[Corey]

Mine will be staying on the rig until September when camping season ends.
Then I will store it inside, then put it back on around May of 2009.

My goal later though is to mount it to a military type trailer.

To level it, use your gauges on the dash.
When the rig is level, the tent is level.

 

[Jenks]

Cool, thanks for the info!

 

[Corey]

I just filled up on my way into work, and I thought the gas consumption was going to suck after adding the roof top tent, but it did not.
What hurt the most taking my mileage down was the mud tires over the lift, ARB bumper, ect, over any other mod.

Here are the last five entries in my gas log I keep.

2/29/2008 13370.0 233.0 13.587 $3.459 $47.00 17.1487 Premium Safeway

3/7/2008 13537.0 167.0 9.717 $3.499 $34.00 17.1864 Premium Safeway

3/14/2008 13704.0 167.0 9.803 $3.519 $34.50 17.0356 Premium Safeway Wowwwwww, 167 miles exactly, same as last fill up.

3/21/2008 13866.0 162.0 9.716 $3.499 $34.00 16.6735 Premium Safeway

3/28/2008 14046.0 180.0 10.717 $3.499 $37.50 16.7957 Premium Safeway Up actually from last week before the tent was put on.

The last numbers before the word "Premium" is the MPG.
Not as easy to read in forum format as it is in the spread sheet.

 

[High School]

That is about what I get on my truck with a 6" lift and an ARB bumper... my record for a tank was 325 miles, going downhill from Breckenridge, CO into New Mexico. Downhill just about all the way. It was on about 16 gallons (I wrote it down but didn't bring my fuel book to Iraq!).

 

[Shadow-Warrior]

Re: Maggiolina AirLand Roof Top Tent installed 3-21-2008

Spring has sprung, thus a new year of mods having been dormant over this past winter.

There is a constant joke on a few FJ Cruiser forums that goes around in threads asking "Can you sleep in it."
Of course you can, member LandCruiserSteve (a moderator over on fjcruiserforums.com) has proven that by building a nice bed system in the back of his rig that accommodates him very well.

With the way I have my rig setup in the back, that will not work out for me.

I have been looking at roof top tents as of late, and finally settled on a fiberglass one made in Italy like Wayne has.
Many thanks to Wayne (member KD7NAC_07FJ) for helping me make a selection on this model, it is the same one he has on his FJ Cruiser, the medium model.

Wayne used Yakima Lowrider clamps on the stock FJ rack, and then 58" crossbars held in place via the Lowriders.
The AirLand mounts to the crossbars.

I went to the shop Friday the 21st of March to get it installed, and they recommend I use four crossbars instead of two to distribute the weight, as that is the way they have been doing them.

I just got done opening it up for the first time since I left the shop after the install, and I am really impressed with the quality of the AirLand unit.

It cranks up just like a tent trailer (I have owned two of them in the past) after undoing two latches up front, and one latch back aft.

After cranking it up you can grab the aluminum ladder from inside and extend it.
It is fully adjustable to accommodate any vehicle.

Once I had the ladder up I climbed inside and took out the three pillow it came with and put the flannel pillow cases on that I bought.
For the medium AirLand tent, full size sheets are a perfect fit.
The bottom sheet is a fitted one, with the top sheet being the normal tuck in type.
I still need to pick up a warm down comforter, and the size that will fit will be a twin as to not have to much over the sides.

Getting up and down the ladder for me was not that difficult at all.
Now when exiting the tent and coming down backwards, you want to use caution since you can not see the rungs, you feel for them with your feet.
If I can do it, anyone can.

After getting the sheets on and the pillows in place, I climbed up inside for a few pictures of the interior, then I laid out like I was going to sleep in it.
There is plenty of room, and my feet do not even touch the ends of the tent wall.
I am about 5'10", and I did not feel cramped at all.
There is plenty of room for a second person too, and possibly a child if you have one.
It would be better with just two people though.

And not once did it feel rickety to me.
It was very stable, and a very cool feeling being up in the air like that.
I have a feeling I am going to sleep very well in this tent.
The best thing of all is being able to pull into a site whether in a regular campground, or when you are out 4wheeling, Overlanding/exploring, and just whip out the hand crank and crank up the tent and have your bed all setup in less than one minute.
This is the real advantage to a unit like this.

Here are a few pictures of the AirLand.









Links:
Maggiolina AirLand tent
Autohome's main site in Italy
Lowrider clamps
58" crossbars
Rack n Road Bellevue, WA. store
Full size flannel sheets
The comforter I may get if they get it back in stock

The Rack n Road store I visited (official reseller of these for WA. state as seen on AutoHome's website) has a team of top notch installers/manager working there.
Evan (store manager) and Colin were the two installers who installed it.

Shortly before I left too YotaTech member nickr9287 showed up, he also works for the Bellevue store and is an installer.

If looking for a system like this or any Yakima or Thule type of gear for your rig around our area, give these guy's a call.
Great team to work with.

Probably around sometime in May I will have some camping pictures from up at Greenwater with the tent all setup in the outdoors, and some other new camping gear I have been hoarding up on for a good time out in the woods.

With this I think my rig is nearing completion.
Still have to settle on a rear bumper, there are still a few in works.
The selection is getting bigger all the time.

Very nice Corey, I was looking at roof top tents myself for mounting on a small Military trailer awhile back and like you, I thought this was one of the best out there. Your rig looks great buddy, nice job. I'm looking forward to your review once you first get out there and camp. Great job, your rig has really come along. :cheers:

 

[Corey]

Thanks Mike.
I would really like to hit the area where I go wheeling, but it is still under 4' or more of snow, plus it is snowing up there all this week.
record winter here for the area up there.

When I move to a place that has a garage, I want one of these trailers, the second picture down on the left.
AutoHome Trailer Top Tents for Camping and Expeditions

I like how it flips to the side.
Plenty of room to carry gear.
I could get one locally made too, or even use an old late 70s to 80s Toyota bed.

If you go with the Autohome brand, I am sure you would be happy.
Very high quality.
I dig how it cranks up having owned two tent trailers before.

 

[Shadow-Warrior]

That looks like an Adventure Trailer, I think their one of the best built out there.

Now that I look again at it, it kind of looks like the Canadian Military M101's...

 

[Corey]

Thanks Mike.
I think it is the Chaser model.
Off Road Tent Trailers by Adventure Trailers

The other one they carry is much more equipped with water, a stove, and much more.
Since I have a lot of that stuff already, the Chaser one would be better for me.

You can see how it is hinged, and how the tent would flip up with the lid.

Yep, that is the one I am going to be dreaming about for awhile

 

[N8!]

LOL!

I thought the idea of camping was to get away from it all, not take it all with ya..



Looks good tho Cory.

 

[Corey]

He he, when I was much younger and into backpacking I felt that way.
Now that I am much older and wiser, I enjoy a little comfort when out in the woods.

Thanks Nate, I have a few fresh pics from the weekend too.

 

[Hardluck]

Thanks Mike.
I think it is the Chaser model.
Off Road Tent Trailers by Adventure Trailers

The other one they carry is much more equipped with water, a stove, and much more.
Since I have a lot of that stuff already, the Chaser one would be better for me.

You can see how it is hinged, and how the tent would flip up with the lid.

Yep, that is the one I am going to be dreaming about for awhile

I've been dreaming about a Chaser trailer as well. I ordered a Partner Steel stove from AT last week, they seem like good guys to do business with. I think I ended up talking to Mario for about 15 minutes. I also found out that they're doing a monthly open house where you can come by and see the trailers and enjoy a hotdog and an expedition movie.

 

[volhoo]

Your rig is awesome Corey - great write up - :bigthumb:

 

[Corey]

Your rig is awesome Corey - great write up - :bigthumb:

Thank you very much Vince.

I will have an update to this thread hopefully Tuesday on another "camping" addition for the rig.

 

[Ripsnort]

Wow Corey! You've done a crapload of upgrades to this rig since I last looked! Nice!

 

[Corey]

Thanks Rip. it keeps me busy

Took a break during the winter from modding, now I am back into it again.

Trying to get it ready here to camp up at Greenwater over the upcoming holiday.

 

[Corey]

Camping Labs Awning installed 5-16-2008

I had two different type of awnings on my last tent trailer I had, and they are nice for shade to sit under, or to get out of the rain.

Saw this brand mentioned in a few threads on a few Toyota forums, so I decided to give it a try.

It also came with two nice camping chairs, but I am not enclosing pictures of those since those are not a mod to the rig.
You can view the chairs at the website.
They are very nice

Owner Fernando was a great guy to work with, and also made me some custom mounts to attach to the awning so it would attach to my Yakima crossbars.
You can see how the mount attaches to the two channels on the rear of the awning, and also how it attaches to the crossbars in the first two pictures below.

Setup is a little easier than take down, same as with my tent.
But one person can do this easily.
It is also free standing since it has two supporting horizontal tubes, but you will want to use the enclosed stakes to stake down the white rope loops you see at the bottoms of the vertical tubes, and also

attach the two rope guy lines to the white rope loops at the top of the vertical tubes and stake them out.
This will be better for any wind that will kick up.
But I had it setup with a light hot breeze outside for around 20 minutes a bit ago, and it was very stable.





I am also enclosing a video that shows just how fast you can deploy the Maggiolina AirLand roof top tent.
It is easy, in fact too easy.

YouTube - Setting up the Maggiolina roof top tent

Links:
Camping Lab

 

[Corey]

Tomorrow is detailing day.
It has been since last September when I last Porter Cabled the rig.
Doing the three step tomorrow with the Porter Cable:
Griots clay
Griots Machine Polish #3
Best Of Show wax.
My rig needs a detail bad.

But Sunday is where the new mod comes in.
It will take a good amount of time Sunday morning.

I have not been happy with my ARB fridge mounted to the top of my cargobox.
I can not see in the fridge for one thing, as the lid hits the ceiling when opening it.
If the fridge sat lower on the deck it would be OK.

Member kcfunke told me how to get the rear seat bottoms out.
Reading the manual and some info from him on how to pry off the plastic covers on the back of the bottom seat cushion, I should be able to mount my Engel Slide Lock that holds the fridge stationary to it.

If all goes well, I will have some pictures of the new location for the fridge.
This will make it so much easier to stock/raid the fridge.

Oh, and as I was taking my rear seats out, a cute girl next door said see liked my Hummer.
I had to explain to her it was a Toyota FJ Cruiser, and not a Hummer.
She drives a Ford Explorer.

She thought it was cool on the heritage of it (explained how the FJC pays homage to the the FJ 40), as she actually has seen the old FJ 40s once I explained to her they had the same type of body style as the Jeeps.

 

[Corey]

ARB fridge relocated 5-31-2008

OK, some of you may have read that I have mentioned my neighbor here before who is a weatherman for the FAA.
Most of the time he is right about the weather.

He told me it was going to rain today, the day I wanted to spend about five to six hours detailing my rig.
The local news stations said no rain today, it is coming tonight.
Well, it started raining here about 9 am just after I finished up my ARB fridge relocation project.

I was just finishing up with the mandatory snapshots and was going to vacuum out the rig and wipe the interior down of dust when it started in raining.

Anyways, below are some pictures of the fridge move.
I like it a lot better where it is now.
I can access the lid to load/unload grub, and actually see what is in there.
I still can not raise the lid all the way up to the ceiling, but I can raise it far enough to see very well inside.
There is a guy on IH8MUDs forum who has put together all the hardware for the hinge relocation kit to make the lid lift up from either side instead of from the end, and after I order that from him, I will be able to raise the lid all the way up and let it stay open.

Here is a comparison when it was mounted in the rear.



The first two pics show the seat back cover in place and then removed.
Picture three shows the Engel Slide Loc screwed down to the plastic cover.
I had to move the plate around some so it would avoid the D ring and raised hump it resides in so the plate would sit flush.
Pictures four five and six show the fridge mounted to the Slide Loc.

I drilled small pilot holes into the plastic, and after tightening the screws down, they do not contact the metal underneath.
If I was worried about needing more strength, I can get longer screws and drill the holes deeper and into the sheet metal underneath.
I also used two extra screws this time instead of four like I did when it was mounted on top of the cargo box.

This will give me more room to load my camping gear now.
For the long stuff like the Cabela's picnic table and Camp Kitchen, I will load them in from the rear door and shove it towards the passenger seat.
This should speed up the loading process quite a bit.

The best part though is being able to access my fridge much easier and see what is inside of it.

If you do not mind giving up your rear drivers side seat, this is a good way to mount your fridge.
I can still put up the passenger side rear seat with the fridge in place.
I may even put the bottom seat cushion back in too for the rear passenger side, as it is currently out right now.
But the drivers side will stay this way indefinitely.

 

[Corey]

Just an FYI to all ARB and Engel fridge owners.
There is a kit designed by a guy over on IH8MUD to rehinge the lid on these fridges.

Fridge Lid Flip Kit

The thread of how it came to be.
ARB Fridge would be cooler if it opened like this. - IH8MUD™ Forums

Even with my fridge moved to its new location, the lid still hits the ceiling.
My kit was shipped today, I should have it early this coming week.
I will try my darndest to get the hinge kit installed and report back here in my buildup thread on how it works and some pics of it.

So what it does it relocate the hinge so you can open the lid from the side, thus able to lift it all the way up if it was hitting the ceiling like mine was before.

 

[Corey]

ARB Fridge Rehinged 9-26-2008

First I had the fridge on top of the cargobox, then I moved it to behind the drivers seat as seen above in a previous update.

It is much easier to get to the contents of the fridge now, but I still could not lift the lid up all the way, and I had to hold it open with one hand.

On my trip to Mt. Rainier in August, it was a PITA to have to hold the lid open with one hand, and move the contents with the other hand.

Awhile back I came upon a thread on IH8MUDs forum about relocating the hinges so the lid will open from the side.
The creator of the thread ended up putting together a kit so one does not have to hunt around for the parts.

The kit arrived today, and I could not wait to dig in on another project.
Total time was around a half hour or so.

While the instructions do not call for drilling a pilot hole for the self tapping screws supplied, I did drill a small 7/64th pilot hole.
I was careful to not drill into far.

I first put the hinge in place, and I went back in 1.5" from each end of the fridge to center the hinges.
I marked one hole with a felt pen, then drilled it.
I then put the hinge in place and used the 18v drill to put in the new screw.
Once it was in and tight, I then drilled one hole at a time and repeated with the self tapping screws.
So in other words, I did not drill all four pilot holes at once.

Once the hinges were in place, I then took out the top screws I had just put in and took the lid all the way off.

You then have to remove the stock hardware from the lid and the fridge for the stock hinges.
Once you have done that, you reuse the stock bolts (these are not screws) to fill in the holes.

I put the lid back on again and put back in the upper screws for the new hinges.
I then snapped close the stock latch, and all is very tight.
I did not opt to install the new clasp/lock supplied in Kevin's kit, as the stock hinge worked out fine in its original position.
Plus I will not have to modify the thermal bag by cutting a hole in it for a new clasp/lock.

Picture one below shows me holding the lid open with the fridge in the rig.
The lid hits the ceiling and will not raise up all the way.

Picture two shows the hinge on with three screws in place and a pilot hole ready for the fourth screw.

Picture three shows the new hinges in place and the lid open.
Note that the lid stays open too.
It has an adjustment screw you tighten to cause friction in the hinge, thus allowing the lid to stay open in any position.
Way cool man

Picture four shows the new hinges in place and the lid off ready for me to take off its hardware and the fridges hardware for the stock hinges.

Picture five shows the fridge back in its native environment, and the lid open as if I was going to access it for grub.
The lid clears the ceiling just fine too.

This retrofit will make an ARB or Engel fridge that more enjoyable to access the interior of it.

This kit gets the two thumbs award

Click here for the instructions and to order the kit.

The thread on IH8MUD that started it all.