Let's see those Alu-cab setups

Best part of outfitting my truck with Packout gear. I can take everything out and replace the floor and put it all back together in under and hour.

 

Stupid question. Do most of you sleep head or feet towards the front of the truck?

 

I would guess that most wedge tent people will sleep with their feet towards the wedge. I just have a canopy and a dac tent and sleep feet forwards so my sleeping bag can deal with the moisture instead of my pillow.

 

Really depends on the campsite parking situation. I always sleep with my head higher than the feet. If nice and level, I will always sleep feet to wedge.

 

I always do feet to the wedge due to my height, but I always level the truck, or park it in a way that my head is up. 1-2 degrees is fine head to toe.

I'll do some testing with the Dickinson this winter. With two people in my camper, completely uninsulated, we sleep in the nude with a cheap blanket on us when it is 40 degrees out. At 20 degrees we use a fleece blanket with a nicer down comforter on top.

It's incredible how warm it stays in there with two bodies. I love it. The heater will just be the icing on the cake.

 

Yeah they are the low profile. The place I bought the set up from didn’t tell me this was going to be an issue. So I need to buy the thicker bars. Anyone need slim bars? Want to trade?

 

I have a questions for those of you with the Dickinson P9000 Furnace in your campers.

How is the heat output?

I had the opportunity to use my furnace in ~25 degree weather last weekend. We ran it for the entire night on low, fan on medium-high.

To be frank, I was not impressed at all. The chimney stack was HOT, so hot that it would immediately burn your hand if touched, on both the portion inside the camper and outside the camper. The top cap piece was also unbelievably hot, while the lower cap piece was of moderate temperature.

None of that heat was transferred to any other part of the camper, thankfully. Also, placing your hand a mere 1 inch away from the pipe was easily doable, you couldn't even feel the heat of the pipe at that short distance.

The air blowing inside the cabin from the furnace was, at best, warm.

The inside of the camper was easily 30 degrees warmer than the outside, which is very nice.

But this was with the furnace running constantly, which is not ideal for propane usage.

Is this just how it is? I know its BTU's aren't super high, but the space it's heating is tiny. I was expecting being able to fire it up for an hour to get things toasty inside, and then cutting it off for the night. Reigniting it for a bit in the morning. This is how I have used Mr. Buddies in the past.

I do need to purchase and swap in the orifice for use above sea level, so maybe that will make a huge difference? We were at 5,000 ft.

Just stunned that the chimney pipes were unbelievably hot while the air being blown out of the furnace was lukewarm.

Thanks for your input.

 

Im going to assume that the Altitude has something to do with it. Tho I can't speak from firsthand experience in the Sub 40 temps (yet). Having the heater running for 30 min or so, nicely warms up the space.

 

All right, I ran a test. Here is what I found:

My truck is parked at 1,412 ft above sea level, according to Gaia.

Test start time = 12:09 pm - Test end time = 1:09 pm

*Temperature gathered by a $150 probe and scan tool

Weather: Cloudy, no sunlight, light rain the entire time

Outside ambient air temp at start = 62.5 degrees F

Outside ambient air temp at finish = 62 degrees F

The furnace was on low, with the fan on high. The sea level orifice (what it comes with) is currently installed.

I checked the temperatures at 0 min, 20 min, 40 min, and 60 min. I checked the campers interior temperature, the temperature of the chimney section inside the camper, and the hot air coming out of the furnace.

The camper was closed the entire time, with the tent closed. I had to open the back door to get inside each time, but I did it as quickly as I could.

Camper air temperature (degrees F):
0 min = 62.5
20 min = 70
40 min = 72
60 min = 74

Interior chimney pipe (degrees F):
0 min = 70
20 min = 134
40 min = 160
60 min = 165

Furnace air output temperature (degrees F): The probe was placed in the flow of air for 20 seconds. Temperature data was collected at that point.
0 min = 76
20 min = 150
40 min = 158.5
60 min = 157

The furnace door was 130 degrees F at the 60 min mark. My knuckles could only withstand the hot air from the furnace for 9 seconds before it became unbearable.

So it seems like the air coming out of the furnace is plenty hot. It just isn't a massive volume.

It seems like the furnace can add 10 degrees quickly, but then it has to combat warming up all of the stuff inside of the camper, so it only increases the air temperature mildly after that.

I will run the same test on a colder day. I will also run it with a different orifice, once I acquire it and install it.

 

Observe the extent of my cooking abilities. The Newport fireplace with a well placed spatula will warm pop tarts nicely.

 

Camped at the beach last night.

 

New contour canopy has landed. Think I’m one of the first!

 

Looks good. What's the initial impression? Where did you get it from?

 

What are the differences from the contour vs the explorer if not opting for side windows?

 

Super Jealous right now. Waiting on mine. Was told some time late this month or early next month.

 

same here - super pumped!

@aturk - great pics / POV - looks great and nice rig.

 

Not enough to warrant the price increase, especially if you can find a vendor selling explorer's cheap. But I wanted the windows so here we are.

The roof is flat aluminum instead of diamond plate, there's a positive pressure vent to keep dust out. But Tacoma's have so many pieces in their bed system I don't think it's safe to assume you won't get dust/water in there.

 

Mike Johnson Adventure Outfitters in Hickory NC. If interested, call and ask for Ryan Bartlett. He's a guru of these Toyota trucks in general in the south east. He's done a fair amount of work to my truck this year as I've been largely off my feet due to ankle reconstruction surgery.

 

Well I hope you like it. I liked your photos so much, I finally put my order in. Haha any rain so far to test for leaks? The reason I picked this one over the smart cab, is that I’ve been hearing people get leaks in from the side windows.