IHDiesel73L
Adventurer
In the month or so that I've been a member here at the ExPo forums I've learned a lot. Ironically I found this place just looking for information on crew cabs. The reason I was looking was because I anticipated our family (currently me, my wife, and our chocolate lab) outgrowing my regular cab Super Duty in the next few years. However, I recently found out that we'll have outgrown it as of October 2011-I'm gonna be a dad!!! :victory: Obviously we've got a lot to plan and think about, and vehicles are a big part of it since both sets of grandparents (located about 50 miles away in opposite directions) want to help with childcare and once the baby is old enough we want to start doing road trips again. My goal is to have a new (well, new to me) truck by 2012.
Now for what I'm looking to do. As the title implies, I'm looking to build an overland "lite" vehicle, meaning I don't think I'm looking to build a truck that will function as a camper (with a slide-in/pop up) for a few reasons-first I utilize a large (60 gallon) auxiliary fuel tank that really can't go anywhere else besides the cab end of the bed (it's a toolbox tank) without major issues because it's a heated tank that holds vegetable oil. Mounting some sort of underbody tank would be possible but not without expensive fabrication work, etc... The other reason is that since I tend to use the bed of my truck a lot, a slide-in or pop up could be problematic to get in and out so often. For any camping we do I think my best bet is a pop-up trailer. Also, one of our long term goals is to buy land in Maine and establish a camp there for summer vacations and fall deer hunting. We're about 10 hours from the area where we'd like to buy so a vehicle that can carry the entire family plus everything we'd need for the trip is a must. Finally, we want to do do lots of family vacations to National Parks and Forests out West, so again, a family hauler that can carry a lot of gear will be a must.
Trips that my wife and I have done so far usually involve staying in a cabin rather than true camping. We use the cabin as our base of operations, cooking our own meals in it and sleeping in it at night obviously, so again, a camper wouldn't be a our best bet. However, if we're doing a 10 or 12 hour drive somewhere, I'd like the ability to pull off at a rest area and cook a meal rather than stop at a Burger King. Another thing I thought of was gadget power in remote places. We've looked at cabins that have no electricity, and one of the challenges of building our own camp in Maine will be how to get electricity for tools, etc...my thought was finding some way to either produce enough power through a high amp alternator (Powerstroke ambulances used 200 amp altenators) with heavy duty inverters or to mount a generator somewhere on/in the truck. I'm also thinking that both of these features would also come in handy for one of our other favorite pastimes-tailgating! Anyway, just some thoughts I'm throwing around-I'll be interested to hear from other folks who have done builds similar to the one I'm proposing.
Now for what I'm looking to do. As the title implies, I'm looking to build an overland "lite" vehicle, meaning I don't think I'm looking to build a truck that will function as a camper (with a slide-in/pop up) for a few reasons-first I utilize a large (60 gallon) auxiliary fuel tank that really can't go anywhere else besides the cab end of the bed (it's a toolbox tank) without major issues because it's a heated tank that holds vegetable oil. Mounting some sort of underbody tank would be possible but not without expensive fabrication work, etc... The other reason is that since I tend to use the bed of my truck a lot, a slide-in or pop up could be problematic to get in and out so often. For any camping we do I think my best bet is a pop-up trailer. Also, one of our long term goals is to buy land in Maine and establish a camp there for summer vacations and fall deer hunting. We're about 10 hours from the area where we'd like to buy so a vehicle that can carry the entire family plus everything we'd need for the trip is a must. Finally, we want to do do lots of family vacations to National Parks and Forests out West, so again, a family hauler that can carry a lot of gear will be a must.
Trips that my wife and I have done so far usually involve staying in a cabin rather than true camping. We use the cabin as our base of operations, cooking our own meals in it and sleeping in it at night obviously, so again, a camper wouldn't be a our best bet. However, if we're doing a 10 or 12 hour drive somewhere, I'd like the ability to pull off at a rest area and cook a meal rather than stop at a Burger King. Another thing I thought of was gadget power in remote places. We've looked at cabins that have no electricity, and one of the challenges of building our own camp in Maine will be how to get electricity for tools, etc...my thought was finding some way to either produce enough power through a high amp alternator (Powerstroke ambulances used 200 amp altenators) with heavy duty inverters or to mount a generator somewhere on/in the truck. I'm also thinking that both of these features would also come in handy for one of our other favorite pastimes-tailgating! Anyway, just some thoughts I'm throwing around-I'll be interested to hear from other folks who have done builds similar to the one I'm proposing.
