Wackyhacky's 2013 TaCOmarado Build

I'm running a 1up single and have dragged it over more than a couple rocks with no issues, highly recommend.

An idea I have is to build a custom tire mount for the rear door which would have a 2" receiver poke out under the tire to accept the 1up. Not sure what the load rating on the door is though, I can't find any info online after a quick search. Or clearances for the door swinging and tires hitting the camper...

 

I have no experience in regard to what longevity will be like other than I did read good reviews on them compared to the Thule/Yakima's of the world, but in the short term I have had no issue w/ my Rocky Mounts rack. It's just everything mounted through the hitch that concerns me over time. It bounced like hell before (stock truck) and is probably going to do the same now or worse b/c I had to extend things farther back w/ the tire. In either case the RM rack has held the bikes solid when I have "beat it". It's just the limitations of the platform I have chosen and what I want in terms of ease of use. It's all give & take. I will just need to keep an eye on it and see how it goes.

 

Early on, I thought this might be the way to go as well. There are a couple of products out there that will give you a 2" receiver in the center of your spare (wherever it's mounted on the rear) and I have seen them in use like this. Certainly would have enough to hold a bike rack & two bikes I'd bet.

 

So, after some investigation last night, I have one more modification I have to make b/c of switching camper platforms mid stream.



I made by base plate sometime ago and while I was able to finagle it through the side door into the camper & get it down, it's unfortunately just too long (by a freaking 1/4") due to the rear bulk head of the camper encroaching on what was open space. Since it would always require at least two people to get it in & out (even trimmed to fit), I am going to split it in two pcs. I had been worried about this when I saw they were doing that now w/ the Goose Gear base plates they make for the CC, but just never had the ability to check until now. I really need the ability to take the floor in & out easily (due to the desire to modify things over time), so this seems to be thing to do. It sucks, b/c its nicely encapsulated in bed liner and this will, "break the seal" but I will just have to touch it up. I think I will cut it as pictured below & just come up with a way to fill in the middle joint w/ something it if needs it.

 

Splitzsky.... I guess this won't be too bad. It was just a lot of work to get this thing the right size to begin with when I originally crafted it using a paper template and so forth. I guess I was just sad I had to cut it after all that work.. ha ha. That being said, it did cut nice & clean and now fits in.

I bolted the front section in just to see how things would fit, then trimmed the other pc up toward the bulk head so the two pcs fit in & line up. Then I just left the rear pc out for now though since I needed to do a little JB Weld repair to my one washer stack and need to let that cure up for a day.



I had to scrap (well not toss completely) the fridge slide I built for the Drifter. I sold the slides b/c they weren't going to work for me, but I kept the tray and all the hardware just in case I could utilize them down the road in some fashion. For now, I think the fridge is just going to sit on the floor as the tray just takes up valuable space. Therefore I spent some time fabbing up these little brackets out of angle that will be used to attach to the fridge tie downs that used to just be on the sides of the tray I built.



Tomorrow I should be able sit the rear pc of the floor back in, then the fridge & determine where these tie downs should be placed.

 

Last evening I got the wife to help lift the fridge into camper so I could determine where it's going to sit the best. Well, I had done enough measuring up to this point to have a pretty good idea, and there really isn't a better option than the right rear as I figured. This thing is so damn big. I love how it works, but part of me wishes I went with something a little more svelte sometimes. I am sure I will forget about that when I am able to shove an extra few beers in there.



Just enough room to get my little tie down brackets in and marked. Then pull that section of plate out and drill and install 1/4-20 Tee Nuts, then secure brackets.



Then bolt it back down & secure the beer chest. She's nice & snug. Can't imagine it's going anywhere unless I do some trophy truck style driving.

 

A good friend put in the call for some help setting some concrete piers for a pavilion he is building at his homestead property on Storm Mtn, so it was the perfect chance to get the TaCOmarado out on a shakedown trip. It is just a game changer. I knew it was going to be great, but it really is slick to put up & tear down camp in about 5-10 mins flat depending. I couldn't be happier. I am definitely glad we switched out to the Exped mattress though. It makes for tight squeeze (even with the valve open) shutting the lid sometimes, but so comfortable. I tried to test everything I could on this short overnight trip. The washed out road up the Mtn rattled things pretty good and everything stayed where it was supposed to, so that was good. I also had some wind, rain & even a little hail, and everything seemed dust free & dry. I learned a lot though in terms of what I still might be missing or where I need to dial things in even more, so these posts aren't going away anytime soon, that is for sure.



One thing I needed to picked up before I headed out on this trip was a foot stool of some sort for both stepping in & out of the camper as well as giving my short azz a boost to reach up and mess with things. I had my eye on some of the nice hitch steps they make, but while that would be nice for access in/out of the camper, it didn't solve my issue of needing something to move around camp, reach up on the roof, etc. I really didn't want to carry two or pay for two, so I after perusing Amazon, I decided on this cheap little folding one from Harbor Freight and I have to say it works pretty well, especially for $20! It's just the right height, has some grip on the tread and sturdy. The four legs make it nice to settle it in uneven ground as well.



Some of things I need after my first trip are definitely some sort of leveling blocks (the 2x12 pcs I threw in worked so so). I also cut some random 1/2", 3/4" and 2" pc of wood to keep in the truck for leveling the stove on the FR drop down table as well depending on how far out of wack things are as that varies w/ terrain. I am still not sure if I will mount any little tables on the door of the camper. I think I would prefer a larger table solution similar to the Alu-Cab one.

In the near term, I am still using tubs, but after doing a complete check of them, I am stoked to say I am down to 3 tubs. My OCD is overdrive when it comes to packing... ha ha ha. I also have the two chairs & a roll up table stashed in there behind the tubs and still have plenty of room for the water jug and whatever else. I don't want to start building permanent storage until I decide on the water tank, but I also need to come up with something sturdy to toss in there for hopping in & out of bed. The fridge is pretty damn solid, but I just don't like standing on it more than we have to.



Finally, I quickly came to the conclusion over the wkd that while I love the rear door for access and so forth versus the tailgate, a bug net is still going to be paramount. The container style latch just starts to become annoying when your trying to keep the door shut (in/out, in/out..etc.) While I am sure the Alu-cab "mozzie net" is cool & all, it's also damn near $200. So, I picked up this Magzo brand magnetic clasp one for normal doors on Amazon for $25. They have various sizes, but I chose the 40" w x 80" long one. The width of the rear door is just an inch or two narrower than 40". It's seems of decent quality for the price and most importantly it's split w/ magnetic clasps and they hold pretty well.





I cut off the bottom to a length of 43" and then pulled this material off the cut off bottoms & hemmed it back to the bottom of the screen like it was originally to keep the screen from damage/fraying.



The top & sides are designed to attach to a door frame with adhesive velcro just like the $200 Alu-cab one (it also has zippers & two layers like a tent door to it's credit) so I used the supplied adhesive velcro (hopefully it's decent enough quality to hold over time) around the insider border of the door frame to hold it in place. It will be a little wider, but for $25 I can't complain, plus we can leave the door open at camp and keep most of the bugs out hopefully. I will have to post a few pics after testing it tomorrow.

 

Finished product for the screen door, installed. The adhesive velcro is holding well so far and this should help keep the majority of bugs out when the door is hanging open at camp.



I also got a little bit more done on the rear seat deck. I really needed to get the access holes covered so shit isn't falling down in there all the time, so I got the lids cut down to size (including the hole for each latch) and then got them upholstered last evening.



Thankfully the carpet kind of hides how bad my attempt was to make rounded corners for these holes/lids with a jig saw. I don't know why I didn't just stick w/ square. Now I need to get some longer hardware b/c the Southco latches are not designed for 1/2 thick panels and get those fitted to the lids along with a tab for the other end. It's a good thing I enjoy doing this, b/c I feel like I could built my camper from scratch in the time this rear seat deck is taking to complete.

Next up....roof rack install from SSO (@SouthernStyleOffRoad). It was a longish wait, but what isn't really these days. After examination of the kit of parts though, I think it was worth the wait. Very nicely made. I chose their rack because I am sticking it under the overhang on the camper and they had the lowest overall height off the cab of any of the major roof racks available in my research. Hopefully this will give me most room to slide things in & out of that space like a table or similar.

 

Have you thought about the contents in the cubby shifting and pushing against the back side of a latch of this type and effectively locking you out from getting in there?
Disregard if the Southco latch isn't the GFC style which would suffer from this issue.

 

I don't if it's that same style of latch or not (maybe?) but thankfully I won't have to worry about that b/c I don't have the sides of the deck boxed in. Therefore I can always reach in under it & jostle things if need be.

 

More tinkering w/ electrical last evening. If money wasn't an issue, I probably would have chosen the big expensive Redarc charger that gives "shore power" built in to the platform, but it just wasn't a big priority all things considered. That being said, I still like to be able to plug the fridge into AC when I am at home to take stress off the battery between trips or to chill it down quickly before heading out on trip if it's been off. That being said, I also still wanted to be able to plug it in without leaving one of the camper doors hanging open as well. So, I grabbed an AC Port Plug off Amazon to install into the passenger side cubby. I grabbed this Journeyman one off AMZ. The quality is acceptable, but if your doing this completely from scratch, I'd go w/ one of the NOCO brand units they sell b/c they are much nicer from what I can tell. I already had an 1 3/4" hole in the cubby because it was where I ran my power previous to getting the CC and the NOCO one's require a 2" hole. I just didn't want to pull the cubby completely out to drill a bigger hole, so I went with this one.



I put a bead of silicone around the rubber gasket for some added sealing and then was able to screw it in place from under the truck without too much fuss. Plus it was one less hole I have to drill in the camper, which is where I considered putting one originally.



Now I can keep AC/DC both at the ready for the fridge and keep the camper sealed up as well when plugged in. Adding solar (don't ask me why I haven't yet, I know I know!) will help alleviate the need for this down the road, but it's nice to have this little port either way I figured.

 

One more little project before we head out for the holiday wkd (and the wife's first trip in the TaCOmarado!). One of few things that I found as a negative with the AC Canopy Camper was they didn't offer a roof fan option like many other platforms. Though if you are in the business of avoiding warranty claims, I can see why. I never seen a camper that didn't eventually leak through the roof top vent/fan..ha ha. Anyway, I knew I wanted some sort of fan to carry with us & then I saw @Bigmo post the answer, so all credit to him for the idea. Picked up this Caframo 12v fan from West Marine and while not cheap by any means, it's compact, moves air, moves in any direction & draws seriously low amps. It also has 3 speeds & a timer even. They also offer black, which I would have preferred, but no stock available anywhere unfortunately.

All of the LED touch lights in the CC are mounted on metal brackets that allow them to be adjusted up & down, so I removed the one on the roof of the camper as he did and mounted the fan there. There is already stalk lights on both sides up there and this light is covered anyway when the bed is up, so it's not really a big loss to remove it in my opinion. I am sure you could also fab a bracket to mount both if you really wanted to retain it.



Spot on the roof where the light was. The pivoting/lower part of the bracket is just two bolts, so cut the wire and then the light is just double stick taped to the bracket.



The fan is designed with a mounting plate that can be mounted to any flat surface with plenty of holes to pick from. The fan then bolts to this mounting plate w/ two provided bolts. You do need to provide your own #6 hardware for mounting the plate though. I was able to get 4 in it with the width of the bracket and just used #6 machine screws with lock nuts.



Then remounted the bracket/plate combo to the roof, cut the wiring to length and made those connections. Lastly mounting the fan to the mounting plate with the two provided screws. It holds solid. Just make sure you have the position on the bracket mounted as such to allow you to lock the fan as flat to the roof as possible for when you are shutting the lid. There is nothing on the fan that I think will cut or bother your roof/bedding when shut from what I can see as it is surely in contact with these.



Thanks again to @Bigmo for pioneering this one!

 

I doubt that I’m the pioneer...lol...but glad it worked out for you. It looks good. They’ve been using that fan in the van life forever and I saw a YouTube video some guy in Australia mounted one in his Gen3 tent and I thought we could do it in the canopy camper just as well.

 

Just a couple small updates....

The wife requested a handle for getting in & out of the camper, which I have to say I didn't think I needed, but now I find it quite useful. It was just repurposed off an old camp kitchen I had built to play w/ 80/20 and have now took apart.



And finally got my lids & latches installed on bottom part of the seat delete deck. I got the latch hole a little too far inboard (must of measured it drunk), so I had to mount a simple tab to the deck, so the pawl on the latch would catch. Other than that, it works as intended I guess. Not sure when I am going to get the rear of it covered or finished in something.

 

I have been a little derelict posting on here as of late, but that can be blamed on one thing. Finally getting out & camping!! Anyway, every trip so far has been great, but also a learning experience on what I need to focus on going forward. That being said, lets bring all my recent tinkering up to date.

First I finally got my @SouthernStyleOffRoad roof rack installed which I mentioned before and been muddling around getting put on. The install itself (like most of these racks I suppose) was straight forward so I won't go into a ton of detail on that. Basically it uses four of the existing roof mounting points where you mount a delrin block spacer & adjustable bracket, then everything comes together from there. The thing is very low profile, which is why I chose their rack over some others and built like tank as well. I really like the way it looks, there is no question about that. The side cut outs kind of match/blend with the cut outs on the AC CC supports, so that's kind of a nice touch as well.






I am still trying to decide how I am going to utilize it, but I know I am going to haul some sort of table up there (under the overhand section) that I either buy or build. I have a little over 2" of room for that. In the front, I think I am going to fabricate a tray unless I can find boxes that will provide the room I want. I can fabricate a tray that is 14" deep x close to 50" wide for the space left up front.

Next up, I wanted a way to protect the rubber seal around the door (on the bottom) of the camper when it is hanging open at camp. Even when you are trying to be mindful of it, it's just next to impossible to not step on it once in awhile or slide tubs over it, etc. My apologies to my inspiration for this b/c I cannot even remember where I saw the idea, but I just took a 1" pc of PVC and cut 3/4" out of it so you can just drop this over the door seal. I may have to cover it in some grit tape b/c I am sure it will get a little slick when wet, but otherwise it does the job nicely.



Finally, I am so ready to quit screwing around with moving the tubs, so I wanted to get on this interior build ASAP. That being said, much like the power system, patience and planning is key. I am going to build it in separate modules for ease of removing, etc. and start with a double drawer unit at the driver rear that will hopefully hold all our kitchen needs in those two drawers. I always knew an expensive purchased system like Goose Gear was not in the cards for me, but obviously since they do have some very slick designs, I have studied their construction for inspiration. I also really enjoy building with the extrusion and figuring it all out and making it work the best of our needs. So with a rough sketch, I started digging into what is already an accumulation of 80/20 material & hardware in my garage.



While I had rough outside dimensions for the GG module, I was very curious about drawer space & fitting all our damn shit in them. While I am trying to use these challenges to be more minimalist in our camping approach as well, the wife & I don't like to cut corners where cooking is involved ha ha! A great guy @hourlesslife (IG handle) who was building out a Gladiator was helpful in providing me some some interior drawer dimensions and pictures so I made some mock ups of those sizes to see what I would be dealing with in the envelope they offer.



As I figured. Man those are some tight drawers! So, with that being said, I determined while I couldn't push the height, I did push the width & depth by an 1" over what GG offers so I can make my drawers just a tad bigger. Hopefully it will get me what I need.

I got the basic frame cut & assembled and started determining how it would fit in the camper. The top rails will go all the way back against the top track of camper just below the window. This allows for top deck that is nice & wide.



Here are some close up shots of how the end of the module against the track will attach. I tried using the std 90 degree connectors (with one hole drilled out to fit the M8 bolts that fit in the track) but the head of the M8 is just too big. Therefore, I had some L brackets I made out of angle, so since they provide more space, I think I will use them instead. I just need to get some shorter M8s now and should have what I need to secure this one. I will probably also secure it to the deck as well, but between the two it should be nice and secure. The next step is start determining measurements for slides & drawer mounting and making up a side panel as well as a top.

 

Installed the Rostra camera and image is updside down, I need to cut the white or green wire to flip it, correct?

 

You know Tom. I don't honestly know. I didn't clip any of those wires on mine. I wonder if my thought about the angle being off is just b/c my image is upside down but I don't think it is. It's so hard to tell b/c my output is in the rearview mirror and pretty small.

 

Huh, I thought I got that info from this thread but couldn't find it....I'll keep researching and report back. I don't mind the tightness, but it's definitely upside down.

 

Here we go, from the Rostra website....I'll cut the white wire tonight and report back.

 

Yep, I cut both and am happy with results.