Basically no better than existing OME shock offerings in terms of travel.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/ome-bp-51-suspension-coming-in-2015.344508/page-11#post-12405057

My plan is basically the same as yours in the rear, Dakars with flip kit, and I especially wish to maximize rear downtravel with the DCLB 4x4 no locker, only LSD at this point. I figure if I do not have ATRAC and a locker, my initial goal should be maximizing down travel on all 4 corners on this LWB pig to maximize traction over obstacles. I can/will add an ARB later if necessary.

This is really bumming me out about the BP-51s, but full function must win over pretty damn neato and all the bypassy goodness of the new OMEs.

I guess this clarifies my options...somewhat.