Overlanding build out/Adventures

[Flyin6]

For the vehicle build out thread click on the link in my signature or click these:

AEV Gladiator Rubicon (real-man-truckworks-and-survival.com)

2022 AEV Gladiator Rubicon build | Jeep Gladiator (JT) News, Forum, Community - JeepGladiatorForum.com

Now we have one "Adventure in the books!

The first outing with the tent proved to be a success. We covered five states and up to 6,600 feet in altitude. We were down in the humid deep south and well up into the mountains of North Carolina.

I consider this first outing as a test to see how the tent worked out and to see what we needed to change/add/delete.

We identified the following items:

1. You definitely need a step ladder of some kind to more easily pack up the tent when tearing down camp. I had carried a 2- step, and I think a 3-step would fit the bill.

2. The IKamper factory mattress is unsat and needs an upgrade

3. The tent is hot above 70's fahrenheit.

4. You need shelter from the rain, we had none.

5. We did not cook food, so we will have to add that capability.

6. We started off with our existing mummy type sleeping bags. With all the room in the tent, a square bottom bag more generous in proportions would be nice.

7. Sleeping on an angle is no fun, so some leveling device is needed.

8. We started out with Coleman action packers, the ones I used in the Army, but the new ones are thinner and, in the heat, failed to keep their shape. I am now using them for hard items such as tools. Our other plastic bins, however, did hold up.

9. We seemed to work off the tailgate a lot, so I think we will make that into a workstation and build that out some.

10. We did not need heat, but our next big trip up to the Alpine Loop in Colorado is coming right up in September. Looking at forecasts at the 11,000 ft campsites, we will likely see 30F temps.

11. The Roto mold cooler we use for warm weather works great. Ice can hang around for 4 days!

12. The Apple GPS and SIRI are absolutely horrible. Using just the UCOMMECT factory jeep road nav is much better, but full of glitches.
A. The On-X off-road trail GPS nav software is really good. We will use that more.

13. We need some satellite communications for emergencies. The phone service in the mountains was nonexistent. I am thinking of purchasing the Garmin 67I nav/satellite test unit for safety and back-country hiking (Which we did).

So, it's off to solving for what we know we need and some of that is already done. So far, I picked up the 3-step ladder, some leveling blocks and a really cool 270-degree awning. I will post that stuff when it gets here.

Sponsored

 

[Flyin6]

Mileage and performance report for the trip:
Number of days: 11
States visited: Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia
Total miles: 1751.4
Fuel used: (Reg unleaded w/methanol) 109.59 gallons
Average mileage for the entire trip: 15.98 mpg
Worst tank full: 13.02 mpg
Best mileage: 17.22 mpg
Cruising speed: 63mph-69mph
Altitude encountered: 584 AMSL- 6,640 AMSL
Notes: With a light overland load (No food prep and a minimalist approach, but also with normal vacation baggage for a 5-day beach stay) the vehicle performance was satisfactory. Using the stated parameters as a baseline, I conclude there is no need to upgrade the powertrain to a V8. The cruising speed was low but comfortable. I was the slowest thing on the highway, roughly approximating the freight/semi-traffic. With a more top-heavy and less aerodynamic vehicle that does not have an abundance of power, I found it uncomfortable to loiter in the left lane where traffic would approach quickly. The slow march speed resulted in the need for an additional stop or two to use facilities or stretch out and therefore made for a couple longer than anticipated driving days.
All in all, the trip showed the Gladiator to be a great platform to take a regular or an overlanding trip in. Speaking of the overland portion. We spent several days in Pisque national forest camping and exploring. I did use 4WD a little but did not even air down so if anything, I would say we only did light obstacles. Most of the wilder access trails were blocked off by the US Forest Service so that in itself prevented us from really testing this higher CG configuration with our IKamper roof tent.
The next trip is already planned and set with some minor outings in between to test out new things as I add them.

 

[HooliganActual]

Thank you for your service!

#2 - Look at the Exped MegaMat, the Duo or 2 singles. Many people use them and I just changed my Baroud's mattress out for the 2 singles option. The idea with 2 singles is so that you don't "feel" the other person shifting as much since it is an air mattress.

#3 - I wired power from my house battery up into my RTT so that I could power a fan:

#6 - Instead of sleeping bags, we opted for actual flannel bed sheets (1 fitted, 1 flat) and a very nice quilt from Enlightened Equipment. Makes it feel a little bit more like "home".

#7 - A lot of people will use MaxTrax or RV leveling blocks but I use GoTreads because they are "adjustable"
https://gotreads.com/

#9 - My tailgate is my world when I am out camping. One of my best upgrades was my BillieBars Tailgate cover. The two other major tailgate covers are made of UHMW and things slide around on them, but the BillieBars is made of marine grade rubber. It's even quite comfortable to sit on:

@BillieBars are on the forum and would surely answer any question you might have about their product.

#12 & #13 - While expensive, take a look at the Garmin Tread Overland XL. It is a brilliant device. You get the functionality of something like OnX/Gaia/etc. in a sturdy Garmin device and Garmin's inReach technology for satcom like the 671 has. Personally I love mine and of all the "mods" I've done to my Gladiator, I would say this was the best.

Best of luck!

 

[Flyin6]

Well-thought-out suggestions!

Thanks for serving yourself...Few do.

On the sleeping mats...Too late :-(
I just took delivery on the big duo (I forgot the brand, but recommended) blue 4" air mattress. Other single enroute. We launch on an overnight Friday, so I'll have posterior feedback real-time within the next 48.

Electricity/dual fans: Copy that/wilco.

Sleeping system: Wife is a "Mattress Rascal." Meaning: Everything she has and most of what you have will be wrapped around her well before morning. Thinking more along the lines of separate sleep systems with an anchor fence running down the middle of the tent! ;-)

I already have some RV wedge/curved (Ingenious) blocks which I used already. Cam shaped, sort of. Drive up and they roll to a progressively taller position, 1/4"-4". But I'll check out the suggested blocks.

Flat/workable tailgate: Copy. Me, I share your appreciation for the flat spaces. I am a bit of a fabricator and want to create some of the stuff I'll use myself. I was sketching out a fold-out arrangement that forms an "L." Dunno, buying is much easier...

Garmin overland XL...OK, I'll look see what it has to offer. Have been using the handheld Garmin units since the early Afghanistan days, so familiar, and I want to do walkabouts with the same nav system whilst retaining sat-text capability, you know, to call one of you Navy guys to come to rescue me ;-). Perhaps I should have both...

Thanks for the thoughtful suggestions, I appreciate them.

 

[ChrisNLA]

#9 - My tailgate is my world when I am out camping. One of my best upgrades was my BillieBars Tailgate cover. The two other major tailgate covers are made of UHMW and things slide around on them, but the BillieBars is made of marine grade rubber. It's even quite comfortable to sit on:

@BillieBars are on the forum and would surely answer any question you might have about their product.

Best of luck!

I need to break down and get this myself. When camping I live off my tailgate as well, and everything is always falling over - and for your reasons I have been reluctant to get other offerings because instead of falling over it'll just slide off all together.

 

[HooliganActual]

Solid copy on the Mattress Rascal. Mine is a "Starfish" so it works a bit to my benefit..lol

As far as the GoTreads are concerned, the upside is that they are actually traction boards but serve a dual purpose. I'm all about having things that serve a dual purpose given the limited payload capacity we have.

Based on your stated use, the Tread XL may not be right for you but check it out all the same. I have tried taking mine on a recreational hike and it just doesn't work for that: a) it's really bigger than you want to hike with and b) the screen power draw is massive and can pull the battery down faster than you would like out on a hike and c) if/when it goes to sleep to save power, it no longer tracks like the Garmin handhelds do.

I used to have one of the old DeLorme inReach devices then bought the Garmin version after DeLorme was bought out and currently have the Garmin mini. Those devices are much better for hiking. Garmin doesn't allow you to have 2 devices on the same account but will let you transfer which device is active at a given time. So right now, if I am going on a backpacking trip I call them and switch to the Mini (for free) and then if I am Overlanding, I switch it back. I'm honestly thinking about setting up a second user account so that I can have service on both...but that's double the fees.

All that said, the Tread XL is prolly the best device for pure overlanding. The features are excellent.

 

[HooliganActual]

I need to break down and get this myself. When camping I live off my tailgate as well, and everything is always falling over - and for your reasons I have been reluctant to get other offerings because instead of falling over it'll just slide off all together.

Having built out Jeeps for 40 years (for personal use), I have had many regrets and second guessed myself on some of my choices. This wasn't one of them.

I thought long and hard about the tailgate options and, if you search the forum here, you'll see I went a few rounds with @BillieBars over their product and had some good discussion and moments of discovery. Here is the thread that all took place in and the specific post of my install notes. There are a couple things that I modified so that i could be happier with it (because I'm an engineer and a bit obsessive compulsive...lol):
https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/forum/threads/new-billiebars-tailgate-cover.63695/post-1052723

 

[ChrisNLA]

Having built out Jeeps for 40 years (for personal use), I have had many regrets and second guessed myself on some of my choices. This wasn't one of them.

I thought long and hard about the tailgate options and, if you search the forum here, you'll see I went a few rounds with @BillieBars over their product and had some good discussion and moments of discovery. Here is the thread that all took place in and the specific post of my install notes. There are a couple things that I modified so that i could be happier with it (because I'm an engineer and a bit obsessive compulsive...lol):
https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/forum/threads/new-billiebars-tailgate-cover.63695/post-1052723

Good read. I hear you on analyzing, modifying, and ultimately improving. I build new emergency vehicles for a living and I've done quite a bit of tinkering with things to make it just right Thanks for the info.

 

[Flyin6]

Having built out Jeeps for 40 years (for personal use), I have had many regrets and second guessed myself on some of my choices. This wasn't one of them.

I thought long and hard about the tailgate options and, if you search the forum here, you'll see I went a few rounds with @BillieBars over their product and had some good discussion and moments of discovery. Here is the thread that all took place in and the specific post of my install notes. There are a couple things that I modified so that i could be happier with it (because I'm an engineer and a bit obsessive compulsive...lol):
https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/forum/threads/new-billiebars-tailgate-cover.63695/post-1052723

I read those somewhat spirited exchanges. Helped me too. BillieBars semed to field it all well, shows solid character. Ah I'm about to make a metric ton selling my farm, so I suppose I could spring for a luxury like that. Oh and the traction board thing...I like those. Solid concept and allows me to leave my traction boards bolted to the side of my overland camper.

 

[Flyin6]

Update: Another weekend camping trip in the bag. Went over to Clifty Falls, IN for some hiking. I wanted to try out the new air mattresses.

DNR: State Parks: Clifty Falls State Park (in.gov)

I purchased the large and dual and the single Qomotop self-inflatable mattresses.
For the purpose of this trip, we just tossed them on top of the existing IKamper mattresses. That was a big step up in comfort and made for a good night's sleep.

I did not upgrade to lighting or fans at this point and both of those were sorely missed. I suppose they are next in Queue. No bears this time, just some noisy bikers and a bunch of kids. I ride and I love kids, so it's all good!

Last night I ordered a 5lb Propane bottle, a mount, and a six-foot hose. For the upcoming Colorado trip, I will be using my 2-burner Eureka stove with a rectangular grill plate. So that is coming.

The Awning is in and I should have that installed within the week.

So, question time:

I will need an electrical power source for the lights and the fans if used, and I will be adding a diesel heater and a 50 qt sized 12VDC frig. for the Alpine loop trip. So, I will obviously be adding a secondary electrical power source.

My thoughts go to something like the Jackery 1000 or possibly 1500 along with some sort of management panel/bus system and necessary wiring.

My questions are:

What is working for current overlanders with a similar setup?
How much reserve power do I need?
Should I charge it off of the Jeep's alternator or an independent solar system?
Buy a Red Arc system or put together my own?
What am I missing?

*I will ultimately select the lightest system that fits my miniscule power demands.

 

[HooliganActual]

My questions are:

What is working for current overlanders with a similar setup?
How much reserve power do I need?
Should I charge it off of the Jeep's alternator or an independent solar system?
Buy a Red Arc system or put together my own?
What am I missing?

*I will ultimately select the lightest system that fits my miniscule power demands.

The key thing before you make a move is to really understand your power requirements. As an example: my Dometic 55 CFX (once cooled down to the right temperature) pulls about 1 to 1.5 aH per hour; and this is my major electrical demand. If I want to power it for just one 24 hour day, it is going to use between 24 & 36 aH of battery capacity. So this means that for 1 day I need, let's call it 36 aH of battery capacity. If I plan to go to some campsite for 3 days and have no means to charge it, I would need 108 aH. Hopefully you get the idea.

Now throw on things like charging your iphone a couple times in that 3 day period, running a fan in your RTT, etc. It was actually surprising to me when I started looking at the electrical loads I was putting on my system. I started out with a 50aH battery and a solar panel, but on a week long trip with lots of tree cover and overcast conditions, I realized that in those conditions, my 50aH got used up quick and my single 100W panel couldn't charge fast enough. I ultimately wound up with 200W worth of panels and a 100aH battery.

Personally, I went with building out a house battery and charging system because this is a dedicated overlanding vehicle and I didn't want to have to mess with "remembering" to bring a portable power supply like the Jackery (Anker makes a solid alternative). If you decide to make your solution more permanent, I have had my Renogy system running now for around a year and have had no issues. Renogy doesn't get a lot of love because it's "cheap Chinese cr@p" but every solar company's stuff is "cheap Chinese cr@p", Renogy just charges half the price for it.

If you do go the permanent route, you'll definitely want the DC-DC charger option. When my house battery is full, it automatically trickle charges my starter/aux batteries.

There's no real right or wrong way to go, the most important thing is to really understand your power requirements. Things like charging phones, or handheld GPS devices, or BT speakers tend to add up. I even carry a power driver in case I need to do repairs and charging that unit takes a toll...

Cheers

 

[Flyin6]

OK, so one/two Renogy batteries. Have seen them in use everywhere. Have their panels down on my farm. Seems to be good quality to me.
I copy: Build my own system. Calculate electrical needs and apply a margin of capacity. Permanent solution vs Jackert or other replaceable battery. DC/DC charger. Had not planned to do rooftop solar panels due to the tightening weight budget, although I will consider.
Thank you!

 

[HooliganActual]

OK, so one/two Renogy batteries. Have seen them in use everywhere. Have their panels down on my farm. Seems to be good quality to me.
I copy: Build my own system. Calculate electrical needs and apply a margin of capacity. Permanent solution vs Jackert or other replaceable battery. DC/DC charger. Had not planned to do rooftop solar panels due to the tightening weight budget, although I will consider.
Thank you!

So here's a couple thoughts if you do go this route:
1) I totally get the weight concerns (my current build scaled at 200# over GVWR fully loaded just before Overland Expo West) but the Renogy 100W Flexible panels are only 4.2# each. That's pretty light and the value they bring to your experience is worth more than that (IMHO).

2) Depending on your power needs, you may not need 2 batteries. There are 200aH batteries as well. The challenge is that it has a bigger footprint and might not fit where you need it to.

3) Pay close attention to what you want from your battery as far as features. I was in a discussion with someone in a different thread who was going to have to buy additional components because he bought the wrong battery. Specifically, he wanted to be able to monitor SOC (State of Charge) but had not bought one of the Renogy batteries that has the built in BT Xmter. He had bought a version that had a built in heater because of his cold weather use; but that one doesn't come with the BT Xmtr.

More on this topic (you may already know all of this but I learned some expensive lessons along the way and someone else reading this may find it helpful, so...apologies if necessary)
4) You will definitely want a way to monitor your system and its performance (I bet you love to fly by instrumentation, lol). I know the other Solar system companies do something with their system but here's how Renogy works. The DC-DC MPPT system does not have built in BT (at least mine didn't, maybe they do now) so I had to buy the plug-in BT module. In the pic above you can see it in the top left with the green light on and says BT-2. That communicates my charging system status. My 100aH battery has an onboard BT Xmtr. Both of those talk to the DC Home app on my iPhone (and supposedly can be loaded on the Garmin Tread but I haven't tried that yet) and provides screens like this:
This pic is the front page of the app
"Before" Charging_____________________"After" Charging

Drilling down into the DCC, I can see in this pic that alternator is contributing 15.44A and solar is contributing 3.41A for a combined 19.01A charge while I was driving down the road.

there are some drill down menus that also graph your day over day, month over month amp/volt/charge performance but I don't have a pic of that to post.

EDIT: Found an old pic. There are about 10 parameters it graphs. Drop down month selector at top of screen and day of month on the graph X-axis.

Cheers

 

[AKJTR]

I'm a little late to the thread. But a Garmin InReach is a must. I bring mine on all my trips and use it often while camping or hunting in the backcountry. For leveling the truck, I use my traction boards. They seem to work great and I don't have to pack leveling blocks. I'm all about packing less stuff and reducing weight. For power, I've used a Goal Zero 1000X with a solar panel in the past when hunting caribou on the North Slope of Alaska. It worked for our needs. There were three of us charging phones, InReaches, and lights almost every night.

 

[ttn333]

100ah renogy lipo4 and 175w renogy flexy panel on rtt. Runs a 65L fridge and freezer indefinitely with sunlight. It's more than enough power for camp use. I havent seen it drop below 80ah before getting fully charge by noon. Can also easily drop in another 100ah if required. It's a pretty simple setup with mppt solar charger. I can also plug in my ac-dc charger if necessary. Also run a diesel heater for cold winters. I can sleep in my shorts when it's 20*F outside.

Sponsored