SherpaWill
Member
Well it’s officially time to jump into it and start a build thread for this thing. I have been involved in the “overland” market as a business owner for 6 years now. We have always owned Toyota’s and they always got the job done. But as my fiancé and I started going on long distance trips we always found ourselves struggling to get comfortable. Our 4Runner was built to be more on the “rock crawling” side of things and left a lot to be desired in the comfort department. We soon found ourselves looking at what the full-size truck market had to offer and landed on a 2021 F150 Lariat. We were won over by the number of amenities the truck had overall capability. These modern half-ton trucks are absolutely impressive.
The Truck:
2021 F150 Lariat
3.5L EcoBoost
Super Crew
6.5ft Bed
Here she is the day we got her. I don‘t think I have ever been so excited over a vehicle. As a young person I thought it was going to be years before owning a brand new vehicle.
![IMG_0032.jpeg IMG_0032.jpeg](https://expeditionportal.com/forum/data/attachments/669/669662-382ac68f57422635e7163b3c41efe6ed.jpg)
We do a good bit of Offroad racing and we went through a phase with a travel trailer. I went ahead and installed a set of Firestone airbags on the truck so we could make use of its 13,500lbs towing capacity. The trailer we had weighed in at 7,000lbs and was 29ft long. We quickly learned that towing a wind sail that large is not fun. Even with all of the sway bars, and accessories for sway, we could not get the trailer to tow well. We towed a few other trailers ranging from 6,000lbs to 12,500lbs without any issues. Rather than buying another travel trailer we did some assessing of what we wanted out of the truck build. We did a ton of research into campers of all styles ranging from a GFC (GoFastCamper) to half-ton towable 5th wheels.
![IMG_1587.jpeg IMG_1587.jpeg](https://expeditionportal.com/forum/data/attachments/669/669663-1edce6eb81f8e4867c7398aab89b995f.jpg)
We quickly settled on wanting something that was lightweight and could get back into some pretty remote areas. Towable campers were out and we dove into the world of slide in campers. For a while we thought we were going to end up in a Four Wheel Camper Hawk. We ran into some sourcing issues as getting a new FWC in less than a year is a miracle it would seem. That is when we found the OEV Camp-X through the guys at BVO (Now Off-Grid 4x4 in Colorado). At twice the price of a mid tier FWC, we were initially put off by price. But when you look at the build quality and modern amenities when compared to what is offered by FWC, it was a no brainer. We wanted something that would last us some time and make it easy for us to be away from home for long periods of time.
Selling points of the OEV:
Weight - Being a half-ton truck we needed something light and the Camp-X comes in at 1200lbs.
Construction - High-end build quality using honeycomb composite and and aluminum skeleton frame for rigidity.
Insulation - The fabric sides are a double layer sandwiching insulation. The composite sides feature a really high R-value and even the windows are double pane with an air gap.
Power Management - Our Camp-X came standard with a Redarc Manager 30 system.
Power Generation - Our camper was spec‘d out by our dealer with 400 watts of solar and it is paired with a 100Ah lithium battery.
Interior Design - We were blown away by how the camper felt with the bamboo countertops and aluminum cabinetry with HDPE doors. Beautiful and easy to clean.
![IMG_3261.jpeg IMG_3261.jpeg](https://expeditionportal.com/forum/data/attachments/669/669664-4ac9d6ca9c166ecdf1eb122e7af72c08.jpg)
![IMG_3262.jpeg IMG_3262.jpeg](https://expeditionportal.com/forum/data/attachments/669/669665-a8f5c38aa0b4fb132bf073a4e9ae988f.jpg)
We picked up the camper in July of 2022 and quickly set out to get some nights in it. We quickly racked up a little over 20 nights in four months with the camper and fell in love with it. I believe it was a big part of why we settled on a honeymoon trip to Alaska to start in June of 2023. This has been a dream of mine for years and I feel very fortunate to now get to carry that out.
![IMG_3630.jpeg IMG_3630.jpeg](https://expeditionportal.com/forum/data/attachments/669/669666-9066e4e0285b69fcec90326089aa94d7.jpg)
![IMG_3300.jpeg IMG_3300.jpeg](https://expeditionportal.com/forum/data/attachments/669/669670-4af3beb02afbf4133ac9a3dc74b1df33.jpg)
![_WPO7699.jpeg _WPO7699.jpeg](https://expeditionportal.com/forum/data/attachments/669/669671-03347204b90f11689e128ae76a8e2d7d.jpg)
Thats the story of how we got here. Now, enough jabbering, on to some truck building!
The Truck:
2021 F150 Lariat
3.5L EcoBoost
Super Crew
6.5ft Bed
Here she is the day we got her. I don‘t think I have ever been so excited over a vehicle. As a young person I thought it was going to be years before owning a brand new vehicle.
![IMG_0032.jpeg IMG_0032.jpeg](https://expeditionportal.com/forum/data/attachments/669/669662-382ac68f57422635e7163b3c41efe6ed.jpg)
We do a good bit of Offroad racing and we went through a phase with a travel trailer. I went ahead and installed a set of Firestone airbags on the truck so we could make use of its 13,500lbs towing capacity. The trailer we had weighed in at 7,000lbs and was 29ft long. We quickly learned that towing a wind sail that large is not fun. Even with all of the sway bars, and accessories for sway, we could not get the trailer to tow well. We towed a few other trailers ranging from 6,000lbs to 12,500lbs without any issues. Rather than buying another travel trailer we did some assessing of what we wanted out of the truck build. We did a ton of research into campers of all styles ranging from a GFC (GoFastCamper) to half-ton towable 5th wheels.
![IMG_1587.jpeg IMG_1587.jpeg](https://expeditionportal.com/forum/data/attachments/669/669663-1edce6eb81f8e4867c7398aab89b995f.jpg)
We quickly settled on wanting something that was lightweight and could get back into some pretty remote areas. Towable campers were out and we dove into the world of slide in campers. For a while we thought we were going to end up in a Four Wheel Camper Hawk. We ran into some sourcing issues as getting a new FWC in less than a year is a miracle it would seem. That is when we found the OEV Camp-X through the guys at BVO (Now Off-Grid 4x4 in Colorado). At twice the price of a mid tier FWC, we were initially put off by price. But when you look at the build quality and modern amenities when compared to what is offered by FWC, it was a no brainer. We wanted something that would last us some time and make it easy for us to be away from home for long periods of time.
Selling points of the OEV:
Weight - Being a half-ton truck we needed something light and the Camp-X comes in at 1200lbs.
Construction - High-end build quality using honeycomb composite and and aluminum skeleton frame for rigidity.
Insulation - The fabric sides are a double layer sandwiching insulation. The composite sides feature a really high R-value and even the windows are double pane with an air gap.
Power Management - Our Camp-X came standard with a Redarc Manager 30 system.
Power Generation - Our camper was spec‘d out by our dealer with 400 watts of solar and it is paired with a 100Ah lithium battery.
Interior Design - We were blown away by how the camper felt with the bamboo countertops and aluminum cabinetry with HDPE doors. Beautiful and easy to clean.
![IMG_3261.jpeg IMG_3261.jpeg](https://expeditionportal.com/forum/data/attachments/669/669664-4ac9d6ca9c166ecdf1eb122e7af72c08.jpg)
![IMG_3262.jpeg IMG_3262.jpeg](https://expeditionportal.com/forum/data/attachments/669/669665-a8f5c38aa0b4fb132bf073a4e9ae988f.jpg)
We picked up the camper in July of 2022 and quickly set out to get some nights in it. We quickly racked up a little over 20 nights in four months with the camper and fell in love with it. I believe it was a big part of why we settled on a honeymoon trip to Alaska to start in June of 2023. This has been a dream of mine for years and I feel very fortunate to now get to carry that out.
![IMG_3630.jpeg IMG_3630.jpeg](https://expeditionportal.com/forum/data/attachments/669/669666-9066e4e0285b69fcec90326089aa94d7.jpg)
![IMG_3300.jpeg IMG_3300.jpeg](https://expeditionportal.com/forum/data/attachments/669/669670-4af3beb02afbf4133ac9a3dc74b1df33.jpg)
![_WPO7699.jpeg _WPO7699.jpeg](https://expeditionportal.com/forum/data/attachments/669/669671-03347204b90f11689e128ae76a8e2d7d.jpg)
Thats the story of how we got here. Now, enough jabbering, on to some truck building!