Switcheroo - 1 Bored Clerk's 2013 Tacoma Build

[1 Bored Clerk]

I decided that, instead of building my own mount, I would just buy a mount for my six fuse block. Yotamac on TW makes a nice aluminum bracket that mounts to two existing holes in the engine bay on the drivers inner fender. I figured it was far easier, faster, and cheaper buy his plate. It's sitting in its box at my apartment office awaiting my pickup. Looking forward to getting it all drilled and fit into place this weekend! Haven't decided yet if I'm going to have it anodized or if I'll just paint it.


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[1 Bored Clerk]

Well, some big news...out of sequence for my build plans. I just ordered a 34 gallon replacement fuel tank from LRA in Australia. It'll take 2 weeks to build and 28 days to sail up here. It's going to be an awesome addition for the camper plans. I'm not sure I'll put it in before our Rubicon trip as I'd rather not bash it up (potentially) on the rocks. I pulled the trigger now because the exchange rate is really good and the total with shipping is under $1300 USD.


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[toyotech]

ouch $1300 is alot of gas money...

 

[1 Bored Clerk]

Yes it is. I don't want to carry gas on the outside of our camper. Hate messing with gas cans and often times you can't have gas in jerry cans when you take a ferry. It's a chunk of change but it's worth it to my wife and I in convenience when traveling.


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[toyotech]

money well spent when it makes your trips much more enjoyable.

 

[brianjwilson]

money well spent when it makes your trips much more enjoyable.

Agreed. My wife has to stop and pee all the time but my bladder can out drive nearly any gas tank. I'm known for making 600+ mile runs at night while everyone else is sleeping. Long trips kind of suck when you have to stop every couple hundred miles for gas. Then again with a baby now, I doubt I'll be able to get that far without stopping anyway...

If I wasn't making a bunch of big purchases right now I think I'd order one myself.

 

[1 Bored Clerk]

Haha, my buddy did a lot of road tripping with his two little daughters. He guessed that his road tripping average miles per day was cut by half because of all of the stopping to let the girls go to the bathroom and run crazy.


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[1 Bored Clerk]

money well spent when it makes your trips much more enjoyable.

Yeah, I CAN NOT STAND having gas on my hands. It's so foul smelling and gross. Not to mention really bad for you. Gas cans are always a bit of a mess with dirt and gas. I have to cut irritation from my life where I can.


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[1 Bored Clerk]

I know very little about this stuff but what you describe and show here is pretty awesome! I like the location of the plugs I have but it would be cool to just have one connection instead of two.

You seem to do a lot of nice electrical stuff. Do you know about solar/batteries/MPPT and all that jazz?


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[calicamper]

I'm enjoying your thread. Though tad older than you married with two kids and the typical .5 kid / dog. Wife and I did lots of similar active stuff you like you kids! HA HA so fun reading about your projects and adventures. Our kids are finally semi self sufficient enough to do camping trips again so its game on this summer!!! We are in the Bay Area so some of the places you have mentioned are familiar. Our primary rig for road trips and camping is our 2010 Subaru Outback and lifetime tent trailer. For stuff involving more than basic dirt road adventure we have a 07 Sequoia thats pretty capable with BFG Rugged Terrain's but till we start doing more back country stuff most of our trips will be with the Subaru.

My dream rig would be one of the new modern Midsized 4dr trucks with the flat bed FWC set up your first post and concept is a dead ringer for what I'd love to have! We like to say light but getting older and wanting to do trips on the shoulder season months having a warmer bunk and get out of the weather option would be GREAT!!! Keep having fun!!!

 

[1 Bored Clerk]

Yes. Not the authority, but I get by I enjoy learning and the research part of it all.

I've been reading/researching this stuff but it's so dang confusing to me. There appears to be an infinite amount of ways to skin the electrical cat! It is interesting to read about how electricity flows in a circuit but that's all it is so far...interesting. I have no real understanding of it, nor do I know how to implement the information to make a good decision. I may contact you about bringing you on as an electrical consultant when the camper build starts this year! Haha.

 

[1 Bored Clerk]

I'm enjoying your thread. Though tad older than you married with two kids and the typical .5 kid / dog. Wife and I did lots of similar active stuff you like you kids! HA HA so fun reading about your projects and adventures. Our kids are finally semi self sufficient enough to do camping trips again so its game on this summer!!! We are in the Bay Area so some of the places you have mentioned are familiar. Our primary rig for road trips and camping is our 2010 Subaru Outback and lifetime tent trailer. For stuff involving more than basic dirt road adventure we have a 07 Sequoia thats pretty capable with BFG Rugged Terrain's but till we start doing more back country stuff most of our trips will be with the Subaru.

My dream rig would be one of the new modern Midsized 4dr trucks with the flat bed FWC set up your first post and concept is a dead ringer for what I'd love to have! We like to say light but getting older and wanting to do trips on the shoulder season months having a warmer bunk and get out of the weather option would be GREAT!!! Keep having fun!!!

Thanks! We try to get out and have fun as often as possible. We've been bottlenecked with some things this fall/winter but we're hoping that clears up at the end of March. If all of the inspections and whatnot goes well, we'll be buying a house with a nice garage. Then the big projects can start to roll. And I've got a big list of them!! The camper is one of them...slated to start end of summer/beginning of fall. I can't wait to get started but I have to cross the Rubicon trail off the list first. I don't want to run that the first time in a 'RV'. :Wow1:

I have a military trailer that I'm SLOOOOWLY rebuilding. The original plan was to put a rack on it with a roof top tent. We sort of sidestepped that idea and went straight for a pop-up camper for two reasons: 1. It rains a LOT up here in the PNW and we want to be able to go out any time of year. A ground tent or folding tent is an issue. Having a hard roof and mostly hard sides is going to make life so much better...we think. 2. Hauling a trailer on tough trails doesn't sound super fun...doable but not ideal. That being said, if we lived where you live, we'd probably be quite happy with a trailer and RTT. It seems like a perfect camping setup for drier climates! It's nice to have all of your camping stuff ready to roll...hitch up and go! Plus, you don't have to drag it around with you all the time. I get it and I'm envious that you already have a sweet setup.

Follow along, the big projects are going to get rolling sometime this spring. It should be fun to watch!

 

[calicamper]

The life time rig is nice had to step up to it got tired of sleeping on the ground. The downer is that CA north coast is cold and the tent is still a tent ha ha. Doing our first East side trip this June. I grew up doing Coastal range stuff so the dry east side stuff is new to me.
The new camping gear items for this spring is a little buddy heater for the wife, shower enclosure rig of some sort and the Helio shower. At that point I feel like we own every damn possible camping gear item one could ever dream up. HA HA Grandpa bought us the Bass Pro shop fancy folding camp kitchen thing. Pretty slick heavy but a nice item if your staying put for a while and want to whip up some great grub. I think the good grub thing could help get the wife more supportive. She's a camper but sorta over the pit toilet cold temps stuff so I'm adding as many comfort little things as I can to keep her in the camping program. HA HA

 

[1 Bored Clerk]

Sounds like a sweet setup! My wife is fine in a tent but I don't care to crawl around on the ground anymore. Especially when the weather is less than perfect.


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[1 Bored Clerk]

I ordered a LRA 34 gallon replacement tank for the Tacoma from Australia. I just got notice that it's been built and should be on a ship next week sometime. I'm excited to have the range without the need for external fuel storage. It's going to be nice for the camper project!


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