Ice, Ice, Baby 2023

[Trail Talk]

Following our ice road adventures last March (here) to Ft Smith via Ft McMurray, we started planning another northern ice road adventure to the isolated community of Aklavik in the Northwest Territories. We also hope to attend in the Muskrat Jamboree at Inuvik and other local celebrations held in March and April along the route.

The reason for beginning this thread now is to document a couple of must-haves to our rig in preparation for this journey. This week, tuned Radflo 2.5" piggy-back shocks were installed front and rear.





And a long-standing need was solved with a custom spare wheel boom hoist. Both projects were fulfilled by Overland Explorer Vehicles at their production facility in Red Deer, Alberta.



Stay tuned...

 

[Trail Talk]

We've added a few items since taking delivery of our rig in Sept of 2020. Here is a summary, roughly in order of appearance:

1. Necessary items not provided with the F350 cab chassis; spare wheel, bottle jack, tire wrench, axle stands, back-up camera (Camera Source, compatible with factory harness, replaced once under warranty).
2. Lagun table mount. Also required rebuilding the dinette floor panel to retain access to our FW tank.
3. Froli Star spring system under forward mattress. Also required replacing 6" thick mattress with 4" to retain headroom.
4. Builtright Dash Mount and various Ram fittings for truck navigation, etc. Also Builtright rear seat-back release.
5. MaxxShade retractable vent cover.
6. Steel 20lb propane tank to replace a composite cylinder that was leaking at the valve.
7. AirHead dry toilet to replace cassette toilet.
8. Aluminum horizontal storage locker at rear, designed for skis but carries tents, chairs, etc., in summer.
9. Aluminum fuel rack at rear, designed for two Scepter 20l cans.
10. Method 701 HD 18" wheels and KO2 tires for summer, retained stock rims with Firestone studded tires for winter.
11. OEM front fender flares, mud flaps, fender liners.
12. LED headlamp bulbs, GTR Ultra 2 with ballasts, great improvement!
13. Fire extinguisher mounts for truck cab and cabin, also small fire blanket for cooktop.
14. Folding mast step for easier access to forward bed.
15. OEM 2WD front valence, 3" shorter for increased clearance.
16. Quarantine cargo net, to secure items carried in back seat area.
17. Undercounter LED lights, over sink and cooktop areas.
18. OEM polished ss exhaust tip, to direct exhaust moisture away from exterior cabinet.
19. Radflo tuned 2.5" shocks, front and rear.
20. Various bits and bobs that fall under housekeeping, like a cordless vacuum, shower curtain, etc.

I'd be pleased to discuss any of these items by pm or on this thread.

People also wonder about weights and we've had the opportunity to weight the rig in both wet and dry modes while on the road. So, with 2 occupants and their clothing, gear, food, etc., here are the results:
Summer (full fuel, water) #11,726
Winter (1/3 fuel, no water) #11,089
GVWR #11,300

I anticipate a switch to LiFePo in the cabin will reduce at least 100lbs over our two 170Ah Victron AGM's and greatly increase available power. With AGM's, we are limited to two days boon-docking during winter, without shore power or solar, before we have to drive or at least idle to recharge.

 

[alanymarce]

And a long-standing need was solved with a custom spare wheel boom hoist. Both projects were fulfilled by Overland Explorer Vehicles at their production facility in Red Deer, Alberta.

Nice spare wheel boom!

 

[NOPEC]

We've added a few items since taking delivery of our rig in Sept of 2020. Here is a summary, roughly in order of appearance:

I anticipate a switch to LiFePo in the cabin will reduce at least 100lbs over our two 170Ah Victron AGM's and greatly increase available power. With AGM's, we are limited to two days boon-docking during winter, without shore power or solar, before we have to drive or at least idle to recharge.

Looking forward to seeing your ice road adventures!!

I don't know if you guys have seen these yet, but Parks Canada recently released to YouTube, a Trilogy of documentaries ("Into the Arctic") made by a relatively young Canadian Landscape artist/videographer named Cory Trepanier from back east who sadly died last year of cancer. Over a dozen or so years, he did three separate, multiple month long trips into many of the newly established National Parks in the high Arctic. We just finished watching them, they were super. We kinda pride ourselves in how much of the north we have seen over the years but we are totally humbled after seeing these! You could use them as a warm up primer!! Cheers

 

[SootyCamper]

Can you touch on the new shocks, why did you choose radflow?

 

[Trail Talk]

Looking forward to seeing your ice road adventures!!

I don't know if you guys have seen these yet, but Parks Canada recently released to YouTube, a Trilogy of documentaries ("Into the Arctic") made by a relatively young Canadian Landscape artist/videographer named Cory Trepanier from back east who sadly died last year of cancer.

Thanks so much for this recommendation, will look them up tonight

 

[Trail Talk]

Can you touch on the new shocks, why did you choose radflow?

After driving northern roads, I was considering an upgrade and mentioned this to Mark at OEV. He was going to order custom-tuned Radflo's for his truck and offered to include me. I wasn't familiar with the name but a bit of research found them comparable to King or Fox, so I said yes! Didn't hurt they were priced better than the others.

 

[wfv56]

How does the airhead toilet compare to its predecessor in day to day use?

 

[Trail Talk]

How does the airhead toilet compare to its predecessor in day to day use?

Less odour; separating liquids and solids does what they claim and no chemical smells either.
Less emptying; once a year for the solid tank, every couple of days for the liquids tank (we run with two).
Less worry; doesn't matter if the solids freeze during winter storage and the liquids tank is easily emptied or removed.
Wouldn't go back!

Edit: if you have a wet bath like ours, you need to cover the toilet while showering to prevent water in the solids tank. We had a cover made but a large garbage bag would do.

 

[martinf]

Looking forward to seeing your ice road adventures!!

I don't know if you guys have seen these yet, but Parks Canada recently released to YouTube, a Trilogy of documentaries ("Into the Arctic") made by a relatively young Canadian Landscape artist/videographer named Cory Trepanier from back east who sadly died last year of cancer. Over a dozen or so years, he did three separate, multiple month long trips into many of the newly established National Parks in the high Arctic. We just finished watching them, they were super. We kinda pride ourselves in how much of the north we have seen over the years but we are totally humbled after seeing these! You could use them as a warm up primer!! Cheers

Thanks for mentioning this, can't wait to watch those videos!

 

[Trail Talk]

Thanks for mentioning this, can't wait to watch those videos!

Just saw episode #1, really captures the look of the landscape. We were surprised and pleased to see he painted in Ivvavik Natl Park where we spent some time this summer.

 

[NOPEC]

Thanks for mentioning this, can't wait to watch those videos!

We'd be interested in your feedback. As I mentioned, we really enjoyed them.

This past summer we were planning to do a DH TwinOtter fly in/flyout paddling trip down the Thelon River starting in the NWT, ending in Nunavut at Baker Lake on Hudson bay. However, with COVID, jet fuel had gone through the roof and we were quoted 14 bucks $CDN per nautical mile for the aircraft out of Yellowknife, you pay both ways. So, including one food drop (which could have been done with a C185 on floats but AVgas had also suffered huge price increases as well) plus the drop off/pickup, it was going to be north of 50K $CDN just for the flying. We decided on a different trip with no flying.....

Now the reason for this sad story is that in this series of great documentaries, there is a ton of very long TwinOtter flights all over the Arctic and sadly, we keep thinking (as we quietly sobbed) "Man, how is this guy paying for this!!!" But, when you see his work, it will not be hard to figure out. Hope you enjoy them! cheers

 

[NOPEC]

Just saw episode #1, really captures the look of the landscape. We were surprised and pleased to see he painted in Ivvavik Natl Park where we spent this summer.

I knew you guys were up there but had forgotten where. I'll have to go and watch that one again.

Really glad you enjoyed the first episode. Believe it or not, it really picks in the last two...

 

[Trail Talk]

This past summer we were planning to do a DH TwinOtter fly in/flyout paddling trip down the Thelon River starting in the NWT, ending in Nunavut at Baker Lake on Hudson bay.

Hey Bob, I was wondering how your trip to Great Slave Lake went? Feel free to pm or email if you prefer.

 

[NOPEC]

Hey Bob, I was wondering how your trip to Great Slave Lake went? Feel free to pm or email if you prefer.

Dean
We had a great trip but had a lot of big weather (man, can that lake blow up fast) which kind of nixed the greater plan so we missed both of our re-supply opportunities and had to shorten the trip to 30 days unsupported.

Due to the weather, we weinyed out on one huge open water crossing which looked doable on the map and the Sat photos but, it was a loong stretch when you are there at water level sitting in your small chunk of plastic looking into the horizon with nary a hint of land in sight...

I did a bit of a trip report here on ExP, I'll see if I can find it. I'll shoot you an email as well as I want to catch up.
Bob