Preface
Rachel told me that my blog posts are too long. I’ll see if I cant keep this one shorter.
So this goes back to an earlier post where I let my 1st world problem of cooking on a MSR single burner, multi-fuel stove spill over as a complaint. Yea I know, not the best thing to complain about but as Lana Del Ray said, “Opulence is the end”, and I like to share with friends. So if you see us out, maybe we can share some Gelato in Mojave and you’ll have the heart to forgive me.
So what am I gonna talk about in this post? Galley upgrades! We already covered the lighting in the galley and a basic on how it was installed, so what else could we possibly improve upon? Well first off, the stove. Seeing as a single burner, multi-fuel stove just isn’t going to cut it, nor is our Brunton 2 burner stove, we had to go to the tippy top! Wait a gosh darn minute, why would a standard 2 burner camping stove not work? Well, it slides around too much in the allotted space and we keep that stove safely tucked away in the truck for camping away from the teardrop base camp. So whats at the top? The Partner Steel 2 burner 22″ stove, that’s what! If you are a TC Teardrop aficionado you’ll know that the space for the stove that is a pull-out platform on glides is not 22″ and you’re 100% right. The trick to making this work is to remove the rivets from the back of the stove and remove the top. As the teardrop will shield you from wind and store the stove, the top really isn’t needed anymore. We took two pieces of 2″ angle aluminum and mounted them to the bottom of the stove and connected those to the glides. This allows the stove to slide perfectly in and out of the shelf space and the included glides lock into place once closed. I promise you, if you are serious about cooking outdoors, this is a great investment!
Now for the big guy! After dealing with a leaky cooler and broken eggs we immediately decided to ditch the cooler and go with a fridge. Oh, the options for a fridge, ARB, Dometic, Edgestar, Engel, etc. Well, a little birdy, make that a couple little birdies, told me that most compressors are made by only a few companies and supply the major brands with the same sets. I’ve also been told that ARB is made by Dometic so if you want to save a few bucks, just buy the Dometic. That’s exactly what we did. Dometic has been around for a long time and makes full-size appliances all the way down to the small travel fridges. We went with the CFX-75DZW, a true dual zone fridge that can maintain 2 different temperatures on either side. One side can be a freezer, the other a refrigerator or both can be a freezer or both a refrigerator. The cooler also has a wireless feature that connects to an app for your phone that allows you to monitor the temperatures from afar. If it is true that ARB is made by Dometic, or not, the new ARB 63Q stainless steel fridge’s tie down system works perfectly with the 75DZW, with the exact same thread pattern for the bolts. Simply remove the Dometic handles and attach the strap system, this will also allow this size refrigerator to fit perfectly into the space provided by TC Teardrop, even with the cooling cover, which is highly recommended to help this fridge run at its maximum efficiency. The wiring is simple and our Zamp solar system will provide more than enough power to run the fridge and all our accessories, but more about that later.
Like I’ve said before, if you ever have any questions, don’t hesitate to head over to the “contact us” section and get in touch with us. We will do our best to get back with you ASAP. Don’t Forget, if you find us out on the road and we have gelato, come share some with us.
-Will
“Life in the right lane, turn here, we need more gelato”
DMG Exploration 