Mauka2Makai - Our Quest Begins...An 80 Series Adventure

[r3run33]

congrats! so jealous have not been to hawaii in a long time. keep theupdates coming

[Mauka2Makai]

Thanks guys yeah Hawaii's great for surfing and not much for camping and overlanding. Next up is our in cab sleeping solution. Stay tuned.

[Wheelingnoob]

Sweet looking setup!

I'm looking forward to getting a Baja utility and ARB awning as well.

Looking forward to seeing the sleeping setup.

[Mauka2Makai]

Sweet looking setup!

I'm looking forward to getting a Baja utility and ARB awning as well.

Looking forward to seeing the sleeping setup.

WN, Thanks, no regrets on the Baja rack or ARB awning, both are made extremely well. Will give a field review soon.

[Mauka2Makai]

With not much camping or adventure / overland travel on Oahu, Hawaii. One of our goals while on the mainland is to see as much outdoor travel as possible. Some of my best memories as a boy was camping and just going exploring, while growing up in Nevada and Washington. We want to create memories for our boys that will last a life time as well.

My oldest calls roof top tents “Up Top" Tents, cause they are up on the top of the roof! Our plan was to mount a series 3 ARB “up top” on top, but unfortunately we had to cancel our order. We needed a new solution. Sure we could just pitch a tent, but we wanted something secure. We didn’t want to have to worry about weather, animals / insects, or wet / rocky / unleveled ground.

I removed the 2nd row seats to vacuum a couple weeks ago and bingo! I was amazed with how much room was in the back of the LC.



Instantly I new what our new sleeping solution would be. I ran the idea by my wife and she agreed that this would be our best solution for our budget. There are a total of 8 bolts to undo and the seats to remove, big deal.



Next I'll lay down a blanket to protect the mattress.



The air mattress is around 8” thick and has cut outs for the wheel wells.



The whole back cabin is now usable space for comfortably sleeping the 4 of us and we are most stoked that we have 360* viewing of our surroundings and are able to sit up with ample room above our heads! We can regulate the air circulation with 6 windows and the moon roof.





And with our sun shades and curtains that I plan on making we can increase our privacy if need be. All in all I think this will be an awesome compromise until we can afford.................. an "Up Top" Tent.

[98roamer]

I would suggest you look into Window screens for this setup if you haven't already. I ran this setup in my Xterra and the first night it ended up raining inside the truck from all the condensation (with the windows closed). After that we, cracked the windows open which allowed the bugs to feast on us all night. But this was in the spring in the humid midwest.

[GCRad1]

ALOHA & SUBSCRIBED! Welcome to the ExPo tribe and fellow 80-series enthusiast! Great story - keep it coming!

[Klierslc]

Maybe remove the 2nd row permanently and just put the boys in the third row. The mattress *might* fit with them folded up, but they are much easier to remove.....

[tanglefoot]

I'm really enjoying the pics, especially the Vanagon on the beach! Nice work with the cruiser.

[thecriscokid]

Will you remove the seats every time you set up camp? The seat brackets are spring loaded and want to move out of alignment of the screw hole when reinstalling. Could be PITA. I have been wondering about bolting a car seat to the floor instead of strapped to the seat, thus removing the need for the rear seats. I doubt the officials would mind