Hey everyone.

I am leaving in about 30 days on a four month long road trip across the country and into Canada Ah. The total mileage is going to be around 20k miles.

Here is "rough" outline of the trip. This has nothing to do with the post I just figured I would put it here for your enjoyment.



As the time is getting closer I have been thinking of things I might need for the trip (for the truck really). I ordered a CB, 102" whip, with bit & pieces. It arrives tomorrow afternoon.

 

So far it seems that you are on the right track.

At this point, at least to me, I feel that you need to bump up the inverter size since you will basically need to plan on powering not only your laptop, but also that USB hub. That is, if you decide to use a hub that wont be powered off of the laptop board itself. 500W is more than enough to power the laptop by itself, but I get the strong impression that you plan on using it for more than just the laptop. That's why I say use a larger inverter. 1300W inverters are easy to come by. Walmart even has them. I used to carry one in my truck just for my laptop and the occasional "onlocationwithnopower" power tool use.

The CB is going to be pretty easy. They tend to wire in just like a radio and you wont need anything special to do that.

The cell chargers can be manipulated through the chargers that you already have on the dash. You have two of them, so unless you need to charge more than that, I don't think you have a worry there.
EDIT: I just reread the post and saw the mention of cutting away the location of the chargers. Oops. If you must tear into your dash, then I think you would be able to relocate the chargers to a new location. If I were you, I'd be looking at floor mount laptop docks so that you wont have to chop up the dash.

Here is something else that you need to think about: I don't know what model laptop you have, but if it was just laying around then I would suspect that the hard drive and the whole system isn't supporting a "protect smart" or eqvilant system that will effectively stop the drive from spinning in jarring situations. Bumps in the road and what not. Even if it does, I've found that it can get rather annoying sometimes. Some laptop producers love to use sensitive accelerometers to control the protect system.

With that in mind, I would recommend that you go ahead and face the fact that you really need an SSD drive which will be indifferent to bumps and jars in the road. In fact, unless you plan on loading that system up with movies, I think something like a 40-60 gig drive would more than suite you and those are starting to become easier and easier to come by.

As far as I see, the only inline fuse you'll need would be a small one for the CB. And that would really be optional since most CB radios nowadays have at least one fuse built in.

For the rest of the wiring, I'm unsure. You'll pretty much need to get creative at this point and time.

 

I have Toshiba Satellite Tablet, so the screen flips down on itself so it almost looks like an iPad. The CB came in today and I'm thinking of mounting the ball mount through the tonneau cover. I'm also thinking of mounting it on the rear driver side but I don't want an uneven ground plane.

 

so how is it coming along Maverick

 

I installed my CB day before yesterday and fixed the SWR of the CB yesterday. Which I have 1:1 ratio. Today I am going to try and install the PA system. I have Earl off the coast now but we shouldn't get anything from it. When ever I do little project I always forget about all this little bits and pieces that I have to buy and it adds up pretty quickly. I have pics but the camera is in the truck.

 

well post them asap

 

I haven't mounted the actual CB yet as I am waiting to start the center console. It is hooked up and working but just sitting on the passenger side floor. I did build the mount and install the 102" whip.

Here are the parts that I used to build the mount. Just 2 pieces of flat stock and outlet receptacle cover.




The part put together:



The only troubles I had was bending the flat stock and trying to put the nuts on the bolts and actually tighten them so I found the right wrench put some tape on to hold the nut and then taped the wrench to a 3 foot 1x2.


And also since I used galvanized steel I had to run an additional grounding strap from the antenna ground to the cab. I will be adding more and the next one is going to the frame to increase my ground plane. The reason I have to angle raised up so high is because I have the fiberglass cover and need the room to open it.






I actually had some time today to finish removing my center console. There is more room than I expected. I drove to Wawa today and I felt like I wasn't in my truck.

I did some computer repair work on the side today and made a quick 100 bucks so I might start the center console either this weekend or first thing Monday. Here is a pic of the center console removed.

 

im thinking about doing a custom center console. take measurements when your building if you dont mind a copy cat. I have been trying to make one for mine but working 6- 12 hour shifts doesnt give you much time to do $hit. Nice work looks great so far.

 

I thought I had all the time in the world to do this but I keep putting it off. I had friend over today and all we did was sit around and watch movies. I had that hurricane off the coast today but I did find time after it stopped raining. Also I think i'm becoming addicted to Modern Warfare 2.

 

if you are going for a 4 month trip around you better not addicted to anything. hahaha