Bed rack fabrication for RTT -- 06 Dodge Ram 3500
- Thread starter Scoutman
- Start date
Scoutman
Explorer
Looks like I need to post pictures of the completed electrical project. 
The battery system has been working great. We're able to run everything we typically need (fridge, lights, charging devices, etc) for about 48 hrs before cranking the truck to charge back up. That's fine for us cause either we're out for the average weekend in the woods or we're cranking up to relocate anyway. Having the battery monitor is a must-do in my opinion for any of these battery systems cause it lets you know exactly how much has been taken out and how much needs to go back in. I'm able to run the truck for 20-30 minutes to get it back to 100% state of charge. When I'm daily driving the truck it'll get back to 100% every day.
The battery system has been working great. We're able to run everything we typically need (fridge, lights, charging devices, etc) for about 48 hrs before cranking the truck to charge back up. That's fine for us cause either we're out for the average weekend in the woods or we're cranking up to relocate anyway. Having the battery monitor is a must-do in my opinion for any of these battery systems cause it lets you know exactly how much has been taken out and how much needs to go back in. I'm able to run the truck for 20-30 minutes to get it back to 100% state of charge. When I'm daily driving the truck it'll get back to 100% every day.
Scoutman
Explorer
It's just fine with 4 people and really what this tent was designed for. My son is 11 and daughter is 8 and we're pretty comfortable in there with all of our bedding and basic stuff (change of clothes, dirty clothes bag, etc). We store shoes in the hanging bags or sometimes tuck them into the vestibule bar.
If you have 4 adults then you had better be good friends but 2 adults and 2 kids it's just right.
We've been considering selling this tent lately or at least moving it to our military trailer. I would really like something enclosed and a bit more streamlined like an AT Overland Summit. Still waiting to see if they make a long bed version tho.
Scoutman
Explorer
Ok, let me see if I can get this thread caught up. 
I finished the battery mount under the truck for the auxiliary battery. It was shortly after that when I was working on connecting circuits up to the fuse block that I arc welded my titanium wedding band between the positive terminal of the battery and the fuse block mounting plate. Hard lesson to learn but it's always the things that you take for granted that bite you the worst. Ended up with 3rd degree burns and a pretty bad scar out of that little mishap. I'll spare you the pictures.
The Victron battery monitor and Blue Sea ML-ACR works fabulous! I love having real numbers to know how much power has come out, what's going in, and what percentage I'm sitting at. I don't use the Bluetooth as much as I thought I would but it's handy for making the initial programming and setup. I find that the fridge uses a little less than 1 AH and I can easily run for 48hrs before I have to put a charge back into it.
Recently I finished up wiring all the USB's and power sockets in the cab which means that everyone has plenty of power for their devices and my fridge monitor can stay powered without cables running all over the cab. I also added the 300A fuse on the Aux battery positive to cover both ends of that cable run. I even found the labels for the switches and fuse block to label the circuits.
Overall, I'm very pleased with how this has turned out and it has definitely given me the peace of mind I was looking for.
I finished the battery mount under the truck for the auxiliary battery. It was shortly after that when I was working on connecting circuits up to the fuse block that I arc welded my titanium wedding band between the positive terminal of the battery and the fuse block mounting plate. Hard lesson to learn but it's always the things that you take for granted that bite you the worst. Ended up with 3rd degree burns and a pretty bad scar out of that little mishap. I'll spare you the pictures.
The Victron battery monitor and Blue Sea ML-ACR works fabulous! I love having real numbers to know how much power has come out, what's going in, and what percentage I'm sitting at. I don't use the Bluetooth as much as I thought I would but it's handy for making the initial programming and setup. I find that the fridge uses a little less than 1 AH and I can easily run for 48hrs before I have to put a charge back into it.
Recently I finished up wiring all the USB's and power sockets in the cab which means that everyone has plenty of power for their devices and my fridge monitor can stay powered without cables running all over the cab. I also added the 300A fuse on the Aux battery positive to cover both ends of that cable run. I even found the labels for the switches and fuse block to label the circuits.
Overall, I'm very pleased with how this has turned out and it has definitely given me the peace of mind I was looking for.
ViperNL
Observer
Scoutman
Explorer
We went to Overland Expo East back in October and that ended up being a disaster of a trip. We were turned away at the gate Friday due to the muddy conditions, campgrounds were full, and hours of driving the National Forest left us with a hotel stay an hour out of our way as our best option. The lines and shuttles were so clogged up on Saturday that we got about 2 hrs of Expo before waiting in more lines to return to our rig. We met some pretty cool folks along the way and found a nice campsite for what ended up being a very cold night. Kudos to my family for grinning through gritted teeth but I can safely say we won't be doing expo east again for a long while.
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Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
Scoutman
Explorer
Over the past 6 months we haven't used the tent much. We've had one of the wettest winter's on record and it just hasn't been worth it to get out since the opportunities to dry out gear post-trip were tough to find. We had a wet weekend in February to renew our wilderness first aid certs and stayed in the rtt but left early to avoid the next downpour.
We have taken a few camping trips with the Cub Scouts and used our ground tent. It was a refreshing change of pace not being tied to the truck all the time. As my son transitions to Scouts we will need to maintain a good ground tent setup but still love our truck house suite.
Another project was the truck interior had to be gutted for a few weeks. I had a pretty significant water leak coming from the back window area and with all the rain it had soaked a good portion of the carpet and seat area. I fixed the leak, stripped the seat covers and cleaned them back to new, and finished up some final wiring of the back seat USB and power ports. Long process but worthwhile in the end.
I think that should have this thread caught up. It's sort of morphed away from the title but will keep it going till the next chapter begins, possibly later this year.
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We have taken a few camping trips with the Cub Scouts and used our ground tent. It was a refreshing change of pace not being tied to the truck all the time. As my son transitions to Scouts we will need to maintain a good ground tent setup but still love our truck house suite.
Another project was the truck interior had to be gutted for a few weeks. I had a pretty significant water leak coming from the back window area and with all the rain it had soaked a good portion of the carpet and seat area. I fixed the leak, stripped the seat covers and cleaned them back to new, and finished up some final wiring of the back seat USB and power ports. Long process but worthwhile in the end.
I think that should have this thread caught up. It's sort of morphed away from the title but will keep it going till the next chapter begins, possibly later this year.
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Scoutman
Explorer
I used to have a truck camper (albeit not a Northstar) and after the experience I had I'm pretty sure I'll never own another 'traditionally constructed' camper ever again. I also didn't like how big and bulky it felt when on the truck and navigating overgrown forest service roads in the wooded south was a no-go. It did have some nice perks that this setup will never have but it's all about the trade-offs.
With the long bed, I love having the ability to haul whatever I want but the aftermarket support for things like racks and toppers is very limited. I'm really hoping that the Summit (or similar) will come out with a long bed version soon. Until then we'll enjoy what we have and hope patience pays off. ?
The kids are getting older (and bigger) and they're liking having their own space more which is why we're trying to tweak our setup a bit by adding a ground tent. My son just bridged to Boy Scouts this week and as he gets more involved with activities as a troop he'll have more of a need for ground gear and backpacking gear. I want something quick and easy that can be setup just about anywhere while giving us enough secure space to store fully loaded packs or a pelican case of ground gear for the kids. I'll be going along on a lot of the Scout trips so setting up the big rtt isn't very appealing for one person.
Scoutman
Explorer
How do you remove your rtt?
It's hard to believe we've had this thing on here for almost 3 years now! It being summer in the south there isn't much camping going on for the next month or so and I decided to pull it for a bit. This should give me an op to clean things up a bit and lighten the load for my daily driver.
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It's hard to believe we've had this thing on here for almost 3 years now! It being summer in the south there isn't much camping going on for the next month or so and I decided to pull it for a bit. This should give me an op to clean things up a bit and lighten the load for my daily driver.
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