Took 3 days to myself but with some good company, I needed a break.
A break that included 2 days being as many miles away, in the desert mountains, far from whats deemed as "CIVILization", which meant NO phone signal, NO WiFi, NO annoyances, and just good company, a couple of drinks & food, nature and its impressive views.. But before I went, the securing of a couple small annoyances of my own that have been haunting me to finish.., just been to busy with everyone else's needs and the last 3 days or so were a time out for me to take advantage of them.
First things, the damn fire extinguisher. Some would laugh saying that it shouldn't be needed in the desert but deserts have wildlife fires too and accidents happen all the time, car fires, random small roadside fires can get out of hand quickly. At any rate, its been tossed in the truck when needed for trips, sometimes forgotten but it needed to be permanently stationed inside the truck at all times.., just in case
I knew with future plans it would have to be out of the way of a few other things and it would have to be readily accessible should the decision to use it or a need to use it arise. So I felt the best place was just inside the Flip-Pac shell back glass, quick within reach but not in the way.
Using some aluminum binding posts and sealing washers I carefully marked my spots and drilled through first with a smaller drill bit from the inside making sure it didn't catch on the carpeted interior, then chased back through the outside in with a larger drill bit to slide the aluminum sleeves in with just a bit of silicone around the shaft to seal out dirt or possible water intrusions.
They were perfect length for the cap and the bracket material depth for the mounting holes. This most recent road trip had quite the valley of spur roads and it held up great.
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Next on the list.. My StreamLight Stinger LED HL charger. This is a two-time install because I will be adding to the outside of this with a stainless or titanium plate that will have a bottle opener attached to the outside later and I'll add that in at a later date.
So originally I messed up. I mistook and assumed that the back portion of the Flip-Pac had more strength than it did in the back walls that flanked the rear glass framework... [BUZZZZZ] Wrong !
So when I drilled it months ago it went right through the fiberglass shell..! I was a bit upset with myself so I used a 2" screw to hold it in tight enough that when the flashlight was in place, it didn't rattle around or pull out of its hole or leak water when it rained. Still dissatisfied, someday soon I would have to address the issue and with a better idea.
Because I am going to need to add to this later some space on the outside wall I am using 3.00" stainless steel pan head machine screws so I can attach some .25" aluminum spacers and a plate just big enough to mount my Yeti bottle opener I want..
I'm partially "badge-buying" here but at the same time the dimensions work for my base plate as I choke on the $19.99 tag for a damn bottle opener. Brownie points mehbe? No? FML...
Flashlight charger in place with flashlight..
Flashlight extra battery and powered up ready to go as always.
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Last but not least.. the other USB charging flashlight I conveniently have mounted in my glove box was at the time quickly "Zip-tie Mechanic'd" in and rattled like a SOB on spur roads and I knew it would drive me nuts on a 90 mile run down on partial spur roads and corrugations. So this too would be remedied before the small trip.
Since I had 2 small holes drilled previously, this was gonna be a quick fix. I drilled out the two smaller holes to fit the new stainless hardware and ran the bolts through.
Once everything was tighten down USB power cable was reinstalled at both ends and the smaller LED StreamLight is now securely seated in its home instead of flopping around any more inside the glove box.
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