Destination Unknown - 2022 JTR journal

[chorky]

Just had a friends house in KC get blasted not long ago. It damaged his solar panels. So it's still fresh in my mind.

Man that sucks! Fortunately in my area there is not a ton of hail and it is small. But, a couple hundred miles east over the continental divide and it's a different story. I hope that large size hail never happens here. But if it didn't, and if it was bad enough to destroy the panels, I probably have much worse things to worry about, like holes in the roof, totally destroyed hood's, etc...

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[chorky]

Over the last few weeks I have been working on a couple projects that have required a little more than the usual figuring and parts modifications. Though I really like this tent a lot, there is one aspect that has always bothered me. The hinges and struts. They just make closing the tent a big chore and it's not at all easy. What should be a 2 minute job is more like 15-20, defeating the purpose of a RTT as a whole. Since last year I had the idea of putting the hardware on the external side of the tent rather than internal. Knowing there is risk here with components rusting, hopefully it will last at least a solid few years or longer before becoming a problem.

So I ordered some 1.5x1.5" aluminum angle from 8020 and got to drilling. After some finessing and a few mistakes, the brackets, hinges and struts were on the exterior. This was no easy task. But, at first test, and after breaking a strut, opening and closing is literally seconds. With nothing interrupting the bunnies from pulling the fabric inward, it is the ultra quick setup and takedown I was looking for from the start.

It is definitely a tight fit. I had to mount the hinges and angle alum differently than initially desired due to clearances and operation of the hinge itself. But the tent even closes and seals better now as well interestingly enough. This will make for much more enjoyable trips.

 

[chorky]

Now that the hinge and struts were mounted on the outside, the replacement awning and shower cube can go on. If you recall, I realized half way trough last year that I needed the awning to be on the driver side instead of the passenger with how my hot water setup is. Which is ok, as I can gift the passenger side awning to someone on the veteran/first responder trek this summer.

First to go on was the shower cube. I did have to find and modify some bolts. It is astonishing to me that nobody who makes any awning even knows the bolts that are supplied with their kits. I had some hot conversations with Ironman4x4 and their total incompetence in knowing what they are selling. They even told me that in order to get new or replacement bolts, they would have to just send me an entire awning. Bolts cannot be obtained separately. The only reason I purchased form them again is their product is lighter than any other I have looked at, and it is cheaper with the crazy sale they had over Christmas. So for the bolts, I had to get longer ones as the bolts included with the kit were not long enough to allow for a spacer/standoff. Due to the hinges being mounted differently than initially desired, I had to find a way to push the awnings out a little more than 1/2 an inch. So washers came to the rescue. I found some SS bolts at the local Ace and was able to grind them down on opposing sides so that they would fit in the T slot of the aluminum. And on went the shower cube.

Clearances are tight, but nothing is touching.

The awning was a different story. The bolts were too small and too short. Finding a longer bolt was the easy part. Finding a bolt with the right head size and thickness without a large diameter shaft was impossible. I probably could have used my micrometer and found something on Amazon but with dad visiting I had the extra hands to get it mounted now. The next largest bolt for the appropriate head size would be way too thick, and the thread diameter too large to reasonably drill through the brackets. So, I opted for a MacGuyver method. I took the SS bolts I had, which were small enough that the head would fully spin inside the T slot, and I shoved 2 pieces of bayline wire under the bolt head so it would act as a sort of wedge allowing me to tighten the nylok nuts without the bolt head spinning. Of course, this is risky as the wire is steel, untreated, and will probably rust fast. But I really don't have any other option unless someone here happens to know exactly where to get the right sized bolts. Anyway, it went on, and I was able to snug up the bolts without incident. Getting them off again in the future in a few years could be a whole different story. But for now, it is solid. Instead of the standard 2 brackets, I used 3 even though this awning is only 41 pounds.

Again, it's a tight fit, but nothing touches.

And the cool thing is with these in place, nobody will ever know the hardware for the tent is on the outside unless deployed. This will also help protect the hinges and struts as well.

 

[Turnswrench]

Very creative! Nice work as always

 

[chorky]

With the awning on the driver side now I took the opportunity over the weekend to do a quick setup. Since I ordered the second awning for the left side, I got with it 2 more sides.

Apparently this was the only photo I took...hmm. Well anyway here the door is open and you can see inside the enclosed area. I did not pull the walls out and secure them to the ground like you would in a wind storm. And the door would probably go on one of the other sections. But I can say even with the very slight wind pushing temps outside from 45 to 35, just having this up made a pretty big difference! I think with a little fire inside, one could easily camp in some cold temps and still stay fairly warm. More than likely though would the use of this be during wind, sideways rain/snow, or a dust storm. It also still leaves plenty of room open for cooking and friends, if any ever were to join.

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