Crusher Upgrades... Broadband & Water ~ Yeah, Elon & RotoPax Have My Money 02May25

Broadband On Board ~ Starlink... Well, as alluded to recently from Big Bend, I was (or at least Kala felt I was) enamored of campground neighbors, who work from the road, using Starlink to maintain broadband speeds in areas without cell coverage or wifi connectivity. I've found myself in that position somewhat often recently, not working of course ~ golly no, just in want of broadband, or any digital connection. My emergency sat phone is not very interactive, and hardly broadband. So, I did acquire the robust Starlink mini antenna and signup for the 50GB/mo ROAM data plan. The hardware was $500 and the the data plan is $50/mo (plus $1/GB if I go over) and I can turn service on & off a month at a time when I won't need it. Plus, my plan enables full data while moving. The only limitation to this plan is that Starlink will throttle my speeds in deference to full mobile or residential subscribers when we are on the same satellite (I read reviews suggesting this was not a big deal, at least right now). The hardware came today and I started service in May. BTW, I know Elon will track everything I do henceforth (on Starlink) so I must ensure appropriate xfer of service from LTE to satellite in order to obfuscate.

It was super easy to set up and activate the service on the Crusher Too. I simply jacked the antenna into the included 12v xformer plugged in to my inverter, opened the app, did a smidge of wifi config, and viola ~ my account was associated with my SLmini and I was online. I will use the Crusher-based Startlink in the BC20X too of course as they are proximate when camping; I always tow the camper with the Crusher Too. What I want ultimately is an outside install similar to that shown above, but permanent and protected; I did a ghetto internal temporary install of the antenna by jamming it under my sunroof shade for now. Simply going online in the drive as well as moving around the west side showed 110Mbps down and 11Mbps is readily available in COS. MLC might think that sucks but it's better than my broadband in Summit right now... hmmm.

I sought a more permanent install for my SLmini on the Crusher Too and bought the well-reviewed VeritasVans mount which protects the antenna and mounts to the roof without screws (using magnets or suction cups ~ yeah SeaSucker tech again). I got both kinds of feet so I can move the SLmini over the moonroof on glass, or over the rear of the car on steel, depending if I have skis or anything else blocking the antenna, and just so I can choose the most secure. I'm starting with magnets in the rear. I just ran the the extra cord through the drawer for tidiness. I also read that orientation is not that vital with the mini antenna, and that's been my experience today, so I am hoping I just leave it in place and rock-n-roll from there. Time will tell my experience.

I now need a more permanent power cable routing to the roof than "dangle" inside or outside to a 12v hookup on my aux battery. My solar panel was installed with appropriate routing through a rear column to the roof previously and I will contract the same with a permanent 12v ~50w connection. For now though I'm online through the dangle & cigarette lighter scheme. Woohoo.

Water On Board ~ Rotopax Via SeaSucker... I've run out of refill water for hydration packs at the trailheads too often, and I've run out of water needed to loosen my wading boots when they've sat for 4 days "too often." There are likely other occasions. I "needed" water in addition to that in my fridge inside the Crusher Too. I chased a number of simpler, but gross, alternatives like add a gallon or 5 gallon jug somewhere. But, the "cool kids" use rack-mounted RotoPax containers so I wanted to do the same... but how? All the RotoPax-compatible racks were aftermarket - nothing for stock rails. There's a fairly recent suction cup tech from SeaSucker which implements 100+# weight bearing without fail from keen mechanical designs... they've built out interfaces to a number of off-road accessories, including RotoPax. This idea isn't cheap compared to throwing a $1 gallon of water on the floor but it's cool AF. I bought the SeaSucker mount, added the RotoPax high security connector, got the RotoPax 2 gal Gen 2 container, and formed a spigot/spout for the tank.

I may replicate this connection scheme with a gas can on the flip side of the Crusher Too but my need for such liquid has only occurred twice and once most precariously. I limped to Frisco from Vail after initially mis-assessing the Crusher Too range (yeah, emission regs leave it less than my former '98). Secondly, without detriment, the original Crusher was on one of the last legs of the White Rim Ride with DD at the helm and it showed empty for 10mi or more. Ultimately NP as I drove the next leg up the rim another 20 miles so Toyota gave me leeway. Too, I can update to 5 gal kits as needed but they'd stick out more.