Current camping setup, v2.0

Yo.

Just got back from 1500mile trip while towing my new camping setup.

I'm a backpacker, so I've got all the camping gear I need, but picked up this trailer a couple weeks ago to have a little more comfortable setup for some older travelling companions, and the ability to carry more people/gear. This is my daily driver, so I like the flexibility of a trailer setup.

1300 miles paved, and the rest was forest service roads, most in fairly good conditions. Maybe 20 miles of the rockiest rutted stuff. Sliders and skids got moved up in list of priorities.

Trailer weighs about 1200lb empty. With water, gas, tent, spare tire, gear, and food I'm guessing it came in around just under 2000lbs.

3 people in the truck, lightweight stuff in the box on top, homemade storage drawer in the bed, and doggo in the back.

Overall pretty happy with the flexibility of the setup, but took some big hits on MPG and I'd love some more power.

Posting here in my own thread because I've got a whole bunch of notes and questions. Hope all this info helps some of you guys, and hope some others can offer suggestions to improve my setup.


TENT
Pretty sweet! Way more comfortable than what I'm used to. Lots of flexibility with an annex under tent, and separate canopy with walls. Could easily sleep 6 people comfortably. I never needed to put it away wet, but it's got me thinking about swapping out for a hardshell setup.


TIRES
General Grabber ATX 265/70/17. VERY happy with these. Road noise is maybe a little bit lower than stock, running 35-37psi cold.

Only issue is the TPMS sensors that Discount Tire installed are the type that will alert if they go low, but do not transmit exact psi to the dash. I wish I had thought that through more, and I wish Discount tire had mentioned that issue. I would have bought better sensors or swapped the OEM ones, but now I'm on the fence about working on the tires just to upgrade these cheapo sensors.

I kept my OEM sensors mounted on stock wheels and tires, as I plan to mount snow tires on those.

TRAILER
I love the size and maneuverability, but just need to make sure to keep extra weight on the tongue. Can't tell in the pic, but I have 10gal water, 5gal of gas, and a 12V battery on the front. Without the gas and water, it's a pretty squirrely, but other than that tows straight and fairly easily.

This is a nice setup for me because I don't want to drive around with an RTT on top, or winch it on and off a few times a month. My shell isn't reinforced, so I guess I don't want to bust that up either.

If I keep this trailer, I'll probably work on it a good bit, and it will end up a little heavier due to water tank, electrical upgrade, and suspension/wheel/tire changes.



STORAGE
The aero box works great for lightweight stuff to be kept clean. We kept clothes and sleeping bags up in there. It's got some wind noise, even mounted over the shell, so I'm guessing this is hitting my mpg more than I would have expected. I have a rockymounts cargo basket that fits on the OEM roof rack, but I wouldn't store anything heavy on that. A fixed rack is likely in my future.


TOWING
Yup, I could sure use more power. It doesn't seem like my setup should be too much for the tacoma, but I wasn't impressed. I kept ECT on the entire time, and spent a LOT of time in 3rd gear at about 4500 RPM climbing hills at 50-55 mph. Good thing for slow vehicle passing lanes so people could get around me. Crossed cascades on the way out, and sierras on the way back. Highest altitude was maybe 5500, and keeping up a decent amount of speed was ALWAYS struggle, even on some flats. Add a headwind, and I started checking out other rigs.




MPG
Between the roof box, and the trailer, I'm not sure what the biggest hit on mileage was. Best tank avg was 15.1mpg on flats with a tailwind. A hilly day had me around 11-12mpg. My stock setup is lucky to hit 18 if I'm gentle.

Been around this forum just long enough to see that folks are seeing lots of MPG differences between their trucks. Weird. I can fit everything I need without the roofbox, so eliminating that seems like a no-brainer. Keeping the roof clear of anything actually would seem helpful. I'll have to check how much impact that has with current setup.

Also will be taking a closer look at the trailer. Maybe the axle needs a little loving.



POWER
I purchased the OVTune a few weeks ago, but havent installed it yet. Didn't want to tune the truck so close to heading out camping. In the meantime, I saw that there have been developments on twin turbo and supercharger setups, so I'm curious to see how those work out.

I'm looking to add a little more weight, and I love driving, so more power is pretty much always welcome. Looking forward to seeing what the OVTune will do on 87 and 91, but for my needs, it seems like the supercharger will be the biggest difference maker.




Thanks for any feedback



Oh man, I haven't even gotten to lighting yet ... gonna need some more of that too.