CON KSO
Adventurist
The original plan was simple: swap my trusty Callen Camper with a new flatbed Hawk. It was time for a freshen up. I'd put over 30k Baja miles on the Callen and during my last trip I camped next to a guy with a FWC slide in camper - that sealed the deal for me. I had to have one.
There would be a little hassle with getting the Callen off my Tundra (the unicorn of the Tundra family: 8' bed, SR5, 4x4 - tough to find) but I knew I'd find a way - and then I'd have to get the bed off and sell it, another hassle but not that big of a deal. Here's a shot of my old rig - she's seen lots and lots and lots of Baja:
And then I did something I should never do, I started thinking. Need some examples of what "thinking" can do?
Exhibit 1: Started thinking what my truck would be like with a flatbed Hawk instead of a Callen = many thousands of dollars later, flatbed Hawk on order.
Exhibit 2: Started thinking maybe it was time to rest my trusty Tundra (130k miles on the clock - nothing for a Toyota but these are mostly offroad and Baja miles - the truck is only used for fun not a daily driver - Baja miles count double - drive a truck down there long enough and it will shake itself apart no matter what it is) and then this just happened...
Figured if I'm going to drop the coin on a brand new camper, might as well start with a fresh set of wheels under it - I didn't want to get to 200k miles and then have to re-figure out how to mount the flatbed and camper on a new truck.
Plus I got to get a truck I've always wanted. Specifically, a regular cab, full size (f350) 4x4, XL trim. I've always wanted a regular cab - I just like the way they look. I specifically chose the XL trim because I didn't want all the chrome and I didn't want carpet inside. The truck I found has none of that stuff but it does have the electronic locking rear differential, shift on the fly 4x4, skid plates (it came with fx4 package), upfitter switches (so I can feel like I'm lowering flaps on a 747), bench seat with fold down middle seat (I prefer bench seat so I can stretch my right leg across the "hump" when in cruise control).
I'd also heard that the short wheel base of the regular cab allowed it to be a bit more useful offroad and in the supermarket parking lot. I can vouch for the ability to whip tight parking lot turns - I was able to spin U-turns and pull into parking stalls like a Prius at Starbucks.
I had no idea how difficult it was to find this specific configuration. It took lots and lots of looking, and I had to jump in the auto-dealer snake pit a couple of times but came up aces (drove three hours out to the beautiful town of Mojave to score the vehicle). A whole other amusing story about finding and buying this truck but that's for another time.
I went with the 6.2L GAS engine - I've got all kinds of reason for getting the gas engine, if you're interested in my reasoning you're going to have to let me know and I will write about it. I don't want to piss any diesel lovers off - I used to own one, I bought a brand new 7.3 CC 4x4 Ford the last year they were offered in 2003 - great truck but not great for me. As I write this I am reminded of Strega's thread where he offered his reasons for going with the gasser - mine are along those same lines... plus add no ULSD in Southern Baja and I didn't like having to carry an extra Cam Position Sensor in the glove box of the truck I just spent 40-something thousand bucks on. But I digress...
Flatbed: Marc at XPCamper is building my flatbed for me. The guy's been really easy to work with and he's willing to add custom options to the build for me. For example: He's building a custom rectangular (his normal back pack boxes have sloped doors - I wanted a totally rectangular box on my flatbed - Marc checked with his fabricators and said, "no problem" just the kind of answer I was hoping for!) "back pack box" onto the forward part of the flat bed for me.
He's also building a 30 gallon water tank into the backpack box as well as an ARB Fridge slide on the passenger side so that I can mount my ARB fridge if I really have a need to commit a fridge solely to Tecate.
We're also going to run the ARB Dual Cylinder air pump, tank and quick connects all built into the flatbed. Dude, it's going to be epic!
The best part is that he will be able to build an aft sliding drawer into the flatbed. This will act as both storage and as a table (it has an aluminum cover).
Marc's flatbeds also include hinged sides so that if the camper is removed, the flatbed can be used as a functional bed for carrying cargo. I'm interested to see how my flatbed sides will be modified to fit the flatbed with the backpack box in place.
I will report back and post pics as they come available to me. My next big step is to drive the truck up to Grass Valley to get the flatbed installed. More to come!
There would be a little hassle with getting the Callen off my Tundra (the unicorn of the Tundra family: 8' bed, SR5, 4x4 - tough to find) but I knew I'd find a way - and then I'd have to get the bed off and sell it, another hassle but not that big of a deal. Here's a shot of my old rig - she's seen lots and lots and lots of Baja:
And then I did something I should never do, I started thinking. Need some examples of what "thinking" can do?
Exhibit 1: Started thinking what my truck would be like with a flatbed Hawk instead of a Callen = many thousands of dollars later, flatbed Hawk on order.
Exhibit 2: Started thinking maybe it was time to rest my trusty Tundra (130k miles on the clock - nothing for a Toyota but these are mostly offroad and Baja miles - the truck is only used for fun not a daily driver - Baja miles count double - drive a truck down there long enough and it will shake itself apart no matter what it is) and then this just happened...
Figured if I'm going to drop the coin on a brand new camper, might as well start with a fresh set of wheels under it - I didn't want to get to 200k miles and then have to re-figure out how to mount the flatbed and camper on a new truck.
Plus I got to get a truck I've always wanted. Specifically, a regular cab, full size (f350) 4x4, XL trim. I've always wanted a regular cab - I just like the way they look. I specifically chose the XL trim because I didn't want all the chrome and I didn't want carpet inside. The truck I found has none of that stuff but it does have the electronic locking rear differential, shift on the fly 4x4, skid plates (it came with fx4 package), upfitter switches (so I can feel like I'm lowering flaps on a 747), bench seat with fold down middle seat (I prefer bench seat so I can stretch my right leg across the "hump" when in cruise control).
I'd also heard that the short wheel base of the regular cab allowed it to be a bit more useful offroad and in the supermarket parking lot. I can vouch for the ability to whip tight parking lot turns - I was able to spin U-turns and pull into parking stalls like a Prius at Starbucks.
I had no idea how difficult it was to find this specific configuration. It took lots and lots of looking, and I had to jump in the auto-dealer snake pit a couple of times but came up aces (drove three hours out to the beautiful town of Mojave to score the vehicle). A whole other amusing story about finding and buying this truck but that's for another time.
I went with the 6.2L GAS engine - I've got all kinds of reason for getting the gas engine, if you're interested in my reasoning you're going to have to let me know and I will write about it. I don't want to piss any diesel lovers off - I used to own one, I bought a brand new 7.3 CC 4x4 Ford the last year they were offered in 2003 - great truck but not great for me. As I write this I am reminded of Strega's thread where he offered his reasons for going with the gasser - mine are along those same lines... plus add no ULSD in Southern Baja and I didn't like having to carry an extra Cam Position Sensor in the glove box of the truck I just spent 40-something thousand bucks on. But I digress...
Flatbed: Marc at XPCamper is building my flatbed for me. The guy's been really easy to work with and he's willing to add custom options to the build for me. For example: He's building a custom rectangular (his normal back pack boxes have sloped doors - I wanted a totally rectangular box on my flatbed - Marc checked with his fabricators and said, "no problem" just the kind of answer I was hoping for!) "back pack box" onto the forward part of the flat bed for me.
He's also building a 30 gallon water tank into the backpack box as well as an ARB Fridge slide on the passenger side so that I can mount my ARB fridge if I really have a need to commit a fridge solely to Tecate.
We're also going to run the ARB Dual Cylinder air pump, tank and quick connects all built into the flatbed. Dude, it's going to be epic!
The best part is that he will be able to build an aft sliding drawer into the flatbed. This will act as both storage and as a table (it has an aluminum cover).
Marc's flatbeds also include hinged sides so that if the camper is removed, the flatbed can be used as a functional bed for carrying cargo. I'm interested to see how my flatbed sides will be modified to fit the flatbed with the backpack box in place.
I will report back and post pics as they come available to me. My next big step is to drive the truck up to Grass Valley to get the flatbed installed. More to come!