Driving a Tacoma around the world

Cool video, thanks. Don’t think I’m going to be spraying everything with WD40, though.

 

Your route map on your website is equal parts insane and amazing! Can't wait for you guys to be able to head out!

 

Thank you! I think! There's definitely some pucker spots where we'll have to be on our A game

Just finished watching Patriot Games in Mongolia, awesome place will have to figure out how to get there as they're nearly surrounded by less than steller countries. Shouldn't say more less they not let me thru.

 

I wouldn't recommend many procedures Cleetus and crew have done over the years. Super entertaining though. And he held the GM stick shift record for a while.

Glad you found the panel issue before you were on the road!

 

Yeah! The glass is definitely half full in that I’ve had more time to debug the the camper and its systems. Still have an unexplained 24 amp-hour loss that uses up 30% of the battery daily. I’ve isolated it to the company who put the flatbed and camper on the truck hooked up the trucks’s alternator to the Redarc battery charger.

This type of annoyance is precisely why i chose this highly-rated company instead of doing it myself. I’m learning though.

 

DIY is both fun and a great teacher if you have the time. Plus you know where you did great, and where you could have done better.

On the flip side, respected/expert specialists sometimes have tricks that you probably would have never thought of. Youtube has been so great at demystifying a lot.

For your drain issue, some of the solar people I follow on YT tend to use something like this monitor for their various tests. I've seen them standardize on different quick-connect plugs to be able to get inline on a circuit easily.

DROK Charge-Discharge Monitor, 0-90V 100A DC Ammeter Voltmeter, Battery Capacity Amp-Hour Watt-Hour Power Time Multimeter, LCD Display Digital Voltage Current AH WH Watt Meter Tester with Hall Se

https://www.amazon.com/Charge-Discharge-DROK-Voltmeter-Watt-Hour-Multimeter/dp/B07YWVCBRN

(found that one from a link on Will Prowse's site https://www.mobile-solarpower.com/battery-monitors.html)

 

Time may or may not be getting tight for us as we can’t seem to find whether they’ll let me in the continent coming from the UK. My wife has a UK passport so she can, but this doesn’t answer the question of whether it’s SMART for us to go. Will they welcome us or see us as a Typhoid Mary? We could winter in AZ or NM and then go over but will it be any better? Stay tuned, we’ll be making the decision in about 6 weeks.

@xplorn, funny we are using the second device, which is a Victron 712 battery monitor. This has been a really great tool, it even comes with an app so i can see the battery’s vitals, state of charge, how much is being inputted from the solar panels all while 30’ away from the truck.

I’m coming back from a 10 day business trip in MT to a weekend of packing and then moving out of the house the next weekend. Going to be busy!

 

Finally completed installing a 12 gallon grey water tank immediately behind and above the spare tire holder. I was not planning on having this thinking that out in the boonies of Africa i could just let it drain onto the ground or at least into a bucket. But with the overseas portion of our trip postponed because of the virus we’re now planning on touring the western US because the sale of our house is less than 2 weeks away! US campgrounds highly frown on grey water dumped under campers

So enter another project!


I used aluminum bars padded with a bike inner tube bent around the tank and then securely attached them to the truck frame.



Pretty cool! The sink and shower water now drain thru a couple of garden hoses into the top of tank. When I’m in an appropriate spot another hose attached the bottom allows it to drain.

I think i may have to modify the exhaust as it comes within a couple of inches of the tank

Now time to focus fully on tracing the short in the camper electrical system

 

Do you have a link to the tank you used or the dimensions? Look like it fits like a glove

 

I just ordered it from a local RV store, no brand on it, sorry. The dimensions are 8” tall, 16” long (between the axles) and 24” wide (across the rear axle). The rear portion of it rests on top of the spare tire mount


and in the front it just barely fits between this thingy...


All that being said you would need to have 8” above the front portion of the spare tire mount for this to work. But please realize i have a flatbed which has been lifted about 2”. But you might be able to fix a tank 6” tall; drop your spare tire as it’s way easier to measure

 

I have shipped to Germany a couple of times using shipping containers. The checklist is pretty thorough so if anything is damaged or stolen using RoRo it'll be taken care of. I have used West Coast Shipping in Richmond, CA. Here is my rare rare 1994 Porsche 911 Turbo getting dropped off for shipment.

 

Maybe a small Honda generator.

 

Very nice! Love to see that! I actually have a brown grandson of yours; a 2008 911 turbo cab, 6 speed. Heading today to go into storage. ☹️

 

Thanks, we've gone back and forth on a generator, biggest thing it would allow us to have AC in the camper, just concerned about the weight of it and the gas. Guess we always could add it or drop if not needed

 

I wonder if a simple swamp cooler could be made over an air vent. Or do they have to be big?

 

Congratulations on the closing by the way!

 

Thanks! Just finished moving 30 years of stuff into storage.

I wonder if someone makes a small portable swamp cooler, have to check it out

 

I hear the internet is full of ‘this mini air conditioner is taking the world by storm’ ads. It’s all I see on my junk pages. Looks like they are all ~9-12” cubes. My guess is they are some kind of water based unit, or the same technology they use for compressor-less refrigerators; like wine fridges.

 

Cheap cooler, saw, low voltage PC fan, dry ice. Saved me many a nights camping in Florida.

 

I just picked up the TransCool from Australia. A bit more expensive than the desk cube coolers. But it runs in 12v and really has a serious fan. The company has been selling them for at least 10 years - something the Amazon sellers can’t boast.

It seems to really make a difference here in the desert ( Eastern WA). Will be testing in Southern UT in two weeks! I tried it when we had 110 deg last week. I left the camper closed until sundown. This is the worst case scenario. I popped the top of my wedge camper and fired up the Cooler. The temperature was in the high 70’s in 30 min. I am keeping it!

Transcool Portable Evaporative Air Cooler boat conditioner rv motorhome camper 12V 24V 110V"Black Ops" Edition

https://www.amazon.com/Transcool-Portable-Evaporative-Cooler-motorhome/dp/B07S2JLV8P