Thanks Road. You drive a diesel offroad huh? Brave boy. I drove a powerstroke till I got tired of the expense. Did all my own work and it still broke the bank. Now, I've got a modest F150 5L 4x4 and haven't spent a dime on repair and its cheap to maintain.
Do you like that Xventure? Kinda ... $$. I've actually been thinking of a Snugtop truck cap to start with. I took my wife to look at trailers and her first question was ... where do I plug in my hair dryer? Hmm. Its just so hard to justify the expense!!! I plan on going to Overland Expo this year so I can see gear first hand. I see lots of Rpods, truck campers and the occasional offroad trailer in Colorado when I visit. Folks love those Rpods but your not taking one of them on trails I don't think. No ... I know.
Thanks for the bag idea.
You're welcome, man.
I've had tremendous luck with my Duramax diesels. Been driving them for 15 years or more. This is my 2nd one, a 6.6, and has around 386,000 miles on her. My last one was a 6.5 and had over 500,000 miles on it when I retired it, more due to body than engine, which was still going strong. My present van has cost me nothing in repairs in the 5-6 years I've owned it other than regular maintenance and some front end parts.
I LOVE my XVenture. I have two 1/4 ton military trailers (of WWII and Vietnam vintages) I was going to fix up for camping and off-road, then started putting together the list of parts, custom work, all the stuff I wanted it to have for extended cross-country and camping adventures. Then figured the rough time involved as far as man hours, the amount of time as far as months it would take (with no inside place to work on it being the killer) to be at a place I could take it on the road. I would still be working on it and be nowhere near completion. In fact I estimated I would not get it done the way I wanted 'til the end of this summer, 2018, or into the fall. I really did not want to wait that long before hitting the road again.
AND, because I do longer trips than a lot of folk and am often gone for months at a time, I decided I needed a trailer that could handle larger amounts of cargo than the 1/4 ton trailers. Also realized that the 1/4 ton trailers (for sale
HERE and
HERE) could not handle full-sized sheet goods like plywood or sheetrock, as they're nowhere near 48" between the wheel wheels and not very long. I do a lot of building and hauling cargo and wanted a trailer I could not only camp with, but could use as a heavy duty cargo hauler and construction trailer as well.
The XVenture XV-2 I have now checked off all the right boxes. I got a great deal on it, it came at the right time for me, I wouldn't have to spend a year creating my own, and it is a far more rugged, capable, and long-lasting trailer than anything I could have made on my own. It just made too much sense to me and I thought "shit man, I've worked hard a long time and given up a lot I wanted to get to this place. Damned if I'm going to struggle to make a trailer be what I want it to be and still not have it, when I can get this thing and be on the road and have it be everything I want!"
So I bought it, found some other used stuff like a hardshell RTT and wonderul OZ ground tent, added a new awning, added some solar, got some other good gear, and could not be happier. I spend more time on the road and camping than I do in a house, so consider it all a very worthwhile investment in my well-being and safety to have a good trailer and van I can depend on. I'll also be using it all for outdoor, camping, and photography workshops. They'll even be able to plug in a hair dryer.
Don't know anything about Rpods, but will look into what those are all about.
Thanks for your reply man - sounds like it'd be fun to run across you on the road somewhere and spend a night or two camping.