In 2016 and 17, we did shorter-but-ambitious road trips (WABDR and NWP) with our small dirt bikes. Loved the riding, not so much the highway faster travel, and the carry everything-and-make-sure-it-fits camping experience.
In 2018, we did a big trip on bigger motorbikes, a combination of hotels and camping. It too was a great experience, but it reinforced our “dislike” of fast highway riding. It’s not a mode of travel that we’re going to revisit, especially since we have sold those bikes!
At the end of 2018 we bought a pickup truck, and an iKamper roof top tent, and then later a high quality utility trailer to haul the bikes with us. We did dirt bike focussed trips, in 2019 to Death Valley, New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada; and 2020 to Alberta and Saskatchewan. In these places we absolutely loved the riding, but there were short comings with that setup also.
From these trips, we came to these conclusions:
We really enjoy the off highway motorbike riding, but more-so we really love what this riding enables us to see and experience. It is a priority for us to continue for the next few years.
The iKamper is great for sleeping, but there are serious limitations to the comfort it can provide outside of sleeping. The respite from bad weather and solutions for the cold nights are needed.
The setup has to be relatively uncomplicated, we’ve faffed around enough with straps and gear, and whatever…
We will sometimes stay in campgrounds with limited resources, so we will need some power source, and water supply.
This brings us to 2021, and in this year we purchased an Intech Flyer Explore trailer. It’s a small recreational trailer that is also designed as a toy hauler. We picked it up in April, from a dealer in Edmonton Ab. and we spent quite a bit of time getting it travel ready. We also spent a lot of time getting the truck ready too.
Here is the itemized list of things that we’ve done to get the rig ready for travel:
Truck
2018 Nissan Frontier, 6sp manual transmission. 38,000m kms (50,000 kms as of July 2023)
- Suspension Air Bags to support the trailer load. We got the work done locally, and they installed the air bag valves within the gas tank door;
- Thule adjustable rack, on which the iKamper Skycamp 2 is mounted;
- Installed a 20 gallon RV style water tank, pump, food safe hose, battery, and a heating pad to prevent the water in the tank from freezing.
- We also have two large lockable bins, which have been bolted to the floor rails of the truck. These have been excellent for keeping our gear/possessions protected from weather and theft.
- Brake controller
iKamper Skycamp 4 Modifications
We replaced the metal zipper pulls with string pulls, which really decreases the noise when it’s excessively windy. We’ve been caught in some pretty bad windstorms, and the noise from the zipper pulls slapping together was quite overwhelming. We have started to use the rainfly just to keep the wind from billowing the front of the tent. It does help reduce the noise quite a bit.
Removed the stock mattresses, now we use our exped camping mattresses. The stock mattresses are just cruel. While I would have loved to get the Exped mega mats to fit the iKamper, they are really expensive. So, we are both using our inflatable Exped downmat LXW, which we’ve had for a few years. We keep the mats, pillows and sleeping bags etc in the iKamper and now it’s easy to close. This wasn’t the case with the stock wooden sleeping mats, as it was mostly a frustrating struggle to close the RTT previously.
We’ve had some pretty cold nights on our travels. I think the iKamper is actually a colder sleeping environment than a typical tent. Something about the air all around it; similar to a Westfalia tent, and how much cooler those can be when deployed. So, in order to stay warm, we have gone electric. Powered by a Jackery 1000, we each use a small 12v electric blanket to keep us warm at night. This has made such a difference in comfort, and has taken away a lot of the stress, not worrying about how cold or uncomfortable the nights could be.
We found that the dirt from the ladder was getting into the tent, and the rubber feet were staining the iKamper window. When we pack up, we wipe the ladder, and put socks on the feet. Yep, we do, and it works!
Our power needs are modest, we have two Dometic refrigerators, the bigger of the two is in the trailer; the other in the truck. When we’re in the trailer, we use the lights, stereo, and the fridge is running most of the time.
Intech Flyer Explore Trailer:
Stuff we removed:
- Rhino-Rack Bat Wing awning, we found it so cumbersome to deploy and take down, we didn’t use it. It’s not something you can leave up overnight, unless you know you’re in a place that is protected from the wind. As we removed the awning, we could also remove the cross bar racks too;
- 100lb hitch receiver, presumably for bicycles.
- Dometic air conditioning unit, we installed a second fan in that space;
- Mattress – we sleep in our iKamper RTT so we use the tip out as living space as needed;
- Note – our trailer came from factory lifted and can’t be reversed, and it has rugged off-road tires. We probably would have preferred that it wasn’t so high, which might have made it easier to use the Bat Wing awning.
Modifications and additions:
- Two 150 watt Renogy solar panels; we installed the controller in the trailer, adjacent to the stereo
- Rear view camera mounted on the trailer, which uses a wifi connection to its dedicated monitor in the cab of the pickup truck. We used the electrical from the rear exterior LED light to power the camera
- Replaced the stock speakers with better quality marine speakers from Costco
- Storage mesh net to enclose the counter space of the trailer, a slip proof under mat to keep items secure when travelling
- Goal zero 100 watt monochrystalline solar panel to power a small Dometic fridge, which sits in the truck.
- One other modification, was to the pull-out kitchen. We really found it less than ideal, so, we removed the stove and fuel regulator. Not to go into too much detail, but we eat very simply, and don’t cook a lot when camping. The stove was a pain, and very high, with the whole rig having the off road package. In its place is a sink and a lot more storage underneath.
Securing Motorbikes:
This has been a challenge, but we have come up with a solution that keeps the bikes secure. We installed wheel chocks that secure the front wheels of the motorbikes, but with cam straps and velcro straps securing the chocks, they still released the front wheel during travel. We have added one more strap that secures the tire to the chock and it has worked perfectly this trip.
Comfort enhancement:
- Bug net across the ramp opening, bought on Amazon, and modified to fit the opening; use adhesive velcro to attach
- Jacks to support the ramp as deck for seating
- Interior LED coloured lights
- Plug in ceramic heater, and Mr. Buddy propane heater for times when it’s very cold, or when we don’t have shore power.
- Portable toilet
We just returned from California, we were camping in Death Valley, and the Eastern Sierra’s. We have found that this set up allowed us to be in a “steady state” for power use and recollection. On board, we also have two Dometic refrigerators, one in the trailer and another in the truck. Both are being managed by the solar panels without any power loss at the end of each day. We don’t expect this to work in a heavily forested area, but it worked really well, as intended.
Here are some random pics, of the above modifications. We’ll add to them over time.
fajersson.org 