A new hope ... (build journal and component reviews)

[AustinKalb]

The Dempster in bad weather is utterly disgusting. A lot of the camp options were very muddy as well.

The Jeep seems to be a terrible vehicle in these conditions. It's incredibly hard to clean and tends to soil itself all over. We haven't seen any other vehicle as dirty as the Jeeps on this road. It's utterly disgusting.

We are running Rokblokz mudguards, but I don't get the impression they are doing much. If they do, the Jeep is even worse in getting itself dirty than I thought. I have cleaned the Land Cruiser a few times after bad weather outings and I've never seen such a frigging mess as on this Gladiator.

Due to corrugations and bad shape of the Dempster, we ran with a reduced tire pressure. Saw a lot of vehicles along the road with puntures or even torn up tires.

We stopped a few times checking whether people needed help, most didn't. They were still on the first flat ... ;-) But we did meet a couple from France a few times along the Klondike Highway and then on the Dempster and they did need some help. Fixed their tire puncture with our plug kit and gave them our spare tire pressure gauge when we parted ways. We heard that they made it safely to Dawson City and got the tire properly repaired there.

Here's me filling up the tires after we got on pavement again:

The AluCab Canopy camper was mostly tight, although it did leak some dust in the corner above our bear canister / trash container. Doesn't seem to have enough pressure on the seal there.

It's a bummer that AluCab uses these piss poor latches which can't be adjusted. I might have to drill some more holes into the camper to install beter ones when we are back home.

Our Patriot Camper used this style and they are vastly superior to the cheap things on the Canopy Camper, link is just an example for the style of adjustable latch:

https://www.amazon.com/Toggle-Upgrade-Adjustable-Release-Latches/dp/B08R8P37VB

After a pressure wash we found that some water made it past the side window seals. Not all that much, but still annoying. Overall, I'm not super concerned since this was a VERY extensive wash, but still doesn't speak to the quality of the AluCab components.

Here it is, mostly clean and drying out ...

Packed the rear door.

Did you install the rotopax? The two Alucab dealers I contacted wouldn’t do it.

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[cug]

Did you install the rotopax? The two Alucab dealers I contacted wouldn’t do it.

Yes, I did.

We took off the door, marked extremely carefully the mounting points for RhinoRack loadbars. The mounting bolt goes from the outside through the RhinoRack loadbar, then through the outer skin AND through the extrusion on the inside of the door. We then inserted a t-nut into the extrusion and the bolt goes to that.

The drilling we did from the inside, in the extrusion channel. We used an 80/20 drill guide so we ended up with a properly perpendicular hole which we only had to widen by about half a mm.

Then we had mounting plates fabricated which then got the Rotopax mounted to them.

You can see the t-nuts in this picture:

This is extremely stable.

And here is how the outside looks like without the canisters:

But, with the experience of our recent trip, I would NOT use Rotopax again. I'd use a NATO diesel can with a mount that replaces the driver's side Molle panel. Currently we have a mount for a bear canister hanging there and this just isn't practical. Therefore, we'd put the 20L NATO canister there.

Then the door would be mostly nothing, we'd put a single larger case there.

I'd also put the shovel somewhere else, since the RhinoRack mounts completely seized up due to dirt and dust. Right now they are in the garage and I need to open them up to see whether I can salvage them.

 

[mquetel]

Partly installed, 3x front vertical legs and the front connectors to the sides missing.

Specifically what hardware did you use to attach the 80/20 extrusion to the ALCC t-slot? Was it some sort of t-nut compatible with the ALCC's M8 slot that was tapped with M6? Thanks in advance!

 

[cug]

Specifically what hardware did you use to attach the 80/20 extrusion to the ALCC t-slot? Was it some sort of t-nut compatible with the ALCC's M8 slot that was tapped with M6? Thanks in advance!

We used standard nuts and bolts for the 80/20 side and M8 bolts in the ACCC slots, connecting them with angle brackets we cut from a 90 degree 2" aluminum angle, 3mm thickness. Then used nylock M8 nuts and fender washers to bolt it down.

The brackets look like this (although with 8mm holes on one side):

We've generally cut them first, held them in position, marked the height of the middle of the respective extrusion channel and then drilled the holes. The camper really isn't square, so we marked all of them with the position they are meant/cut/drilled for.

We've also used a couple M6 drop-in t-nuts for specific mounting in some places. 80/20 part number is 13092 - I hope I'm correct on that one, I don't have OEM packaged ones anymore. I have a post here of hardware that fits the channels, would need to find it.

Overall, we have 12 solid connections from the furniture to the camper, plus a few to hold cover panels and such. Then we have 10 connections from the furniture to the baseplates (four for the small one, six for the large plate). These are done with teenuts in the baseplate and M6 bolts + standard 8020 angle brackets.

This results in an incredibly solid "block" of furniture tightly bolted to the camper. Absolutely nothing has moved or even come lose in 10k miles, about 20% of that on unpaved, bumpy, corrugated roads.

 

[mquetel]

We used standard nuts and bolts for the 80/20 side and M8 bolts in the ACCC slots, connecting them with angle brackets we cut from a 90 degree 2" aluminum angle, 3mm thickness. Then used nylock M8 nuts and fender washers to bolt it down.

The brackets look like this (although with 8mm holes on one side):

We've generally cut them first, held them in position, marked the height of the middle of the respective extrusion channel and then drilled the holes. The camper really isn't square, so we marked all of them with the position they are meant/cut/drilled for.

We've also used a couple M6 drop-in t-nuts for specific mounting in some places. 80/20 part number is 13092 - I hope I'm correct on that one, I don't have OEM packaged ones anymore. I have a post here of hardware that fits the channels, would need to find it.

Overall, we have 12 solid connections from the furniture to the camper, plus a few to hold cover panels and such. Then we have 10 connections from the furniture to the baseplates (four for the small one, six for the large plate). These are done with teenuts in the baseplate and M6 bolts + standard 8020 angle brackets.

This results in an incredibly solid "block" of furniture tightly bolted to the camper. Absolutely nothing has moved or even come lose in 10k miles, about 20% of that on unpaved, bumpy, corrugated roads.

Appreciate the detail!

 

[cug]

Here is an example of one of the connections:

 

[mquetel]

Here is an example of one of the connections:

That's great, thank you. I have a simple cabinet I want to make on the driver's side to contain a larger battery and enclose some other infrastructure. Since it will also be used as a step to get in/out of the sleeping area, I'm wanting it to be fairly strong. Likely going to use 10 series.

 

[cug]

I used the metric 25 series. Some of the hardware is the same, but I can't help with funny units.

 

[cug]

Just an FYI:

This rig is now for sale. For sale post and video showing everything is coming, probably early next week. If you are interested or know somebody who might be, reach out, price will be very competitive.

 

[cug]

Video:

 

[smlobx]

Nice video. Very detailed. How much are you asking for it?
Also, you might consider posting it for sale on expeditionportal.com.

Good luck.

 

[cug]

I’m thinking $64k to move it reasonably quickly. Still writing the full description. We are very busy right now and while this is one of the big items, it’s not the most pressing one …

The truck only has a bit over 20k miles and is in great condition.

 

[cug]

And here it is:

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...th-canopy-camper-and-custom-build-out.101115/

 

[cug]

So, I'm basically (from my perspective) closing this thread. The car is sold to a new and hopefully happy owner. If there is anything you'd like to know, feel free to drop me a personal message though.

 

[fourfa]

Congrats on sale. I know that must have been a bit complex!

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