Base Plate

 5/24/21:  Winter is long over, time to get a sheet of plywood and make the base plate.  Lowes: no pressure-treated 1/2 inch in stock.  About half of the items on the shelf have no no prices, those that do range anywhere from $60.00 - nearly $100.00.  About double what it would have cost during the winter.

Home Depot: similar story but at least the most of the goods have a price marked.  I settled for a non-pressure-treated sheet because their are only 4 on the shelf and all of them look damaged, warped etc.  The price on the shelf said $66.00 but it rang up as $85.00 at the register.  $66.00 was too good to be true.  Ouch.

Brought it home and put it up on saw horses in the garage.  Put the cardboard template of the truck bed I made earlier back in to make sure it still fits right.  Looks good, so I put it over the plywood sheet in the garage.  Surprise.  The template is wider than the plywood and yet the the plywood just fit in the truck bed. 

I traced the outline of the wheel well and the overall length of the template onto the plywood.  Cut it with jig saw.  Painted it with special "floor paint" but it will need multiple coats.  I'll put it in the truck bed tomorrow to figure out what adjustments are needed.  Likely, I'll need to add a strip to fill in the shortfall but it I understand where I went wrong -yet.  Good thing I didn't make a living with my hands eh?

 Inside the Habitat: I spent the winter building 4 cabinets that will fit inside the bed of the Tacoma underneath the Habitat "topper".  The kitchen: ice chest on top on a pull-out drawer.  Nested underneath it is another pull-out drawer for the propane stove and lastly, underneath the stove is another pull-out drawer that provides space for food prep.  

On the opposite side is a 3-drawer cabinet that can store cooking stuff: pots & pans, plates, glasses, utensils etc. and recovery gear.  

Behind the kitchen is a cabinet with 3 drawers: one large one at the bottom for bulky items like pants, sheets, blanket etc.  The two top drawers are for clothes.  Behind the 3 drawer cabinet is a 4-drawer cabinet which can store food, clothes, and sundries.

In the cab of the truck behind the seats there's space for some soft items in duffle bags: waders, sleeping bag, jackets, rain gear, etc.

I will spend some time in the coming weeks experimenting with how much stuff I can actually fit in the cabinets and working out what should go where in more detail.  Got a pretty extensive spreadsheet with a list of items needed for camping.  I also need to buy a sheet of plywood and cut it to match the shape of the truck bed.  It will act as a baseplate onto which the cabinets will be attached with screws and metal angle brackets.

 Quest for the Habitat :

I purchased an AT Overland Habitat for my 2021 Toyota Tacoma (aka "Taco") Off-Road pickup truck.  The Habitat is a "topper") essentially, a cap over the bed of the truck but built into it is a tent that can unfold with 1-2 minutes of work.  

Unfortunately, AT Overland is located in Prescott, AZ but I live in CT.  It will take a minimum of 4 days of hard driving to get there.  The overall all plan is to leave CT on June 26, 2021 and arrive in Prescott by June 30, 2021.  The installation will take place the next day and requires about 4 hours.  Afterward,  my son Brian and I will get out of Dodge ASAP as daily temps have been above 110 degrees F lately.