DIY Canopy Fitout On A Budget - Complete Walkthrough

what's up guys today i'm going to walk you through my entire canopy setup and show you just how i've got it configured for living off the grid [Music] so the canopy itself is an mrt unit i've had it on the back for about 18 months now and honestly i can't fault it i had it fitted up by the team here in perth along with one of their mrt trays i did upgrade the canopy a little bit so i've gone with the internal roof supports to withstand the weight of that rooftop tent i also had three roof rails put on and i also went with a lift-off system as well and that was just because during the week i like to lift the canopy off leave it in the garage so i'm not hauling it back and forth to work so this left side is my camp kitchen and the main goal for me here was just to make camp cooking as convenient and easy as possible [Music] so starting on the left we've got my old 40 liter waco fridge this thing's about 10 years old and still works just as good as the day we got it it's secured to the floor of the canopy by two anchor points one at the front and one at the back moving along we've got the nice big kitchen benchtop complete with built-in sink and running water so the water's actually gravity fed from a tank that sits in the back of the canopy it doesn't give me the most water pressure in the world but it's fine for washing my hands doing the dishes filling up a kettle and stuff like that so underneath the sink there's this little storage cupboard which i use to store things like bin liners i've got some wipes in there just miscellaneous like cleaning bits and pieces uh also there's a hose that comes out from underneath the sink now this is fed from that exact same gravity-fed tank that supplies water to the tap and is just useful for like washing your feed or filling up a bucket or something like that um this cupboard is also really useful for when the sink gets full of water because you can actually put your hand in there and use that to lift the sink out as well also the tap on top swivels so you can push it out of the way and really get that sink out without having to to lever it around the tap so next to the kitchen sink has got to be one of my favorite mods and that's my slide out coleman gladiator stove which makes camping so easy so the gas bottle lives just behind the kitchen bench here it's strapped to the drawer unit and the gas hose feeds underneath so to set it up it's as simple as sliding it out pop that there take a little gas adapter screw it in the side and then i can just reach my hand underneath the bench pull out that gas hose which screws into the side here then i can just turn the gas bottle on and we're cooking and putting it away is pretty much just as simple just turn the gas bottle off unscrew that gas hose sit it back underneath the bench pop that adapter out fold the lid down and it's done so moving behind the kitchen bench we've got my custom diy sliding door pantry and this is where i keep the majority of my food when i'm camping i also keep my cutlery up here i've got some cups up there as well on the right hand side i store my camp oven my frying pan i've got a spare saucepan some disposable cups bowls and pretty much just the stuff that you use every day when you're camping on the left hand side here i've made a couple of pouches to store my dinner plates and it just means they're tucked there out of the way but also really easy to access when you need them so moving down to the end of the kitchen we get to my custom slide out pantry and this thing is basically storage heaven so i've custom built every area to serve a certain purpose this area up here is kind of like our bakery section so that's where we store like a loaf of bread or bag of bread rolls and stuff when we go camping moving along we've got a paper towel dispenser and that's just a couple of pieces of wood with a simple tracking system cut out of both and then the paper towel roll just goes on this little bit of pipe and then we feed that pipe into the tracking on both sides push it back until it drops down and then you got and you got slide out paper towels and like that is just the most useful thing when you when you're barbecuing or whatnot um on the front of the pantry is a drop down table that's actually supported by two dog walking leads so these things support 24 kilos per side that being said i would never put 48 kilos of weight on the table but at least i know they're plenty strong enough for you know putting a cooking pot or putting your plates when you're preparing dinner and stuff like that and also with the dog walking leads as you lift the table they automatically retract so when you want the table down there's no need to muck around with extra cables and chains that just everything's taken care of and when you lift it up i put a couple of magnets that connect to here so they just snap up and hold the table hold the table in place uh i stopped the table there so you can still access stuff on this shelf even without needing to put that table down and that comes in like particularly handy if the pantry is shut you want to get the salt out you don't want to have to pull the pantry the whole way out and drop the table so with the height it is you can just go to there oh yep that's what i need and take it out so i haven't really fine-tuned how i store things on this shelf just yet right now i've got a few of these little tubs just all my salt and pepper and stuff like that but i'll probably be polishing that storage system forever uh moving down i've got this really skinny shelf here which is the perfect size for three of these boxes so i store my glad wrap i've got my alfoil in there and also my um my baking paper as well that just keeps them tucked there out of the way nice and neat and below those three boxes is where i keep all my barbecue tools so i've got my tongs barbecue scraper spoon can opener and stuff like that it's quite a big storage space too so there's plenty of plenty more room for me to get a few extra extra tools in there as well lastly on the bottom left here is kind of like the washing up section so there's a couple of tea towels got my dish magic washer some flannels and a bit of a bit of detergent there as well um oh and also on the top here the it's hard to demonstrate but the top recess is down so i can store things like tissues or a packet of wipes and it still slides in nice and easy and that's the pantry [Music] so up on the headboard of the canopy we find my 12 volt switch panel so this is just a cheapy from ebay that comes pre-wired i have changed the wiring around a little bit for mine because i wanted this first switch to operate as a mains power switch for the whole panel other than that it's pretty much out of the box so this second switch here controls the internal lights for the canopy both sides just with the one switch for simplicity and this switch here is for the outside light these lighting strips that i've used are literally the cheapest uh roll of led strip light you can buy on ebay i think it was like 10 bucks delivered comes in a 5 meter roll the backing on it is adhesive so you just cut it to the size you want i've stuck a strip here stuck two strips on the inside and then you just solder on your own wiring and running back to the switch panel and it's not as bright as some of the kits you can buy but that was kind of the reason i wanted it because when i'm camping i don't want blinding lights coming off the canopy i just want enough to see what i need to see have the lights position where i where i need them so this one's right above my cooker when it slides out which is perfect um yeah so also on this panel you get a 12-volt cigarette lighter socket two usbs um yeah and i've got a fourth switch that i'm not too sure what to what to do with yet but i'm sure something will come along come along soon uh next to the switch panel i've got my maglite clipped into a bracket that's pretty easily accessible and also i've got a deck of playing cards on velcro so you can just stick them wherever you want so the back of the canopy is nothing fancy really this is the other half of that shelving unit that makes up the pantry behind the kitchen bench the only difference with this one is i've strengthened it a little bit with a couple of bits of wood here as well as additional brackets around the underside of this shelf and that's so it can support the weight of the water tank so that's the tank that feeds the kitchen sink and also the hose underneath the sink it's just a baby just a little 15 litre tank but i also carry a couple of 20 liter jerry cans as well so it's easy to take that tank out and refill it when you run out of water and taking it out is as easy as just undoing that strap there's a water cut-off switch here and a simple hose connector there and that's all there is keeping that tank in place so it's easy to take it out and refill it when you run out of water also on this same shelf i keep a little um a little shade cloth when you feel like being a bit fancy camping and also just a tool bag on the right hand side there and that's pretty much all there is to the back nothing fancy and we'll move on to the final site so the right hand side of the canopy is mainly geared towards that long-term storage the stuff that you don't need to get to on a daily basis and the main reason i did it this way is that when my rooftop tents set up the ladder comes down this side of the canopy so i really want to be opening this door as little as possible when i'm away so starting in the left-hand side purely by coincidence when i built up this rear unit it created this perfect little hidey hole that was the exact size of my 20 litre jerry can so that therefore became the home for that when we're when we're away i've then got the titan draw unit here as well pretty happy with these drawers for the money i mean i know there's definitely better options out there but for three or four hundred bucks whatever i paid for these like they're fantastic really strong been held up pretty well i used to have them on the main side but when i rebuilt the whole kitchen i flipped them to the to the less utilized side and they're more for long-term storage now so in the left-hand side here i just keep like a door mat i've got my caravan leveling ramps and that's especially useful for the slide out cooker because you can't adjust the angle of that so i always use these to make sure i get the card nice and flat when i'm away also just spare room for bits and pieces when i'm heading out the right hand side here i keep things like my axe the mallet for the tent pegs the temp pegs themselves i've got a shovel in here a little caddy full of like you know loop roll and cleaner and a couple of different lights and whatnot things like a spare towel in case i forget my main one these things are awesome for the the compact form factor they fold up into i've also got my awning sidewall and yeah just just bits and pieces that i'm not going to need all the time so moving up to the front of the canopy i've got a fire extinguisher mounted here for quick and easy access i've got a ctek dc dc battery charger mounted to the headboard up here and that runs through to my 100 amp hour agm deep cycle battery that lives in my king's battery box 100 amp hours is not huge uh it's doing the job for the meantime but i'll probably be upgrading that pretty soon hopefully this video has given you a couple of ideas as always thanks for watching and happy camping

Channel: Exploranger

Views: 75,889

Rating: 4.9661303 out of 5

Keywords: canopy, camping, coleman, gladiator, hyperflame, slide out, canopy modifications, custom canopy, mrt canopy, fit-out, fitout, water supply, 4x4, canopy project, sink, camp kitchen, modified, diy, 4wd, touring setup, camp setup, canopy setup, overlanding, touring, pantry, camp, camping fitout, mrt, mates rates, mates rates tools, cheap canopy, cheap fitout, budget fitout, budget canopy, walkthough, overview, walk through, 4wd canopy, 4x4 canopy, budget, canopy set up, canopy fitout for camping

Id: et7Ph9NNmVU

Length: 12min 25sec (745 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 27 2020