Equinox camping w/ double Cybertrucks

[RM Rilke]

Bruh! Wild pizza! What is the brand of pizza cooker? PYY? As in “pie?” Way cool! I need to add that to my cooking outfit! Great tent, too!

There are a bunch like this for about the same price on Amazon. I picked this one due to delivery time. It did work great though. Already planning for fresh baked cinnamon rolls and chocolate chip cookies next time out.

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[CT_AZ_4x4]

Dude! Fresh cinnamon rolls and cookies in the boonies. Most excellent!

 

[RM Rilke]

Here is a run down on the tent. The tent itself is an Ayer 2 expedition tent made by Thule. I bought it used for $500.00 bones locally because it had the clip in winter insulation pack and the anti-condensation mat. Those are like hens teeth to find. The Ayer 2 won’t work in its stock configuration though. The only tent that will work for this purpose is the Thule Low-Pro 2. As in low profile. All other RTTs are too tall when folded for this to work. I tried to figure out another way with a taller tent. It could be done, but it would be complicated and difficult to fabricate. Unfortunately, neither the Ayer 2 or Low-Pro 2 tent is still in production. There are a few Low-Pro 2 tents still available on Amazon. They can also be found used pretty easily. I simply converted my Ayer 2 tent to the same smaller profile by purchasing two low-pro hinges from Thule parts online. Then I just swapped them to the Ayer 2 tent. That essentially converts it into a Low-Pro tent. It did involve drilling one new hole for each hinge piece, but that was very basic. Thule does make a Low-Pro 3 if anyone wants a larger tent. It would work, but would require that the Aeroflap be removed for unfolding the tent like the Cybertent does. The footprint is just a bit too long to do it without that step, but i think it would work. No promises. The 2 clears everything without that step.

Even with the low profile the tent is still about an inch too tall to fit on bed crossbars made by suppliers. So I found a way around it. I used Simpson Strongtite L brackets. They sell them at Home Depot. Pictured below. I mounted them to L track studs I got on Amazon. They come in a pack of 10. Perfect. The holes in L brackets needed to be ovalized a bit to line up with the L track indents. I used a rat tail file to do that. Easy. The white spacer for the L track studs is from Home Depot in the hardware drawers. It is for the 3/8” stud. I believe it is 1/4”. The washers and hardware are 3/8” galvanized. Stainless nylock nuts. The cross bars are 1 x 4” rectangular tubing and 1 x 2” rectangular tubing in 55” lengths. .125 wall thickness 6061. I got them cut to size from the local metal supply shop. The 4” bars support the tent. The 2” bar supports the tent when it is unfolded. I use wing nuts on the 2” inch bars so it can be quickly removed leaving the L brackets in place. I also made a strut so I can prop up the tent when I’m not using it at camp so the tailgate and truck bed is unencumbered.

I centered the tubes on the mounted brackets and traced the holes. Then used a drill press the drill centered 3/8” holes. This leaves enough play to get the crossbars off without removing them. Honestly, it is easier to just remove them.

To mount the tent to the crossbars bars I ordered an additional set of the 48” mounting crossbars that go on the bottom of the tent from Thule. Pictured. You can’t really see it but they have a slot for the pieces that hold the bolts. So they slide out and in and don’t interfere with installation or removal of the tent. I also picked up a 1 X 48” flat strip piece of aluminum from Home Depot. Then I put everything where I wanted it and mounted the crossbars in the proper location on the bottom of the tent. Next I made the pieces of aluminum strapping. Got some shorter m8 bolts from Home Depot and that is about it.

Position the tent so it will clear the Aeroflap. That leaves about 3/8” clearance on the hinge side when the tonneau is closed. It will touch the gasket when closing but just barely. I also included a picture of a folding panel heater I got on Amazon that I clamp inside the tent to the sidewall for cold nights. Works incredibly well. I also picked up a little BougeRV AC unit for the summer. I haven’t sorted the mounts to hold up the side window awnings yet, but that should be really simple. I anticipate mounting something on the rack mounts for the sides and suction cups for the roof side. If I do it at all.

Just DM me with questions. Good luck.

 

[CT_AZ_4x4]

Thank you for the time and effort. You rock, man!

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