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Powered 40 qt Frunk Cooler and 12 gal Water Tank w/washdown sprayer

29K views 166 replies 89 participants last post by  Jaron Pham 
#1 ·
About 4 months ago my buddy Jeff, (Feb 2019 R1S LE Order) showed me a post over at rivianownersforum.com from Danny C who had fit a small 12V DC electric cooler in his R1T frunk. Jeff is an avid camper and was a bit bummed out about the unusual dimensions of the R1 precluding any good sized electric coolers—in the 40 quart size range.
He asked me how hard it would be to design and manufacture a lower profile 40 quart 12V DC cooler specifically for the R1 platform—which is not as odd a question as it seems because I have 20+ years experience as a product design and manufacturing engineer, including roto-molding. IOW it's my day job.

We got to talking about his coolers for camping, the Dometic style in overlanding, and if it would even be possible for the frunk to use such a unit with more volume than current retail units offer.

We bounced ideas and concepts around for about 4 months, worked with the great Sue Smith from Munro & Associates for engineering assets, and DuckTruck let us poke around his R1T to take hundreds of photos.

The design brief ended up being a clean-sheet 40 quart powered refrigerator/freezer to specifically fit in, and work with, the R1 platform: highly robust, field repairable, functional, and likely to outlast the Rivian itself.

While working on the cooler design and where it would live in the frunk, we came up with the addition of a 12 gallon, (45 liter) potable water tank to sit in the lower well of the frunk: DC powered pump, solid state fill limit switch, baffled interior, wash-down sprayer, and sturdy enough to replace the stock frunk folding deck.

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We are aware that Rivian stopped adding the 12V DC plug in the frunk at around VIN 12.000

That means the customer base with the plug is about 12,000 trucks already delivered. On the (possibly) plus side this post shows that Rivian left the wiring and only removed the plug:

https://www.rivianownersforum.com/f...none-in-frunk-for-r1t.8716/page-6#post-214058

It is looking like adding the plug back is not all that difficult or expensive. If there is sufficient interest from owners with VIN's after 12,000 we can put together a small kit with the plug and any connectors needed, as well as a how to video.

Also, for those unsure about running an electric cooler in the frunk, several owners have already been running them without issue. Some even took the time to record actual in use temperature data and share it here:

https://www.rivianownersforum.com/forum/threads/vehicle-fridge-temperature-impact-in-frunk.5074/

We will be putting up a private forum in the next week or so for anyone who wants to reserve--the hope being we can get 200 - 300 people wanting the cooler, the water tank, or both and move ahead with production.

Pricing is not final but the cooler is looking like $550 - $600 and the water tank with pump, electronic fill sensor, and sprayer will be in the $150 - $200 range.

Until then I am happy to answer any questions in here.
 
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#153 ·
* UPDATE *

Quick update on the mold tooling for the 12 Gal Frunk Tank. We just pulled the first production sample part and it looks pretty amazing. As an FYI, it's in white to make any issues more visible for inspection--production parts will be in the water tank blue I've posted previously.

Thanks to Jeff for uploading the video =)

 
#154 ·
Add me to the list as well :cool:
 
#161 ·
UPDATE This is a repost of the latest update email Marsha sent out

Hello everyone in the 12 gal Frunk Tank Group

Link to the forum thread:

https://rivian-aftermarket.proboards.com/post/634

It's been a while since the last update—mostly because there hasn't been a lot to report.

After spending about 3 weeks in the roto-molding factory's queue, our tank parts have finally entered production. Most of that delay was the factory taking longer than they expected bringing a new production line up to speed.

For those of you who missed the post, this is a quick phone video from the factory in AR pulling the first reference parts from our mold tooling. Be advised it is shot on a live factory floor--so quite loud. Special thanks to Jesse for taking the time to shoot and send the video.



Parts from China—the pumps, hoses, machined hatch covers, etc., are still in transit but are expected to arrive at the factory in AR any time now, depending on how long it takes to clear customs at Port of Houston.

Run rate for the tanks is about 25 per week so after discussing it with you guys in the forums, the plan is to assemble and ship 50 units every two weeks rather than waiting to ship everyone's orders all at once.

To make it as fair as possible, we will be shipping in the order reservations were placed. I will be emailing the first 50 group members from the reservation list shortly with a payment link, and to confirm your shipping information. To keep things moving as smoothly as possible and avoid being bumped into the next group, please get those emails answered ASAP.

We have decided to run an extra 40 Frunk Tank units. Anyone in the group that has already signed up for one of the other projects who also wants the 12 Gal Frunk tank will get first priority. If you're interested, please let me know.


Home stretch guys!

40 QT Cooler, Slide out Utility tray, and the Camp Kitchen.

For those of you signed up for one or more of these projects, they will be the next items to enter production as we are going to be working on all three concurrently. The development and production cycle times are different for each so they obviously won't be shipping at the same time, but fairly close—within a few months of each other. There will be individual updates for each project as we progress. Stay tuned =)
 
#163 ·
UPDATE This is a repost of the latest update email Marsha sent out

Hello everyone in the 12 gal Frunk Tank Group

Link to the forum thread:

https://rivian-aftermarket.proboards.com/post/634

It's been a while since the last update—mostly because there hasn't been a lot to report.

After spending about 3 weeks in the roto-molding factory's queue, our tank parts have finally entered production. Most of that delay was the factory taking longer than they expected bringing a new production line up to speed.

For those of you who missed the post, this is a quick phone video from the factory in AR pulling the first reference parts from our mold tooling. Be advised it is shot on a live factory floor--so quite loud. Special thanks to Jesse for taking the time to shoot and send the video.



Parts from China—the pumps, hoses, machined hatch covers, etc., are still in transit but are expected to arrive at the factory in AR any time now, depending on how long it takes to clear customs at Port of Houston.

Run rate for the tanks is about 25 per week so after discussing it with you guys in the forums, the plan is to assemble and ship 50 units every two weeks rather than waiting to ship everyone's orders all at once.

To make it as fair as possible, we will be shipping in the order reservations were placed. I will be emailing the first 50 group members from the reservation list shortly with a payment link, and to confirm your shipping information. To keep things moving as smoothly as possible and avoid being bumped into the next group, please get those emails answered ASAP.

We have decided to run an extra 40 Frunk Tank units. Anyone in the group that has already signed up for one of the other projects who also wants the 12 Gal Frunk tank will get first priority. If you're interested, please let me know.


Home stretch guys!

40 QT Cooler, Slide out Utility tray, and the Camp Kitchen.

For those of you signed up for one or more of these projects, they will be the next items to enter production as we are going to be working on all three concurrently. The development and production cycle times are different for each so they obviously won't be shipping at the same time, but fairly close—within a few months of each other. There will be individual updates for each project as we progress. Stay tuned =)
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Are all of these spoken for, or can I order a package?
 
#162 · (Edited)
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Just a quick update now that the W[=0===0=]TR is shipping. In case any of you missed the email on the instruction manual pdf, you can find it at the link below.

https://rivian-aftermarket.proboards.com/thread/31/gallon-frunk-water-owners-manual

For those who prefer how-to videos, here is a link to Jeff's You Tube channel and a playlist for his excellent W[=0===0=]TR installation videos. He also has a few videos on the optional Seaflo 23 on demand pump you might find interesting.

We are running an extra 50 units and there are about 20-25 left for anyone who is interested. I will also be opening a new signup list for a second run if there is enough interest.

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