Truck Bed Office- Climate Control

On our first Georgia to Oregon Camping Trip in 2016 I was faced with the dilemma of my truck no longer fitting our family of 5. The reason being that only the front passenger seat fits a rear facing infant car seat, and the back seats are too small for adults. You might be thinking it's time for me to sell the truck, but this set up actually works quite well (who would want to sell one of the last full size pickups actually built in Japan???). My wife drives an 8 seater Toyota Sequioa and we still prefer this truck on longer trips. Being able to see and hand the baby snacks and toys is much better than a screaming baby behind you, and I really enjoyed having the little one close by when my wife needed a break from driving. The Bedryder Truck Bed Seating System was a great escape from all the kids for my wife, and allowed me to work without distraction or background kid noise on phone calls.  Being able to work while my wife drove is what allowed us to take 5 and 6 week trips.

Climate control

It took me several attempts to figure this one out which is why I decided to write about it. At first I tried getting the A/C tuned up so the truck would blow the coldest air possible (I'm impressed my truck A/C still works for being over 20 years old!). Then I sealed the windows between my truck cab and truck topper with a bicycle inner tube, and setup a small fan for pushing air out of the cab of the truck. 

See the small fan clipped on the window and the inner tube seal

This approach didn't really work at all. The A/C system for this truck was designed just for the cab, and it ended up making everyone in the truck hot. Thankfully the summer of 2016 was a mild one and I was able to open the side windows (the low humidity of the west helped a lot). There were a couple of times driving before we reached out west that it was just blazing hot. I could tolerate it as long as I had plenty of ice and water to drink, but its not really something I could convince others to do. If you google the term "accordion truck boot", you can find a product that will make a more permanent seal between the truck cab and your topper. I wanted to try some other things before I went this route.

Fan-Tastic Vent

The Fan-Tastic Vent 801200 RV Roof Vent ABS LID Vent Create-A-Breeze 3-Speed Manual Crank ABS Smoke Dome is pretty much the secret sauce to climate and moisture control. I don't know how I did without this on our first cross country trip in 2016. This thing is like a giant attic fan and a must have if you get stuck in a traffic jam and it's 100 degrees outside. It's also wonderful for sleeping. Without this thing my son and I would wake up in the back of the truck with condensation all over the inside. It also makes a great sound for sleeping at night, and trust me you need some background noise when you camp at established campgrounds. You should always expect there to be trains, barking dogs, or highway noise. In order to run this while driving, and also block out the sunlight you need to purchase the Maxxair 503.1504 (00-933069) Black Vent Cover as well. The instructions that I received in the box did not recommend using this particular vent cover with the Fan-Tastic Vent. I removed the bug screen on it and had no issues (the Fan-Tastic Vent has a built in bug screen that also protects little hands from reaching in the fan). Keep in mind this whole Fan-Tastic Vent install is going to require you to cut out a hole in your truck topper. Mine is getting old and faded on the top so I had no issues with that. This setup is also great for pets if you want to keep them out of the truck cab. Here's a picture of what my truck looked like with the Fan-Tastic Vent and cover.

Power

Now that I had a Fan-tastic Vent, I needed a power source (I needed power for my laptop and second monitor as well). Some of the newer trucks are coming with an outlet in the bed of the pickup. This would have been a nice option, however you still need to consider running the fan in the evening when the vehicle is not running. Running this fan all evening could lead to a dead car battery in the morning. Besides a dead car battery, most car batteries are not designed for long, slow current draw. I spent a lot of time researching all the different battery options out there like lithium, deep-cycle lead acid, and AGM. Then I started trying to figure out how I was going to charge the battery. Could I hook up a second battery in my truck to the alternator? Run a generator on the gear trailer while we were driving? Do I need to buy the pure sine wave generator which is more expensive? Use Solar? It's pretty overwhelming with all of the options out there, and the industry is starting to see this. Someone at eTrailer told me about the Goal Zero Yeti product line. This is exactly what i was looking for. One thing you will need to learn about is the watt hour rating of a battery, and how many watts your devices use. For example, if a battery is rated at 400Wh that means it is able to power a device pulling 400 watts for 1 hour. In the case of my macbook pro which uses around 80 watts, this battery would be able to power that for 5 hours (400/80). The Fan-tastic Vent pulls about 17 watts on low so round up to 20 watts and this could easily run for 20 hours. Add a solar panel to the mix like I did and you will be able to go beyond the 400Whr since it will be charging while you are using it. I started doing some research on portable power stations and came to the conclusion that there were cheaper options than the Goal Zero Yeti product line. On top of the higher price, I was seeing reviews about poor quality of the product. I decided to give the POWEROAK 400Wh Portable Power Solar Generator Lithium ion power supply for Emergency Camping backup power source with 300W DC/AC Power Inverter,12V Car DC/AC/USB Outputs, Charged by Solar Panel/AC/Car a chance instead after reading through the reviews, and wasn't disappointed. I also purchased a solar panel similar to this one, ALLPOWERS Solar Panel 100W 18V 12V Bendable Flexible Solar Charger SunPower Solar Module with MC4 for RV, Boat, Cabin, Tent, Car, Trailer, 12v Battery or Any Other Irregular Surface. I can't claim to be an expert on solar panels, but there were several spots in full sun where I was seeing 60 watt inputs. It might have been a little higher if the rooftop tent and fan vent weren't blocking some of the sun as you can see in my diagram above. If you decide to go with a bendable solar panel like the link above, you will need to bolt down all 4 corners well. Otherwise this thing will start flapping around like crazy when you are driving 65 mph. Since I've recently moved the rooftop tent off my bike rack, I plan on remounting my solar panel to a board that I can attach in the middle of the bike rack.

Rooftop Tents

During our first cross country trip in 2016 we used a couple of budget tents from Costco. After that experience we thought it was time for an upgrade. We decided to go with a roof top tent. In particular, this one: Tuff Stuff "Delta Overland Rooftop Tent, 3 Person.

Tuff Stuff "Delta Overland Rooftop Tent, 3 Person

PROS

This decision wasn't made lightly as it is a completely different set up and comes with a higher price tag (this particular one is less expensive than most others). This brand of tent came highly recommended by some friendly seasoned campers we met at the Overland Expo in 2017. There were a couple of things about our Coleman tents (and tents in general) that we were hoping would be solved with a rooftop tent.

Faster setup

The first thing to note about a normal ground tent is it takes time to set up and tear down (we even had the bulky fast pitch style Coleman tent). You still have to unroll sleeping pads and unpack sleeping bags as well as store them as you travel. This rooftop tent has a built in pad, and you can leave your sleeping bags laying flat in it (pillows too if they are small enough). There is no doubt a rooftop tent is a much faster set up which is important when you are driving across the country like we were doing. Sometimes you get to your site late, and you've got to pack up first thing in the morning to get back on the road. I also like the idea of a faster pack up when we are at mountain bike races. Race day can be quite hectic when you have to pack up your site and drive home afterwards. One thing to keep in mind with leaving your sleeping bags and/or pillows in the rooftop tent. If you decide to stay in a hotel, cabin, or a friend's house for the evening you won't have easy access to them.

Durability

The next reason we went with the rooftop tent was durability. These tents are made with a thick canvas and heavy duty aluminum tubing which is why it weighs about 135lbs. The Coleman tents kept breaking. I haven't tried a more expensive tent from REI, but those tents can start getting close to the rooftop tent prices. So far so good on this tent. I've seen a little wear on the purple fabric near the zippers but it's nothing to worry about.

Climate Control

This gets tricky when you are bringing little ones on your camp adventures. You only have to try running a heater once in a thin tent to know they don't increase the temperature much. With the thick canvas on this tent, you can leave all the windows zipped up and it does a pretty good job of holding in the heat. I was a little concerned this tent wouldn't do well in the summer heat when I was first setting it up at the house, but it did surprisingly well. There was plenty of ventilation with just the front and rear windows open. Add in a fan and the low humidity of the west, and you should be fine. I was wondering if the tent might be cooler because it isn't sitting on the warm ground. When it was 100 degrees in Grand Junction, CO the back of the truck, where we had 4 other beds, took until about 10 pm to cool off. The tent seemed to cool off instantly.

Blackout

We were hoping that thicker canvas would block some of the morning light. It was better than a thin tent wall, but nothing like the blackout I could do in the back of the truck. It's hard to force your kids to go to bed on time when they are having so much fun with new friends or out chasing fireflies together which is why this is important. Some mornings you just pray they will sleep in.

Treehouse factor

Finally, kids love this tent. It's like a tree house to them. Our kids have so much fun climbing up and down the ladder of this tent. Even our 3 year old Aubrey was able to do it without assistance or falling. I can't say it didn't make me nervous however, and I did try to avoid putting it on cement pads.

CONS

Wind

Wind was something we didn't really think about, but you have to consider when you travel out west. Our first experience with high wind was in Eastern Oregon. I could see the windstorm rolling in so I had time to get back to the tent to observe. I had the rain fly on the ladder side of the tent stretched out with the steel poles and this just acted like a sail. If I hadn't been there to remove them I'm pretty sure I would have had a damaged tent. It was lifting up the ladder half and dropping it back on the ground. Then the aluminum poles on the tent started coming apart because the rainfly straps weren't tightened down. Finally my wife and I both had miserable nights of sleep one night in Idaho due to bad winds. They were so bad the guy in an RV next to us decide to pack up and leave. I thought for sure the loops that hold the rainfly were going to rip off, but they still appear to be holding strong. It was the wind noise in the tent that was so bad. With a simple tent on the ground we could have used the truck as a buffer against the wind. I'm planning to move the rooftop tent off of my bike rack on the truck to a ladder rack on the gear trailer. This might help since it gives us some different options for positioning. We'll probably go ahead and pack our old ground tent for the next trip as a backup plan. If you can't beat the wind, you can always enjoy it like my son below.

UPDATE: I was able to speak with a sales specialist at Tuff Stuff 4x4 in regards to the issues we encountered with the wind. He suggested using one of the steel bars to hold up the rainfly versus having them both in and acting like a sail as I described above. I thought this was a good idea and will definitely give it a try. He also suggested removing the rain fly completely which makes sense if you don't think you will be dealing with any rain. His final suggestion in regards to the wind noise was always have a pair of ear plugs in the tent. I always have earplugs on hand for any campground.

Grant catching the wind with a board in the baby stroller

3 person (more like 2 adults and a toddler/baby)

When this tent says 3 person it's more like 2 adults and maybe a toddler or a baby. There is plenty of room lengthwise in the tent. I'm 6 feet tall and you get about 2 feet of space at your feet or head depending on your positioning. You could possibly have a bassinet at your feet for a baby or the toddler could rest in between. You could always opt for the larger version of this tent if you need more room, Tuff Stuff Elite Rooftop Tent with Annex Room, 4 Person Tent. Keep in mind the larger tent only mounts in one direction and cannot be configured in two ways like the 3 person.

Thin sleeping pad

The reviews on the tent said the built in sleeping pad was a little thin (although thicker than most of the other tents in this price range) and I agree. I was able to get used to it, but my wife has a past back injury and ended up using a self inflating sleeping pad as well. We didn't get the condensation pad that many suggested. We didn't have any issues with the condensation, but then again, we were camping out west most of the time.

UPDATE: The Tuff Stuff sales specialist recommended I purchase the Anti Condensation Mat in order to assist with the thin sleeping pad. He said the 1/4 inch think mat will help with the hardness of the aluminum floor. I'll give it a try for this reason and provide another update.

Limited Manual

The only manual that came with the tent really dealt with assembly and installation to your roof rack. That's one of the reasons I decided to write something about it. It really needs a user manual. The tent has a couple straps inside it with loops on the end. I'm still not sure what these are used for. Maybe clipping a carabiner to the loop and hanging a light or something? Also, it came with a big net with 4 straps that did not hold very well. I'm assuming this is for storing coats and clothes in while you sleep underneath? I felt there was plenty of space at my feet to store coats and clothing. There were plenty of pockets on the sides of the tent for storing headlamps, wallets, keys, etc. Finally, I didn't think I would have any use for the black shoe bag attachment but we found it useful for storing the powerstrip that would run our fan and charge our cell phones.

UPDATE: The Tuff Stuff sales specialist has finally helped me solve the mystery of the straps in the tent with the loops on the end. These are for pulling yourself into the tent from the ladder. I'm not sure I needed the assistance but maybe it will help when my feet are dangling trying to find one of the ladder rungs.

Conclusion

I'm glad I purchased this tent instead of the used pop up camper we were thinking about buying for 6k. 900 bucks is a lot less expensive, and I hope this tent lasts us a long time. The only regret I have is not buying the larger one since our family is growing in size and numbers. Tuff Stuff Elite Rooftop Tent with Annex Room, 4 Person Tent

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Overland Expo

The 2017 Overland Expo in Asheville, NC at the end of September was a pivotal event for our family's decision to buy an RV. I wrote an earlier blog post on why I thought we needed to buy an RV instead of continuing to tent camp. I had made a verbal agreement with my wife that I wouldn't move on any RV until after we attended the expo. This turned out to be quite a challenging task for me. There were several times I wanted to break that agreement, and just make a move on the Capri Truck Camper or something used on craigslist. It's amazing the amount of marketing pull that RV shopping can have on you, and I consider myself to be quite patient when it comes to big purchases. There were a couple of reasons we thought it wise to wait for the expo. The first reason being that we were hoping someone there had a Capri that we could actually sit in. The second reason was we wanted to see if there were any other options out there that we haven't seen yet.
Well, there is something to be said for being patient, especially with large purchases like a house or RV. We both came away from the weekend tired and somewhat frustrated.We got a late start because we almost forgot how hard it is to get everything and everyone loaded into the car for a family of 6. We haven't traveled much since the new baby arrived in May. Then we learn that the new baby really hates being in the car seat. We didn't see a single Capri Truck Camper when we got to the expo, and our other 3 children complained about being bored the majority of the time we were at the expo. We didn't pack any of our food prep supplies so we wound up eating a bunch of fast food which made me feel bad. There was also something about the expo which made it all about newer, shinier stuff. Camping shouldn't be about all your great gear, it should be about simple things, less stuff, focusing on what's important like family and relationships. My wife was done with my RV dream, and I wasn't going to try and change her mind.
As with all camping trips, there is some good and bad. You usually end up getting more of the good then the bad. Looking back on our trip to Asheville, there was some good and I think it did outweigh the bad. The Asheville East KOA was much nicer than we anticipated.

Saturday morning hike with the kids around the lake

The cabins with two rooms (front had a queen, rear had 2 sets of bunk beds) fit us perfectly, and have heat and A/C. I would bring a sheet next time for our bed since the mattresses have those vinyl covers. Our cabin was also quite dusty/dirty, and smelled a little like feet. I should have probably swept it out first, and sprayed a little air freshner. That stuff aside, it was a big relief when we arrived late knowing we didn't have to set up tents in the dark. This was our fourth time staying at a KOA, and we've had great experiences each time. There is so much for the kids to do which gives mom and dad some needed alone time. There is also a sense of community at KOA's that I wish we had more of in our neighborhoods. We always meet someone interesting, and this weekend there were a lot of campers for the overland expo. People hanging outside, showing off their setups, cooking, fishing, chatting by the fire. Almost everyone respected the speed limit of 5 mph, and all the kids riding bikes in the street reminded me of my childhood. The price for a cabin each night was 70 bucks versus 40 for a tent site with electricity. That was a bit of a wake up call. I'm thinking of spending 14k on an RV, and all I'm saving is 30 bucks a night. That's going to take about 467 nights of camping to finally realize the savings. 

Buying an RV

After tent camping across the US in the summer of 2016, renting several RV's as well as talking to a wide assortment of RV owners, I've come up with a fairly extensive list of what I'm looking for when shopping for an RV.

1. My wife has to be on board, and she has to like it.
2. It has to be something we can afford and won't go into debt over.
3. I want to be able to park it in the driveway of my house which is in city limits.
4. I love my 1997 Toyota T100 pickup which is in great mechanical condition, and want to use it versus having a 3rd vehicle.
5. I want to be able to work/ride in it while driving.
6. I don't really care about bringing along my house, so just beds and AC will work fine for us. We would rather cook, eat and hang outside so we can meet people.
7. I want to be able to park in a rest area or wal-mart on those days where the weather is bad or we just need to make some ground.
8. I don't think I want it taking up half our garage. We use our garage alot for hanging out and letting the kids play.
9. It would be nice if it looked good. This is probably more my wife, but we have an interest in possibly helping sell these things online and things that look good sell good.
10. We want something that is a fast setup. Just park and climb in back to your beds. No slide-outs, pop-ups, etc. We've already tent camped across the US and one of the more difficult things was set up and teardown.
11. Its got to be able to accomodate 2 adults and 4/5 kids.

Yes, this list drastically reduces our options for an RV. Actually, I haven't found anything in the marketplace that fits all of these requirements which is why I continue to revise the back of my truck bed office/sleeper coupled with a gear trailer. The closest RV we found meeting our requirements was the Capri truck camper. 

We have flip flopped a few times on a popup camper. I was thinking one like the picture below might work for us with the front deck for all of our gear.

Fleetwood evolution popup campers

But after talking to a buddy of mine with similar interests who owns a pop up, I changed my mind. He was thinking of moving more towards the gear trailer setup like I already had. Even a 2200lb popup camper can have its challenges towing with a V6. If I drive down a dirt road that has no turn around, I can still unhook my gear trailer and spin it around to face the other direction if I have to. I might have to unload a few things or get my wife to push the back but it's a different story from a pop up like the one pictured above. 

I may need to first take a step back, and explain why we are coming to the conclusion we think we need to buy an RV for our family in the first place. I think that most people who know me would agree it doesn't take much to make me happy as far as money goes. I've experienced extreme financial stress back in the dot com crash of 2001, and vowed to change how I managed my money so I wouldn't be in that predicament again. I'm a huge fan of getting out debt and living below my means. I would much rather take a big pay cut than have to work at an unhealthy place of employment. I was able to talk my wife into tent camping across the US but we talked A LOT about just buying an RV to make things easier. Having said all of this, tent camping is not out of the picture yet. For example, we discovered on our cross US camping trip there are new tents that are instant setup. They are big and bulky but go up super fast. So, I do believe that the more you do it, the better you get. The last thing that I want is to be RV poor where you can't travel because you don't have any money left over to pay for gas or campsites. So here are my list of reasons for why I think we need to get an RV, versus just trying to get better at camping.

1. We find that with tent camping, that we opt out for staying at home when we think of the level of effort. It seems like too much work to get everything ready for a weekend mountain bike race, so we end up staying at home most of the time.
2. We are a big family of 6 now. In order to fly, we have to buy 6 plane tickets
3. My rule of thumb for driving with 4 kids, anything longer than 5.5 hours (this is Panama City Beach for us) is going to suck. Between potty breaks, diaper changes and feedings, a 5.5 hour trip turns into 8 hours. Then the kids have been in the car all day, and stored up all their energy for the evening you arrive
4. Most of our kids under the age of 4 wake up in the middle of the night crying. On our trip out west, our 1 year old daughter learned it was harder for us to let her cry it out in a tent so she started crying more in the middle of the night.
5. My wife and I love mountain biking. Packing bike gear and doing rides/races adds another level of difficulty to tent camping.
6. Fruita, CO is a mecca for mountain biking. Tent camping in 99 degree heat doesn't help put kids to sleep.
7. It doesn't get dark out west until 10pm in the summer. Our kids had a hard time falling asleep when it was still light out. You can't black out a tent as far as I know
8. Bad weather. We hardly had any of it out west. The summer of 2016 was crazy dry. Only one super scary severe storm in Kansas that broke apart right when it got to us. It took a couple of hours for me to fall back asleep after that one passed. Bad weather creates a whole other element with tent camping
9. Staying at a friend/family members house with 4 kids causes us a lot of stress. People will like us and our children more when we aren't inside their house all the time.
10. My wife and I have really enjoyed seeing what camping has done both for our marriage and family. It forces you to become a team. My revision 2.0 changes for our trip in the summer of 2018 was still a challenge. I think I've given my current set up a really good chance, and now it's time to hand it over to someone who is less of a hack than myself. 

Camping across the US with 3 kids

The summer of 2016 I somehow convinced my beautiful wife how fun it would be to try and tent camp across the US to see relatives on her side of the family in Oregon and Washington State. We reside in Georgia.

I just had a hard time stomaching the cost of buying 4 plane tickets (Babies fly free), renting a car and getting a hotel for 2 weeks. My desk job has it's perks, but this caged up cube animal needed some adventure! It took some persuading but as soon as I got the go ahead I started the work of outfitting my truck to accommodate three kids (7,4, and 1) with my wife driving, while I worked. I own a 1997 Toyota T100 extended cab with a truck topper.

Three Island Crossing State Park - Glenns Ferry, Idaho

The only place that can fit a rear facing car seat for an infant is the front passenger seat. I had no idea when I bought this truck in 2001 that I would still be driving it with a wife and 3 children. I just knew when I was buying it that I wanted something I could build out for camping. 
   I needed to work 20 hours a week as we traveled in order to take off enough time, and was having a hard time imagining getting any work done inside the cab with 3 young children. We also own an 8 seater Toyota Sequoia full size SUV, but I needed some kind of partition. Earbuds weren't going to cut it when I needed to be on the phone with my clients or to brainstorm through some difficult software development issues. I started researching how to install a seat in the bed of my pickup truck. The thought that came to mind was the old Subaru Brat.

A couple of Google searches later and I come across the Bedryder truck bed seating system. The first thing I noticed with the Bedryder was the price. I was hoping to stay frugal with this new idea and it was costly on a truck that was pretty old. I kept doing some searches and asking around, but I eventually came back to this seating system because I knew I couldn't build something as easy to remove as the Bedryder. I needed to be able to remove the seat since I had plans to put a queen air mattress in the pickup bed for camping (that didn't exactly work out as planned). I was able to get the price reduced a little by just ordering one seat, but now I wish I had the second seat since my 8 year old son is running out of room in the back seat, and we now have our fourth child. I watched the YouTube install video, and it looked easy enough to do myself. It actually turned into a weekend project, and wasn't quite as easy as I thought. Might be worth paying a little extra for the install if you have an interest in one of these. I was able to meet the owner, Carry Hyde, in person to pick up the seat. He was super friendly, and when I told him I was going to use it as a mobile office for a camping trip out west he told me that was a first for him as far as uses for the seat.  

TBO- Truck Bed Office

As one can imagine, sitting in the bed of a pickup truck in the summer is brutal. I knew this from driving my wife's jeep wrangler in the summer time. The heat from the black asphalt will roast you, especially sitting in a traffic jam. I tried a few things like sealing the window between the topper and running a small fan to push the AC out from the cab of the truck. Those helped, but it was still too hot back there. Luckily I didn't have to deal with this too much since we spent most of our time out west in the low humidity. Opening the windows on the truck topper was perfect out west. I do have a few other solutions that have helped with the AC problem back there but will save those for a later post. One thing that surprised me about this seat was how comfortable it was. I normally don't sleep much in a car, but I was able to take a pretty long power nap in this seat. You can stretch your legs out and slide forward in the harness so it holds you well. My wife had no idea how easy it was to sleep in the seat. She just saw me sweating in the beginning of our trip through the midwest, and thought it was the last place she wanted to be.

I was surprisingly productive in the back of the truck. I loved glancing out the windows at all the scenery as I thought through some coding problems. I did have to ask my wife to slow down a little bit at times since the bouncing around made it hard to move the mouse. One thing I did miss was having a second monitor. Perhaps figuring out a power solution with solar can allow that in the future.  Amy and I are currently looking into more expensive options like a slide in truck camper that would make things a little easier on our next adventure. We are holding off on ordering one from Capri camper until after we get back from the Overland Expo in Asheville, NC.