2022 Ford F550 - DIY - Adventure Expedition Vehicle Build Thread

[Vance Vanz]

Humanness Check In - 1 of 3

Originally this was supposed to go out the first or second week of January, but I’ve been sitting with it a bit. Pretend it went out the second week of January and it will make more sense. It’s going to be a long one!

It has been a long time since I have done a humanness check in. Better late than never!

Let me first start off by saying I hope everyone had a pleasurable and/or meaningful Christmas and New Year! The Holidays can be a mixed bag for people, but I’m rooting for the more hopeful side of things for everyone’s sake ! I have been pushing hard every day (12 hour days minimum) since I got back from Bali, which included straight through the Holidays.

I’ll have to admit that I have been unconsciously and consciously avoiding doing a humanness check in (the good old Sanity and/or Insanity Report 🤪). I’ll elaborate on the avoidance piece in a bit!

Not much has changed for me mentally, emotionally, physiologically and/or relationally since my previous check ins. It’s all the same stuff, just a bit worse/harder, because of the chronicity of it all. The build itself isn’t actually the hardest part of the process. Sure, putting in long days, virtually every day for almost two years now, and the sheer number of things I have to constantly research, design, engineer, fabricate and/or figure out how to build can be overwhelming. Sometimes I just simply want to get something done without having to go through an entire design-engineer-fabrication process. In addition, hand-built resin infused and/or vacuum bagged composite work, and the associated fairing/body work, simply takes forever. Also, add another forever, on top of the already forever, if you want professional/factory looking body work and associated paint/coating. Yes, all of this can wear me down, but this isn’t the toughest part of the build process for me.

The hardest part of this build is the amount of loneliness I feel 😢. The aloneness/loneliness is a combination of pretty much doing the entire build (labor of the build) by myself, not having a family/support system behind me and being in an environment that I would not otherwise be in. Working 12-hour days, seven days a week, in a shop by yourself gets old and lonely pretty quick. Because of the long hours, I leave the house after everyone has started their day and get home when everyone is in bed. My sleep cycle and work hours can also get jacked up if/when a composite layup drags into the wee hours of the night/morning. When this happens, another 16 to 20-hour day occurs. I’m currently on a wake up at 11am-12pm and go to bed at 3-4am cycle that I can’t seem to break because of the last composite all-nighter. Rinse and repeat, every day, week in and week out!

Talk to any professional business owner and/or athlete, anyone trying to accomplish a large, comprehensive and/or difficult/insurmountable feet, and they will often tell you that they have a team behind and with them. This team, if one is fortunate to have, includes not only a team of professionals, but also one’s family. These are people who not only get what you are trying to accomplish, have the actual practical professional experience and skills to help you get it done, but are also those who understand what the process will do to someone on a personal level and most importantly, get you on a personal level. They know not only how to climb Everest and have the equipment to do so, but also what the toll of climbing Everest will entail and how you specifically will be affected during the journey. They are there with you and for you through the good and bad times and in particular when you are in the trenches of the ick and the sh(smiley face)it! This is who you lean on when it is hard, you feel broken, you have nothing left to give and you want to quit. They drag you out of the muck and mud, give you a hug, give you a blanket and something to eat, and eventually put a smile back on your face so you can once again stand on your own two feet. I unfortunately don’t have the close/intimate family aspect of this support and only a little of it on the professional side.

As well as doing the physical work of the build by myself and the lack of a support system (family/team), the original and main driver/passion for the build was gone before the build even started🙁. My main motivation for the build was relational, to build a home for my partner and I, our little nest for traveling the Americas, a means for us to manifest and experience our personal and relational dreams. Sure, I’m capable of building this thing, but I was never super excited about just building an expedition vehicle. My excitement for the expedition vehicle, and willingness to climb Mount Everest (twice with no oxygen) in order to complete the build, was first and foremost for my relationship, then for outdoor adventure sports and international travel. When you lose the primary passion for the build before it even gets started and the second and third passion get pushed so far out because of how long the build is taking (2.5 years instead of 1 year max) you start to lose all passion for the build. You question, and also forget, why the hell you are even still doing the build. The build starts to simply become this material object you are killing yourself to complete for no real purpose and/or passionate/meaningful reason.

In addition to the factors noted above, now remove the environment one would consider home, and/or an environment that one would consider stimulating, and you really start to push the loneliness limits of the human psyche. As I have previously stated in other posts, taking a day off in my current environment is actually a bad thing for me. I feel worse when I take a day off, because I am simply reminded that I am in a city and state that isn’t for me. Rather than taking a day off to engage in some watered-down version of an experience that just leads to disappointment, sadness and frustration, I’d rather just get one more day in on the build. I’d rather be one more day closer to completing the build so I can move on. Another way of putting it is as simply as I can is, you wouldn’t take a creature that travels the vast ocean and place it in a fish tank meant for a studio apartment for 2.5 years.

This is the chronic psychic soup of distress and loneliness I am bathing in, that I’m saturated with.

Yes……, I know I always have a choice in the matter and in my life. I can easily remedy the whole psychic soup of loneliness and distress by simply pulling the plug on the build, saying F(smiley face)UCK IT and scrapping the project altogether, or trying to sell it for nickels to dimes on the dollar. That however would be a hard pill to swallow, the chunk of change I would lose. Another option would be to move the build to CA or CO, to once again be in an environment that feeds my soul, to be home. It’s an option, but this would also cost me a chunk of change and I would lose a ton of time on the build doing so. I would have to pay to break my current shop lease and sign another hopefully short-term shop lease, which is hard/if not impossible to find and always takes months to make happen. My living situation would be similar, trying to find a short-term lease that would cost and arm and a leg. I would also have to move again and moves shops again, which is an absolute PITA and would cost additional time and money. Not to mention that I would also have to find another capable/qualified fab shop and paint/coating shop. You get the picture. The third option is to stay put, keep enduring everything that I have noted above, and hopefully grind out the build in the next six months. I have obviously chosen and have been choosing option three, to avoid the financial and temporal consequences noted above, and because of the many unfortunate events that have occurred throughout the build process. Unfortunate events that were often unknown and unforeseen and also often out of my control.

It's one of those unfortunate and sh(smiley face)itty time periods in one’s life, my life. The type that you make the best choice(s) that you can when each unfortunate event occurs, but the unfortunate events just unexpectedly keep coming. And when I say “best choice(s)”, what I really mean to say is the choice(s) with the least amount of sh(smiley face)itty consequences because there is no ideal, better, or best option, just a bunch of sh(smiley face)itty, disappointing and frustrating ones. A time period when you look back on it after the fact and just shake your head, because you would have made a completely different choice about the entire process (build/life) if you had known everything upfront.

Continued......

 

[Vance Vanz]

Humanness Check In - 2 of 3

It's also one of those time periods when enough substantial-unfortunate events have occurred that you start to enter the existential questioning realm. “Is this Karma; am I a bad person and I don’t know it?” “Is God, Allah, Brahman, Buddha, ……… etc., trying to teach me a lesson that I’m just not getting?” “Whhhhhhhhhhy Meeeeeeeee 😫😭?” Ohhhhhhhh, I crack myself up sometimes 😆. I’m serious though, I have entered the existential, primordial, infinite, nobody knows and will ever know, questioning phase a few times now. This often occurs when some of the big and nasty unfortunate events (personal, relational, build) occur. This can also occur when I hit the cyclical no day off for 10-12 weeks.

I think I have already shared that about every two and a half to three weeks I encounter this fussy, can’t sit still, adolescent angst that makes it hard to be at the shop and focus. It last for about a day or two. I also experience something that feels like a bit of an existential crisis every 10-12 weeks. It also lasts about 1-2 days and I go through the drama of: “what am I doing, should I move the build, should I continue or not continue the build, how the hell did my life end up here?”, …………… etc.

Currently I am in the crux of the two and a half to three-month existential crisis mode 😳. Not only does this entail a bit of depression for 1-2 days, existential questioning/doubt and a sense of being a ship at sea with no rudder or gas in the tank, but also angsty anxiety that can manifest physically (psychosomatically). I’ll wake up in the morning and as soon as I open my eyes, anxiety is right there. Anxiety can also manifest through my dreams and wake me up. The psychosomatic part has shown up in many ways, but the most common is on my skin. Any area on my skin that was initially irritated by composite/body work, will flare up even more, or after the fact, as a result of anxiety. Sometimes I’m itching just because the anxiety is so much that it is expressing through previous composite skin irritations that have already gone away, but are simply coming back in the same area because of the anxiety expressing in a physical way.

If I’m honest, these 2 to 2.5 years to complete the build will have been the hardest and most distressing of my life. I have never had so many substantial unfortunate events occur in a condensed period of time, while also being saturated in this much loneliness and simultaneously being stuck in an enervating environment the entire time. It all accumulates into one existential angst that just makes you want to peel out of your F(smiley face)CKING skin at times 😖!

So here we are, right in the eye of my psychic storm. I can’t be any more honest, raw and vulnerable. This is the heart of the unconscious and conscious trepidation (previously mentioned avoidance) that I have had with regard to posting another humanness check in. I have been swinging back and forth between, “I should share this stuff.” and “Nobody gives a sh(smiley face)it about this stuff.”

Why do I do it then? Why do I spill my guts (Bare My Soul) and share all of this at the risk of sounding like a complainer and being perceived as a weak whiner, especially on a public forum? Maybe it’s because this is simply a large part of my reality related to the build process. Maybe it’s because I’m a psychotherapist and I have the awareness and ability to capture and express it? Maybe it’s because this is the part of the build process that most people aren’t talking about? Maybe I have a few screws loose in mi cabeza? Maybe it’s because I promised myself (and You) that I would-do humanness check ins throughout the entirety of the build? Maybe it’s because this is the largest and hardest part (possibly the most important part) of actually fully completing a comprehensive overland/expedition build (The psychological part)?

The answer is D., all of the above!

Trust me, I hope you and/or your family (if you have one) don’t experience a fraction of the psychic distress that I am experiencing throughout this build process. The number of unfortunate events that have occurred both personally and related to the build these past two years, many that were out of my control, is nothing short of surreal. It’s not often that you are continually dragged down to the depths and held there for a period of time that dances with likes of incomprehensible and unbearable.

Please remember that this is all just information. Take from it what you will and leave the rest. I’m not trying to say, and/or imply, that you will have the same experiences that I’m having. This is my reality, and also my subjective reality, which is based on many specific, unique and complex circumstances.

When I reflect on the importance of these humanness check ins, and in particular this one, a few things come up. I’ll start with one that benefits me (a selfish one of sorts ).

1. If I was currently maintaining a journal or diary during the build process, this is what would be in it. Remember, I’m in a constant and chronic state of distress that is only going to be solved and resolved when the build is complete and I’m driving down the road towards AK or Baja. Until then, I’m in the soup. Not many people truly understand what it’s like to work this hard and be this lonely/isolated for multiple years, so I don’t share it with many people. Many people also don’t know how to be empathetic with someone in distress and especially in chronic distress. People often just try and fix the problem for the person in distress by suggesting a bunch of solutions and miss just simply being understanding and empathetic about the situation. The added irony is, the person in distress often already knows the solution(s), and has spent hundreds of hours analyzing and strategizing the infinite solutions, so most likely no offered solution is going to be new information. Soooo, a journal, taking the time to formulate all of my experiences, put them into words and writing them down, can be therapeutic. It’s a way for me/someone to experience a bit of it, process it and let some of it go/vent it off. In addition, I know someone is going to be reading this, whether they can relate or care is not the main point. Simply, by someone else reading this and witnessing my distress, is me not being alone in it. This helps with the loneliness and isolation, it’s therapeutic for me. So, thanks for reading this and being a part of the build thread and process, even the hard, ugly, and messy part of it 🤗!

2. Do me a favor on your build, beg and barter labor from anyone you can: family, children, friends, co-workers, neighbors and even your mail man/woman if you can sell it 😆. A comprehensive build, especially one that you will be building the habitat box, or want the finished product to be/look like it came out of a factory, is going to be a beast of a project (1 year minimum to 2.5 years double time). It will CRUSH you if you don’t have a small team behind you, not only for the amount of labor, but also for the mental, emotional and relational support that YOU WILL NEED. For those that will be primarily tackling it solo, lace up your combat boots and boxing gloves, because you are about to get an old fashioned A(smiley face)SS whoopin, a real beat down. And yes, you are going to get lonely working on a project of this size. Many people won’t be able to relate to the amount of hours you are putting in and the amount of things you are constantly having to figure out. You’re going to get: stressed, anxious, pissed, lonely, feel isolated and experience about 100 other emotions. It may/will also seem like nobody gets it and/or nobody cares when it gets deep into the project/really bad. Trust me, I hope you don’t get there, but you probably will. When you do get to that sh(smiley face)itty dark place, in particular the dark lonely place, this is when you will need your family/support team more than ever. Lean into them and tell them what’s going on and what you need. For those that don’t have a family or support team, or one that really gets it and/or is helpful in these types of situations……………., hopefully you will find and/or come back to my build thread for a little solace. Even if you don’t know me and we have never met, send me some of your psychic distress through the cosmos. I’ll feel your pain and send some empathetic/good vibes back your way 😊. Let my: build thread, completed build and actual human self be a thread of hope! I got you brotha, sista and those who identify in any and all other manners

Continued......

 

[Vance Vanz]

Humanness Check In - 3 of 3

3. I’m a documentary junky if/when I do any TV/movie watching/binging. As a psychotherapist, competitor, and businessman/entrepreneur, I’m often interested in documentaries about people who are at the top of their chosen passion/field/sport, have accomplished an awe-inspiring dream and/or those who have overcome a great obstacle(s). The one common thread that is often talked about as being the most important and/or significant is mental fortitude. The ability to: cope, manage, engage, experience, express, push through, …… etc., the mental, emotional, physiological and relational aspects of the human psyche during adverse times and come out on the other side (to stick with it and accomplish the goal despite this). Just about every documentary, and the research, states that the accomplishment of any great/difficult feet is more mental than physical. Talk to any great/professional athlete at the top of their game, who pushes the limits, and they will agree with this. This is exactly what I am also currently experiencing. The labor of the build is not the hardest part, it is the absence of passion and the mental/emotional toll of loneliness that are the hardest parts. I would imagine this would also be the main cause of why most overland/expedition vehicle builds don’t see the finish line. People lose the mental interest, passion and fortitude to see it through. Another way of stating it is, this will be the largest aspect of the process that you will have to work through, push through and/or overcome to get to the finish line.

Similar, but also a bit off the specific topic, is the rather simple conceptualization/paradigm that it takes 1. Belief 2. Passion and 3. Support (Team/Family) to accomplish something grand/insurmountable. For my build I am unfortunately running low to empty on passion and support, but have plenty of belief. Make sure you have these in order and firing on all cylinders if you are going to tackle a project like this, or it is going to be a rough 1-3years 🙂.

4. I hinted at this in previous posts, but I don’t know if I’ve stated it in this way, or if I have been explicit enough. A comprehensive build, especially one that you will be doing a majority of the work yourself, and you are expecting it to be/look like what comes out of a professional shop, is NOT a project. We don’t need to get lost in the text book semantics here on the definition of the word project. Don’t think of it as a project like a hobby or something you will just finish on nights and weekends. If you do, you are going to be in for a rude awakening, a world of hurt. This will be a job and I would even argue moving into the realm of a career when you start adding up the amount of hours it will require. I will be 24-26 months of actual in the shop labor hours (HOPEFULLY that is all) on this project when it is complete. Note: This DOES NOT include a lot of up-front time for design, research and parts ordering that I did before I even started working on the build. It also does not include the set of extra hands I brought on board part time for about four months to help cut composite materials/consumables for layups and to construct the habitat box. On average, it will be about 90-95 hours per week for these 24-26 months. 90 hours at 26 months (112 weeks) is 10,080 hours. 10,080 hours at 40 hours per week and 52 weeks per year is 4.85 years. Does this start to look like a career now? I share this because it is invaluable information that you need when deciding what specific aspects of a build you want to do yourself, which you may want to sub out, or if you want to build it yourself at all. Note: You can build a comprehensive/professional rig over 3-5 years like a project, doing it while you work/have a full-time job and at whatever pace you choose, but for me this is not possible. I’m doing a one time, all in one shot build for a 2-3 year long trip. I can’t pause, reset, stop and come back to it later. I have to build it all at once and for a trip that will be primarily out of the country.

Alright, it’s time for me to wrap this humanness check in up. I may not post any more humanness check ins until something new or additional occurs for me during the build process.

I have already expressed as best as I can how it has been for me (mentally, emotionally, physiologically and relationally), hopefully in healthy and respectful ways. This is what I fear may happen if I continue to talk about the same chronic distress I’m in, it will start to be expressed from an unhealthy place, out of unhealthy frustration/anger that may become projections of my own sh(smiley face)it and/or as judgments towards others and other things.

My progression has followed what usually happens for people who are in touch with their emotions and behaviors. I first had sadness and disappointment related to everything I’ve been experiencing. Some frustration was there as well, but I could talk about it all and cope with it all in healthy manners. When my sadness, disappointment and frustration can’t be resolved, (for all the reasons previously mentioned), it all manifests into frustration and anger that wants to take action. If no action can be engaged to solve the problem(s), then it is more saturation in the distress and this is when the risk of unhealthy anger taking over is at its greatest. Unhealthy actions of anger like complaining, projecting, judging and acting out in unhealthy ways. At this point in time, in the context of my humanness check ins and risk of unhealthy anger being expressed, it comes down to the simple saying of “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all!” 🤓😇

 

[Vance Vanz]

Fairing/Skirt: Layup & Demold for the Camper - Drivers Side Rear

This has been done for about a week, but I decided to set it aside and spend some time getting the interior fairing/body work a little further ahead.

Layup


Demold

This one definitely took more time to demold. I started popping off sides of the mold to help get the part out.​

 

[Vance Vanz]

Carbon Fiber Fairing/Skirt for Camper - Drivers Side Rear

I'm getting closer to having these thing done 🤩🥳😝🤪🙃😎



Shaped and contoured


I think I already mentioned that the bottom and inside back flanges/edges (1") are designed to receive bottom panels and a back panel to enclose/insulate the grey water tank.

 

[Vance Vanz]

Carbon Fiber Fairing/Skirt for Camper - Drivers Side Rear - Dry Fitting

I'm surprised how well the lines are matching up and how clean everything is coming out.

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Here is what the removable back wheel well blank off piece will somewhat look like (will span the entire width of the wheel well). It will sit 3-1/2 to 4" below the bottom of the camper.

 

[Vance Vanz]

Carbon Fiber Rear Fender for Camper - Drivers Side Rear

While taking a break from the fairing/skirts, I also started designing and templating the rear fenders. It is going to be a little tricky to give them some thickness while also tying the bottom side of them back into the fairings without it looking funky, not factory/clean. I already have an idea on how to accomplish this, these are just photos of my preliminary templates/ideas.



Playing with different thicknesses and angles


A few different radiuses on the top corners of the cardboard (there in pencil and hard to see)


Starting tomorrow, I guess today since it is almost three in the morning, I'll start on the last fairing/skirt (passenger side rear). This one may take me the longest out of all of them, since I have the step box and steps to account for in the mold. I already have all of the exact measurements laid out and ready to go on the template.


Hopefully I will be popping it out of the mold by next weekend 🤞!


Until next time✌️.

 

[Christian]

Reg. Humanness check-in, I hear you and what you are going through. Thank you for sharing.
I hope the clouds will let some ray of light let you see the path ahead does have an end, and you are closer than ever!

 

[Vance Vanz]

Reg. Humanness check-in, I hear you and what you are going through. Thank you for sharing.
I hope the clouds will let some ray of light let you see the path ahead does have an end, and you are closer than ever!

Hey Christian,

Thanks for your response and for taking the time!

It's nice to know my words were heard.

Light ! Hopefully when this thing comes back from paint/coating, I will get an extra shot of light/energy to boost me to the finish line.

Thanks again!

 

[TonyCatmandu]

I check every couple of days to see your progress. How did those fender flares turn out?

You had mentioned Wilds Drake as a resource for your build. Not only are his boats very cool but his camper is one of the most production looking DIY rigs I have seen. Took him a couple years to build his and he is a professional! You are right on track!

 

[Vance Vanz]

Hey Tony!

Build progress coming right up in a few minutes! Thanks for your interest in the build thread/progress .

Yah, Wild's has been a bit of a God Send for me on this project. His boats are super clean and his build is Bonkers (how well everything came out)! I won't make the two-year completion date, but I shouldn't be too far behind it. At some point I've got to stop whether I want to or not, for my own sanity and for financial reasons 😆!

Thanks again and without further ado....., to the build progress.

 

[Vance Vanz]

Carbon Fiber Fairing/Skirt for Camper - Passenger Side Rear - Mold Making

This mold was a bit more complicated than the others and it took a bit more time to get completed. I felt like it was fighting me the whole time, or maybe I was fighting it since it is the last mold/fairing and I'm getting antsy related to completing all of the composite work. I'm almost there, but I still have several smaller composite projects left to do and the remainder of the body work on the interior.

The past several weeks, since the last post, I have been completing this last fairing/skirt, finalizing/shaping the rear fenders and doing the body work on the interior. This last fairing/skirt was a bear!

Here is the remanent main mold section from the last mold. This is the last larger-fuller section of the main mold that I have left, so I have to get a bit creative to make sure I have enough main mold section to complete this mold/the associated fairing skirt.



I need to turn this, into this 😳🧐.


I first cut the back end angle and departure angle for the mold (right side of mold in pic). I also needed to re-bond the piece I cut off the main mold section from the previous mold, so I have enough/more main mold section.


Re-bonding and tabbing the piece. It doesn't look like much, but trying to get all of the contours lined up perfectly was a bit of a pain.



The good old track saw; I've been missing that thing 😝. Ripping lengths of melamine to construct the back end/departure angle side of the mold. I decided to complete the back end/departure side while the main mold section joint/tabbing was fully curing.



I pulled the newly constructed back-end off of the main mold and am setting up to chop the main mold section, basically down to nothing 😁


Many careful cuts later. The left piece is one I also salvaged from a previous fairing/skirt mold, as I knew I would need it, because I have no main mold section left to use.

 

[Vance Vanz]

Carbon Fiber Fairing/Skirt for Camper - Passenger Side Rear - Mold Making - Continued......

The fun is just beginning .

Rebuilding a top section for the mold, figuring out the best way to bond this little piece onto the main mold section and Gitten Er Done.



Bonding another stringer (piece of 3/4" EMT) to the main mold to prevent any "Potato Chipping" as Wild's likes to say.


Finishing out the remaining sides of the mold. I think this mold had something like 32-34 individual pieces to the mold by the time I was done with it! "Insane in the Membrane" 🤯


I then had to pull it all apart to fair the main mold sections that I bonded together, before the main mold section got all boxed in and I would not have been able to get a rounded sanding block in there. Everything smooth and pretty! Well, maybe not so pretty, but definitely smooth 👍. I also had to add some spacers on the top side of the mold (black squares) to allow room/space for the build up of tabbing material on the bottom side of the camper (around the step box). The details just keep adding up and try to make you go mad/kill yah 😩🤪.


Putting everything back together for the initial bond and then coming back around to structurally fillet the entire bottom side of the mold. Don't want her falling apart!


Almost done, but saving the tedious parts for last 😁. Fairing/Filleting all of the corners so all of the radiuses match everything on the camper/other fairings/skirts. And that little boxed in triangle section at the end was an absolute PITA to get dialed in 🙃!!!!



Sealed the mold, cut all the CF materials and consumables (The vacuum bag splicing and pre measuring/pleating just about killed me), layup (The layup was probably one of the most tedious of the build) and getting her on the pump.

 

[Vance Vanz]

Carbon Fiber Fairing/Skirt for Camper - Passenger Side Rear - Demolding & Part

Initial cure complete and time to start breaking sh(smiley face)it......... CAREFULLY! 🤣


Here we go............. 🤠💪🤟



Finished and shaped part


The little 1/8" high black HDPE spacers worked well

 

[Vance Vanz]

Carbon Fiber Fairing/Skirt for Camper - Passenger Side Rear - Dry Fitting

It's crazy how close/even the bottom edge of the step box is with the meeting point in the contour of the fairing/factory rocker panel contour and the top edge of the electric steps is with the point/location it intersects the contours in the fairing/factory rocker panel contour. In addition, the highest point in the contour of the fairing is only about 3/8" higher than/out from the face of the step box. All of this, considering I did not use CAD and was not able to exactly calculate, plan and/or predict how all of this was going to exactly come together. I could account for some of the design items in and around the step box area, but I had no idea where these intersections (in the contours of the fairings/factory rocker panels) were going to exactly meet. I was anticipating having to get creative to smooth out/blend any big variations/meeting points, but everything pretty much ended up coming out better than I ever could have expected.

This could be a bit of luck, but it could also be why I used ER's design as a general model/template. I knew there were going to be many things on a one off-custom-ground up expedition build that I would not be able to anticipate, no matter how much planning I did. I leveraged ER's (probably) years of previous design pinch points to save me many unanticipated/unforeseen design issues and headaches. There have been many items on the build so far that would have come out much wonkier looking if I hadn't. I say as a general template, because I'm not using any proprietary ER design/engineering info. But, I have to give credit where credit is due. So, Thanks ER, even though you will probably never see this build thread 😁!



Related to "180out's" comment on protecting the steps. You can see how the fairing extends just past the step arms to protect them. The addition of the mud flap will cover the remaining exposed portions.