2-Door JK JeepKitchen - AT Chaser - Globetrotter - National Luna build thread

[jacobconroy]

Awning continued

Some mounting:

Reassembly and test:


And...the most important part of the day...the beer opener:


Not sure what's next. I think I will order a three-bank Noco charger next week. I'm tired of trying to keep the batteries topped off and I think the Noco will solve the issue (while providing many more amp hours at camp with properly charged batteries). Or...maybe it's time for an aftermarket front bumper.

 

[ratled]

Thanks for all of the updates. I'm enjoying your build

ratled

 

[R.E.D.]

That looks nice! You have a nice JK there sir!

 

[jacobconroy]

Stuff I missed - the fridge

Thanks sir. It's taken years for me to wrangle the money together. One-part-at-a-time. Here are some parts of other posts I've done, consolidated into this thread. Won't be much info...just pictures today.

Some fridge stuff. I think this is a National Luna 52. Can't remember...bought it a year ago:

 

[jacobconroy]

In the wild - caution - beer was involved in this post!

A trip appr. one month ago:

Appr. one year ago:

A camp steak:

A psycho-killer attack dog:

And one stressed out IT dude:

 

[jacobconroy]

The Chaser in action - and yes - more beer happened

A family trip last year. The local-yocal-family-pals expressed concerns that I might "have rocks in my head" when they checked out the trailer:

 

[Bam2413]

Nice CL finds, I wish my area was a little more active when it came to aftermarket Jeep accessories!

 

[jacobconroy]

Nice CL finds, I wish my area was a little more active when it came to aftermarket Jeep accessories!

Thanks sir. I live in a rural area and finding anything that is both good and reasonably priced for a JK on CL is a challenge. A couple of weeks ago I finally found a set of Rubicon rock rails for $80.00 and put them on. When I met the guy for the deal, it turned out that he was the same dude that sold me the lift kit nearly a year ago. He lives 45 miles away and I'm always happy to buy his hand-me-downs. Didn't take pictures of the install though because it wasn't very exciting. My mission is to build the cheapest/coolest low budget overland rig in town using as many 2nd hand parts as possible, LOL.

I bought a 2-bank NOCO charger for battery maintenance and will be installing it this weekend. Might get around to installing onboard air too. There will be pics.

 

[jacobconroy]

Shore power - battery maintenance

Today I had time to install most of the NOCO.

First I drilled a 2 inch hole for the NOCO shore power jack (which was a little nerve-racking):


And mounted the jack. It is much more solid than I'd hoped for in the sheet metal. Keeping it close to the seam was a good idea:


Then some monkeying around to find a place to mount the charger. I chose to put it right behind the passenger door:


Carpet be gone (and I chiseled out the seam sealant later to get a pretty flat fit) Blue tape was used to mark out the shape of the charger. There was a lot of screwing around to find a place that would allow all four screws to bite while clearing the wheel well:

 

[jacobconroy]

NOCO charging wires

I ran the Bank 2 wire (for the NL Power Pack) under the carpet behind the rear seat:


And had to add a 1.25 inch hole in the bottom of the NL to bring the NOCO charge wire up into the battery space without any wires showing after. It's not that I'm trying to be neat...there is crap packed in every space of the Jeep and I don't want to worry about snagging lazily run wired when pulling out gear:


Reassembled the Power Pack with no pinched wires:


And then reassembled. I was getting tired at this point and wasn't taking many pictures. I think this will work well and hopefully heat won't be a problem:


I capped the Bank 1 wires and left them under the carpet for later. Not sure if I'm going to dump the NL Power Pack and add two group 31s in it's place, or put a group 31 under the hood for Bank 1 later. Decisions, decisions. I cut the carpet so that I can easily run more wires around in the rig later without having to remove the NOCO. Turned out pretty well and only took a couple of hours.

 

[jacobconroy]

Packing the Baroud Space with the isothermic kit (winter double-wall kit) installed

I told someone that I'd take some pics of the way I pack and close up the James Baroud Space and will post it here. It was hard to get "far-away" pictures while teetering on the ladder, but here they are anyway. All pictures on the ladder were taken from the passenger side.

Rear of tent, packed for closing:


Front of tent. Note that the fan (or anything hard) needs to be in the front of the tent to avoid the Baroud vent in the rear of the roof:

 

[jacobconroy]

More tent closing

Sorry the thread is all jacked up. The portal is not behaving today. Can't delete the post above, so I'll just continue on:

The "attached thumbnail" pain-in-the-*** bug at the bottom of the post above shows that everything is about 12 inches thick. Thanks to the down it will all shrink down (pun intended).

I always leave the side doors unzipped when closing. The isothermic kit door is rolled up on the ladder/passenger side. I leave it closed all the time on the drivers side:


This marvelous piece of technology allows me to grab the tent to close it at 7+ feet high. I leave each side of the back door unzipped about 2/3 of the way up (bottom loose):


Next I bring the front down and hook both sides, but do not latch them:


I then pull down the rear and hook it on the awning (since it's there). It's a good idea to hook it on something if you are alone. About 12 inches of open will make it easy to tuck the sides:

 

[jacobconroy]

Tent closing finally

Only three more pics of tent closing technique:

This is pretty typical of what hangs out:


I tuck the sides and isothermic kit up and over the rear strut (which is now scissored):


Then gently puch one side of the rear down and catch the hook (but do not latch):


Do the same to the other side of the rear, then latch both rear sides fully. In finally, latch the front latches fully. Done. I should mention that I raised my tent up off the roof rack about 1.5 inches so that I can easily grap the rack and pull myself up anywhere around the sides or rear. That makes a big difference for how "easy" closing the tent is. If there were no handles, I can imagine that closing the tent might be a PITA.

 

[Oskipoo]

how do you like the tent so far?

 

[jacobconroy]

how do you like the tent so far?

I like it very much. No regrets about the price, and it's the first tent I've ever been able to sleep comfortably in. Mainly because it's just a big bed.