Toby the Turtleback Trailer Build Thread

JCDriller

Adventurer
Curious about the AC unit, you just take a window unit and add a plenum box and the piping?

Correct. It’s a frost king AC unit (~$100), AC adapter from pconnolly01@yahoo.com ($110) and 2 flexible 4” downspout hoses from HD (~$10)

I added a hard start capacitor to keep my generator in eco mode and throttled down upon start up. I also added a stainless steel grilling basket to the back of the AC unit to protect the cooling fins.

There is a thread on the adapter in the camping gear section of this forum.
 

JCDriller

Adventurer
UPDATE:

We've been on the road now for a little more than 2 weeks or so and have had a wonderful time.

Leaving home, my wife was following with her 4R for a little while and snapped a photo before we all got in a rolled away.

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First camp site was at Table Rock Lake, visiting family for the weekend before the 4th. Great lake view!
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Nothing beats being able to pull over and make a quick bite to eat. Much healthier than fast foot and more funBn7EsxwPRTmQNKqgccPVnA.jpg

Added a few Turtleback decals that came in last minute
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Love the OX BOX coffee maker! I like a French Press as much as the next guy but don't alway want to take the time to boil water. Best part is the Ox Box will make hot water too! FP or Keurig all in one small box!

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But man does it draw some AMPS! 115-120 amps while running. I have 240ah of battery and it knocks out about 3% per tumbler.
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Our next camp site was the Black Hills
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Got to use my FR Braai for the first time. Worked well.
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We saw Mt. Rushmore or as my son calls it, "The men on the mountain".

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JCDriller

Adventurer
Left the Black Hills and hit up Devil's Tower and did the loop around it.

Made lunch on our way out

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Finally crossed into Alberta Canada.
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Pulled into Banff and got camp set. We did add a Clam style bug tent to our set up. I wish it was CLAM brand, but we had no choice but to get a Canadian Tire Knock off. The mosquitoes were so thick we needed something!
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We hiked every day, really saw some beautiful scenery!
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JCDriller

Adventurer
Tuff ride to Lake Agnis for the little guy

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Lake Agnis, above Lake Louise. We hiked the plain of glaciers on the way back.
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Took a day off the trail and headed into Calgary to see the Dinosaur exhibit at the Zoo. My son LOVED IT!iPksZJatQoqNK6XP1HnOlw.jpgfullsizeoutput_12a1b.jpegIX+7l0smSU6YRnYsC+Vpqw.jpg

Little man loved throwing rocks into the river! Sometimes it's the little things...JysDsbsTRq+uNTJrZhIxrQ.jpg

Drove down he West side of 95/93 to Glacier, crossed over into BC
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JCDriller

Adventurer
Stopped a beautiful BC rest area for lunchHpNtcQGOTE+ZWpVzuMh4Eg.jpg

Pulled back into Montana
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Glacier National Park
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First day, we didn't have a ton of time so we did a 8mi round hike back to Avalance Lake. Absolutely gorgeous, very easy hike.
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Next day we did Highline trail 10.8 one way, returned by shuttle
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My son wouldn't quit talking about the brontosaurus, so we had to take him into town so he could sit on it.4jI9+qK+Q3iTuhPXlspGSw.jpg

Final and most beautiful hike of the Glacier, 10mi Iceberg Lake. breathtakingly beautiful!

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Next leg of our trip is Yellowstone NP. More pics to come.
 

JCDriller

Adventurer
I will say that so far we are loving the trailer, but really not liking the tent. We've already had one rip develop and a broken ladder. I've reached out to CVT concerning the ladder and I'm waiting to hear back from them. We don't like how long it's taking us to set up and break down camp with this tent. May not sound like long, but we built this trailer to be fast and mobile and we find ourselves dreading overnight stops.

We're currently looking into a Bundutop. Of course that won't come until our next trip.
 

FlightMedicJP

Active member
Over the weekend I got my nose box wired up. Here is the general lay out and wiring diagram, only difference is that I moved the Blue Sea AC Breaker box and added a Blue sea 4 gang DC circuit breaker/switch panel to control particular items that I wanted to override when the main Blue Sea fuse panel is turned off. For instance my ARB Fridge or the National Luna area lights that will be mounted above each door, I wanted to be able to power these even when the power was turned off behind the nose box. I'll likely also hook my trailer's rock lights to this switch panel.

Along with all the goodies I mounted a NOCO 110 shore power plug and a ZAMP solar plug to the side of the nose box.

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Here is how it sits in the nose box.
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What size perforated sheet did you go with. I was looking at 2 x 3 aluminum 0.125 (0.25" holes - 0.375" STAGGER)
 

JCDriller

Adventurer
What size perforated sheet did you go with. I was looking at 2 x 3 aluminum 0.125 (0.25" holes - 0.375" STAGGER)

I got the following,I used the rectangular tube to offset it from the nose box.

0.063" (0.1875" holes-0.25" STAGGER) ALUMINUM PERFORATED SHEET 3003-H14

0.75" x 1.5" x 0.125" 6063-T52 ALUMINUM RECTANGLE TUBE


You could certainly get thicker aluminum, but once its bolted up to the rectangular tube and all the parts are bolted on which adds stiffness, it's not going anywhere. I'd save my money.
 

nated

Member
Have you weighed your trailer/tongue? I imagine the rotopax stay empty for highway travel? Seems like a lot of weight hanging off the back of the trailer. Glad you enjoyed the Canadian Rockies, I'm in Calgary!
 

JCDriller

Adventurer
Traveling we kept the water tank 50%+, one 4 gallon rotopax full and the trailer as you saw, it traveled fantastic. There were times we were going 90mph and you could easily forget it was back there until you gave it gas and really didn’t go anywhere :)

I weighed the tongue weight when i was figuring out where to place the water tank and it was 190. But that number doesn’t mean much with the trailer loaded. I’ll get a weight next time I have it loaded up in the fall.
 

Brianj5600

Member
I like your solution for raising the tent to camp mode. Is it working to your satisfaction? Any things you would do different if you built another one?
 

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