Car Camping / Trip Reports / Photos / Buildouts / “Overland” / Expedition Rigs Area (homeless?)

Durango Doughworks makes a mean breakfast burrito as well.

 

Burnt ends are the shit

 

It's happening!!

 

Wait...

What is happening?

 

Cargo slide/fridge slide drawer system/sub box being built

That pic is just of the third row finally being removed

 

Woooot!

 

I use my fridge similarly. In the truck for camping/offroad adventures, in whatever vehicle for roadtrips or working in the field, and in my home office the rest of the time. It's great to always have cold refreshments, never stop for ice, and never have soggy sandwiches. I'm amazed more construction workers don't live that fridge life; I watch a lot of those guys buy a bag of ice every morning all summer and curse about their sandwiches being ruined.

I have the same low voltage shut off options on mine too but its never kicked in. Math tells me I should be okay for a long weekend on the stock battery, but I've only let it sit there for 24hrs before I need to take the truck somewhere... I got places to be. Your "at least 2 days" seems to confirm my maths.

 

By the time I get the fridge it will be in my trailer I am currently building. It will stay parked for the 7 days unless the tide makes me move it.

 

I have no regrets buying a fridge (whynter 45qt). Also have a sportsman igloo 55qt cooler. Cooler does fine for 4-5 days but the ice drives me crazy. Getting everything soaked. Had a few things become waterlogged and ended up with an entire cooler of jalapeño smell. Even with a 55qt cooler the usable space isn't that after adding ice.

No longer having to lug around a full cooler is awesome. Now I just open my rear door and reach in for whatever I want. And I can stick anything in there without having to worry about precooling.

 

Update on the first prototype

Lost 120 lbs of seats.



Drawer boxes. One will have a cooler and one will have a slide for a tote that can strap down to it. Someday it will be a fridge instead of a cooler.



My favorite part is the hidden compartment for the sub and whatever else I can fit.

 

I just found out my fridge can run 39 hours before it shuts itself off on the medium voltage setting. It's currently set on 4°F and only had one bottle of water on the freezer side and 5 12oz cans in the fridge side. I'm pretty happy with that. I am only running a single group 31 battery at the moment. I will be adding a solar panel at some point.

 

damn you run it COLD! I leave mine at 30. Does leaving it run on medium voltage still have enough juice to jump the truck?

 

I run it there so the freezer side stays cold. The fridge side runs at 33-35 at that setting. And the truck started right up without issues.

 

I have a 43 quart fridge/freezer..it's one or the other, never both. Anyway, I run it 15 degrees F while driving and turn it up to 35 when parked. I have a dual battery system with an old optima blue top. I'd like to add solar panes this year.

I suspect my old blue top might be done for. The fridge shuts off even at the 10volt setting pretty quickly. Recently I broke the wire to the DC connector. My short term solution is to run it off the inverter on AC. It's horribly inefficient but the fridge stays on.

 

Mine is a dometic cfx 65dz so it has the divider that allows one side to be colder. It not a true dual zone but works well enough for me so far. What brand of solar panel are you looking at? Solar will be a whole new adventure for me.

 

Renogy 100 Watts 12 Volts Polycrystalline Solar Starter Kit

Renogy 100 Watts 12 Volts Polycrystalline Solar Starter Kit w/ 100w solar panel,30A Charge Controller, 8ft 10AWG Tray Cables,Solar Adaptor Kit

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DCEKKQ0/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_OXqvzb2T1RHWM

This is the one I am going to be running.
It is expandable up to 400w

 

Those are nice. Mine is a Edge Star 43 quart. It's on it's 3rd year. I use it all the time. I don't think it's as efficient as the nicer fridges though. I made a mylar bubble wrap jacket for it that helps a whole bunch.

This is the same one I'm looking at. I might jump to the 200 watt set up.

 

How'd you make the mylar bubble wrap jacket? Just rolled it around it?

 

Second night of camping.... At least 6 more months to go!



That picture is at 11,000+. I camped at 10,600. Temps got down into the 20s I'd guess.

 

Pretty much. The roll was about 25 feet long and 28 inches wide maybe? I cut it long enough to wrap it and then folded the top part down into itself so it wasn't so stall. It has 2 layers where it's folded. I cut out where the fridge vents and controls are. I have the fridge strapped to the slide so I cut slits in it for the straps to pass through. I ran a bungie around the whole thing. The bungie is nice because I like to hang stuff on it. For the top I just bungied another piece to it.

I have a few pieces for the windows of my camper shell to block the heat during the summer too.

My bedroom gets pretty hot during the summer so I put the left over bubble wrap between the curtains and the blinds in the windows. It's made a huge differance. You can't see the bubble wrap from inside or outside the house. I go to bed at 8pm so it also keeps the light out during the summer.

Check out post #67. I've since replaced the wood on my fridge slide with .060 Aluminum Sheet metal.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/otis24s-build.372874/page-4