Blog

2018 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro

August 9th, 2019 12:00am 6 minute read

2018 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro is equipped to carry the adventure. Starting under the hood, we hooked up an Off-Grid Engineering Complete Dual Battery System with two 35-PC1400T Automotive Batteries. To keep these batteries charged, we equipped a Noco Gen 2 Battery Charger with a convenient GCP1 Amp 125v plug located to the rightside of the front bumper. All accessories were wired to a relay panel located on the left hand side under the hood. A neat and tidy switch board is located to the left of the steering wheel to control all accessories from a finger's reach at the driver's seat. Accessories include the front and rear cameras, dual batteries, Baja Designs light bars, and spot LED lights located at the rear of the camper. Also displayed beside the switch board, is a handy blue dual battery volt meter, so our customer can monitor the energy levels of his batteries at all times.

This ultimate adventure vehicle really took shape once we installed a black finish, prime package Alu-Cab Canopy Camper in the truck bed. The Prime package for the Canopy Camper includes a bundle of great accessories to make your overlanding experience as easy and effortless as possible. The prime package includes a Shower Enclosure with an Integrated Table Mount, Molle Corner Plates (Pair/Black), a Folding Aluminum Camp Table, 3 National Luna Dual Color LED Lights (Red + White), Bed Platform Map Lights with USB chargers, Shadow Awn with Mounting Brackets, a Spare Wheel Bracket, and a Canvas Storage System (Front Bulkhead and Rear Door). Other additions were a left-side shadow awn, 1450mm load bars, Maxtrax Table, and two Sunflare 105 watt solar panels.

The Alu-Cab Canopy Camper is one of the most practical and reliable campers on the market. Built to last and proven in South Africa, its aluminum extrusion space frame construction guarantees the highest strength while maintaining the lowest weight possible. On the inside, unlike the Khaya Camper- whose interior is occupied with a kitchen unit, storage compartments, and seating- the interior of this camper is left open for you to use and customize as you like, and this canopy offers a massive space! The Camper for short bed offers up a vast 98 cubic feet of storage (115 cubic feet for 6' beds) and up to 8' of standing room when roof and bed panels are popped. The bed platform is spacious as well with a 100" x 54" total area; plenty of room to comfortably sleep two full-sized adults.

For storage and functionality for living in the interior of the camper, we outfitted a custom, horseshoe-shaped Goose Gear drawer module with a National Luna 72L Dual Zone Fridge Freezer. This drawer module has two utility cabinets sandwiching the fridge and two drawer cabinets, each with two drawers, towards the rear door of the camper. The lids of the utility cabinets can be totally removed and accessed from the outside of the camper via the side windows. In addition, the custom U-shape provides ample space for people to sit, relax, or take refuge from bad weather.

Furthermore, even though Alu-Cab products have some of the best insulation offered in aftermarket roof top tent and campers, cold weather can still be difficult to camp in despite having the proper cold weather gear on your trip. To make the inside of the camper more bearable and cozy in cold weather, we hooked up a Dickinson Marine Propane Heater to the passenger side, interior panel of the camper, and it fits perfectly! These are originally used to heat up the cabins of sailboats, but we re-purposed it to warm the interior of the camper. The exhaust pipe sneaks through the rear molle panel and does not interfere with the Alu-Cab Shadow awn or increase the overall height of the vehicle.

Even more exciting, other new camper additions are the Alu-Cab Tacoma 09+ camera kit and the Alu-Cab Pre-wired Solar Plug located on top of the roof. The camera kit provides front and back vision when driving in reverse or wanting to get a glimpse of the difficulty of the terrain ahead. The Pre-wired solar kit makes the installation of Sunflare flexible solar panels fast and simple. On top of the camper, we installed two 105w Sunflare Flexible Solar Panels, which are attached to a zamp solar controller inside the camper. Also on the roof is an Alu-Cab Trax Tray with two MKII Black Maxtrax and a modified Prinsu roof rack, which acts as a sleek mount for a bajadesigns 40" LED light bar. We modified this rack to fit under the overhanging lip of the canopy camper.

To keep yourself and your gear clean, we installed a Spray Box, which is a pressurized water hose system. Paired with this system, is a 40L Front Runner Water tank that we cleverly tucked away on the front bulk head.

For the gears we went with 4.88s and, while down there, we installed differential breathers to keep things high and dry. Likewise, for the engine in take, we equipped a safari snorkel from ARB to ensure that clean, dry air enters the engine. I don't know about you, but this is ultimate, offroad mobile home is one that can take you anywhere you can imagine- from the untamed wilderness of the Yukon the most southern reaches of South America.

Under the Hood:

Off-Grid Engineering Complete Dual Battery System "Split System" for 2005-current Tacoma
Odyssey 35-PC1400T Automotive Battery
Odyssey Automotive Battery Core
Solid Kit Blue Dual battery Volt Meter (Dashboard)
Noco Gen2 Battery Charger 2Bank 12-24V
Noco GCP1 Amp 125V AC port Plug with 16" Integrated Extension Cord
Noco Mounting Bracket

Canopy Camper:

Alu-Cab Canopy Camper (Prime/Short Bed/Black)
- Canvas Storage System (Door & front Bulkhead)
- National Luna Dual Color LED Lights
- Molle Corner Plates (Pair/Black)
- Shower System w/ Table Mount
- Bed Platform Map Lights & USB Ports
- Canopy Camper Folding Table
- Low Profile 1250mm Load Bars (Black)
- Alu-Cab Shadow Awn (LHS) w/ Brackets
- Alu-Cab Shadow Awn Rear Gutter
- Alu-Cab Tacoma 09+ Camper Camera Kit