BRUCE

One thing the FJ always lacked was a space to spend time in comfortably. Yes, you could climb into the tent or sit in the driver's seat, but when the weather is bad you can only do that for so long. In October of 2017, I picked up a new vehicle. I had been searching the Expedition Portal forum for a few months now and I wanted something unique that also fit my style of overlanding. When the 2000 F250 popped up, I made my move and bought it. The owner at the time had built the camper to take on a 4 month long, roundtrip journey to Alaska and upon the completion of the trip he had decided to sell it and start another slightly smaller build.

Fast forward a few weeks and my friend Kevin and I were on the road, headed north to Santa Cruz to pick up my new truck. As soon as we turned the corner and saw the truck parked in the road I knew I had made the right decision…it was a beast! Standing just shy of 11’ tall and about 21 feet long I knew I had my hands full, but I was still excited and wanted to hit the road and test it out.

The truck is a 2000 Ford F250, with the 7.3l diesel engine and 4wd. When I picked it up it had just shy of 140,000 miles on it, just broken in for a diesel. The truck was bone stock when I first got it, but It wasn't long until I started the modifications. Brandon the previous owner had outfitted the camper with the basic necessities, electrictricity, water, propane system, hot water heater, and a fridge. So far i've done quite a few modifications to the truck and camper, here’s a full breakdown of what it has done.

 

 

The Truck

  • 2000 Ford F250 7.3l Diesel 4x4 access cab short bed 165k miles (10/19/18)

  • Yokohama Tire Geolandar MT G003’s in a 315/75r16

  • Custom rear progressive leaf pack and a HD leaf pack out of a F550 for the front

  • Bilstein 5160 shocks with heavy valving on all corners

  • Bilstein Steering Stabilizer

  • 4” turbo back straight pipe

  • S&B Cold air intake

  • DieselSite Coolant filtration system

  • Gearhead Automotive Hydra chip

  • Edge Insight CTSII digital gauges

  • Kenwood TM-D710 dual band radio

  • iPad Mini on Ram mount cradle

  • ICON extended track bar

  • RedHead Steering gearbox

  • Buckstop Bumpers Outback bumper

  • WARN 16.5ti-s winch

  • Factor 55 Flatlink

  • Masterpull Recovery gear

  • Rigid Industries Lights (50” SR Spot, 3x Q-series, 4x D-series amber wide, rear dual function lights)

  • Switch Pros 9100 system

  • Goal Zero boulder 100 solar panel

  • Custom Built HD towing transmission

  • Full Throttle Batteries


The Camper

The camper is made out of a metal and wood combination. The framing is steel box tube, and the walls are a insulating foam with wood ribs for structure. The outer material is a galvanized steel.

  • Maxxair Deluxe fan

  • Camp Lux hot water heater

  • Acuva water purification system

  • Dometic CFX 95L dual zone fridge/freezer

  • Dometic 9500E Electric awning

  • Propex HS2211 heater

  • 300w solar panel

  • Goal Zero Yeti 1400 lithium power pack

  • 20 gallon water tank

  • Interior designed by my mom

  • Side loading fridge

  • Outer Limit Supply Expedition first aid kit

  • Indoor/Outdoor thermometer

  • Custom made live edge wood table on a Lagun mount

  • 2 sets of Maxtrax on custom L-track mount

  • WeBoost Cell Phone Booster

  • Full River Batteries