December 15, 2021. It's been three months since the last rig review, and in that time I've put another 10,000 miles on the Tacoma. With a nearly catastrophic failure, as well as a few great successes, it's time to dive into the good and the bad from the last several…
5 CommentsTag: kitchen
TL;DR - we're always looking for ways to speed up meal time. Storing spoons, bowls, cereal, and paper towels separate from the rest of the kitchen stuff - and within easy reach - makes breakfast a snap. In order to maximize exploration and relaxation, we're always looking to streamline meal…
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TL;DR - I love this simple modification and it's made cooking with the propane stove much more enjoyable. Over a year ago now, I made my Genius Camp Stove Tube Extension. I've used it for more than 100 nights of camping at this point, in temperatures ranging from 18- to 105°F.…
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October 12, 2020. There's no doubt about it, the truck worked pretty well on the Clear, Colorful, Colorado trip for the entirety of the two weeks. Heck, it even got me there and back on the highway - two 20+ hour drives straight, with a bunch of dirt thrown in-between.…
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For a couple years now, I've been using a Coleman Camp Grill/Stove. While the stove isn't perfect, I don't consider its drawbacks to be that big a deal, and as far as camp stoves go, I think its one of the better values out there. In fact - both of my…
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May 24, 2020. Our last two trips have both been to the Owyhee area of southeastern Oregon and western Idaho - Into the Owyhee Uplands and Owyhee Redux. The truck performed well on each trip, but as always there are little tweaks I want to make to the setup, so…
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TL;DR - I threw away the leaky bottle and got a few used bottles to fill and use on future trips. I hate the idea of throwing things away after a single use. So, if you have a need for propane, I recommend filling bottles yourself - from your own…
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March 17, 2020 Back from the eastern Mojave, it's time for another look at how the truck performed over the course of the last 5 day's adventures. If you haven't read those - and want to - go right ahead, I'll wait. Removed from previous Rig Reviews The…
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TL;DR - It's time to get a new 1lb propane bottle; the current one has a slow leak through the valve. I've been using the same 1lb propane bottle for something like 15 years. For the first 12 of those, I used it in my shop for my propane torch…
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It's not natural. It's uncomfortable. It's hard. And, I know it's the right thing to do - I want to find a way to cut some weight off of the Tacoma. When I purchased the truck, Toyota listed the curb weight of a 4WD SR5 V6 Xtracab at something right…
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TL;DR - Take one for dinner! We generally do pretty well eating on our trips. This time, we tried something we've not done before - we purchased a rotisserie chicken and removed all the meat prior to the trip. One night for dinner, we simply dumped all the flavorful goodness…
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TL;DR - I found solutions for both the wind screens and keeping the bottom of the grill clean of drippings. I really like this stove now. I added the Coleman Camp Stove/Grill back on the F.U.Rain trip. As I noted, I liked it for the most part, but the securing mechanisms for…
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Rig Review is a new type of post that I'm going to try to write up after most trips, where I'll note any things that worked really well, or could have been better. The idea has always been to optimize the Tacoma build and setup over time, so there's nothing…
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These are some new containers that I got on a recommendation from Monte @Blackdawg, because they fit well in the bed of a first gen Tacoma. I've got to say, so far I'm impressed. They are relatively light (for their size), waterproof, and durable. Oh, and they fit really well…
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I like this new Coleman Camp Stove/Grill. Seems to have the benefits of a smaller camp stove from a packing and propane usage perspective, while retaining the ability to grill (for a family of 3-4). Definitely better than the previous setup. Two non-ideal things that I'll need to fix over…
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Rig Review is a new type of post that I'm going to try to write up after most trips, where I'll note any things that worked really well, or could have been better. The idea has always been to optimize the Tacoma build and setup over time, so there's nothing…
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TL;DR - There are pros and cons to this new system, but it's not quite right for me so I'm changing it all up again. The Coleman Classic Camp Stove and Lodge Cast Iron Grill/Griddle were new to me on The Re-Tour, replacing the Weber Q100 grill that we've used for…
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TL;DR - conceptually the fold-down-and-out table is cool but I need to rework how the far corner is supported for it to be useful. Oh, and it can't have any wooden components, since they swell up in wet weather. It was just before The Re-Tour that I fabricated the fold-down-and-out…
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