Astrocat with a Habitat

Is there a difference between that one and the SLV 105-003?

 

I'm not familiar with hot water with the engine, but I have tentatively looked around at hot water tanks. I'm not sure it will ever happen, but I'm open to it as a possibility later. Maybe if it helps get my gf out on trips more often...

 

There are heat exchangers that plumb in line with your hot heater line, and heat water through a different circuit.

Buddy that got me into all of this silliness has one. Nothing like a hot shower after 6 days on the trail.

 

Just curious, I have my system planned out on paper, I'm on the fence about actually doing hot water. I need to cruise over after work one of these days and check the rig out and show you some of the systems I have installed on mine...and of course bring some good beer.

You can find a really good heat exchanger for cheap if you look around the diesel aftermarket area. This is the one that I am considering if I decide to go that route.
https://utahbiodieselsupply.com/springflow250.php

 

Apparently I don't have that one

I do have the SLV 105-003. Not sure what the difference is.

 

Ah ok. I was confused because the ShurFlo website doesn't list anything with the part number of the one you linked. Maybe it's an older version of the same thing and they changed the part numbers.

 

Interesting, so does the engine need to be running for it to work? Seems likes it might be difficult to install though too, if you have to run plumbing from the bed to the engine and back again?

Maybe I just have the wrong idea.

Also, yeah let me know sometime when you'd like to meetup. Maybe I can meet you somewhere closer since I know it's quite a schlep from where you are.

 

The engine would need to be running and warm.

My plan is to run a timer switch in the cab with a temperature sensor in the water tank. Before pulling in for the night and setting up camp, pushing a momentary switch will activate the timer and recirculate the water tank for a pre set amount of time. This is where I am kind of stuck until I get the Habitat installed, there is just way too many technical details to figure out.


The installation could get difficult real quick, I am trying stay far away from over complicating any system in the truck, it has to remain as basic as possible. The basic concept would be:
In tank pump, possibly a fuel pump

Relay type timer and relay switched, no solid state circuitry

1/4" tubing for hot water, possibly insulated

Manifold around the location of the tank for filling, dumping, washing

Serviceable filter

Hydrostatic head tank for continuous use, like for taking a shower, basically keeps consitant head pressure without wasting electricity.

That's pretty much it.

It seems a bit difficult, but when you get the right connections for water, electricity, etc. it goes together pretty quick. once your done, it will last for many years.

Below is a good write up on a system that a guy built for his jeep. I'm kind of going off his design, but with all click lock connections for water. And of course all the electrical connections will be through the Bussmann RFMR.

http://theroadchoseme.com/diy-4x4-water-tank-pump-filtration-and-treatment

 

WARNING EXCESSIVELY LONG TRIP REPORT/JOURNAL/BLOG/DIARY/NONSTOP WORD VOMIT
feel free to skip to the purdy pikturs

Just got back yesterday from my trip out for the Total Solar Eclipse. I had spent much of the year and longer planning and preparing for this event since witnessing a Total Eclipse has been a lifelong dream of mine, and I couldn't pass up this opportunity to experience it and capture photos of it.

A big part of the planning went into looking for a good location with a number of factors to consider: Path of totality, distance to travel, weather, geography, accommodation, likelihood of crowding, etc.

I began by looking at this interactive map of the eclipse:
http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_2017_GoogleMapFull.html

I wanted to find a site that was as close to the center of the path as possible, was fairly remote, required no reservations or camping fees, was open enough to afford an unobstructed view, could potentially accommodate a small group, and was a reasonable distance to travel.

I first noticed that the path passes right over the Grand Tetons in Wyoming, and as spectacular as that sounded, I decided against it because I was sure thousands of others would be thinking the same thing.

Mid/Eastern Oregon was also an obvious choice, being relatively the closest region, but I had a sense to avoid it also because it seemed like there was a large amount of people planning for that.

Eventually I settled on an area in the Lowman District of the Boise National Forest in Idaho, where I started marking waypoints for areas that looked like potentially good sites on satellite maps. Once I felt confident that the area had enough potential I planned a solo trip up in June to scout out the area and check the sites I had marked. Unfortunately due to the strong winter this year, there was a significant portion of the area near the Deadwood Reservoir that I wasn't able to access at that time due to snow still on the roads, but I was still successful in finding a spot that I thought would work well.


https://www.gaiagps.com/datasummary...a7da815a68b174e8105542/?layer=caltopousfs2016

It wasn't pretty, being most of the forest was burned out from the Pioneer Fire last year, but it was a wide open field area with a large turnout (I suspect it was created as a staging area for the fire fighting efforts). It was also nearby Clear Creek so there would be water, and there were pit toilets just down the road at the Red Mountain trailhead.

For the real deal, my girlfriend and I left early on Thursday 8/17 to try to get to the site that night, hoping that we would be earlier than anybody else that might be aiming for it. We arrived around 10pm and nobody was there, but I'm glad we went early because just down the road, at the Red Mountain trailhead, there were already a number of people settled in.

So we had all of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to wait through before the eclipse on Monday 8/21. It was hot (from 90-85f) and totally exposed with no shade pretty much all day from 7am to 7pm. I'm glad I brought the rainfly to my hammock to set up for additional shade.

We basically just ate, drank, sat around, played some cards, went to the river, and so on...



I already had my telescope setup Saturday night so that I could spend the time to get everything dialed in as well as I could before the eclipse. On Sunday, while we were sitting in the shade drinking dark and stormys, playing canasta in our underwear, and listening to Bob Marley, we were approached by man who introduced himself as a reporter for the Idaho Business Review. He asked if he could get our reactions on the day of the eclipse for an article he was writing about it, which we agreed to.

Another part of the preparation that bears mentioning was that I needed proper filtration for my telescope so as to not damage it, my camera, or my eyes. Since the front of my telescope has an large octagonal shape—and most solar filters are designed for smaller round telescopes I decided to design a custom plate that would fit the front and allow a smaller solar filter to attach. I contacted @JLee at BAMF about cutting out the design on thin aluminum plate and after I drilled and tapped holes for screws it was a perfect solution.





On the day of the eclipse the reporter showed up near the beginning and proceeded to interview me and my gf, all the while I'm trying to focus on capturing the stages of the partial eclipse and periodically centering the sun in the frame since my telescope wasn't tracking perfectly.



The eclipse began at 10:11:50 AM local time, at first it slowly begins to get darker, the sunlight seems less intense. Then, as the partial eclipse progresses, it gets darker and colder faster than nightfall. If you could plot the feeling of anticipation and excitement over the course of the eclipse it would look like a exponential curve, building up slowly and then suddenly growing into a peak at the moment of total eclipse. Contact with totality occurred at 11:27:31 AM local time. As the Moon's shadow swept over us the whole world transformed into something else. The sky turned twilight as the veil of blue sky vanished to reveal bright stars and the planet Venus hanging high above. The air was so cold I had goosebumps on my skin, although my excitement may have also contributed to that. Suddenly we heard woodpeckers pecking on trees, and a hawk started crying out, neither of which had we heard or seen even once our entire stay. All the while the Sun's corona spilled out around the moon in bright elegant wisps, and hot pink solar flares dotted the edge of the chromosphere.





Totality lasted the shortest 2 minutes and 13 seconds of my life. I scrambled to remove the solar filter from my telescope and start taking exposures. I had to remind myself to stop and look at the damn thing with my own unaided eyes, and then I remembered my binoculars sitting next to me, which I had taped over with a hacked up pair of solar glasses. I ripped apart the glasses covering the binoculars to quickly peer through them at the ring of fire, in that view I could see another star alongside the sun.

Finally, in the very last seconds as totality ended, I rushed to replace the solar filter to the front of my telescope. The reporter ran over to ask us for our first reactions, but we were sapped of all eloquence and all we could manage was to stutter out a few clumsy fragments. As light and warmth began to return, I set my camera to run an interval sequence of exposures of the receding partial eclipse.

We packed up and left camp around 2pm. Luckily we didn't get stuck in any traffic (we heard from friends and relatives who went to Oregon that they had horrible traffic) and we made it to Winnemucca, NV for dinner. We had planned to stop and camp in Black Rock that night, but my gf was feeling really unwell so we opted to try finding a room in town; luckily the Best Western just had a cancellation.

And then we drove the rest of the way home on Tuesday.

I'm still going through some of my photos of the eclipse, working on putting together a timelapse of the partial, and maybe a collage. But I'm still decompressing from that experience (and the drive, I still need to teach the gf to drive a MT...)

Time to start planning for 2024.

 

Awesome story!
This is as good as it got here in Philly:

 

outstanding... good to see ya out and about with the Habitat

 

Also a few notes about my OB water so far.

It worked pretty okay enough just gravity drawn, but I am definitely looking to add a pump soon probably, most likely the Shurflo 105-013 for 1GPM.

I also found this for a nozzle head:

$15 Interstate Pneumatics RF40 Gas Station Radiator Water Faucet with Bib Rubber Nozzle 1/4" FPT Brass internals

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0098KYZWC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Which I like because it's not a spray head but the flow lever can be operated with one hand. And so far it doesn't seem to leak when not in use.

I've been thinking about some sort of setup with the tank, pump, and a filter where I can switch hoses around and use the pump to draw in water from an external source like a lake or river while out on trips.

 

rigging up a cvt awning room

 

Did the same thing with my Mombasa room. Working with a company now to get a full bug screen with roll out weather panels fabricated up.

 

outstanding how did you attach it to your habitat

 

Your photos are incredible, what was your setup? I used a Nikon D7200 with a 200-500mm F5.6 lens at Land Between the Lakes and thought I did well until I saw yours. My parents live north of Dayton, OH where the April 8, 2024 eclipse will hit. I had the same frantic behavior at totality ripping off taped on filters, switching settings and trying to capture pictures while enjoying the moment as best I could. Glad to see some other folks with habitats and cameras. Keep up the mods.

 

Thanks, I used my Nikon D800 on a 10" f/8 Ritchey-Chretien telescope. That's nice you've already got connections on a place to go for 2024, not sure what I'll end up doing, but there's lots of time to figure it out.

 

Got some bags from Blue Ridge Overland Gear that have hook velcro on the back so they stick nicely to the carpeted interior of the habitat. They were some of the few pouches I could find that have hook panels on the backs, but I'm happy with them.


I got the IFAK pouch and two extra large clear pouches

Since there's plenty of wall space I'm probably going to add a lot more down the road. I think there's some pouches made by LBX Tactical that also have hook backing that I'm going to try out, but I'm kind of surprised I can't find very much of this type of thing in the tacticool sector.

Another idea I had, since I'm happy with the BROG pouches, was to inquire with them about doing a custom bag to replace the one I made myself for the habitat support poles. I'm thinking of replacing it because the velcro on mine failed, I tried using a sticky backed iron on stuff which just couldn't bond well enough to the cordura, and with the way I designed it I wouldn't be able to sew the velcro on unless I remade it.

 

I think a couple of mole racks would work out better in securing items to the walls. Just a thought.