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

Tahoe NF over the Super Bowl weekend.

 

...Back at the truck, we now had a decision to make - we could either head back out the way we'd come - over the washboard-power-line-road-of-death, or continue south on Yates Well Road. I knew the Yates Well road would eventually - if it were passable - connect to the Colosseum Mine, and we both felt that we needed a bit of redemption in that department, so we decided to give it a shot - after all, the worst that could happen is that we'd have to turn around.
Well, the worst that could happen is that we'd get stuck in the middle of nowhere and die from the cold, but that was unlikely. AmIRight?

Read the whole story in Mojave Redemption #7 - Redemption in the Clark Mountains









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It looks like you bolted your fridge slide directly to the composite bed. What method did you use and how has it held up? Do you offroad a lot or is this for mostly street driving? I want to do the same thing but I'm concerned with the holes in the bed not holding up over time.

 

I used compression nuts in the bed. Drilled the hole, inserted the nuts, tightened down and haven't looked back! Weekend warrior offroading with no issues.

 

Great! I think I'll try to the same method. In the 3rd & 4th picture it looks like there's a plastic washer? Or is that ring just part of the nut you used? I tried googling "compression nut" and didn't come up with what you are showing. If it's not too much trouble can you link the ones you used? It looks like an Amazon product Thanks for your help.

 

You can also search "Rivnut" and get a similar product.

 

If you go Rivnuts there's some info out there on the Googles for making a "compression tool" to seat it.

 

Google rubber compression nut. Honestly I dont have a link cause I got them at the local hardware store. Just go with the biggest ones you can for the bolt that fits through the fridge slider. No plastic washers, thats the rubber flange. When you tighten them down, the back side expands a lot and holds it tight. No chance of it pulling out.

 

Bowman is closed this time of year, FYI.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/tahoe/recarea/?recid=55462

 

Try “well nut” or “rubber well nut” or “expansion nut”.

 

"well nut" will bring you to it on Amazon.
@JVL1985

 

Morning brought another nice day and a cloudless sky meant I got a few extra minutes of sleep - only jumping out of the tent as the sun crested Cowhole Mountain to our east.

It was our last morning in the reserve, check it out in
Mojave Redemption #8 - Zzyzx, The Last Word - By Design​

If you missed any of the story, check it out here:

[part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4] [part 5] [part 6] [part 7] [part 8] [rig review]
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For what it’s worth, I’ve put tie downs in my bed and just used fender washers to sandwich the bolt and spread the load. I don’t have a slide for my fridge, but I strap it directly to these tie downs. I’ve done many miles of moderate to slightly intense off-roading over several years without issue.

 

Another year of wheeling and camping is in the books. I find myself here writing a rig review as one of 2020's first posts, for the last couple of trips that we took in 2019. By and large, the truck performed well on those trips In Search of Overlooks in Death Valley and though an unexpectedly snowy trip to the Mojave Preserve. There were - as always - a couple things worth calling out - so without further ado, let's get to it!

Rig Review: Death Valley & Mojave 2019 - What worked and what didn't?

If you missed any of the story, check it out here:

[part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4] [part 5] [part 6] [part 7] [part 8] [rig review]​

 

Some from my western-states road trip this summer. Thanks for checking them out!

Crested Butte, CO


Gardiner, MT


Grand Junction, CO

 

Death Valley Connections Part 1
...For anyone who's considering entering Death Valley through Beatty, I highly recommend using Titus Canyon as your entrance to the park - not only are the narrows near the west end of the road a joy to drive through, but the colorful views from Red Pass rival those found anywhere in the park. As such, I'd decided that this would be my route for the morning, and it wasn't long before I was aired down and heading west.

I was not alone. In my mirror, a fellow explorer I'd wanted to meet for some time - his adventures in Death Valley providing inspiration for several of the places I've visited over the last couple of years.

Read Part 1 - Look Who is Behind Me for the full story.

Read Part 1 - Look Who is Behind Me for the full story.

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Found a great and inexpensive way to safely mount a propane tank in bed. I added a Quick Fist Ratchet Clamp for securing my 5lb tank when camping. Keeps it secure and in-place.

You can utilize one of the factory bed torx when mounting in this location, and easily drill a second hole and access nut/bolt with the AC plug removed. Ratchet clamp doesn’t get in way of AC plug access at all.

Purchased a small section of 6” PVC pipe and mounted it to the base of my 5lb Manchester propane tank. Elevates it to the perfect height for the Quick Fist.


$18 Quick Fist ratchet clamp for mounting tools & equipment 1/2" to 8" in diameter
www.amazon.com/Quick-Fist-mounting-equipment-diameter/dp/B01LZC4YFV

 

Care to share the details of this camp spot?

 

Lots of spots along the coast like that. Gotta search the roads.

 

Looks like one of the sites on Prewitt Ridge, maybe? There are a bunch out there.