Thread: D4 Camping Setup with Rooftop Tent

The setup of the D4 for camping has taken a number of steps, but it has proven to be pretty practical on the extended camping trips we have been on thus far.

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The Bush Co Clamshell roof top tent, Ostrich Wing 270 Awning, Full Boar Fourbie Drawers and Extreme POD Trailer provide all of the necessary storage and camping facility for extended trips.

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The first step was installing the Rhino Rack backbone rails for mounting the tent. While I could fit the backbone myself, I needed the assistance of Mark from Tough Touring to provide the bespoke install rails for attaching the Camp Co tent securely. To enable removal and adjustment at home I have installed a 500kg electric winch in the carport.
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The Roof Top has been pretty straight forward to setup. We just leave the bedding setup while travelling and just have to crawl in once we make camp. There is an anderson plug connection to the tent to power the interior light and a ciga 12v plug that we use to charge up phones etc while up stairs. You can also use it to run a Sirocco fan that we have installed for the hotter weather. It stays warm in cold weather under the doona and there is plenty of air flow in the heat.

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The Ostrich Wing gives extra cover and with the side wall annex a reasonably protected area in bad weather or for extended stays. The only down-side is that when you are setup....you are pretty much anchored to the campsite.

Disco01.jpg
The draw install was the next big install, but we are very happy with the work that the Full Boar team came up with. I had previously removed the 3rd row seats as we rarely used them and they weigh about 45kg. It does free up some space but only for things that you can slide under a false floor and keep in reach... eg tyre jack.

D4 3rd Row Seat Removal 01.jpg
Once the seats are removed, you can then set about insulating and sound deadening the exposed floor metal.

D4 3rd Row Seat Removal 02.jpg
Clark Rubber have dense rubber that can be cut to size and bolted down using the existing 8mm bolt holes.

D4 3rd Row Seat Removal 03.jpg
Then you are ready to have a false floor installed to provide a solid base for the sliding drawers. We had Full Boar install the lot.

The Rear Setup of D4 - 00.jpg
The false floor needs to account for the challenge of retaining access to the spare wheel crank... which LR have made even more difficult to remove now that they have a hook and eye cranking mechanism.

D4 3rd Row Seat Removal 04.jpg
Fortunately you can get a machined fitting from Tuff Ant that enables you to attach a 1/4" socket attachment to the wheel winder.

The Rear Setup of D4 - 02.jpg
The cargo barrier from TravAll in the UK fits really easily and is solid. We did however have to get a local engineering firm to make a slight adjustment to allow room for our larger than expected EvaKool fridge the top of the drawers securely mounts the The Lithium Box (TLB - 100Ah ) from RV Lithium Systems in WA. A great product and Paul provides excellent after sales service. We have installed a 12v water pump and really handy flexible hose joiners that enable us to pump from a 20lt plastic jerry can that stands snuggly up against the drawer back and wedged behind the seat. The pump has an isolator switch from JayCar and all of the required fuses are already built into TLB along with heaps of anderson plugs, ciga plugs, usb and engle plugs. We keep the seats right down flat to give us extra storage. The Disco is great in the way that you can get the seats all the way down to provide a base.

The Rear Setup of D4 - 03.jpg
The draws can be removed, but to date we pretty much keep them in place... the fridge with anderson plug and slide out table are really handy.
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Getting access to the spare wheel is via the access hole that the Full Boar team provided and I purchased a 150mm 1/4inch socket shaft so that I can use a rachet socket set to lower and raise the wheel by connecting into the Tuff Ant adapter.

Access to Spare2.jpg

The Rear Setup of D4 - 01.jpg

The auto elecs at MontEltham did a great job of connecting up TLB. The RED socket in is for the solar blanket feed. The BLUE socket is the charging battery / alternator feed. The multiple anderson outlets supply power to the fridge, water pump, roof top tent and UHF radio in the front cabin so that the radio is still on when you pull up at camp or into town (beats the problem of pulling into town and the rest of the convoy has gone radio silent because they have turned their vehicles off). An inverter installed onto the top of TLB is perfect for charging up the Milwaukee batteries for the chainsaw, blower, drill and Dremmel. A 200W solar blanket keeps everything charging up on longer camps.

Follow-up projects (courtesy of COVID isolation) has also added a Safari Snorkel, APT Front/Sump/Air Compressor Guards, Oricom UHF Radio, APT Rock Sliders and Carbon 12K Discreet Winch.
Next is to get a good set of off road AT tyres. Open to recommendations. Will probably stick with the 19" factory alloys unless convinced otherwise.

Naps

And potentially it doesn’t end there...

Hurt somebody and Civil suits are a very real thing.
I’m not prepared to lose my house (WCS) or be broke for decades.