Alaska Daily Drivers: Hydro Blue 80A and Bright White JTR

[Turnswrench]

Project on deck! Poop pipe and brackets.

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[chorky]

Project on deck! Poop pipe and brackets.

Lol please tell me this is for the heater and not a toilet to go in the RTT......

 

[Turnswrench]

Lol please tell me this is for the heater and not a toilet to go in the RTT......

?

 

[Turnswrench]

White Jeep update:

• The rear bumper we ordered to add the rear bumper sensors was sent to the wrong place. It's in Palmer, Kansas and not Palmer, Alaska. The vendor is working on it, but we're disappointed that they made the mistake and we had to catch it.
• The rock sliders just shipped, no ETA yet.
• The aux tank is so freaking awesome. I now want one for the blue Jeep ?

Blue Jeep update:

We tested the OVS 270 awning, the FSR rear awning, and the iKamper RTT together. They all work together perfectly. The rear awning and the 270 awning obviously don't work together at the same time, but it'll be nice to have options depending on space, speed, and weather conditions. This will make for an exciting summer season!

Clearance from the RTT and the 270 awning, like a glove!

 

[chorky]

White Jeep update:

• The rear bumper we ordered to add the rear bumper sensors was sent to the wrong place. It's in Palmer, Kansas and not Palmer, Alaska. The vendor is working on it, but we're disappointed that they made the mistake and we had to catch it.
• The rock sliders just shipped, no ETA yet.
• The aux tank is so freaking awesome. I now want one for the blue Jeep ?

Blue Jeep update:

We tested the OVS 270 awning, the FSR rear awning, and the iKamper RTT together. They all work together perfectly. The rear awning and the 270 awning obviously don't work together at the same time, but it'll be nice to have options depending on space, speed, and weather conditions. This will make for an exciting summer season!

Clearance from the RTT and the 270 awning, like a glove!

Man that is looking great!! And yes you definitely need another aux tank. I would put one in every single vehicle I own from now on out if something can fit.

 

[chorky]

Well hello there!

Gears are all broken in now, lockers are working great, too. The fuel economy improved by 2.5 mpg and the power band is much better.

We took the Jeep camping in Denali National Park this past weekend and it was a huge success. I didn't quite get the solar setup done, I still need to finish that. Almost 9 hours driving round trip and two nights camping. It was a great trial run for the Prudoe Bay visit this August.

Enjoy:

I knew I shouldn't have gone scrolling haha those views are fantastic!! Man I can't wait for camping season. Definitely need to make an Alaska/northern Canada trip

 

[Turnswrench]

I knew I shouldn't have gone scrolling haha those views are fantastic!! Man I can't wait for camping season. Definitely need to make an Alaska/northern Canada trip

Bring it on up!!

 

[Turnswrench]

I've added a table of contents to page 1 to help people navigate this build thread.

First up, the poop pipe is done.

Cut and painted brackets:

Drilled the pipe and bolted it up to the brackets with 1/2” bolts and rubber washers:

Stuffed the heater ducts inside (one duct is hard piping, the other is collapsible)

Twisted on the cap:

Job done. An easy way to store the ducts without them getting damaged.

Also the carbon monoxide detector arrived. We got it all setup and it's ready to keep us safe.

 

[Turnswrench]

First test of the Propex is still happening ? I'm in the tent, the furnace is running, it's cold outside, but I'm in the driveway so the Wi-Fi is awesome. ?

The wife and I weren't prepared enough to get out on the road this weekend. It was the plan but with some extreme temperatures around, we decided to play it safe and test the setup in our driveway first. Better safe than sorry.

It was warmer at our house than up north, so that's a bonus for a trial run.

Sleeping attire:
Grey sweatpants, T-shirt, wool socks, hoodie/zip up. For Hudson, a sweater.

Weather conditions:
2-4° with wind chill down to -15°.

Tent preparation:
Exped dual person sleeping bag, good for 40°. No insulation liner, just the tent. No condensation mat, just the iKamper thin mattress. Large fuzzy blanket for Hudson. Fullsize pillows.

Time of setting up camp:
11pm Alaska time. Tear down TBD since I'm still out here.

Carbon Monoxide:
The detector read between 2-10ppm throughout the night. No alarms. It was hung center of tent at the top.

Thermostat:
Started with the thermostat at the bottom of the tent near our feet and the main door. Checked it throughout the night and it was showing that we were losing temp. I moved it to hanging over our knee area from a bar and got more stable readings. It was too close to the tent wall previously in my opinion.

Propex heater duct setup:
Heated air coming in through window on one side and the return air heading out the window directly opposite the heat. They are set at two different planes.

Comfort:
I'll sum it up. Feet frozen. Torso okay. Wife and dog left around 6am. The hot air does not sufficiently warm the tent at these temps with no tent insulation. The aluminum floor of the tent is ice, ice, ice cold. The noise it the heater is basically nothing. You just hear the forced air coming into the tent like you do your furnace at home (if you have forced air.) I don't hear the exhaust at all.

The heater has been running non-stop since 11p and it's chilly in here. Right around the heater duct is wonderful, but it never got the sqft warm enough for the thermostat to kick off the heater. The air is hot, dry, and forceful out of the duct. No concerns with the output. It just isn't enough to cover the lost heat through the tent and the freezer floor.

There is no condensation. Zero. This is not a propane buddy heater with wet heat.

Where do we go from here?

• The floor of the tent needs addressed. Either a coating, flooring, or a better mattress that insulates the body from the cold material. Currently iKamper is sold out of what they say their solution to this problem is, an inflatable mattress.
• The insulation tent liner should have been installed. This would have cocooned the heat in and kept us much warmer. I honestly believe this may be all that is needed to solve any challenges we had overnight. We own the insulation liner and have used it with great success. I just thought the Propex would be too much heat for the liner. It is not. Now we know.
• The heat duct needs split. I plan to run the heat into the tent in two places next time to balance the temp across the tent. Propex says you can split it up to 3 times. This will help the toes stay warm. But again, the insulation liner may solve for this.
• Different or better provisions in the tent. We kept it simple with the blankets and sleeping bag because I was confident that we'd get baked up here if we brought too much. That didn't happen.

This is why we tested things out to learn the boundaries. The tent is in the 60s right near the vent. I'm getting a reading now of the temp at the feet, update, it's 20°.

The amp draw was 2.4-2.5 amps consistently. This is running the heater, the fridge, the switch panel, the Redarc battery monitor, and the heater circuit for the battleborn lifepo4 battery.

I haven't gotten out to check propane, but it's still running non-stop. We're at 8 hours now using a 5lb tank.

Overall I'm still happy with the convenience of this. Once I sort out some details (or simply put the insulation liner in ?), it's going to be the perfect package.

Heading up to bed:

Checking out the Propex exhaust sound:

Getting the tent warmed up:

Okay, let's try to sleep now that the CO detector says it's safe:

We woke up every hour to review everything. It was far too cold for Hudson ?

Note the times and the temps for reference:

 

[Turnswrench]

Couple pics Megan texted me once she left:

 

[Turnswrench]

Packed up:

 

[chorky]

Man awesome test! You're a lucky man to have a wife willing to test that out with you too. My dad can't even remotely get my step mom to even think about camping lol. I'm not too surprised that it was still chilly in the tent though. I mean you're surrounded by metal and a super thin bit of canvas with sub 0 temps outside. So it makes total sense to me. I bet it would feel pretty good if it was only in the 20's. So I'm curious do you realistically plan on camping in sub 0 temps?

I wonder if some dynamite would help with the floor. I am willing to bet the result would be about the same with a diesel heater as well. But this is a really awesome test and better to know now that you need to add a few things. I bet an insulation liner would help a TON as well. Those seem to have some really good benefits.

How much battery and propane did you use?

 

[Turnswrench]

Man awesome test! You're a lucky man to have a wife willing to test that out with you too. My dad can't even remotely get my step mom to even think about camping lol. I'm not too surprised that it was still chilly in the tent though. I mean you're surrounded by metal and a super thin bit of canvas with sub 0 temps outside. So it makes total sense to me. I bet it would feel pretty good if it was only in the 20's. So I'm curious do you realistically plan on camping in sub 0 temps?

I wonder if some dynamite would help with the floor. I am willing to bet the result would be about the same with a diesel heater as well. But this is a really awesome test and better to know now that you need to add a few things. I bet an insulation liner would help a TON as well. Those seem to have some really good benefits.

How much battery and propane did you use?

Lucky indeed. An extra body creating heat was a plus! ?

I did expect that this heater would be ripping and it was, it just didn't translate to warmth. I would love to cold weather camp up north and see the Aurora in a completely dark environment. I love how it looks from my house. I can't imagine what it would be like in the wilderness.

I decided to order some gear and see what I can do. I'll have to think on most of it and formulate a plan.

I am pleased to say I can't share how much battery was used because the Redarc battery monitor has been awful. The victron that I took out was a much better device and it had a better app. So irritating.

For the propane, I will need to throw the gauge on it. If I had to guess, it was most of the 5lbs.

 

[Turnswrench]

Well, I'm a bit shocked. If you trust a propane gauge, we used less than half the 5lb tank. I'll need to pull it off the Jeep and pour some water on it to verify.

 

[mx5red]

I bet the liner will fix it.
I didn’t see where the heater hose goes or how long it is, are you losing a lot of heat through that? Maybe some kind of hose sleeve or blanket?

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