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  1. Herbie

    1977 chinook custom 4x4

    Holy carp, look at the size of that doghouse! Great van, but how's the foot room on the passenger side? Good thing my wife has small feet! :bike_rider:
  2. Herbie

    Solar panel and IBS battery monitor query

    The IBS is like most of the other systems out there (including my T-Max), it can't sense "charge flowing", it only monitors the terminal voltage of each battery. As it happens, when something is trying to charge the battery, the terminal voltage will naturally rise, so these systems can sort of...
  3. Herbie

    Pics of your VAN! Post up!

    Photos for 2014 Well, it's been 2+ years and a few more mods since my last set of pictures. Don't want y'all to forget about me. Time for some new pics! Recent changes are mostly hidden (NP233 transfer case swap, water tank, etc.) and I've got a few more changes coming.
  4. Herbie

    36 Hours of Adventure: Easter Weekend in Anza Borrego

    Wanted to share some of the highlights of our most recent weekend trip. I was inspired by a the concept of the 36 Hour Adventure. I really resonated with the notion that we can miss lots of great short trips if we focus too much on the long expedition-style trips. Too often lately I'd been...
  5. Herbie

    1st US Hawk Flat Bed Pictures!!

    Mike, IIRC the "plan" is the same, but I imagine the stretched dimensions would make everything feel even more open (although that Hawk already looks spacious).
  6. Herbie

    1st US Hawk Flat Bed Pictures!!

    The Flat-Bed floorplan just makes so much sense to me. Am I correct in assuming one could fit a porta-potti (or better yet a fixed cassette toilet) into the cabinet space to the right of the door as you enter? Sleeping for 2+1 and a porta potti ticks the right boxes for my family. If this had...
  7. Herbie

    Kid-Friendly Hiking Foods Needed

    Yeah, I'm covered for cooked foods. We do everything from grilling to dutch oven to "al cartoccio" (That's I-talian for "Hobo pack"). Mostly looking for on-trail lunch ideas, stuff we can eat during a dayhike, since it's harder to feed the picky 4-year-old. I do like the idea of turning...
  8. Herbie

    Subaru owners: Let's see your expedition rigs!

    Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle - it's just advertising the relative cleanliness of the engine.
  9. Herbie

    question about wiring up solar controller

    The connection from solar controller to battery should be fused anyhow, so as long as you have a free slot on the fuse block, why not use it as an input? Otherwise you've got this nice tidy block of fuses for your loads, but a separate inline fuse for the controller? My OCD doesn't like that...
  10. Herbie

    Solar camping lights?

    Got these Harbor Freight solar stakes on a whim while shopping with my daughter. I'm proud to say we've gotten 2+ years of happy use from them. There have been few items that have brought the same ratio of toddler-glee to dollars. Usually a pair of them get tie-wrapped to the awning legs or...
  11. Herbie

    Thinking of switching from dual fuel to propane.

    Yep. Butane for ease. Use the propane adapter when needed. I only pack white gas now when I KNOW I'm going someplace REALLY cold.
  12. Herbie

    Roof rack or roof bars

    Also, double check w/ your Autohome dealer (Mike S?), but I thought that the preference was for 2 crossbars only, assuming the load rating works out. I seem to remember 3+ cross bars not being optimal because there's a chance you end up with a less-than-perfectly-flat surface (due to curving...
  13. Herbie

    Which Class B to convert to 4x4?

    Fair question. Astro/Safari guys are getting to a lot of out-of-the-way places and doing some cool stuff on 31" tires...
  14. Herbie

    Anyone have pix of how they mounted solar panels

    I just posted a short thread on how I did mine: http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/124689-My-locking-solar-panel-roof-rack Short-short version: Frame-made of Aluminum C-channel, suspended from my roof basket:
  15. Herbie

    Kid-Friendly Hiking Foods Needed

    I debated between the Family and Food fora for this, settled on the Chef's area: So I've spent years improving how I eat when hiking and backpacking, and eventually overlanding. I've got a hoard of recipes perfect for the foodie in the wilderness. I can have a fancy 3-course meal on a day...
  16. Herbie

    Best tablets for navigation?

    Not in my experience. For a long time I was using an old cellphone to play music and run an "augmented reality" game while jogging. (Game plays story audio and uses GPS to track your speed and prompt you to react to imaginary threats while running). When used with data plan, the app would lock...
  17. Herbie

    Skeeter Beater Nets - Any Testimony?

    Yep. I have a pair for the front windows on my Astro. Very convenient to stick on, very easy to store. Nice to use in warm weather camping as we get decent flow-through if both the front windows and pop-top window-flaps are open.
  18. Herbie

    4x4 Van Resources

    http://www.overlandvans.com/ - Lift kits for Chevy Astro/GMC Safari vans, plus a few parts for fullsize Chevy/GMC vans http://www.astrosafarivans.com - Astro/Safari specific forum with dedicated info on 4WD conversions, lift-kits, and off-road use. Good DIY resource.
  19. Herbie

    Will I have charging problems? (solar, 2 batteries, auto-bridging)

    OK DiploStrat, you've convinced me. I'll leave the system to operate in "automatic" mode and learn to ignore the periodic clack of the solenoid as the T-Max couples and un-couples the starting battery in response to the output from the Sunsaver. I may sit down with a meter at some point and...
  20. Herbie

    Electric coolers question..

    A second, isolated battery is really the best/only protection. You'll find the reason people don't use those peltier-style coolers more is that they're terribly inefficient, making a proper battery system all the more important Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
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