luk4mud
Explorer
Oh the irony ....
Tips for Stealth Overnight Parking and Building a Stealth Vehicle
- Thread starter The Wanderer
- Start date
Oh the irony ....
whiskeytacos
Observer
I'm posting here admitting that I haven't read all 19 pages of responses, but considering the blizzard and travel ban that's been in effect here in NYC, I've been drinking.
A coworker has a system for his commuter car (a 2014 Prius) and his family adventure vehicle (2003 Suburban). He takes black opaque coroplast bought in 4'x8' sheets and cuts inserts for each window. It really looks like he has dark tinted windows, but he takes them out once he gets out of the car for fear of window smashing break ins (if you're hiding stuff they'll try to find it here) and NYPD tickets.
A coworker has a system for his commuter car (a 2014 Prius) and his family adventure vehicle (2003 Suburban). He takes black opaque coroplast bought in 4'x8' sheets and cuts inserts for each window. It really looks like he has dark tinted windows, but he takes them out once he gets out of the car for fear of window smashing break ins (if you're hiding stuff they'll try to find it here) and NYPD tickets.
unkamonkey
Explorer
I'm dealing with a woman right now that has latched on to a comment I made about how three women have accused me of saying things I never said, doing things I never did and one accused of thinking things that never crossed my mind. I suppose I have just been blesssed to come across four of them. I do know several more that are sane and rational and we get along very well. Another couple I know, she got mad at him and pulled out her .38 and cracked a few rounds off at him. I didn't mean it to read as all women are crazed but there are a few out there as well as a few males.
luk4mud
Explorer
Will Rogers (1946):
"Let me tell you about the law of holes: If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging."
pugslyyy
Expedition Vehicle Engineer Guy
.38? Is she a hand loader or just reliving the 60s?
(because I was flight crew the Army issued me a .38, always figured we could throw it at somebody and hopefully hit them on the head but that was about it)
unkamonkey
Explorer
I can hit things with guns, but I choose the right ones to start with. Larrys wife had the gun as he felt she should have something in the house for defense when he was out of the house on farther job sites.
To get half way back on topic, The CW (crazed woman) did send me an email yesterday to say she was sorry for what she said.
More on topic, I went to Denver in my motorhome for a party and parked across the street from my friends house. In the morning my GF and myself rocked the thing for a while. I opened the door to see the neighbor out hand watering his lawn. He just smiled at me.
To get half way back on topic, The CW (crazed woman) did send me an email yesterday to say she was sorry for what she said.
More on topic, I went to Denver in my motorhome for a party and parked across the street from my friends house. In the morning my GF and myself rocked the thing for a while. I opened the door to see the neighbor out hand watering his lawn. He just smiled at me.
unkamonkey
Explorer
Not like we were porn stars but he should have had a good show for quite a while watching the motorhome rock a bit.
Hmmm. I need to find another girl friend and head out to unpopulated places and sit under the stars. Meteor showers are always fun to lie on the ground to watch
I do have another lady friend and she said no. Actually nice to have a civil meal with a woman and nothing else is required to keep them happy other than a touch on a hand or a hug and the end of the evening and at least she won't shoot at me, but she does want me to take her out shooting. Her sister is a pretty good shot so I will see what Andree can do. Their father didn't think that women in Lousina had no need to know to shoot. Somehow, knowing where the still was seemed to be a thing to know so you could run down to get the grand parentd their medications.
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Chris Cordes
Expedition Leader
Alright ladies and gents this is a friendly reminder to please keep this thread on subject and refrain from posting things you wouldn't say to your mothers. Well, perhaps things normal people wouldn't say to their mothers
Someone mentioned putting a plastic tube on top... here's my old rig:
Foo by smalladventures photos, on Flickr
I used the tube to store bows for archery... I know a bunch of primitive skills nerds who use them for atl-atl darts as well.
http://www.blog.smalladventures.net...00-08:00&max-results=3&start=57&by-date=false
Turns out an old beat up looking pickup truck is pretty good for stealthing... Probably worse than a box-truck in urban areas, but probably better in rural regions. No-one thinks twice about an old beatup truck sitting by the side of the road. Even in urban areas it worked well, with or without the tube on the roof. I also like that I have windows... the tinting to the windows means you can hang up a heavy black curtain and it doesn't look any different from outside. I've been bothered once in this rig, and by a nice person who was worried I was broken down or stuck where I was parked... I just had to convince him that I was fine.
Personally I like to hang out outside the truck in good boondocking sites, often deep in the forest down rough trail. I don't want to spend much time in my vehicle, but the ability to stealth lets me stop driving whenever and not worry about it. Different truck, different goal, but a lot of the same tips apply.
I lived out of the rig above for about 8 months. A friend has it now and uses it for Search and Rescue. I loved it so much that now I'm building almost the same truck again.
The inside of the vehicle isn't great for hanging out, but works fine for sleeping.
http://www.blog.smalladventures.net/2013/10/review-tacoma-as-camper.html
One key ingredient to doing this in a vehicle you can't sit up in is learning to pee in a bottle. Mountaineers usually prefer gatorade bottles due to having the right size opening, and being easy to tell from your water bottle at night. For ladies, hopefully you're one of those lucky enough to be able to make this work.
Also, possibly not so obvious, I put a curtain on the front window of the cap as well as the others, then crawled out of the truck one night and verified that you couldn't easily see a light that was on inside the truck. That made me a lot more comfortable and confident with staying up and reading for a bit before I went to sleep.
Foo by smalladventures photos, on FlickrI used the tube to store bows for archery... I know a bunch of primitive skills nerds who use them for atl-atl darts as well
.http://www.blog.smalladventures.net...00-08:00&max-results=3&start=57&by-date=false
Turns out an old beat up looking pickup truck is pretty good for stealthing... Probably worse than a box-truck in urban areas, but probably better in rural regions. No-one thinks twice about an old beatup truck sitting by the side of the road. Even in urban areas it worked well, with or without the tube on the roof. I also like that I have windows... the tinting to the windows means you can hang up a heavy black curtain and it doesn't look any different from outside. I've been bothered once in this rig, and by a nice person who was worried I was broken down or stuck where I was parked... I just had to convince him that I was fine.
Personally I like to hang out outside the truck in good boondocking sites, often deep in the forest down rough trail. I don't want to spend much time in my vehicle, but the ability to stealth lets me stop driving whenever and not worry about it. Different truck, different goal, but a lot of the same tips apply.
I lived out of the rig above for about 8 months. A friend has it now and uses it for Search and Rescue. I loved it so much that now I'm building almost the same truck again.
The inside of the vehicle isn't great for hanging out, but works fine for sleeping.
http://www.blog.smalladventures.net/2013/10/review-tacoma-as-camper.html
One key ingredient to doing this in a vehicle you can't sit up in is learning to pee in a bottle. Mountaineers usually prefer gatorade bottles due to having the right size opening, and being easy to tell from your water bottle at night. For ladies, hopefully you're one of those lucky enough to be able to make this work.
Also, possibly not so obvious, I put a curtain on the front window of the cap as well as the others, then crawled out of the truck one night and verified that you couldn't easily see a light that was on inside the truck. That made me a lot more comfortable and confident with staying up and reading for a bit before I went to sleep.
BTW If I was trying to maximize stealth I'd go with an aluminum cab-height cap and a ladder rack over it instead of the fancy cap I had/have... that'd really just disappear... but as it turns out I haven't felt that this setup was an issue, and it gives me a lot of storage space.
I did meet someone a while back who lived in a white ford ranger with a commercial cap on it... never once got boethered.
I did meet someone a while back who lived in a white ford ranger with a commercial cap on it... never once got boethered.
dougemmett
New member
Thanks for these tips!!
tikidollracer
Observer
when i started reading, i thought this thread was going to be about mexican graffiti ...