Nissan Frontier Truck Bed Off-Road Trailer - The "Frontrailer"

[Nd4SpdSe]

Come middle of August, this is when the weather took a huge change and we got a few weeks of an actual heat wave that lasted into the beginning of September. During this time, we got a call from the wife of the Rona that sponsors our haunted house saying that they had a bunch of material that was going to get thrown out and that we could come and get it, so we did. I took the 16ft trailer, and her friends boyfriend took his little one. It was a HEAVY load but we didn't have to go far. I wasn't concerned for the truck, but for the trailer. We actually had to load the front and the rear of the trailer at the exact same time to balance it out. Actually, just the front load on the trailer was going to completely bottom out my rear suspension, but we did stop him before getting to that point. Remember that I've done 2000lbs of cement bags in the trunk with little issue last year. With the center of the trailer loaded, the tires didn't seem to like that too much either. My truck's brakes weren't feeling too healthy at this point, so we took it easy driving it back. I kept it under 40km/h cause it felt like it wanted to sway above that anyway.

We got a call about a week later from the owner of Rona, basically accusing us of thief. Our friend told him to talk to his wife about it. In a subsequent call, not only did he never apologize, but also said he wanted it back for Monday morning and abruptly hung up. Unfortunately all the weight on the trailer, cause they never had a chance to unload it, caused it to flex and made the trailer undrivable. He and some employees ended up coming by with a forklift to get it. For what we were told, after he loaded the first batch, he said it was garbage and should of just left it with us. He did end up leaving a small batch of wood, but did never apologized. We were getting stressed by this point cause it's been several weeks since he's been pushing back the meeting to talk about the sponsoring the event again. They normally give us wood to for the major constructions, and we're usually building stuff come August and September. Come the first week of October, our friend gets fed up with the running around and goes to see him directly. He says the business hasn't been doing well since January and that we weren't a priority to him, he basically didn't care. Its one thing if you can't, it's another to lead us on and put us on a spot and in a position there it hurts our constructions and where it's deliberately too late to find someone else> Sadly it was true because we did try, but we do have Home Depot who's really serious about backing us, and told us to see them come January when their budget gets released, and said they'll give us a good spot.

At this point, the work on the girlfriend's car is going well, but overlapping with the haunted house. The drivers side took long because of all the learning and mistakes and corrections I had to do, but at least was on the side that needed the most work. I did get almost all of it done, but left with just two spots to finish up; attempt #3 on the crack on the front bumper (finally found a product that worked) and the spot on the rear passenger fender.

Over the course of the summer, I found the Martin hot water heater was having a hard time, starting to leak internally, and was getting worse and worse. I'm not sure if it was age, another break that happened with the water pump, or the new pump is putting off too much pressure for the unit. So this would be my excuse to get an Eccotemp L5 heater. As opposed to putting it in a Pelican case, but my plans would involve making some holes to give it a permanent installation, so I used a Canadian Tire knock off for the time being. I'd rather mess up a cheap knock off then a real Pelican case until I confirm how the install will be.

The hot water heater was setup just in time to be used for the (Canadian) Thanksgiving weekend for the first major construction weekend for the haunted house. As we usually do, we setup the awning and the kitchen, but also setup the annex as a shower, freeing up room in the awning. We didn't setup the awning sides at Mont Radar, and what I liked going this way was the fact that having the shower separate as opposed to being a section under the awning, was we didn't have the extra humidity and condensation created from showering in the same space. We also another cool weekend, we used the Webasto to heat inside the awning space while we cooked and ate. While it didn't make it comfortable, it did make a noticeable difference.

And with typical fashion, making trips with pallets, and the front section of a Westfalia, all for the

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

And as well this year, I was able to get a week off for going volunteer work and spend 8 days living on site. It would of been 9, but my girlfriend had came up after work and had the Friday off, so I went back with her to come back the next day. I was kind of happy since my nice new Eccotemp L5 also decided to leak internally, so I was able to take a shower. Mind you, I did wash up boiling water on the camping stove on the second day, but I was pissed. I had a rough day of construction, spend time outside getting dirty, had jumped in the shower, powered it on, and had nothing coming out of the shower head. I was troubleshooting that in a towel outside in the cold. I had found some baby wipes in my shower kit, but still, not the day for that to happen. What may of happened, but I hope not, if that overnight, it dipped down to -3 or -4*C. Maybe the water froze, but I had followed the instructions for Eccotemps "Extreme Cold" use. Being Canadian, -4 is far from being extreme cold. During the rest of the week, I did see -6, and the Webasto heater did just fine. At these temps, I think the issue starts to become the cold floor at the bottom of the tent. While inside the tent was nice, I was both warm and had chills, which I think was the cold floor seeping through the mattress and into my body, but I was fine come morning which I would like to attribute to the heater doing it's job all night and the floor eventually warming up. I don't know if an anti-condensation mat would help, but may be something to try. They were calling for a -12 the one night, but it was ironically the night I slept at home.

The first night we opened, I had slept there the night before and with the rush of opening, I didn't bother to spend time to pack up. I had planned on it, but was asked to do some last minute work in some other scenes, so I forwent that, but closed down the front, knowing we wouldn't be sleeping there tonight. Unfortunately, the weather got bad, going to windy and rain, to windy with sleet, to windy with wet snow. We closed up early for the guests and we went back home. I figured it would be best to leave the tent open and hoping when we come back it'll be clear and dry to pack up

But the next day, the Sunday, it wasn't, so I left her as it, and my fingers crossed she's be ok for the new few days.

For those days, I spend some time at work, working on making the Neopixel prosthesis for my girlfriend's character for her scene. I was my first time working with Neopixels, and made up a quick phototype with 3.5mm and 5mm pixels on a flexible board. I'm not an Arduino or programming expert, but it was something small to start with. I wanted to do this sometime over the summer, but it got pushed back just a tad.

Speaking of no time. It was time to put the Rx-8 away for the winter. My CAA membership renewed on the 15th of November. Sadly, my Rx-8 had broken down on her first real outting of the season, and I had ZERO time to work on her. I didn't even have the time to properly diagnose the problem. The "Engine" fuse blows when I turn the key to ON. What I think/have been told/hoping is that it's a coil pack issue, but I guess I'll check it out in 2019. It sucks, it would of been a perfect summer to of driven her instead of the truck all this time, but life doesn't always go your way. I didn't really enjoy her last year either, but I'll get there, just gotta get through the tough times.

Oh, but wait, there's more! In my typical style, things aren't that simple...they never are. She gets stored less then two hours away, so we followed in the Mazda2 to help unload her and pay the storage. We dropped off the car, rolled her into her hibernation spot and all goes well there. When the tow truck pull out, he doesn't know or see the limit of the driveway, goes wide, and went off the paved driveway and into the grass. He apparently did well, until the rear tires got in and stuck.

After failed attempted to push himself out, the tow truck driver had to call for a tow.

And the week after, December decided to come early and we got dumped on, and we've constantly been getting snow and some serious cold. Temperatures we shouldn't see until January.

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

At this point, this is where all this starts to take it's toll on me. I knew the Xterra needed brakes soon, I could see the performance dropping, and eventually the brake light comes up, figuring I'm low on fluid from the worn pads. With that, I ordered some brakes. In the local Nissan club, someone had shared a link to a set of Max Brakes. Made in Ontario, their top of the line Elite slotted and drilled brakes and ceramic pads were C$130. Not bad, worth a try. I ordered them and they arrived the end of September. I kept driving, having no real time to take care of it. It got to the point where I was braking better towing the trailer. Come the first week of November, it was my turn to be on duty for the base HQ. This is 12 hours shift for 7 days, including the weekend, but this time I was on the night shift, from 6pm to 6am. During this time, they were franticly tearing down the haunted house since the tent was being taken down on the Monday after. I couldn't be there, not working 12 hour days, but I was only one of two trucks that could tow their trailer and move stuff. I tried to nap in the middle of the night to keep from messing up my internal clock, and to try to be more productive during the day by between the hours when the cleaners weren't coming to get and drop off keys. It worked, but as the week went by, the office chairs were getting less comfortable. I could get 2-4 hours of sleep, and it helped pass the time along much faster, but I'm losing track of the day of the week. Unfortunately by mid week I had an issue. I was leaving from my shift in the morning and went to brake at a busy intersection. The light turned yellow and my foot went the floor. I had very little brakes. I downshifted and ended up in the middle of the intersection, fortunately with good timing that traffic wasn't moving yet, but it was busy being the start of the morning commute. I called my aunt and uncle and ask for help. I needed to use their garage to do the brakes. I couldn't do this out in the cold and in the snow in a rush. They gladly offered and I drove it all so slowly and carefully with the little brakes I had left. We pulled in the truck and my uncle wanted to add in brake fluid first. I didn't see the point, but when doing this, and pumping the brake, it just kept on taking more and more fluid. This is when we realised that my rear passenger side brake slave cylinder was leaking. We pull the rear brakes apart and prepped both sides for new cylinders which would arrive at the parts shop the next morning at 8am. We also remove the front brakes, having the time to do it, and would save us time tomorrow. As you can imagine, the brakes were getting down to the metal. Also the driver side caliper bracket was badly worn; the holes oblong and the pins shot. I couldn't find any in stock, no wreckers had anything, so I would put it back together for the meantime and order a new kit from RockAuto. My uncle drops me off at work, my girlfriend picks me up before she heads into work, and my uncle wakes me up with a call at noon to pick me back up and get the truck fixed.

The weekend comes and at the haunted house, the stress is kicking in. I do what I can, cut back on sleep and go up and help both Saturday and Sunday, spending about an hour and a half, 2 hours tops, each day to make progress. I take care of the more detailed stuff like the electrical that I wanted to salvage and save. I got a friend to come by to help, which was a big help. It was the best I could do. Fortunately there wasn't any accidents on my way back home to get ready to work, otherwise I would of easily been late with how close I cut it.

Monday rolls around. I had Monday off from the Remembrance (Veterans) D, and Tuesday off as a day to compensate for the lost weekend. Monday we took the truck to make a trip of pallets to the mother-in-laws barn and unload the Xterrra (old Frontiers) street tires to her place for the winter, along with a few more things. I'm in the left lane and I get a "bang" and the rear end shook. All felt fine, but that wasn't normal and I pull over gently but immediately and take the shoulder on the first off-ramp to clear as much of the highway's main traffic. I find the truck is rolling when stopped in gear, so I have to put it in 4x4 to lock the front since my parking brake doesn't work (was on the list for this year, need a new line). I look around, no flat, I look at the driveshaft and transmission, all seems good. I end up looking again at the rear tires and this is where I noticed the problem. I see that the rear drivers side wheel had come off and the rim was rolling on the drum. The drum itself was off, holding on to what I don't know if it was on just a few millimetres of the studs left before completely dislodging. A taxi drove by and honked for what reason I don't know. The ramp's lane is a good lane and a half wide, and I was well into the shoulder. So I went to light my flare, but it snapped in half and the ignitor didn't work, but I remembered I have my directional light bar, and it would be the perfect time to use this to make sure we don't get hit or hurt. The bar is a grey area legally, depending on it's use, but it's dark and my safety at risk, I think it's completely valid and called for. With all my tools unloaded to bring stuff, I had nothing to fix this. We get in touch with the sister-in-law and she eventually comes. She picked me up, brings me home and I grab my torque wrench, breaker bar and 6 lugs from the Frontrailer. Nothing was damaged, at all, so I put the lugs on, torqued them down, and we went on our merry way, but we lost a lot of the planned time for the evening, and just ended up moving stuff from the site to the storage unit and didn't go to the mother-in-laws. I would attribute this to the lug nuts improperly torqued town and the huge shock in temperature change. I just found it odd. I've had them come lose before, but you know and feel the vibration as it loosens. Never a pop.

Tuesday wouldn't be a bad day, but a long one. My buddy Tommy wanted me to use my CAA to tow his Xterra for winter storage. He stores is at the exact the same spot at me (it's his friend's uncle actually), and my CAA expires on the 15th, and we're now the 13th, so this can't wait for the weekend. After going to bed late, I get up early. He wanted to start his day at around 10 since he finished work at midnight. I went to bed around that time as well. Before I started the day, I wanted to make a tool to attach to the winch to pull the pallets out at the site of haunted house. There's about a dozen on the ground we used for people to walk on, that are not frozen and covered in snow. I figured this would be MUCH easier then to shovel and pull them out by hand. I get up around 8, fire up the welder and make what I could with what I had. It's not fancy, but it'll work. Threw it in the snow to cool down and left.

My buddy called as I was getting into his truck and arrived at my buddy's place for 10. I called CAA upon arrival. He also had a yellow Xterra, but a 2002, but I still made the call for a 2003 yellow Xterra in case they question or record it. They showed up in around 2 hours, which was reasonable considering we got hammered with a snow storm that morning. I was planning on showing up to the site for the haunted house to help doing the final clearing of the site, so we dropped the Xterra at the nearest exit along the day and headed along ahead of the tow truck. We waited for a bit, but was easier since the truck ran (but couldn't safely do the 160km drive) and the tow truck didn't get stuck this time. We left and my buddy dropped me off at my truck around 4pm, technically late for work since he starts at 4, but didn't seemed to be stressed about it.

I head directly to the site and start pulling pallets. Not efficient as one, but was easy. The girlfriend texts to see if it's worth stopping by, and either she comes directly from work, or goes home and changes, which would add an extra 1.5 hours on top of that. I say to come, she can have the fun part to drive the truck, since she can now drive manual, while I hook her up. That goes really well as two, and her friend shows up. We work much more then planned and made 3 trips, one to unload stuff at the storage unit, and the other to put the left over pallets in the industrial section. The last load of pallets would be kept on the trailer to eventually unload them at the mother-in-laws barn. The temperature got colder as we worked, going from +2 to -8*C and the freezing rain turned into snow by the time we finished. We finish it was 1am, I hit bed at around 2, and get my alarm for work 6:30, the latest I could.

Wednesday was tough, I was done. If I ever had or was the closest to experiencing a burn-out. I turned off the alarm to skip the morning PT managed to get out of bed and to work for 9. I walk in, I'm done already. The Sgt asks if I'm ok. I pretty much break down. She's an awesome Sgt, told me that I should of called in sick and she sends me home. I hate calling in sick after a weekend or especially after a few days off; to me it always seems sketchy to do so. I passed out and slept most of the afternoon.

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

From there, November thought itself to be January and not only did we get constantly get dumped by snow, but temperatures dropped to January-like temps, averaging -15*C and even down to -18*C. My garage having no insulation and only one of those 4000w heaters, I had to wait it out. Eventually the temps rose back to seasonable and I went to finish the final prep of the garage and the car. The weekend coming up, they were not only calling for temps hovering around 0*C, but also overnight as well. The nights leading up it was still dropping down to -10*C. They wanted to start construction for the Christmas parade float for the haunted house. I said that Saturday that painting the car was a priority. They had a few hands for Saturday, but ended up pushing it back to Sunday, and on Sunday it got cancelled before we got to step out of the door. I slept in since I went to bed after midnight painting the car and had no intention of burning myself out again. The reason they cancelled? Because where was not only no one else going to be there for the construction, but they had no idea, and was hoping/expecting for me and my girlfriend to come up with that idea. We had a few, but nothing really inspiring and that got approved. I wasn't stressing over it to be honest. At this point, you can bet my give-a-******** meter was at 0 and I was slowly recovering my drive and energy.

Once the car was painted, I kept the heat on for a few nights to try to keep it around the 15*C the paint wanted to be at to cure, and the rest of the time I just used the halogen lights for heat (which made a good difference) while she sat in the garage while I slowly put her back together and get extra dry time before going back outside.

The painting went so-so, and I'm not pleased. I know it's my first time painting with a gun and compressor, I wasn't expecting to do such a bad job. Maybe it's my settings, maybe it's the cheap Rok gun, maybe it's all me and bad distance and technique. It also for what ever reason decide to throw up on the last coat on the rear drivers corner. The only way to learn is by trying, and I will be practicing my wet sanding and polishing techniques come spring I'll tell you that, but at least it'll go through winter and it'll get cleaned up after taking a beating from the sand a salt. The frustrating part is that no one will notice all the repairs and just see the less then stellar paint job, but the good part is that the repairs are done, and despite now it looks, it's repaired and protected. Worse comes to worse, I'll get more practice and it'll get a re-spray, and if all goes well, despite that it's a one stage paint and doesn't need it, I'll give it a clear coat. The car will roll debadged in the meantime.

As for the trailer, she sits in my driveway covered in snow and missing 4 lug nuts on one side. I needs to throw in a few items in the trailer before closing her up for the next little bit, but I also want to see about exchanging battery #1 since it seems to have a hard time taking a charge, and that's the battery that the actuators use. I removed some snow from her on the weekend, but that's the best I got to at the moment. I had to clear the mounds of snow from the driveway with an axe. Because of the lack of time and the early winter, I couldn't properly clear the driveway, so there was a step where the cars couldn't get in (after the city passed with their grate equipment), and the truck had a good mound that needed 4x4 to get in on her side. Winter is already being a ********** this year. After getting the car oil sprayed and detailed by a friend, I'm back in the Mazda2. While I already miss the truck, and feel less manly, the wallet isn't complaining.

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

Oh, wow. it's been a while, but it's been an uneventful year for the truck and trailer, sadly.

Leaving off from December and the crazy months that lead up to it, I was having a hard time regaining my energy, even during my Christmas vacation. During a conversation with my parents, my girlfriend chimed in that she noticed that I don't breath sometimes when I sleep; oh wonderful. Back to Quebec, I went in to see a doctor ASAP and got an appointment to get that checked out and they booked me to see a sleep apnea specialist. A few weeks later I went in to get tested and spent the night. I was expecting to sleep with no problems, but I felt that I had a horrible night. I talked to the technical and she said I did indeed sleep most of the night. Few weeks later with the follow up on my results, the doctor was talking to me like I was inventing a problem and said I was a 28, but I had no idea what that number was or meant. With no clue, I didn`t even think to look it up. My condition was deteriorating slowly over time., with less and less energy, skipping my morning training to sleep and even going to visit my parents over March break, I would sleep a good 10 hours and even take a nap during the day. I was getting anxious to see what sleeping with this stupid machine would do. I spend some time installing a Kenwood Android Auto head unit, heated seats and a dash cam into the Mazda2. Heading back to Quebec I ended up driving through a hell of a winter storm, saw a good 2 dozen accidents and vehicles in the ditch. With the freshly new studded winter tires installed in December, I had a blast on that drive! I was glad I was alone, cause I`m sure the girlfriend would not of approved. Come April, I finally got my sleep apnea machine and talking to the nurse if when I realized that 28 was borderline severe at 30. It took a few weeks to get used to it, but it felt immediately good and after a few months I feel like I`m back to my old self. I hate the idea of needing to sleep with a machine, but it’s so well worth it! Just to note for those that are wondering, I don`t have a 12v adapter for the machine yet. It`s planned, but I haven`t done enough camping to make it worthwhile yet.

Spring rolling around and with my renewed energy, it was time for some work on the house. Even the Rx-8 stayed store aware this summer. We’ve been getting some water in the basement in the spring thaw+rain since we got the house. We could probably go back to the people we bought it from since they claimed there was no water coming into the basement and would explain now why there was a dehumidifier in that corner, but it’s probably not at all worth it. I got a few estimates on putting a waterproof membrane on the outer walls of our block foundation. With the advice of the mother-in-laws boyfriend, we decided to embark on that project ourselves to save some money. Before we broke the ground, I wanted to get the garden boxes done and in use. I finished the top for one but ran out of time for the second. So with that, we planted some taller growing plants. With that, I’ve been working on making up an Arduino automatic watering system. I work on it in my indoor time here and there and coming along well.

Back to the house, well the digging in is when we found we had no weeping tile, which would really explain the problem in conjunction with water coming in some used up mortar on the blocks sitting on the footing, probably from the water. We added the membrane, made up a weeping tile system on about the 1/3 of the house (the rest will get done over the years), added some exterior insulation to the foundation walls and filled it back in. Cost us less than half of the estimate to get it done, and they didn’t have the inclusion the creation of the French drainage system nor the added insulation. Damn good idea to save money in case we had any surprises and was able to get the house some extra TLC . It’s just that the front yard looks like hell.

We did take a break and went on one of those year Mazda test drive events. I still love those cars. I love the Miata and loved to get a CX5 to replace the girlfriends aging Avenger. The 2.5T Mazda6 is a torque monster, but the new 3 feels smaller and tighter comparing to my parents 2014.

We finally we were to get out camping for a few days last week. The girlfriend`s best friend`s boyfriend invited us to join them for a few days at a cottage of one of his family members. Leading up to that, the truck got some much needed TLC. An overdue oil change (but was barely been driven), new O2 sensors (one was a being a @#$#% and needed to went a new nut on it to remove it), new alternator tensioner and replaced the front bumper with one I got to replace it and had been hanging around for about a year and a half. She also got 2 lightly used rear tires since one was badly camber worn and the other had some decent wear and camber wear as well. Trailer didn’t have much done to it other than cleaning up the RTT. Weather was decent with a mix of rain, but rained at the time that it didn’t really bother us. Nights were cool; we slept with the windows mostly open but also ran the heater. Was the perfect combo. The Webasto didn`t want to run on the first go, but turning it off and on again did the trick. Flashed several times for an error code of some sort, but I’m assuming that it needed just an extra bit of priming since it’s been a while.

After two night they had to go, and this so did we. We stopped over at the mother-in-law’s which wasn’t at all far and chilled there for the afternoon. I decided to some work and retransfer the battery charger from the truck to the trailer. I took it out this past winter to help keep the batteries topped up. One didn’t seem to want to, but it was also the case in the trailer and had put it off as either a setup or a charger issue. Taking out the charger is when I noticed a spark and discovered several cracks in the shielding on the wires doing to each battery, especially the ones with the positive and the ground just millimeters apart and probably shorting out most of the time. I shopped those up and make up some new connections, even the fuses were removed for the meantime, but really, a 15amp fuse on a 4amp output? Those will get re-fused later once I confirm the charger is working A-OK, besides, it’s only what I had on hand.

As for parts waiting to be installed, I have a sway bar and some LED lights. The L5 Eccotemp still hasn’t been fixed/replaced under warranty yet and I need to get my butt on that soon. I just recently removed it out of the cheap knock-off Canadian Tire Pelican-style case. I also recently cut my hand on some air ducting this week and required some stitches. I already feel I`m quite behind on the landscaping before winter/haunted house season arrives and this will also put me back further, but means I am forcibly working on some smaller projects that I should/need get done before winter and that my garage is unusable for major projects without turning into a human popsicle. The truck needs the rocker panels rebuild seriously but I doubt I’ll have time for that this year. The truck may park in my garage for the winter as opposed to be essentially parked in a snow bank and the trailer stored away earlier into the mother-in-law’s extra garage. Normally I camp in it during the final week of construction of the haunted house, but I’ll forgo that this year unless things change.

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

Oh man, it's really been over a year since I updated this? Time flies, well, blame COVID, really. This year flew by. Time for an update...where I have to start by finishing 2019. OK.

With the haunted house and what was organised. I decided I was going to put the trailer away early and to make sure the truck gets put in the garage to try to control the rust since I wanted to patch it up back in 2019. I didn't get the change, so it would get done ASAP in 2020. Now I was, as always, pressed for time and had to bring both the Frontrailer and the borrowed utility trailer to the mother-in-laws, which is just under an hour away. I decided I'm going this in a single trip. Yep, I'm going to double up on the trailers. While technically legal under specific rules like length and towing capacity, the only thing illegal about the setup was that the second trailer did not have trailer brakes. The Frontrailer having hydraulic brakes was more the plenty to do the job and the utility trailer empty is very light. I added some attachments for chains for the Frontrailer's hitch and made a custom wiring harness extension that would run lights on both trailer.

I can't imagine the looks, but we only stayed on the highway until we crossed the river and used Waze to get off the highway and follow the back country roads before any cops would decide to give us a hard time, and from the application there were many parked along the highway. We did without any problems and the Frontrailer would sadly be put away mid-October

Of course during that time I jumped on a great deal on a reproduction (Tepui-style) weatherhood. It actually has stayed in the box since and up until writing this, I actually forgot I had it and need to test it to see if it works.

The haunted house was a huge hit. Being inside a building was part of the reason why I didn't need the trailer. The Xterra helped light up the crowd coming in.

And this, this smoke from all the smoke machines coming out of the building.

Xmas as great, Ontario was warm. Nice to be outside in December detailing my car. Oh I miss Ontario winters. That ends 2019, and so 2020....oh 2020....

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

March break came around and that's when I decided to get the body work done on the truck. Just extend her life that little bit more. Drivetrain is still quite good but it's these Canadian winters that kills everything else with cancer. I spent a week and a half patching that, was back to work one day then the COVID-19 confinement hit.

And all this this, the trailer slept, and slept. With the restrictions imposed because of COVID, it was too far and I technically wasn't allowed to go get it. My RX-8 was much further and stated in storage all year. No point taking it out if I can't drive it anywhere. During isolating I went HAM and did about 2 years worth of house renovations in 2 months. With my luck, as I was trying to finish off what I was working on we discovered that the shower was leaking into the basement, and this while I was back to work full time, I had the extra challenge on redoing the only bathroom we have. This wasn't planned until I built a second one, but no choice, gotta get this done. Come June and travels outside of the region allowed, I made a trip to get the Frontrailer and also got some metal to build a dumping utility trailer.

Also what added itself with the deconfinement was the permission to gather into small groups for projects. During isolation I was working with the girlfriend and her friend on a Murder Mystery project and now it was time to record the video. This has eaten up almost any weekend I had and even was work we did a few evenings a week. I barely had the time to work on the bathroom as my weekends and many evenings were taken up. The trailer got worked on while I waited for the new bath to come it, but since, the utility trailer has and still untouched as I write this. I managed only go get the basic frame built with the suspension and axles mounted.

I did however get some stuff done ahead of time and sent offt a pair of Desert Runner rims powder coated. I got them back and a pair of 33" MTRs installed.

I squeezed in some time and swapped them out to finally have the trailer on 33s. This gives gives it it's final (planned) piece to lift it. I'm also happy that it finally now has matching rims and tires to the truck. Retiring my old 32s on Pathfinder rims.

I tried to get some work done to either the truck or trailer from here on it but I just never had time. Also, all the events I would of needed it for like going to ALMS @ Mosport in Ontario was cancelled. Campings were closed for a while and such as well. One event that the Nissan Truck Club in Ontario, Adventure Weekend, was still looking to be happening, but abeit a small version between friends to abide by the rules imposed, but also, with all the other off-road events that were cancelled, they were worried that it would of blown up with everyone looking for something to do. With borders closed, even camping locally was hard to do and there was many cases, especially around Gaspesie, that people were Boondocking in places that were marked not to and so many people leaving behind trash and feaces that laws came out banning overnight parking in many areas. I think my dream to do the Gaspesian Loop was just killed by ignorant, irresponsible and selfish people. With Adventure Weekend Lite coming up and not being able to do any prep work on the vehicles, I had to book the week off to get as much as I could get done.


Before hand, I managed to grind down, print and paint my old Shrockwork sliders ahead of time.

I ordered a new and proper 20lb propane tank mount from Prospecteur trailers. It retired my home made mount and also switched it sides from the side to the left side of the trailer.

With that, I picked up a fire extinguisher. Another item I had on my list as a piece of safety equipment. With all the fuel it can carry, and the heater, it's not a bad thing to have

With the propane tank swapped sides. I worked on mounting the waterproof case and install my new L5 Eccotemp hot water heater. For those that don't know or remember, back in 2018, I spent over a week living out of the trailer working on the haunted house. I was using the shower system to wash me after a hard day work, but one night it dropped down to -6*C and cracked the core on the heater. I had waited and procrastinated with ordereing a new one since. My "wait" actually paid off and they actually came on sale for a great price, so I jumped on it. This time around, I simplified the heater mounting, simplified the plumbing and made an easy-access drain on the hot side to hopefully avoid that from happening again. Holes were patched up in the case from the previous installation, with the case actually being flipped "upside-down" for this setup. The rest of the installation would get completed in Ontario.

In my week-off prep work, I changed out the compressor, dryer and lines to try to get AC fixed before the drive down. I couldn't get the truck fixed fast enough to get get an appointment; fortunately. I'll get back to this later. But the windows were down and the drive, well say it wasn't as uncomfortable as I thought it was going to be.

One thing I didn't notice when I was doing the rocker and fenders was the frame, and I did notice it once the weather got nicer, and also felt it once the 33s were on. The rear end seemed soft and it ended up being the frame was rusting and cracking around the leaf spring shackle mount. I inserted a piece of 2x2 tubing inside the frame and welded up braces on the outside of the frame. This was a good move and I'll follow up on this on the after trip post. Rear bumper got repainted, as well as the front grill and bumper. Figured a quick refresh would be good before the trip and make her photogenic for what may be her last AW.

And literally before leaving, as a literal one-day-built was to make a system to mount and pivot my new Go Xplore shower/change room. No pictures of it's construction, and it works ok. Metal is a little thick because I used what I had on hand. At least we could use it and see if it works ok and how and what kind of adjustments it needs. With that done, we're packed up ready to head down to Ontario.

We did a at my girlfriend second cousin in Montreal. We arrived there very late and missed the party but had a blast just us 4. We spend the night and headed towards Niagara the next morning.

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

In Ontario. I had time off while the girlfriend was still working. Thanks to the Corona virus, she now works from home, so she brought her stuff and we set up her a desk at my parents place while I was on vacation. I took advantage of my dads experience as a (now retired) millwright to help me out.

With the propane tank in it's final space, we ran fixed lines to the hot water heater and lines to the back of the trailer with quick disconnect hoses for the BBQ.

I also picked up a pair of jery can holders at Princess Auto. It gets rid of my overly complicated and fugly design. I did need to split latch on it and installed a hinge. While these don't have the functionality of the old one, it's better this way for now and ads some much needed storage space on the trailer.

I should also note about the 2 spare tires on the trailer. Technically I only carry one, but the second one was given to me by a friend but wanted his old rim back. I was suppose to get the rim dismounted when I got the AC recharged but that never happened. I tried to dismount it myself and did not succeed. Instead of risking damaging the rim, or the tire, I just bought it with me and had my cousin dismount it for me. Which means that this tire did the entire back and forth trip just for a rim.

Also on the list of mods was to finish the hot water heater install. One thing I wanted to do away from is the need for C batteries to power the heater. I picked up a few adjustable DC-DC step down converters in the Arduino section of an electronics shop before I left. They are 5amp models and ran about $5 each. What I didn't know with them is that they needed a load on it to be able to adjust the voltage. Also, the first one wouldn't drop below 8v (I needed 3v) so I'm glad I grabbed more then one. I also got a DPDT switch so then I turn that one on, it turns on the hot water heater AND the water pump on a single switch. If I don't need hot water, the L5 has it's own power switch if I want to turn that one off.

I also wanted to integrate an LED light in the case just to make fumbling at night less of a hassle. The red switch turns that one on.

I do need to find a way to organize the hose for the shower head, but other then that, all in integrated into the case, literally ready to use at a flip of a switch.

And a picture of the quick access drain. Hopefully won't break this hot water heater from the cold.

The PEX water lines running both hot and cold to the back of the trailer. PEX doesn't like UV rays, but it's so cheap and easy to work with. Here they are installed, and have been covered with wire loom to project them from the sun, and anything else.

With the jerry can holders in place, access to the water tank cover was even less accessible then before. This was the time to make up a proper filler tube.

Also before leaving, I had tried topping off both batteries the week before and I had issues with one not wanting to get up to voltage. I decided to just bring the receipts and deal with that in Ontario. Well played since it had expanded. It was obviously no good and still under warranty. They exchanged it with no issues. What I did see while it was on the counter and pissed me off was that it was cracked around the battery terminal. This is the second time this happened, and it was on this batteries twin (I had gotten two for the Xterra to replace the Yellow Tops since I was short in funds and needed it fixed ASAP) and was denied warranty because of it. I swear I have never been rough on these batteries and can't explain this. And this has only happened ever in my life on those two identical make and model batteries. If this isn't a fauly design, hopefully not done deliberately to refuse warranties. I have found a great source for batteries (Sask Battery) and not likely do this route again. While Canadian Tire batteries are convinent to change under warranty at any Candian Tire store across the country, not if they're designed in a matter that they physically break and get refused for warranty claims then it's not worth it. Sask Battery had great prices on Odesseys and NorthStars and likely go that route in the future.

Back to the AC situation. I got an appointment at my cousins shop to recharge the AC. It worked and held a vaccum and blew cold initially, but the compressor was kicking on and off after about 2-3 seconds. He suspects that it's the expansion valve. I had ordered the valve with the rest of the components, but not realising that it required to remove part of the box under the dash, I didn't do it. At this point, ordered a new condenser and tackled those jobs once the parts came in and the trailer finished. My dad helping drill out a bolt that snapped when removing the bumper bracket. That expansion valve was a pain to get unscrewed, but hasn't also moved in 17 years.

Two other things that were done was to install the skid plates and also install new parking brake lines. We'll also get back to my touching those brake lines later. But for once, every task set out was actually completed. Despite spending much of the time working on the truck and trailer, it was honestly some great father-son time. I haven't seen my parents since Christmas, so this time being the end of August, it was around 8 months I haven't seen my parents. I really enjoyed my time home, but it was time to go. Minden Ontario here we come.

 

[Climberclimb]

Very cool to see the Xterra still going strong! Thanks for sharing the story. Cheers??

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

Very cool to see the Xterra still going strong! Thanks for sharing the story. Cheers??

Thanks!

We hit the road to Minden with a quick stop at Canadian Tire. Was suppose to say goodbye to my aunt but she was done early. Regardless, the point was to stop to get some kitty litter and a bucket. Her plan was to improvise a toilet with the toilet seat she picked up on clearance for $5. We retook to the road to nice weather but caught up to a heck of a rainstorm and a good downpour. We managed to get past it and with less then an hour to arrive and gas prices still resonable, it was a good time to stop for fuel and ice instead of trying to search around the small towns while we'll be anxious to arrive. Fulled up both the truck and the trailer (with 91 octane). The 20L jerry was already filled on the way down. With the storm catching up and the trailer hanging out of the gas station cover, I started to fill it first. I then moved to the truck but it was actually raining enough that I latched the handle and hid up front of the truck from the sideways rain. When done and the pump ahead of me was clear, I pulled ahead to take cover from the rain, especially since we were topping up the coolers with ice then and there.

From my friends we apparently arrived just after the storm passed. Trying to setup while chatting with people you haven't seen in a long time isn't efficient, but pleasantly frustrating.

Funny enough, setting up camp was actually the first time to even open and setup the Go Xplore. The setup went quite well but we didn't use tilt feature on my mounting system. My Paha Que shower floor was used as well. This is iteration number #5 of a shower setup and so far our favorite. I just need some sort of cover on the top to keep the heat in and also protect precious womens hair from the rain, if and when.

And here's an inside view.

The Webasto was used wonderfully very night. The second duct was left to make it easy to swap between the tent and the annex. One night it had dropped down to 4*C. The ones in their campers had their furnaces going that night.

All my GoPros were left behind to use for filming the murder mystery but the girlfriend did a great job with her cell. As much as I'd like to record it, I've moved away a bit from making video to just enjoying the moment. It's been 3 years since I've attended AW and I just wanted to enjoy and appreciate it. Day one of off-roading was an easy pleasure. A dozen trucks on trail called Gooderham which I believe is a level 2 or 2+ trail. Nothing spectacular happened and was a good ride to stretch the legs and get back into it.

That evening I had taken the girlfriend to let her learn and drive off-road on the trails at the camp ground. Ray's Place had a bunch of trails right there on site. I got her to do the green easy trail, but it got to the point where there was this climb that we watched some ATVs come down. We chatted with them and they as well thought they were lost, them also claiming they were supposed to of been on an easy trail. We also thought we were lost so I jumped in the drivers seat. The ATV riders wanted to watch me go up the hill they came down in my truck, which struck as off, but man, that was a hell of a climb I can't even describe it and how know why they were questioning themselves on the trail difficulty. At the top there were signs and mud holes that look like they weren't driven through. Not wanting to try to call for help on a trail where I don't know where I am, I decided just to turn back. Checking the trail online, we were indeed on the right "green" trail...I still don't believe it.

 

[Climberclimb]

That camp set up looks awesome! Cheers

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

Sunday was a different story. There was discussion about which trail to take and a friend suggested to come with them for a small group of more experienced drivers on a harder trail called Anson rated as a 3+. The trail leader was a double locked Jeep on 37s. There was me in my gen1 Supercharged manual Xterra and a friend in his with similar modifications but automatic. A guy in a fully modified Titan Swapped 6-speed Pro4X Xterra and a Wrangler Limited followed at the tail. It was a long but fun day. Myself not having really any problems except on one climb needed a litle hand to ensure I don't break anything in my steering. A guy in the gen2 Xterra who got stuck many times, including a 2 hours stop in a mud hole in which our trail leader Jeep who attempted to get him unstuck had his serpentine belt come off and required letting the engine cool enough to get it back on. He got stuck mentally on a few obstacles, and the trail leader had his fan clutch let go so we had to let his Krazy Glue temporary fix set.

We started the day late and the sun was going down as we were finishing up the trail. We finally get to the service road to find out that a washout wasn't marked on the map and to to the other way would mean a 2 hour detour.

There was a bypass which looks like it was done by ATVs. It went down into the river. I walked it all the way to the other side. I seemed doable and to my opinion; we've done worst that day. The unofficial vote? Me and the leader keen to take the trail. Both other Xterras wanted to turn back, and the Unlimited following was going to follow the group in whatever decision. The decision? My plan; the locked Jeep on 37s take the lead while I follow. If I can do it, the others can as well. Two small trees were removed to avoid damage from the off-camber turn on the descent and one on the way up to make the tight S-bend around a set of trees. Daylight had quickly gone and I had successfully made the run unassisted, proving that sometimes, light bars before lockers. I was ecstatic and the Jeeps passenger went over to tell them the news. As they did the descent I went down to meet to guide them on the ascent. Everyone made the bypass successfully with each a small tub on their respective winches and with morale renewed, make it back to camp at a reasonable hour. There was a barrier on the way out that had our hearts skip a beat, but it had an easy bypass. Apparently on the way out there were people around a fire at one of the houses we passed that had a puzzled look on where we came from.

We got back to the fire to tell the story of the day while there was a another group that had to return from their trail despite us getting back at 10:30pm. Once the whole group back together, we're treated to our traditional citronella bomb, but the Lite version as well

Monday was a relaxing day. Part working on the truck and part social. The mention of replacing the parking brake lines before leaving. Well there was a noise on the trail coming form the bac. I pulled the wheel and drum off to see what was the problems and it seems that the drum brake adjuster that dislodged and jammed. I patched that up with some improvised grinding and it allowed me to get home without issue. Mind you, it wasn't an issue before, but there was a cause for concern that there's chance that the brakes cylinders over extending. To be honest, I noticed the brake feel was low, but I had so much on my mind that I didn't think too much about it.

I also noticed many sheer off and bent skid plate bolts, and also my rear shackle skewed just a tad. I could see that my frame is cracked around where I couldn't get to reinforce it on the outside, but the inside tubing is keeping it intact and holding it all in place. I wasn't worried about it failing. The trail was quite rough and a heck of a run. I was happy that we installed the skid plates, cause they got used AF the day before.

Monday was the day to pack up and reluctantly leave. The long weekend over, we were to slowly make our way back to Quebec City.

And a photo of the trailer and RTT setup from the guy with the Titan swapped Xterra we wheeled with on both days.