Cymon's Weekend Warrior and MFD Thread

[Cymon]

August 2017: Storage System Build

One thing that I’ve been researching and trying to figure out for a while is a better storage system for the back of the 4runner. When camping/exploring we’ve just been using storage bins. I like the practicality of just loading up the bins of equipment that we need but it does make it a pain when they are stacked and lashed to get what we want out quickly without the whole cargo area turning into a mess. So after looking through many threads and ideas this is what I came up with for now based on the following requirements.

1) Low enough height to be able to still put the dog crate, cooler and travel bins/suitcases on top. I lose about 6” already with the 3rd row.
2) Modularity: I needed the storage to be easily removable, and to be split so that we could put one 3rd row seat up at a time, and even potentially stack the storage boxes.
3) Secure attachment points.

Materials:
- 2 x 4x8x3/4 Birch Hardwood Plywood:
Tops: 2x 18.5"W x 32"L
Sides: 4x 6.5"H x 32"L
Backs: 2x 6.5"H x 17"W
- Wood Glue
- 1.5" Wood Screws
- 2x 2" Bolts (I used extra that I have for our hurricane shutters) with wing nuts.
- 4x 1.5" Wire Rings https://www.homedepot.com/p/Keeper-1-1-2-in-Wire-Ring-2-Pack-04521/203294978?cm_mmc=Shopping%7CTHD%7Cgoogle%7C&mid=shFwgTTzb%7Cdc_mtid_8903tb925190_pcrid_111415246385_pkw__pmt__product_203294978_slid_&gclid=Cj0KCQiAkZHTBRCBARIsAMbXLhHJEWoP_4lSFHGaO4kmdUA1HLCqtlkTTwODpRzMo0_o2_vmwJMxxTEaAvvaEALw_wcB Used to attach to factory tie-downs.
- 4x twist lock carabiner https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-3-16-in-Zinc-Plated-Quick-Link-42714/205887919 To attach the wire rings to the factory tie-downs.


As of now we are using under-the-bed storage bins from the container store that fit snugly in each section with about 6” of space to be able to put things that I want to easily access (towels, diaper changer, picnic blanket, etc.). One bin is filled with my paired down recovery equipment, emergency kit and tools. The other is filled with basic camping supplies, lights/flashlights.

The two storage sections are attached to the factory hooks with d-rings and then attached to each other with bolts and wingnuts, which allow it to work as one solid piece. To split them so we can use one of the 3rd row I just unhook one of the sides and unscrew it from the other section. I can take the system in and out of the truck or change it into the ½ section in less than 10 minutes.

Final step was I cut and attached an old Indoor/Outdoor carpet we had at our back door to create a softer surface on top of the wood boxes.

Pics:

 

[Cymon]

Our first RTT Adventure St. Augustine Labor Day Weekend 9/1/17 -9/4/17

The driving experience with the RTT on the rack really isn’t any different then when we traveled before with a fully loaded skybox. I could feel a little more weight on the roof, but the gas mileage hit was actually a lot less then I expected (only about 1 mpg) as we still averaged just under 17 mpg for the trip. We arrived at our Campsite just north of St. Augustine (North Beach Camp Resort) just after 11pm in the middle of a thunderstorm. Both kids were asleep, so we decided to just make a go of it and see if this RTT set-up was really worth it. Honestly for our first time we were efficient, got the tent open in less than 5 minutes in the pouring rain, my wife jumped up in the tent and finished interior set-up in another 5 minutes (hung portable fans, which is a must in 80 degree night with high humidity) as we pre-packed all of the sleeping bags and pillows in the tent before the trip. I got everything else we needed for the night ready under the rear hatch of the truck during this time. We transferred the kids up to the tent and they were out for the night. We climbed up, found the best arrangement for where we should sleep and went to bed.

All in all this is why we now have a RTT to camp in Florida. The airflow is so much better off the ground, we set up in about 10 minutes during a thunderstorm in the dead of night without getting absurdly wet and keeping all of our bedding clean and dry. The mattress was comfortable, and it was the best nighnight of sleep I’ve had camping in years. The tent held up well in the rain, not a leak or drip of water inside (as to be expected with a summit series tent) and the condensation mat kept the mattress dry as a bone.

The one negative to the RTT as everyone will note is the having to pack it up every time you need to drive out of camp. This is a pain but not a deal breaker. It does have us thinking that the next big purchase will likely be some sort of trailer to put it on…really liking the price point, versatility and weight of the Space Trailers.

Pics.

 

[Cymon]

Irma Evacuation 2017

Once the storm track path said Hurricane Irma was coming right up through Florida we boarded up and moved out. We loaded the RTT in case we needed a place to stay on the road especially with all hotels south of North Carolina booked. I also purchased an inexpensive (Walmart) hitch carrier to carry extra fuel, our cooler and extra bin full of stuff. The 4runner has never been more fully loaded as we took with us enough clothes, valuables and other essentials that if we couldn’t make it back to the house for a while or god for bid needed to start over we would have what we needed, at least until insurance could take care of it. I will say this pushed the stock rear springs to the limit (future upgrade?).

We ended up bugging out all of the way to Maryland to stay with family as schools and work were closed for a week and a half. Luckily we returned to a house with little to no damage and just yard debris and a downed tree to take care of.

Pics…

 

[Cymon]

Ameila Island Camping 10/19/17

Our next trip took us to Hilton Head Island, SC for my cousin’s wedding. It’s an 8 hour drive so we decided to camp on Amelia Island (just East of Jacksonville) on our way up. It was about a 5 hour drive, which would only leave us about 3 hours the next day, where we could meet up with some family in Savannah, GA on the way. You do need a beach driving permit to drive and camp on the beach, and the place to get the permit closes at 10:00pm. We called them on the way and they said they would stay open for us as our ETA had us arriving at 9:58 pm. We got the permit and then drove out on the beach. It was empty except for a couple of young girls ground tenting it near the access entrance. Due to the King Tide we only had about 30 yards of beach to work with and the winds were sustained 25-35 mph all night. Again we set-up in about 10 minutes and loaded the kids into the RTT. This was not the most restful night of sleep due to the high winds. The truck and tent were very stable under the circumstances. Setting up a family size ground tent in the conditions would have likely been a no-go with two young kids, score another win for the RTT.

 

[Cymon]

Ameila Island Camping 10/19/17 Continued

A few more...

 

[Cymon]

All caught up for now. Currently on our winter trip to Maryland for the holidays and then to Vermont for some skiing/snowboarding. Hopefully it won’t take 4 months to update.

 

[jhy182]

Great read! Keep up the good work.

Can you put the skybox 16 to one side and still fit some frontrunner wolfpacks beside it if you wanted to?

I am looking at a skybox as well. But my skis are too long for the skybox 16.
My choices are skybox 12, 18 or 21.

Any info would be appreciated.

 

[(none)]

How much did that RTT effect your fuel econ?

 

[Cymon]

Great read! Keep up the good work.

Can you put the skybox 16 to one side and still fit some frontrunner wolfpacks beside it if you wanted to?

I am looking at a skybox as well. But my skis are too long for the skybox 16.
My choices are skybox 12, 18 or 21.

Any info would be appreciated.

Here is the setup we use for our ski trips (and how we most recently loaded up to go to Maryland and Vermont). We have the Skybox loaded and a 15” wide sport tube, in which my wife’s skis and my snowboard as well as our boots are stored. Both are within the “tray” of the Frontrunner, but I could still move the Skybox over about 2-3”. The edge of the Skybox wouldn’t be fully in the tray, slight overhang, but the clamps would be. I’ve adjusted it this way before and it’s not an issue. Since the wolfpacks based on the Frontrunner website are 15.8” wide they should fit. The only issue I could see is if the wolfpacks are pretty fulsh against the side of the Skybox it might interfere with it tilting open, but I think you would have the clearance as I can fully open the Skybox in this configuration and as I said I could still move the Skybox over another 2-3” if I really needed to. Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[Cymon]

How much did that RTT effect your fuel econ?

About 1 mpg when traveling on highway, averaging about 70-75 mph. On the trip up to Hilton Head the speed limit on highway is mostly 70mph. We’ve been averaging between 16.5 - 17 mg fully loaded on our trips with it, actually about the same as with our trips with the fully loaded Skybox and Sportube as you see in the pics above. I’m actually surprised as I thought it would effect the gas mileage more than it has. You can feel the weight of it up top, on turns and breaking but no more than when we load up the rack with other stuff. I’m also running stock suspension, so upgraded shocks and springs would likely help in that regard. It hasn’t been an issue but it is something I try to be mindful of, leaving more space for breaking and taking sharp curves more conservatively.

 

[philsey]

Just got caught up. Cute kiddos. I can't believe you load up the way you do on stock suspension. I'd think airbags would be a great addition.

eace:

 

[(none)]

About 1 mpg when traveling on highway, averaging about 70-75 mph. On the trip up to Hilton Head the speed limit on highway is mostly 70mph. We’ve been averaging between 16.5 - 17 mg fully loaded on our trips with it, actually about the same as with our trips with the fully loaded Skybox and Sportube as you see in the pics above. I’m actually surprised as I thought it would effect the gas mileage more than it has. You can feel the weight of it up top, on turns and breaking but no more than when we load up the rack with other stuff. I’m also running stock suspension, so upgraded shocks and springs would likely help in that regard. It hasn’t been an issue but it is something I try to be mindful of, leaving more space for breaking and taking sharp curves more conservatively.

Thanks for the response. I would have figured more of an impact as well.

 

[Titanpat57]

Sure...drive right by Beacon...don't even stop for coffee...:rockthrow:

 

[philsey]

Sure...drive right by Beacon...don't even stop for coffee...:rockthrow:

He didn't want to explain "douche canoe" to young impressionable children.

 

[Titanpat57]

He didn't want to explain "douche canoe" to young impressionable children.

They gotta learn sometime....might as well come from an expert....

 

[Cymon]

Sure...drive right by Beacon...don't even stop for coffee...:rockthrow:

He didn't want to explain "douche canoe" to young impressionable children.

They gotta learn sometime....might as well come from an expert....

Well I definitely dropped the ball on that...I guess they do have to learn sometime!:gossip:

We did drive by Beacon on the way up, but now that I know that's the stomping grounds of the great [MENTION=47340]Titanpat57[/MENTION] I'll certainly be prepared to stop next time to teach the kids about being accepting of all people. On the way back we took the Western route through Bighamton, Scranton, and Harrisburg as we were driving back through the Blizzard and didn't want to go through the brunt of it. Nothing worse than the NJ turnpike during those types of winter conditions.

 

[Cymon]

Winter Trip 2017-2018

We left on December 22nd for what has become our yearly winter trip to find seasons, snow and mountains. It is what I miss the most living down here in South Florida. We first drove through the night (as what has become our primary method of traveling with our kids and dog out of state). Leaving at 4:00 p.m. in the afternoon we got to my parents house in Columbia, MD at 9:00 a.m., no traffic and thankfully uneventful. We go there just in time for the “Polar Vortex”, so we wouldn’t see above freezing temperatures again until we got back to Florida, January 7th. After spending Christmas week at my parents and visiting family and friends we headed off for the second leg of our trip, up to Smugglers Notch in Vermont.

We left on December 30th. We were welcomed that morning with a snow event that would follow us all of the way up the East Coast to Burlington, VT where we stayed the night. It was the first snow we’ve seen in a year and the 4runner, kids and I were loving it. It took about 10 hours due to the road conditions and traffic, but so worth it. Burlington is such a cool city and we enjoyed every second we were there, even if it was spent walking around with the ambient air temperature at 1 degree.

 

[Cymon]

Winter Trip 2017-2018

After our night in Burlington, we left for Smugglers, about a 1 hour drive. We stocked up on food at a Trader Joes and then filled up with gas. 30 minutes into our drive my dashboard started lighting up like an x-mas tree, after checking I discovered I hadn’t screwed on the gas cap completely until clicking (this is something I’m always mindful of and was pretty PO’d at myself for making this stupid error). I tightened the gas cap and re-topped of the gas tank knowing that this usually fixed the issue after enough miles. The lights stayed on until we reached the resort. While my wife was checking in I disconnected the battery for 30 minutes hoping this would reset the ECU. No luck, the lights were all still on, although there was no issues with the 4wd system or anything else. I decided I wasn’t going to spend time worrying about it until we had to start heading back. As luck would have it the second day we were there I started up the truck just to drive around and warm up the engine a little bit (since the high temperatures during the day were -6) and after about a mile of driving the lights went off and all was good the rest of the trip.

The ski conditions were the best you could hope for in January East of the Rockies. 50 inch base with virtually no ice and nice packed powder. It was cold, even for Vermont as it didn’t get above 0 until our last day, where we were also treated to about 4 inches of fresh powder.

 

[Cymon]

I also can’t say enough about Smuggler’s Notch as a family resort. We haven’t found a better ski resort East of the Mississippi. The terrain is good, the staff and hospitality exceptional, and it has a very old school friendly mountain vibe as opposed to a $ making machine. The kids ski/snowboard programs and childcare are second to none (they even had a program for my 2.5 year old son). They also have night tubing and entertainment for all ages. We’ll definitely be going back, at least until the kids are old enough to start shredding out West. By the end of the trip as I posted in the “What did you do today in your 5th gen thread”, my daughter went from saying “Daddy its, cold I’m a Florida Girl”, to “Daddy I want to move to the mountains!”, brainwash complete!

 

[Cymon]

Our trip back South was eventful as we drove back the day a blizzard moved up the East Coast. We ended up driving back to Maryland the western route, through Central Pennsylvania. We still got caught in pretty significant snow the whole trip until we got South of Harrisburg, but it was better than being stuck on the NJ turnpike during a blizzard and 8-12 inches of snow. After one day of resting and repacking in Maryland, we headed back to Florida. We can’t wait for our next trip up North!