Our Recent Experience Visiting GXV

[DiploStrat]

I "think" I know what i want:

1. Queen size bed
2. Hard sides
3. Don't think I am concerned about containerizing.
4. Dedicated wet bath area. I was convinced I liked the shower in the entry but not so sure about that anymore.
5. A/C with lithium and solar sufficient to make it usable.
6 60 gals of fuel
7 60-70 gals water
8 width - not sure. I know I would be best to keep it the width of the cab but it is a little skinny
9 interior height - 6' 4" min
10 exterior height overall - 10ft
11 overall length - 22-23 ft
12 gvwr - 12,5000lb wet ( this is the tough one, don't really want to be this heavy )

FWIW, with these exceptions:

-- 40 USG water
-- Exterior Height 10' 8"
-- Not Cab over Engine
-- 11,660 lb. wet

You just described my Tiger Malayan HT.

 

[pugslyyy]

FWIW, with these exceptions:

-- 40 USG water
-- Exterior Height 10' 8"
-- Not Cab over Engine
-- 11,660 lb. wet

You just described my Tiger Malayan HT.

Yeah, but pickup trucks just aren't as cool as cabovers.

 

[DiploStrat]

Sadly, the Tiger gets NO cool points. But it works really well!

 

[pugslyyy]

Sadly, the Tiger gets NO cool points. But it works really well!

I really like the Tiger too. If I were in the market for a pickup-based overland vehicle I would look hard at it, especially being on the East Coast.

 

[Maninga]

I'll keep this brief also.

Maninga,
I will be brief as I suspect this will turn into a discussion that does not belong ( Moderators: if we should move i am all for it ).

See you in the Japanese Trucks???

Yep. There's more experienced minds than mine over there too

Never thought to seek and automatic conversion for an old FUSO, thanks for the new path to chase down.

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/20313-All-Terrain-Warriors-campers/page51. Post 502

Now it is really about deciding what I want to put on the back. I "think" I know what i want
1. Queen size bed
2. Hard sides
3. Don't think I am concerned about containerizing.
4. Dedicated wet bath area. I was convinced I liked the shower in the entry but not so sure about that anymore.
5. A/C with lithium and solar sufficient to make it usable.
6 60 gals of fuel
7 60-70 gals water
8 width - not sure. I know I would be best to keep it the width of the cab but it is a little skinny
9 interior height - 6' 4" min
10 exterior height overall - 10ft
11 overall length - 22-23 ft
12 gvwr - 12,5000lb wet ( this is the tough one, don't really want to be this heavy )

All this sounds good. Our secondary height restriction is, there's a 3.0m bridge on main road to our house, second one 2.8m high going to market we shop at. Nice to be able to fit under both of them.
We'll be running around 100 gallons of both water and fuel, 400ah lithium and 800w solar, right around that length. Weight, should end up around the 4.7-5.0 tonne wet mark. Gives us ~1 tonne to play with for food, clothes, toys and still be within GVM.

You just described my Tiger Malayan HT.

Really like the look of these also. Saw one at Overland Expo in Flagstaff. We get a lot of cool stuff here in Aus, but there's a bit we miss out on too.

 

[DiploStrat]

Really like the look of these also. Saw one at Overland Expo in Flagstaff. We get a lot of cool stuff here in Aus, but there's a bit we miss out on too.

If you saw a Malayan HT at OEXPO West, that was mine, with the Bleu cat. Malayan Tigers don't flash overland cool, but they have all of the features that most need for serious, 'round the world travel, in comfort.

 

[Maninga]

If you saw a Malayan HT at OEXPO West, that was mine, with the Bleu cat. Malayan Tigers don't flash overland cool, but they have all of the features that most need for serious, 'round the world travel, in comfort.

I remember walking thru it, we talked with your wife about it and your travels for about 10 minutes. Could have talked for longer, but think we were hogging the inside and there was a lot of people around.

 

[photo_i]

If I remember correctly, some Tiger owners were complaining about extra cost in repairs because of camper hard mounted over the pick up cab.

 

[DiploStrat]

If I remember correctly, some Tiger owners were complaining about extra cost in repairs because of camper hard mounted over the pick up cab.

That would be odd as the two privately owned Tigers shown at OEXPO West 2014 do not have hard mounted camper bodies. And the privately owned Tiger visiting OEXPO has never suffered any

It is an article of faith among those who do NOT own a Tiger that the world must be littered with broken campers as the traditional Tiger (CX, Bengal, etc.) does not have a floating camper mount. The traditional Tiger has been in continuous production of around 20 per year for the last 25 years. In over five years on the various Tiger owner fora, I have never heard of one suffering a camper failure due to the fixed mount. Perhaps the greatest flame war on this subject can be found here: http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/20114671/srt/pa/pging/1.cfm

Rob Blackwell speculated that the various cutouts of the truck cab may have contributed to weatherstrip wear on his extended cab. http://whiteacorn.com/articles/rtw/er-review (Earthroamer used to recommend a crew cab to their customers because of the additional "B" pillar. Starting in 2015, Chevrolet now build their extended cab with a "B" pillar.)

Rick Howe, who has a short cab, has not suffered any of these ills driving his old Tiger through 55 countries. He catalogs his problems here: http://www.travelin-tortuga.com/Travelin-Tortuga/So,_whats_gone_wrong.html

No overland vehicle is perfect, as Rob Blackwell notes recounting his problems with his GVX, including a flood, loose camper, poor handling, a broken axle, and electrical challenges. http://whiteacorn.com All of that said, he has repaired his truck and he and Nina have shipped back to Europe.

Ironically, while my Tiger has a three point camper mount, I am not sure that I like it and, in fact, recommended against it for a camper this small. I certainly would love to have saved the four to six inches of additional height that it cost me! Was it worth it? Let us see in five years.

My point is that there are many who insist that Tigers are not "real" expedition vehicles. There are lots of Tiger owners who would debate that, but most are busy simply driving them.

 

[photo_i]

Rob Blackwell speculated that the various cutouts of the truck cab may have contributed to weatherstrip wear on his extended cab. http://whiteacorn.com/articles/rtw/er-review (Earthroamer used to recommend a crew cab to their customers because of the additional "B" pillar. Starting in 2015, Chevrolet now build their extended cab with a "B" pillar.)

Oh, then I must have misunderstood that, sorry.

 

[DiploStrat]

White Acorn

Rob and I discussed the condition of his Tiger at some length as I was trying to buy it. Sadly, it went to another home as I was late and short in my offer. I went on to buy the new Malayan Tiger and later saw Rob's Tiger at the Tiger rally in Leadville. It is a unique vehicle with the higher roof of a Bengal grafted to the older, lower, CX camper. Its new owner loves it.

 

[photo_i]

I went on to buy the new Malayan Tiger...

And it is a beaut! How is the gas milage, btw?

 

[DiploStrat]

Using the onboard computer (not a paper log), I get in the neighborhood of 13 mpg on the highway at 70 mph. The mileage gets worse in low range and better at 55 mph. Can't vouch for the computer as I am running 295/70 as opposed to the factory 265/70 tires. The truck has only about 11,000 miles. Rumor has it that the Duramax does better after about 25,000 miles. Would be nice, but we are still talking about an 11,500 lb. vehicle.

 

[photo_i]

Would be nice, but we are still talking about an 11,500 lb. vehicle.

That is very light for such camper!

 

[Mark@GXV]

I wanted to make a quick post about our recent visit with Mike and Rene at the GXV office. My wife and I are researching our next vehicle and one potential vehicle is the GXV Turtle. We had a two week trip to the Ozarks in our Sportsmobile planned so we exchanged a few emails with Rene at GXV and set up a day to visit.

I am very impressed with both the GXV vehicles and with Mike and Rene. We were able to tour two GXV Turtle vehicles, a Pangea, and a handle full of other Unimog based vehicles. Although we didn't expect it, Mike and Rene spent the entire day with us, patiently answering all of our questions and showing us the details of the build construction and build options.

Two unexpected pleasant surprises. They invited us to share lunch they catered in for the whole company (which was excellent), and Mike took me out for a ride to show me how their BAE Brazos with a GXV body performed. The offroad performance was impressive. I must say for how big this vehicle looks on the outside it is quite easy to drive, and you would never know there was a camper body on the vehicle without looking back.

You can see a video of what I think is either the same vehicle or one very close here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_yhgu-m0jg

Both Mike and Rene are extremely knowledgeable with a lot of first hand traveling experience. We had a great time meeting them and learning details about what we can expect out of a GXV vehicle. I'd encourage anyone looking at this class of vehicle to visit GXV and see them for yourself.

Just wanted to say thanks for the post @skijunkie
I haven't had a chance to meet you yet but appreciated reading the kind words.