I put air tabs on a class c motorhome and on a travel trailer and they worked out pretty well. hard to know if the milage was improved but the handling was certainly improved
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Very cool - glad to hear that personal experience. I’m enjoying all this research & simulation, but a big part of me wants to just buy an Airtab kit and go ham on it.
I woke up this morning with a new thought slapping me on the forehead. I’ve been very focused on the cab/camper area, but just look at the pictures I posted. There’s a huge, unmistakable low pressure zone behind the truck where the boundary layer of air is separating and flow is even reversing. I mean, it’s like half of what’s on screen. Seems like a better place to start, and airtabs/vortex generators are exactly the solution there.
Wanted to share a low cost hack that’s been working well for me. I had a box of these steel, stick-on tire weights. They make great add-on magnet mounts wherever you need them.
I get my magnets from KJ Magnetics. N52 grade are the strongest but not always the best value for the money. Most sellers on Amazon claim N52 but they are absolutely lying.
I used them on my rear window to hold a piece of cloth in place. I plan to make a foldup rear window cover.
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Semi trucks have the same drag forces. They use a trailer tail that unfolds to help reduce vortexes.
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Looks like a boat tail really does help with boundary layer separation on the back.
It always surprises me how much the undercarriage contributes to drag. No wonder new cars have so much plastic underneath. My body lift isn’t helping.
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Has anyone suggested OnX Maps to find BLM and other area info? They’re a startup out of my hometown of Missoula, MT, and most of us here at GFC swear by the app. It’s constantly updated, and their recent entry into the backcountry skiing space shows that they can iterate to success quickly.
The off-road app is likely what you’ll want to look into, and the overall features are solid from planning to recapping your trips. Plus, it’s 30% off until 2/25.
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Thanks - hadn’t tried it yet, but just subscribed.
I’m a complete n00b to these apps. My observations:
- Google Maps is almost exactly the wrong thing. Doesn’t navigate when offline (even if you’ve downloaded offline maps) and is generally way too focused on point-to-point navigation to commercial and residential addresses.
- iOverlander is the king of simple, but also not very deep. I opened it up, pointed at an area, and saw a list of dispersed or unregulated sites. That was nice given that I did not have a lot of time. However, the data were not up to date, several sites that I drove past were closed.
- GAIA seems to be best suited for desktop planning. It’s a map-lovers app with insane depth in maps. I bought the premium app. I was annoyed that much of the map symbology seems opaque - I need to look up how to show a key to some of the color/stripe coding going on. There’s obviously an art to using it.
- Some of the overlanding stuff might not make a ton of sense for a RWD rig, I need to kind of learn the off-road boundaries&capabilities of my vehicle.
Anyway thanks @Thayne , I signed up for the lower tier of off-road OnX and will see how it feels/works. I’m happy to pay for things (especially American made/homegrown stuff) but really hate upsells, in-app purchases, and constant subscription nags, so we’ll see how that goes with all of these apps.
I used to spend my summers in Sidney, MT, BTW. Originally from the Dakotas. I miss the thunderstorms and quality meat markets more than I can say. 
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Quick post on a temporary/fast buck garbage can.
I wanted a small, unobtrusive garbage can with a lid. I couldn’t decide exactly where I wanted it. I ended up getting a $5.99 plastic can from Dollar General, and hot gluing plastic strips to the bottom. On those strips, I added 3M dual lock snap velcro. Now I can reposition the can wherever I want, easily remove it for cleaning, have multiple mounting points, etc.
I’ll be camping in the GFC again this week so I’ll be testing this out and see how I like it.
UPDATE: It’s a keeper. This garbage can was basically just enough for two days worth of cooking waste. I love the location and the locking lid. Another great, cheap win.
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On to Panel Height and Eye Hazards
One of the issues I’m facing (EDIT: Support ticket filed) is that when my panels are open, they’re exactly at eye height. I’ve smacked my head more times than I can count. Once hit my eye socket pretty hard. I think this is specifically a small truck issue.
- I’m 5’10"+
- From the ground to the panel where it connects to the hinge is 67.5"
- The panels open just barely over 90. The rear one slightly less than the sides.
- Looks like my panels are about 1.5 degrees “UP” from 90
My question is: Can the hinges tolerate being opened a few degrees more? I could literally redo the strut mount brackets to fix this in an hour, I just want to be sure I’m not going to put undue stress on the hinges.
Pics:
Anyone can use the code “trailguide30” for onX Offroad to get 30% off of a subscription year round.
Disclaimer: I’m part of their trail Guide program but receive no incentive or commission for anyone using that code. It’s just a discount they made available for us to share with everyone and isn’t tracked to any single person.
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Testing out the mobile office today. After a great night of rest, I woke up to dolphins playing:
Desk mode is working out pretty well. However a storm is coming in… will probably have to abandon this spot and drive home tonight.
Soon it’s gonna be time to make a solar post. Testing out 400W of solar panels, a Goal Zero and some other bits and bobs.
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Hey,
Could you provide some details on how you put this together?
I’ve experimented with several setups for a shelf / gear storage in this zone, but haven’t come up with anything I’m totally convinced on. I like the solid cross bar plus netting on yours.
Thanks!
Sure @jannytsunami . I’ll share some more pics at some point.
The short story is that I bought a cargo net based on some suggestions here. It was not a good solution for a V2, as you said. First, the frame mounting points are in the wrong location to mount it. Second, when stuffed with my bedding, it blocked the rear window.
My solution was to create a rectangular frame from thin aluminum extrusion. The frame is the same length as the fixed bed area at the front, and wide enough to just touch on both sides. There is also a crossbar right over the center of the rear window, so that no matter how much stuff I cram in there, it cannot block the rear window completely, it just swells down on either side. I’ve thought about adding another crossbar here.
I made a series of aluminum brackets on my waterjet that connect the extrusion directly to the frame attachment points. I’m considering selling a set of these so other people can reproduce this setup. They’re easy to make, just a strip of aluminum with two holes. One to attach to the frame attach, the other to bolt into the extrusion.
Then I took the “useless” cargo net and stretched it over the frame. I zip tied it in a dozen places so it was under reasonable tension, and covering the entire frame. That worked pretty well overall.
@Vice_Chief - You can absolutely cycle the panel farther. We would advise that you remove the struts and cycle it upwards; you’ll find the soft limit of the hinge by feel. Please be mindful when modifying as that the struts will need to be able to close without bottoming out.
Hope that helps!
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Thank you - I’ll give it a shot, and also I heard back from Support today.
First post updated with an index to all mods, camps, and aero studies. I’ll try to keep it up to date.
Opened the tent today - has been raining in SoCal. Filed SRF
Solar and electrical info post
I decided on a minimum of 300W of solar. That’s based on the following needs:
- Razer laptop for CAD work: 230W max draw
- Starlink or other mobile internet: 30-60W
- Phone charging: 10W
- Dometic fridge: 30-50W while cooling
In practice almost every one of these numbers gets derated, but it’s still a healthy power draw. Also, I can’t always count on that sweet sweet California sun. My plan is to work in this thing like an office for 2-3 days at a time. Power has to be there.
I purchased a refurbished Goal Zero Yeti 1000x from Goal Zero’s store. This was a mixed bag. The first one had a high power input port that was broken in a strange, specific way that took a while to figure out. Between 12 and 19 volts, it would short the panels. Below or above that it would work fine. I’m still in the returns process, and ended up just purchasing another unit to get going.
I bought flexible panels. I know they have a bad reputation for longevity, but I have a specific idea here. I want to have 3 permanent, roof-mounted panels, and I don’t want anything shading them (beef bars: bye bye). More importantly, I don’t want them interfering with the already terrible aerodynamics of my truck. I chose these Sunpower panels over the competition. They’re a little more expensive, but also more efficient - up to 25% efficiency per cell. So far they seem to perform exactly to spec.
I did a prototype-level install to figure out how to run everything. The roof was cleaned with detergent and then wiped with alcohol. The panels were given a generous run of 3M VHB around the edges and across the middle, with gaps to ensure any trapped water could escape. I made 3D printed wire clamps and attached the wires to the extrusion.The install went smoothly and I promptly took it camping. I figured out a few more simple needs on this trip, like a little base for my working stool that mates with the ridges in the truck bed.
Everything power-related (fridge, solar, charging, yeti 1000x) worked as advertised and I was very happy. Unfortunately a huge wind/snow storm came in and I had to abandon camp and come back to LA. On the way I got sick as hell with some kind of stomach virus and a week later, I’m still recovering.
Today, we had some good sunshine so I wanted to air out the camper. As I was opening it, I noticed the solar panels separating from the roof. This picture doesn’t really show how bad it was, they were actually falling off and it was not a safe situation. I was very careful cleaning and used genuine 3M VHB (the high strength black stuff). The tape adhered perfectly to the panels themselves but peeled from the roof. This leads me to believe that the honeycomb roof panels may be made of polypropylene or another low surface energy plastic. Generally, bonding anything to a low surface energy plastic is tough. At a minimum you need to use a primer. With 3M VHB that primer is Primer 94. I have a 500ml can on order. . I bought mine from Amazon, because McMaster doesn’t carry it. If anyone has a better source, I’m all ears. Most 3M stuff on Amazon is a crapshoot of counterfeit and expired products.
I was pretty bummed about the panels, but it looks like the water intrusion fixes will have me removing and possibly repositioning the panels anyway. So for now I’m just going to take it in stride, and when the time comes, carefully peel it all off and redo it with a cleaned and primed surface. I’m temped to use 3M Dual Lock the 2nd time around, because then if I need to remove the panels, they’ll just snap off. However Dual Lock, the big stuff SJ3350, 250 pins/in, is crazy expensive. I’d probably need $150 worth of Dual Lock. Another thought I have is to seal 3 edges with Sikaflex or whatever GFC uses.
I will continue to update this post with solar and electrical information as I get time. I’m a little bummed that it’s March and I’m not yet really using my mobile office, but it’s just going to take the time it takes.
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I had fun using the cabana panels for boot storage while relaxing. Looking at these pictures it’s clear, I need to get out again this weekend no matter what, even for a short time.
The Kitchen Crate got a minor upgrade in the form of a military surplus hatchet and some Quick Fist clamps. I learned about Quick Fists from @stickyTaco 's thread here. Thanks! They seem like a great match for the GFC and I can see other uses for them as well.
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