There are pros and cons of a dysfunctional, near psychosis OCD. So, these dozen 8020 aluminum extrusions took ~40 hours to build out the interior organizational structure.
As other builders of the 8020 systems have noted, “it’s taken apart, put back together”. Forgot a needed nut/bolt and one quickly finds the disassembly process occurring, yet again. The frame travels along the canopy shell with a smaller diameter material. This would catch me at the end with a new problem that will need fixed.
The lift made easy work under the canopy. In exchange for long term shop access at a friend's place, I’m faithful about keeping regularly used items stocked (gloves, towels, water, beer, etc), along with taking care of the garbage and keeping the shop “garage clean”. I try to add something of value after each use as well; fixing leaking air fittings, organizing tool boxes, etc. Years ago, I ate the last ice cream bar in the freezer at work (ice cream is a known shared commodity) and a Native American friend was mad as a hornet. I told him he had the “I hate the white man eyes” on me... He made it clear that I was a “taker”. So, I brought in a box and put his name on it and made sure he reclassified me as a “giver”. I really appreciate the use of this work space!
The canopy doors are set up on the trucks lock system, which makes it convenient to push the keyfob and have 8 doors locked. However, the wiring was bundled and not clean. So, after the 8020 material started to take shape, I cut the zip ties and started figuring out the wiring runs. I think I added a mile or so of wire. “Anything worth doing is worth overdoing….”
Driver side shelf unit (no passenger side). I’ve been debating about how/where to store the Ryobi batteries. The overall collision of conflicting goals: organization, function, efficiency, and reasonable cost all trying to find a place in my mind.
Not pretty yet, but starting to come together. The upper shelf runs 360 degrees about ten inches below the ceiling, and around 6” wide. This is designed to store the storage boxes. OCD side.
Up top you can see the box organizers, which hold the boxes to organize the boxes. Completely ridiculous. Watch me turn the truck into an Excel spreadsheet! They are small size plastic ammo cans that actually sit upright, just resting in the picture. The lip on the bottom of the box should keep everything in place, and a bungee was added to each storage area to provide redundancy.
To the right is the junction area for the wiring, and is where the Goal Zero (G0) will sit.
I’m making the wiring plan way too complicated, but from a functional standpoint I want simplicity when out travelling. An incoming shore power port is set up in this same corner, which travels to an automatic switch (shore/inventor). The shore power lands in a junction box, with the G0 110v charger connected to shore power. The only time the 110v G0 charger will turn on is when I’m connected to shore power (automatically, but the chargers on/off switch is easy to access).
Aslo, coming in from the outside is a port for the solar. I anticipate 200w of panels mounted to the rooftop tent. The third charging system will be off the alternator. There will be a CLA port that connects to the truck battery and will provide ____w while the truck is running. All of these systems are tucked away in the bottom corner below the G0. It’s modular enough to quickly disconnect and move the G0 and chargers to another location/vehicle.
There are four systems that I wanted to isolate from the G0 inverter, and primarily use 110v when connected to shore power. The fridge in the cab, ryobi batteries, future drawer slide fridge in the canopy, and potential/future engine heating systems (oil pan, block, battery) for cold weather environments. These items route to 110v switches which I can turn on/off depending on power source needs. The goal being for the G0 to power needed items off its battery source, not the inventor.
I have several layers of security for when the truck is parked short/long term and we are away. I’ve had a truck stolen before, along with all of my work tools while building our house. That was a painful experience that took an inordinate amount of time to replace items, in the middle of a compressed time project. Hopefully, I can help avoid that by providing disensitives to the inviting target. Leaving a backpack in the backseat invites trouble. Goal Zero, 12v fridge, etc feels like silver flashing. Nothing of value will be “snatch and go”, including the truck.
Upper shelf 90% complete. I forgot to account for the rear door locking mechanism. Build, modify, maintain, fix, repair, upgrade and the cycle continues.
