'24 Badlands/Sasquatch 2-Door Cross-Country Camper Build + Trip Review!

[cynicalrider]

Damn I just looked into that genesis dual battery kit, that is sweet. Def worried about that much weight on one corner though because of the Tacoma issues I have seen but I love how easy the install looks.

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[ac360]

It’s under their dynamic limit. I think 180lbs? I worked it out a ways back but don’t remember. It sheared here, both sides. Nothing was holding the front of the rack on

Trailrax should include the reinforcement plates with the rack. Instead, they are charging the plates as a $149 accessories item.

 

[350vudu]

Trailrax should include the reinforcement plates with the rack. Instead, they are charging the plates as a $149 accessories item.

100%. My drive back across country was very nerve racking with a snapped roof rack. If you go off-road without them they will snap unless you don’t have anything on the roof. That kinda defeats the purpose of the roof rack though.

 

[ZNC]

How was the wind noise at highway speeds ?

Bad! Until I spent a couple hours taping over various slots and holes till I figured out the main source: the gap between the rack and the tent. I temporarily duct-taped that shut and then when we got to Maine I got some closed cell foam and made a spacer. It's still louder than stock, but not so loud that you can't listen to an audio book. (our favorite form of entertainment while covering long miles.

Trip report? Where did you go and where did you camp? How many nights did you sleep in the RTT?

Ha ha! Fair enough... Will post some trip info!

Got any side profile shots with the RTT open and closed? Considering this one myself

Sadly, nothing dead-on profile. But if you search GFC Bronco 2d it, they have a nice profile shot of the same config. The front of the tent overhangs the windshield a significant amount...

 

[ZNC]

Trailrax should include the reinforcement plates with the rack. Instead, they are charging the plates as a $149 accessories item.

Yes they should, and $159 is silly. There was no way I was going to drive with it busted. We were fortunate to be at a friend's house when it cracked so we went to the hardware store, got some galvanized angle, and just made splints. It actually worked great.

 

[ZNC]

A little trip info...

We started in West Sonoma County July 5 and blasted up to Mazama in two days - camped half way. Broke the rack, but enjoyed a few days at our friend's place there. It is such a beautiful valley. Then back south to Joseph OR, bought some groceries, and headed east. Camped at a nice spot by a creek 1 night, and then two nights at a spot further east until we discovered the solar wasn't working. So we came out earlier than we wanted to to fix that.

The drive across Hell's Canyon was spectacular. Stopped in McCall to get a battery grounding cable, and then high-tailed to the Magruder Trail Which we blasted in the same day. That made for one LONG day of driving. The bummer was to get to Magruder Crossing and find it totally packed. The only empty camp site was empty for a reason - gazillions of tiny biting bugs that were small enough to get through the tent mesh. No thanks! Folks cleared out in the morning and we moved to a better camp and had a great day fishing and unwinding from the crazy drive.

Next stop was to drop the Bronco at Dark Horse Customs so they could finish what the unnamed shop would/could not, and switch over to our Tacoma that I'd left in Bozeman back in May. We tooled around in it for a 10 days - two nights at a lodge outside of Gardiner, a night in Bozeman to provision and tackle another electrical gremlin in the Tacoma, and then a week up in the mountains west of Bozeman and spots around the Absaroka Wilderness. That might have been the highlight of the trip.

Friends met us in Bozeman - we picked up the Bronco and did more exploring around the Absaroka. We made a great long weekend out of it. Our friends took the Tacoma back to Bozeman and we continued East. But not before we got a call from them - the Tacoma blew its head gasket 30 min from Bozeman and torched the engine. So that was a joy that would complicate things for our return in the fall... (We towed it to Bozeman and after some hand wringing decided to replace the engine, but that's a story for elsewhere)

From there, we high-tailed it across Wyoming, South Dakota and Wisconsin, stopping to visit friends in Eau Claire. Then up the UP for some (crowded!) camping before visiting relatives in Michigan. Got a hotel in Toronto to see the Hockey Hall of Fame. Then a night camping in upstate NY, then a week with old friends outside of Buffalo. Next, western Mass for 3 nights with my mother-in-law, and then a final pitch up to Maine, camping another night along the way.

All in all over 6k miles. 25 nights in the tent. It was just over 7 weeks on the road.

 

[mack092]

Ahh, I see where your list went wrong. Here's the proper two-door loadout:

• MREs
• Sleeping bag

What sleeping bags would you guys recommend, we are a family of 2 adults 3 kids 3-6. Thanks

 

[Summit981]

This is kind of a ridiculous thing to do to a 2-door, but we did it anyway. My brother-in-law bought this and wanted to outfit it for camping. Not far in the conversation, he asked if he could ship it to me and I'd do it, then drive it back across the US. Felt like a no-brainer. My wife and I are regular explorers in our '06 Tacoma TRD with GFC, 33's etc etc and like to get deep in the back country and hike and fish. So with that experience, we set this up for similar missions. Not sure I would do it again! The 2-door is just too small! But in all, here's what we did:

• GFC Tent with interior lights and USB power.
• 120W Solar on top.
• 3 clear, 2 amber Baja LP6's
• Separately switched right, left, and rear ditch/rear lights.
• TrailRax rack with side carriers for Rotopax
• 2 Odyssey AGM batteries with Genesis Off-Road battery carrier
• Redarc isolator and solar controller
• Redarc battery gage
• 67 Designs accessory rail and iPhone holders
• Goose Gear rear shelf/cooking platform
• Custom rear platform/drawer unit for stacking gear and housing a Dometic 55

Crap this setup was designed to carry:

• Two tables, two chairs, 12 x 15' rain structure.
• Two burner propane camp stove
• 2 crates food
• 1 crate cocktails, propane (2.5lb bottle), random camp stuff
• 1 crate kitchen, cookset, setting for 2, solar shower
• 1/2 crate kitchen gear
• 1/2 crate water filter, tech, and coffee gear
• 1/2 crate tools, 1st aid, and oh-shit gear
• 1/2 crate books, and other entertainment
• 1 crate fishing gear
• Full size axe and shovel
• 2 medium small duffels of clothing and personal gear
• 4 fishing rods
• 2 small backpacks of life shit
• 1 camera bag

Suffice to say EVERY NOOK of this thing was stuffed. It took about 30 minutes to strike camp & pack the bronco up - if we were moving fast. Overall, I would say this was way too much stuff for this size vehicle. It worked, but there was a certain way everything fit, loading was strenuous, and visibility out the vehicle was bad. This would have been much more fun with a friend who carried the cooler and kitchen in their larger vehicle. Then the platform would have been spacious for personal gear and toys, and easily removable if you needed 4 seats to set up a through-hike, or some other specific mission. (like wheeling up some short-wheelbase thing!)

Were this my vehicle, I would have been tempted to take the rear seats out entirely, but there is merit to keeping them, and to accommodate that wish, and to make it possible to carry everything, I made this back platform. There's a steel frame that replaces the 4 d-rings in the tiny cargo area. The idea is that frame is permanent. It doesn't get in the way if the seats are up, but it provides a sturdy frame to mount the platform, with only 4 bolts. The platform comes out in about 2 minutes. About 10 min to replace it if you have the big box for the Dometic to wrestle. I think it would be much faster if it was just a flat platform. The platform incorporates a full-width drawer (you can fit a surprising amount of stuff in there! The Dometic 55, and tie-down points set up to securely hold my 3 stacks of crates.

Because our first outfitter was so behind on finishing the vehicle, I had to install the final version of the platform in a hurry and didn't take any pictures! But here's the first prototype of the frame that is permanently mounted in the back. The platform bolts in place with 4 M12 socket head cap screws. The final version had more reinforcement in the feet and powder coat.

Here's the platform ready for crates:

We had a couple serious issues on the trip - both totally avoidable. The first was the folks that did all my electrical work did a pretty poor job. I gave them 4 months to do the rack/tent/lights/batteries/solar, and they didn't start until 4 days before I was supposed to have the vehicle back. They got about half of what we asked them to do done, and they incorrectly set up the solar system so the battery wasn't charging. Fortunately I was able to diagnose and fix that on the road with a short stop at Napa. The other bummer experience was with the rack. It sheared in half at the front about 10 min into the first dirt road we hit. We sistered some angle on to the rack sides to hold it together, and this worked for the remainder of the trip... And, it turns out that at some point TrailRax started selling an "HD" kit that is basically sister plates like we made. They sent us replacement parts and the HD kit free of charge, but it would have been nice to have those from the get-go!

In the "meh" category: Rotopax. I did not enjoy using these, spilling fuel, fighting the mounts, etc... next time, a Wavian or Specter can on the back! Plus I just felt it was tragic to hang them off the side and clutter up the otherwise really cute Bronco's lines.

We also had some GREAT experiences with gear and folks on the road - Dark Horse Customs in Bozeman finished what our first supplier did not, and also helped with fixes to the Bronco and to our Tacoma (that was also in MT). Great folks. The Dometic (with ice!) and a solar charger felt like a game changer. We are huge GFC Fans, and they went the extra mile to help us where their dealer messed up. I don't want to sound too bougie, but the Snow Peak tables are also worth every penny. They strike/setup in seconds and are super sturdy. Their shelter is also really well made and designed. We have several years on the one in our Tacoma and though also pricey, it has lasted is a joy to use. And a shoutout for Sidio crates. They worked really well, and it is nice to pack with things that are true rectangles with out a lot of wasted space to make molding easy. And the Bronco itself was a total delight! So fun to drive, really capable out of the box and no issues in over 6000 miles of rough driving! We'll see how she holds up. She's on the east coast but I think we'll be using her again to explore some fishing spots next summer!

And about that platform... I put so much effort into engineering that thing, it kind of seems a waste not to do something with it. There are some things I'd like to improve, for sure, but I'm curious if there's any appetite for these? If there is, we've thought about making a short run of them...

Really appreciate the candor in describing what didn’t quite work out and what was a “botch” or fail. I’ve often wondered about the efficacy of the TrailRax rack and side mount storage and your experiences with that system were very helpful to me. I think Redarc is definitely the way to go for power production and management but you reminded us all how important it is to choose an installer carefully. And, hey, fly fishing gear is a “must” so thanks for making room for that! One thing I’m still curious about was payload (weight) after all this stuff was loaded up. Were you under or over on load?

 

[ZNC]

What sleeping bags would you guys recommend, we are a family of 2 adults 3 kids 3-6. Thanks

We switched to outdoor down comforters like from Big Agnes or Nemo. Way comfy and versatile.

Really appreciate the candor in describing what didn’t quite work out and what was a “botch” or fail. I’ve often wondered about the efficacy of the TrailRax rack and side mount storage and your experiences with that system were very helpful to me. I think Redarc is definitely the way to go for power production and management but you reminded us all how important it is to choose an installer carefully. And, hey, fly fishing gear is a “must” so thanks for making room for that! One thing I’m still curious about was payload (weight) after all this stuff was loaded up. Were you under or over on load?

Eh erm. That is a very good question and one I thought about a ton as well motored across the back country. I think we would have benefitted from slightly more spring preload, for sure. I bet we were really close if not over. it was definitely like driving with two linebackers in the back seats. lol. (My wife and I are pretty tiny)

 

[SuperDave150]

What sleeping bags would you guys recommend, we are a family of 2 adults 3 kids 3-6. Thanks

For camping around Houston?
A set of cotton sheets.

 

[mack092]

For camping around Houston?
A set of cotton sheets.

Well it’s getting chilly now. Just something not that heavy duty but can last in the hands of kids. Guess I will see what they have for sale at the REI.

 

[Squatch]

What sleeping bags would you guys recommend, we are a family of 2 adults 3 kids 3-6. Thanks

I read that as 3-6 kids and wondered how you didn't know how many you had.

I've had the same Coleman for at least 20 years, but... I am sure there are better versions or bags out now. I would go to your nearest REI and look for a dude who looks like Ron Swanson or a gal who looks like she cans all types of food and just chopped firewood. They'll likely have the best recommendations. Avoid the young and energetic workers, because their bodies still work and they could sleep on recycled fire ants and wake up ready to guzzle down a kale-infested oat milk prune smoothie and not vomit.

 

[RoLyMa27]

I read that as 3-6 kids and wondered how you didn't know how many you had.

I've had the same Coleman for at least 20 years, but... I am sure there are better versions or bags out now. I would go to your nearest REI and look for a dude who looks like Ron Swanson or a gal who looks like she cans all types of food and just chopped firewood. They'll likely have the best recommendations. Avoid the young and energetic workers, because their bodies still work and they could sleep on recycled fire ants and wake up ready to guzzle down a kale-infested oat milk prune smoothie and not vomit.

ROTFLMAO!!

 

[GeoBig]

I like those stackable crates with the lids. Do you happen to have the brand name so I can take a look? Thanks!

 

[RoLyMa27]

We switched to outdoor down comforters like from Big Agnes or Nemo. Way comfy and versatile.

Eh erm. That is a very good question and one I thought about a ton as well motored across the back country. I think we would have benefitted from slightly more spring preload, for sure. I bet we were really close if not over. it was definitely like driving with two linebackers in the back seats. lol. (My wife and I are pretty tiny)

Serious question, not trying to be a smart-ass. Have you considered a teardrop such as the Bean 2.0? After a quick Google I'm at 10k pretty easy not counting the work you had done! EDIT: My wife and I love to tent camp and we have been shopping teardrops.

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