New SnugTop and a Camping Platform Build (Access Cab)

Got back from a 3 night truck camp to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. This was a good test because we camped at a different location every night. The major lesson learned about that is easy setup and breakdown is such an advantage. If you get out every once and a while and plan to camp at the same location more than a night, no problem. But it really starts to effect you over the course of time. It was only 6 times i either setup or broke down and my plan is to be gone for a week or probably more, moving most nights so i have come to the conclusion the big long slide out drawers that are secured to the bed would be more ideal for that situation. Being able to slide out a drawer with table space and a stove on one side and storage on the other would make things so much easier, and everything is attached and secure. I have to consider it more but will probably do something like that for the next level.
I don't like the process of loading the roof rack either. The crates are fine as they can stay there, but the table, shovels and rake, propane and other misc gets old especially considering you have to use the tire to get up and lift everything with one hand. I think i could really benefit from a swing arm just for gas and propane, and some clamps somehow, and somewhere, for the shovels. It's not the ideal roof rack because i don't like how high it is and a few other things, but it was relatively cheap and easily available. I might consider other options a year from now, but it serves its purpose for now. But speaking of the roof rack...

The Yakima crossbars and basket really took some abuse this trip, same with the Roadshower and awning. Not only were we doing high speed on dirt trails we got into some really rough classic Arizona hill country with horrible rocks, ruts and everything else. I wasnt climbing up hills but it was as rough as it should ever get on stock suspension and this much weight. The add-a-leaf allowed me to absorb it, without it i would have bottomed out the back probably 20 times a min. Everything inside the bed held up great too. Nothing was broke or out of place really. Stout works and lasts. Really rough hill climbs might be a different story though, haven't tried that.

Another thing that really stood out was tire pressure. We aired down (i did 28 front and 30 rear) in the North Rim but not at our last location, the most rough (we got lazy not wanting to air up). What a difference in high speed handling but most important abuse on everything including you. It really softened the ride so it's worth the effort.

One more thing is the little 'security' light setup i got going on, it's been working quite well. I'll show a picture below. And speaking of pictures, it should be obvious by now i cant resist posting some with this thing in action.


Surprisingly, seeing the Grand Canyon wasn't the highlight for me. It was driving the roads in these small canyons that are throughout the area of the North Rim, the springs that one canyon road led to, and the history in the form of old ranches. Amazingly this trip provided me with everything i built this camp platform in a 4 wheel drive Toyota for: It gave the ability to travel long distance to a destination i have not seen before, it allowed me to explore the back country of that area and camp in it, and it allowed me the opportunity to take the rougher roads and get back into the still standing visible history.

Here's our camp on "Timp Point" the first night.


Of course a picture of part of the canyon.


This is one of the roads inside a small canyon. It was really green in places with Pine, Aspen, and a few Alpine i think they were. The aspens were nice where the old pines burnt and died, they just took over and were so tightly packed (that is where i ran into the most deer). These roads and canyons went on for quite a ways, were not rocky and made for a very pleasant low to med speed drive.


One of the roads led to a couple flowing springs. A real oasis considering all the lakes are low and only major rivers are flowing. I haven't camped by flowing water in decades.



Here is our camp the second night. Next to Mud Lake, is what it is called, and it was just that. It was cool watching the birds circle and dive after bugs like the Stukas of WW2.


After 2 nights on the NR we wanted to get closer to home so headed to Happy Jack area to check out this "Apache Maid Cabin" which turned out to be a restored cabin you could rent with a camp-site like bathroom. So we left there to check out the Apache Maid Lookout tower and talked with the old guy up there for about an hour. He let us come up the fire watch tower and told us about the area. Pretty neat.


We left there, and with some recently gained intelligence, we arrived at this...



That is what it's all about for me.

So we camped next to a secondary house with an impressive probably 100 year old apple orchard next to it. Fantastic.


We then headed to Strawberry for breakfast, and our separate ways home. I'd say it was a perfect trip and consisted of around 600 miles of driving and exploring.
Thanks for letting me post the pics and checking them out

Oh, and the 'security lights' setup..

 

I know what you mean, probably 85-90% of the time it's just gonna be me. Have a good time man and let me know how it goes.

 

Wow i just did a thorough check of the Yakima setup and 6 out of the 8 screws in the Pads connected to the Rails needed to be tightened, with one Pad actually lifting up. I think i'll be checking these much much more often now. Lock tight should do the trick though, so i recommend anyone with this or a similar setup to use the lock tight on install. It's most likely the washboards that caused this.

 

After the first trip with the platform, it turns out I'm just too dumb to sleep in my own truck.

I decided not to throw my "camping" bag in the back since I planned to sleep on the platform, without remembering that the bedroll (sleeping mat and blanket) that I had planned to use for that purpose was strapped to that bag, which also contained my mess kit and the dry sacks I use for the rafting float we do every year on the Truckee River while in Tahoe. Also, I didn't plan for the fact that I had the back of the truck fairly well loaded and there wasn't much in the way of open platform space to sleep on when I did stop.

Good news is that the unit held up well. Only minor issue is that the ratchet strap holding the propane tank in its cradle slipped off while doing a bit of light off-road (mostly fire roads, but one trail that's on the rougher side of that). Might need to devise some kind of rope looping to help that strap keep in place.

 

Well we finally got some rain (boy we needed it) while camping in Alpine, AZ (wow what a beautiful place, with streams and rivers!!!) so i got to test my rain setup. I found that the rain tarp setup in the back worked really well, so much so i had no desire to deploy the ARB. Something about the ARB is the middle of the tarp will sag allowing water to pool up, so i just used some extendable pole laying around to prop it up some, but unfortunately it seemed to have really stretched the tarp that now without the pole the middle sag is even worse. I'll see how bad it is again and decide if i need to take advantage of that 50 dollar coverage i got, because it's just ridiculous.

I also did a little reconfiguration clearing some room in back for sleeping (also thinking about letting dogs back in as Alpine has many bears. Just as a precaution till im familiar with the place), and moved, and removed, some things in the cab. I also got sick of my tablet interfering with my opening and closing the center consul, taking up the cup holder, and if i have a passenger it really encroaches on their space. Other than that i am really pleased with that cupholder holder, not once did my tablet bounce loose. The problem now is the 10'' pad in its current location i have a feeling (just got it) will really interfere with my vision on the more technical rocky roads, i'll see how bad it gets. The blocking of vision with normal driving is acceptable for now and the location is perfect for viewing, or interacting with, while driving. I do love the large screen but now a little smaller would probably be ideal. The other is for my cell phone to display truck info, GPS tracking, trip info or to stream audio from utube!

On the roofrack i got sick and tired of dealing with the bungee straps, they're just a pain standing on a tire reaching for places to hook them. I now ratchet strap the heavy stuff and use velcro "Jeep" cargo straps for the tarps and shovel. Much easier to deal with so far.

Some pics:
Camping next to a river or stream in Az without paying is extremely rare im discovering. This spot is as good as we could get on short notice being just a 3-4 min walk to the water. Not much traffic at all, we had a nice meadow to look at and cows were everywhere.





Got 3 heavy duty clamps holding the tarp to the basket rail, actually 2 HD clamps in this pic, just upgraded the middle one after this trip. Works great in heavy winds when i tested it in my yard one windy day. The bungee hooked to the wheels is critical and so convenient. The middle pole has a replacement cane tip on it's end to ease the point on the end of the tarp pole.



I reconfigured the roof rack a bit after the trip shown above. This seems never-ending.



I wanted to make some things easier to get to and have a little more space to put things aside. Got all my clothes behind the pass seat now. i bring along two heavy duty door mats, one of which i put at the pass door and this is where i'll change with both doors open allowing a little privacy.



tire patch kit (red), misc tools, air compressor, with recovery gear on top. The hanging bag is great for potatoes, onion, garlic, veg oil, ziplock bags, napkins and plastic silverware. I also hang from the headrest hooks my 'security lights' in Crown Royal bags. Got my collapsible hiking table and chair bungee'd to the 5 gal water, with hiking gear on top. behing the compressor is all my rain gear, including boots.



Kinda cool the Tacoma came with a Gopro mount, that in addition to a clamp on my front bar mount i have been using every trip.

 

Lol bmgreene, sorry to hear man but sounds like a successful 'shakedown cruise'. I think i finally got a grip, literally, on MY propane tank, which i find to be with the exception of my wonderful reclining chair, the most awkward piece of gear i choose to deal with. And yeah man do whatever it takes to get your sleeping arrangements in order because tossing and turning all night gets old real quick.

 

I saw the tank location on the roof rack in your pic. From the research I did, those 20-lb tanks might not be safe to store/transport on their side if they're full enough because there's an overpressure/bleeder valve on the stem that's not designed to be below the level of the liquid in the tank. I don't know what the actual real danger is since it seemed like that valve is used more for filling the tank and has to be manually opened/closed with a screwdriver.

My original plan for the "camping" configuration was to put one of my tanks on its side in the front to also support angling up the "head" end of the sleeping platform a few inches, but I didn't go that way after seeing a lot of warnings (and the price tag on the 20-lb tanks that are designed to sit on their side) coming up on a google search. I may still look into maybe getting a 5-10 lb horizontal tank someday since the duration of camping that'd require 20 lb of cooking fuel seems more likely to be a tent/fixed site kind of trip rather than just sleeping in the truck overnight.

 

Yeah you're right and the info i came across said something along the lines there is the possibility of the 'heavier' gas normally at the bottom of the tank escaping, or something like that, when on its side. My impression was it's only a DANGER if in an enclosed space. Let me know if you've herd different. I want it on its side because standing up it's the tallest thing on my roofrack. It's not a space issue so i could stand it if i need to.

And that's a good idea i hadn't thought of about the smaller tank. 20 gal could probably last a month or more normal camping, so yeah overkill, but better than the smaller cans. I'm gonna look for a smaller tank.