Gratz on the new NoBo. We’re a little over a year in and are loving our little NoBo 10.6. We haul kayaks, paddleboard on top and bikes, paramotor and supplies in it. We had been hauling with our 4-cyl Outback, but since we’re now planning some longer, higher elevation road trips, we went ahead and picked up an F-150.
Mod-wise, hubs semi-extended the living space by making the ramp a deck. It worked perfectly under the batwing during a 3-day mostly rain camping trip.
Simple mod of creating telescoping PVC pipes with caps to tuck in under the rubber feet. Just gotta be sure to level the stands and really get those settled into whatever type of ground you’re on so they’re stable. Throw a rug over the sandpaper floor (great when barefoot with calluses ��), cut some foam to cover the sharp corners and protruding handles, and it’s extra sitting, prepping, cargo holding area off the ground and serves as covered storage for all the tubs of stuff you dragged out of the NoBo. The portaloo fits perfectly out of the way under “the deck” too.
That being said - we didn’t see the rhino batwing replacement notice on here until too late. We had to improvise ways to cover that gap between the awning and trailer to reduce the amount of rain coming in so carry extra tarps... just in case.
The camp stove is not under the awning so in rain or in the summer sun, a tarp comes in handy there too. Yes, rhino sells batwing extensions at a premium price that can zip into it. We went with tarps.
Also, if you did get the batwing on the rhino rack, go ahead and pre-buy a couple of the replacement hinge kits. Two of ours broke after less than a dozen uses. Rhino takes too long to ship, but eTrailer was fairly quick. We absolutely love the batwing...just gotta be prepared for its flaws. Hinge replacement was easy. Packing the batwing with broken hinges was not.
We’re in the process of upgrading to two deep cycle marine batteries. The stock Interstate battery hasn’t been all that reliable. Off grid, it gets maybe 36 hours. We’ve been avoiding picking up a small generator, but are dry camping for a week in July so finally biting that bullet with these additions. This mod is gonna require some angle iron and light welding to fit the two batteries and their cases on the trailer. Also some wiring, an inverter, switch and voltage meter. Not exactly sure what the guys are doing in setting it up, I just ordered all the parts.
Go ahead and replace the water nozzle. It’s on the cheap side and will break. We picked up a portable outdoor hot water heater and will set up using the built in pressurized water pump, reservoir and propane. Just finished testing it today and hubs is excited to truly try it out in a couple of weeks. The man likes hot water...cold showers do not appeal to him. LOL
Off grid, those outside outlets don’t work so we picked up a portable power station with a solar kit. We use it to charge stuff outside the NoBo, run hanging lights and even run a large fan to keep the bugs away. BTW - those OPolar clipon USB fans are awesome for moving air while sleeping.
Climbing up into the overhead tents is a bit intimidating. Might be my age and gender talking, but if you’re female and gotta pee at 1am — ‘cause you might have had one too many drinks or overdid the staying hydrated bit — climbing down that ladder is an iffy proposition. I’d recommend just taking an extra tent and blowup mattress or self-inflating pads with you. As long as they bring sleeping bags (Or you have extras), they’ll be set.
Sleep comfort - those cushions are not meant for more than a night or two. We toss them over a blow up mattress and then I proceed to sink into the center separation the rest of the night. We have not mastered this issue yet. We’ve only done two rounds with the blow up mattress under them.
Oh... if none of the outlets seem to work when plugged into shore power, just pop the inside back outlet by the fan under the storage bin. For some reason, it is sometimes tripped. At least on the 2019 model, which I noticed is rated differently in hitch weight and overall weight than the 2020 model so they had to have made some changes.
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