Liking my Lightning... camping?

[woodsman]

My truck is hibernating, ain't gonna drive it in this winter slop. I am excited about this summer, my truck tent just showed up. Looking forward to seeing National Parks. Have been looking at camping accessories, Jetboil is one. Any suggestions are welcome. Plan on camping at Indy for the Mecum sale. Glacier Park is high on the list, Brainard Dragstrip. I miss driving my Lightning, getting in the old Expedition, letting it warm up for ten minutes, Listening to the exhaust manifolds leak, changing oil out in the snow... 50 bucks oil and filter. I love the picture of the guy camping in the snow. Haven't been camping since the kids were little, but they they still talk about it. Something about camping memories, ran into a childhood friend the other day, we talk for a while, as I walked away he said when we going camping? Huh, that was 60 years ago.
Might be good advertising... show the Lightning out in the woods.

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[potato]

Pro Power kind of changes the game, assuming you're talking about "car camping" where you camp next to where the truck is parked, as opposed to backpacking. When you're thinking about camping accessories, you can leapfrog RV accessories and go straight to normal household plug-in things. Toasters, coffee makers, air fryer, whatever your heart desires lol. Space heater for your tent.

At a minimum, I'd recommend a compressor-based cooler/freezer so you can bring ice cream.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Piece-by-piece we're moving our camping equipment to all-electric, powered by the truck and/or our accessory battery. The last thing we'll transition is the propane fire pit. Haven't found a good solution for that yet.

 

[MidAtlanticLightningClub]

My truck is hibernating, ain't gonna drive it in this winter slop. I am excited about this summer, my truck tent just showed up. Looking forward to seeing National Parks. Have been looking at camping accessories, Jetboil is one. Any suggestions are welcome. Plan on camping at Indy for the Mecum sale. Glacier Park is high on the list, Brainard Dragstrip. I miss driving my Lightning, getting in the old Expedition, letting it warm up for ten minutes, Listening to the exhaust manifolds leak, changing oil out in the snow... 50 bucks oil and filter. I love the picture of the guy camping in the snow. Haven't been camping since the kids were little, but they they still talk about it. Something about camping memories, ran into a childhood friend the other day, we talk for a while, as I walked away he said when we going camping? Huh, that was 60 years ago.
Might be good advertising... show the Lightning out in the woods.

Why a jet boil when you can have an induction cook top in the trunk?

 

[21st Century Truck]

We love taking this truck camping... it pulls our 1,500 pound, Colorado-made TimberLeaf Pika teardrop camper perfectly

On state park RV sites, the truck is pretty much re-fueled by the time we have cooked breakfast, showered, and walked the dog.

The boys and I store our back packs and swimming gear in the frunk... it is the perfect height for 10-year old campers to drop their packs.

 

[Maineiac12]

I normally camp with a trailer because my wife loves AC but the lightning is great with pro power. If I want to tent camp, I can do so with creature comforts or I can roll into a full campground and use one of the non-electric sites and run everything off the 30A in the bed. It’s awesome!

 

[biers]

I second the compressor cooler/fridge. Either get one small enough to fit in the frunk or a big boy dual zone for the back seat or bed.

I highly recommend getting a 300-500wh battery bank or “solar generator”. It can keep the cooler going all night. Pro Power will zap 1-2kWh overnight in overhead. Get one that recharges in an hour - not the cheap ones that take all day.

 

[21st Century Truck]

There was an air fryer / frunk thread around here in the past two weeks... I'm thinking on getting an air fryer for camping after reading it. Can't remember the thread but I'm sure a search will pull it up.

 

[islandgirl54]

My truck is hibernating, ain't gonna drive it in this winter slop. I am excited about this summer, my truck tent just showed up. Looking forward to seeing National Parks. Have been looking at camping accessories, Jetboil is one. Any suggestions are welcome. Plan on camping at Indy for the Mecum sale. Glacier Park is high on the list, Brainard Dragstrip. I miss driving my Lightning, getting in the old Expedition, letting it warm up for ten minutes, Listening to the exhaust manifolds leak, changing oil out in the snow... 50 bucks oil and filter. I love the picture of the guy camping in the snow. Haven't been camping since the kids were little, but they they still talk about it. Something about camping memories, ran into a childhood friend the other day, we talk for a while, as I walked away he said when we going camping? Huh, that was 60 years ago.
Might be good advertising... show the Lightning out in the woods.

I go camping in my Lightning and have the Napier truck tent! Love it!! (BC, Canada)??

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

We have a dual zone ICECO 60L compressor fridge. It's just too large to fit in the frunk or rear seat, so it stays in the bed. We also bring a 5 kWh power station. This is not just for the fridge and other electrical accessories, but we can also drain it into the truck if we need 15 miles or so. And we will be adding an 800 watt solar system to our camping gear for this spring/summer camping. Will get us a few tens of miles extra range if we need it.

 

[vvgogh]

I installed a SmartCap and a little side-shelf on one side with 2020 T slotted black aluminum channel. There's four shelf sections cab to tailgate to keep everything off the floor. You can open the side gullwing door for cooking access:
1. Accessory battery charged from roof solar
2. $180 Ninja Flip Air Fryer (and oven, toaster)
3. $120 Tramotina Induction Cooktop (its flat surface is usable shelf space when not cooking)
4. empty shelf section for food prep

Underneath that shelf
5. $190 Phantom 30L 12V Electric cooler

All of the above valued items were purchased at Costco: infinite return policy.

 

[LightItUp008]

I installed a SmartCap and a little side-shelf on one side with 2020 T slotted black aluminum channel. There's four shelf sections cab to tailgate to keep everything off the floor. You can open the side gullwing door for cooking access:
1. Accessory battery charged from roof solar
2. $180 Ninja Flip Air Fryer (and oven, toaster)
3. $120 Tramotina Induction Cooktop (its flat surface is usable shelf space when not cooking)
4. empty shelf section for food prep

Underneath that shelf
5. $190 Phantom 30L 12V Electric cooler

All of the above valued items were purchased at Costco: infinite return policy.

Got a picture of your smartcap setup with what you described above? I am about to get a smartcap and would love to look at your setup.

 

[vvgogh]

Got a picture of your smartcap setup with what you described above?

Left Shelf built out of 2020 T Slot aluminum ($140 for 10x 1.5m)
1. $178 Ecoflow River 2
2. $180 Ninja Flip Air Fryer (and oven, toaster)
3. $120 Tramotina Induction Cooktop (its flat surface is usable shelf space when not cooking)
4. $20 Electric kettle

Right Rail
5. $20 Recycle Bin
6. $26 Trash bin

Underneath left shelf
7. $190 Phantom 30L 12V Electric cooler
8. $1,600 Ecoflow Delta Pro 3.6 kWh (+$9 ground neutral bonding plug to use Ford EVSE to charge off roof solar)
9. $9 ea Dual 6' 12 ga extension with triple lighted outlets velcroed to smartcap clamps
10. Reliance 26.5L water jug, bungeed to secure off-road

Top:
11. Cargo net for lightweight camping gear (exped inflatable matt, tent, pillows, sleeping bags)
11a $15 ea Dual 120W AC Heated blanket (+25' extension cord in underfrunk for glamping)
12. Paper towels on bungee with rubber band to prevent unspooling
13 Cones to mark discrete dispersed camping sites
14. $100 Magnetic 2000 Lumen spotlight, usb-c charged
15. Camera Tripod held tight to ceiling with $9 pair of 1" x 8 ft lashing strap lashed to 2020 T slot in ceiling

Roof
16. $200 250W Newpowa solar panel attached with half height unistrut ($35/10')

I've since replaced the left/right SmartCap struts with shorter 14" length ($17/pair) so I can upgrade solar closer to 1 kW overhanging left/right while still clearing the gullwing doors.

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