2024 RAM CCLB flatbed + Overland Adventure Truck composite shell build thread

[janders]

My wife and I love camping and as our careers wind down, we want to start ramping up some longer trips. We love the US southwest desert in the winter. We lived on a sailboat for years and spent time on the water in the Sea of Cortez. Now we want to spend winters on the beach in Baja and we need a rig that will accommodate longer term living. Here's the design parameters we started with:

• We want to be on the road for at least 3 months at a time and around 6 months out of the year.
• We want to be able to cook inside when the skeeters chase us inside.
• We want to be able to cook outside when the conditions are good.
• We've camped in enough 40 knot windstorms in the desert to convince us that we don't want any fabric on the exterior of the rig. So no pop-up campers or RTTs for us.
• Setting up camp should be as easy as: put the truck into park. Chock the wheels.
• We both work part time and remote, so we need space for both of us to setup laptops. We also need an electrical system that'll run computers and Starlink for a solid 7 days of cloudy weather and not moving anywhere.
• We didn't want a dedicated camping rig. This rig should be useful when we're home and not out on the trail.
• We want to take paddleboards with us.
• We want to take eMTBs with us.
• Payload is king. I think GVWR is actually a really important consideration, especially in order to keep the rig running and in good condition.

Before we start the build thread with the new truck, let's give a tip of the hat to the truck that it's replacing. This 2000 Ford F-250 has been really phenomenal for us. For weekends or a week at a time, this platform has been everything we've wanted. The 7.3L diesel is probably the most reliable engine I'll ever own. We've had this truck for 12 years and it's taken us to the coolest places and never let us down. Love this truck. It also made it really clear to us how well suited a full-size heavy duty pickup is to the kind of travel we like to do. It's still for sale if anyone's interested but that isn't what this thread is about. But this truck is just not comfortable enough to sleep in the back for months and months like the trips we want to do.



We spec'd a new 2024 RAM crew cab long bed from the factory with the options we were after.

 

[janders]

We looked at some slide-in campers, there's loads of really great options out there. But there's no getting around it, they just can't use space efficiently. You always lose space around the bed sidewalls. So flat bed it is.

Sourcing a flatbed in the US sucks. Australia has offroading dialed in and flatbed trays are everywhere in Oz. For some reason, we haven't gotten the message in the US. They are hard to source and eye-wateringly expensive. We looked at a few really good options but settled on working with Summit Expedition Trucks up in Edmonton, Alberta. Ralf and his crew were great to work with and at the time, it was the best option in our budget. Unclear how the current political climate and trade scuffling is going to affect SET's pricing and availability. I hope they aren't affected because they're good people making a good product.



When the camper is off, we have a super useful utility truck.


Flatbed trays give you a lot of storage options. Tools and recovery gear no longer have to take up room in our living space.


Nice long drawer enclosed in a dust-proof box.


We had a tunnel box installed instead of a headache rack mostly because we needed a spot for a full-size spare tire. But now we have some good storage for things like inflatable paddle boards.



We drove all the way up to Edmonton to have the flatbed installed. And Ralf really didn't want to hang on to our truck bed so I hauled that damned thing all the way back to Washington.

 

[Roverrr]

My wife and I love camping and as our careers wind down, we want to start ramping up some longer trips. We love the US southwest desert in the winter. We lived on a sailboat for years and spent time on the water in the Sea of Cortez. Now we want to spend winters on the beach in Baja and we need a rig that will accommodate longer term living. Here's the design parameters we started with:

• We want to be on the road for at least 3 months at a time and around 6 months out of the year.
• We want to be able to cook inside when the skeeters chase us inside.
• We want to be able to cook outside when the conditions are good.
• We've camped in enough 40 knot windstorms in the desert to convince us that we don't want any fabric on the exterior of the rig. So no pop-up campers or RTTs for us.
• Setting up camp should be as easy as: put the truck into park. Chock the wheels.
• We both work part time and remote, so we need space for both of us to setup laptops. We also need an electrical system that'll run computers and Starlink for a solid 7 days of cloudy weather and not moving anywhere.
• We didn't want a dedicated camping rig. This rig should be useful when we're home and not out on the trail.
• We want to take paddleboards with us.
• We want to take eMTBs with us.
• Payload is king. I think GVWR is actually a really important consideration, especially in order to keep the rig running and in good condition.

Before we start the build thread with the new truck, let's give a tip of the hat to the truck that it's replacing. This 2000 Ford F-250 has been really phenomenal for us. For weekends or a week at a time, this platform has been everything we've wanted. The 7.3L diesel is probably the most reliable engine I'll ever own. We've had this truck for 12 years and it's taken us to the coolest places and never let us down. Love this truck. It also made it really clear to us how well suited a full-size heavy duty pickup is to the kind of travel we like to do. It's still for sale if anyone's interested but that isn't what this thread is about. But this truck is just not comfortable enough to sleep in the back for months and months like the trips we want to do.

View attachment 870392

We spec'd a new 2024 RAM crew cab long bed from the factory with the options we were after.
View attachment 870393

We are in a similar travel mindset- upgrading from an offroad trailer after spending 2 months in Alaska last year and realizing we to have indoor space instead of having to pop out a gazelle tent or heading up into our RTT. We have not zeroed in on the camper yet but we are definitely looking at a 550 class truck with super single conversion and a flatbed for storage. Electric capacity will definitely be an issue for you if you are talking about week at a time without sun and without driving to regen the batteries- expect to supplement your solar with a generator. I’ll be interested to see what campers everyone recommends.. so many are either too heavy and cumbersome for off-road or the build quality and finish is junk or, they are crazy expensive— $400-$500k is not out of the question.

 

[janders]

We are in a similar travel mindset- upgrading from an offroad trailer after spending 2 months in Alaska last year and realizing we to have indoor space instead of having to pop out a gazelle tent or heading up into our RTT. We have not zeroed in on the camper yet but we are definitely looking at a 550 class truck with super single conversion and a flatbed for storage. Electric capacity will definitely be an issue for you if you are talking about week at a time without sun and without driving to regen the batteries- expect to supplement your solar with a generator. I’ll be interested to see what campers everyone recommends.. so many are either too heavy and cumbersome for off-road or the build quality and finish is junk or, they are crazy expensive— $400-$500k is not out of the question.

Oh, I'd love to hear about your travels in Alaska. I was up there on a motorcycle and we traveled through SE / Inside Passage on our sailboat years ago. It's on our list. And it's a driver for the form factor we want because the pigeon-sized mosquitoes are brutal in places.

550-class truck should give you payload to spare. That's a pretty great platform. I had a really good experience with SET for flatbeds. Bowen is top-notch fabrication. So is their prices.

As for electrical, we're trying very hard to avoid generators. We designed out a 600Ah battery bank but designed the space to add another 300Ah battery if necessary. I honestly have no idea how our usage is going to stack up between Starlink, fridge, laptops and an induction cooker.

Not to give away the ending, I haven't put up all the progress so far, but we landed on Overland Adventure Truck campers out of Olympia, WA. Quade and his crew are top notch at composite campers and they were great to work with.

 

[VanIsle_Greg]

That flatbed is a thing of beauty. I am so envious... lol

I have a Ram 1500 and the payload for anything is so small. I knew that going in, but when I bought there was no used 2500 or 3500 Gassers available anywhere (hardly any diesels too).

I am super stoked to follow the build process. Congrats on the camper too, they make nice stuff.

 

[Dr Moreau]

Yes, flat bed trays are everywhere in Australia. We just came back from a year of living in SA and Tasmania. Our good friends lent us a 2007 Hilux diesel 4x4 for the duration - we had a number of good outback trips and circumnavigated Tassie. A full sized pick-up would be a pain there - too big for the small roads we encountered. I like the CCLB flatbed, and will look into them further. Thanks for the write-up!

 

[simple]

Looking forward to following your build. Sounds very close to what I ultimately want to do.

We recently winter camped in our trailer for 3 days running lights, diesel heater and cooler fridge and used 25% of a 200AH battery.
Not sure on induction cooker but you could have a single burner 1lb tank or jetboil type stove for backup if you need to stretch battery storage.

What were the design considerations for not mounting the spare under the flatbed?

 

[Dr Moreau]

I just found this site for flat beds right in my hometown! The kits are pretty inexpensive and they offer a lot of options. https://ddfab.co/

 

[janders]

Looking forward to following your build. Sounds very close to what I ultimately want to do.

We recently winter camped in our trailer for 3 days running lights, diesel heater and cooler fridge and used 25% of a 200AH battery.
Not sure on induction cooker but you could have a single burner 1lb tank or jetboil type stove for backup if you need to stretch battery storage.

What were the design considerations for not mounting the spare under the flatbed?

Yeah, good call on backup cooker. We actually plan to do most of our cooking outside (depending on the weather and mosquitos) so we'll have a plain ol' propane cooker with a small refillable propane can.

We upgraded the OEM tires to 37s so they don't fit underneath anymore.

 

[janders]

Forgot to mention that we pulled the OEM wheels off and replaced them with 37s. Here's a fun fact: you can put 37" tires on RAM 3500 without any suspension modifications. The key (at least for us) was to use AEV's Katla 17" wheels. They are designed to fit these RAM HD trucks perfectly. We get a wee bit of rubbing against the plastic fender well at full lock on the driver side only.

We went with Falken Wildpeaks. Never run these tires, I've always had BFG KO2s but they don't make those in 37s with the proper load rating. At the time I bought them anyways.

 

[andy_b]

Oh, I'd love to hear about your travels in Alaska. I was up there on a motorcycle and we traveled through SE / Inside Passage on our sailboat years ago. It's on our list. And it's a driver for the form factor we want because the pigeon-sized mosquitoes are brutal in places.

550-class truck should give you payload to spare. That's a pretty great platform. I had a really good experience with SET for flatbeds. Bowen is top-notch fabrication. So is their prices.

As for electrical, we're trying very hard to avoid generators. We designed out a 600Ah battery bank but designed the space to add another 300Ah battery if necessary. I honestly have no idea how our usage is going to stack up between Starlink, fridge, laptops and an induction cooker.

Not to give away the ending, I haven't put up all the progress so far, but we landed on Overland Adventure Truck campers out of Olympia, WA. Quade and his crew are top notch at composite campers and they were great to work with.

Nice looking setup. Regarding battery capacity, it depends on an energy audit. Based on the anticipated presence of clouds for a week, I assume that you’re talking about being in one spot in the winter. All of the stuff (apart from Starlink) you described won’t use a ton of power overall. Your main energy cost will be heating (the cabin and hot water). A diesel heater hardly uses any power at all.

In our camper, we have 800w solar, 7200wh of battery capacity, and a 50a DC-DC charger. We have a small residential 120v hot water heater and we heat it up while enroute to take advantage of the DC-DC charger plus solar - by the time we stop, the hot water heater doesn’t use a ton of power to stay warm. We have a minisplit for cooling and backup heating. In the summer, we never worry about running the minisplit and could definitely last a week in one spot; in the winter, if we needed to use the minisplit in overcast conditions, we’d have a hard time lasting more than a day. I don’t think most people would be using a minisplit for a primary heat source but just mentioning it for context. Generators are terrible and I’m glad you’re trying to avoid one. With enough planning and $$$, any problem can be solved.

 

[janders]

Yes, flat bed trays are everywhere in Australia. We just came back from a year of living in SA and Tasmania. Our good friends lent us a 2007 Hilux diesel 4x4 for the duration - we had a number of good outback trips and circumnavigated Tassie. A full sized pick-up would be a pain there - too big for the small roads we encountered. I like the CCLB flatbed, and will look into them further. Thanks for the write-up!

I miss Australia, we lived in Melbourne for a year.

Circumnavigating Tassie is a dream! We only made it there once but it stuck with us.

 

[Peter_n_Margaret]

Don't under rate solar, even in bad weather it will help. You can not have too much solar. It has never been cheaper.
We have 1160W of solar (and a 20 year old PWM controller), diesel for heating and hot water. No generator. Our propane usage is for cooking only. We can charge the 328Ah (12V) Lithium house battery directly from the alternator, but rarely need to. We can be off grid for a month easily, limited only by water and food.

Light continuous rain. 5.4A charge.


Rain stopped, full cloud cover. 37.8A charge


Cloud breaking up. 56.2A charge.



I am currently building another vehicle. It will have 2.1kW of solar, no propane, induction cooking, diesel central heating.
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

 

[janders]

My wife and I have this thing where we could go out and buy the thing we want and then use it and be happy but we always seems to choose the path with the highest amount of ass pain. When we had our house built we could have gone out to IKEA and plunked down cash on the barrel for a turn key kitchen. Instead, we cut down standing Doug Fir trees on our property, bucked and stacked the logs, milled them bitches, dried them for a couple years, jointed, planed and hand-built our kitchen cabinets out of our own lumber. We love our kitchen but holy ********, there's an easier path. We didn't learn our lesson. We taking that same path with this camper. We bought an empty shell and we're building out the interior, including the casework, electrical and plumbing systems because... reasons. At least this time, we're gonna buy the damned wood.

We looked at a lot of campers and man, there is some good campers on the market. We really like OEV and Alterra. FWC campers are great but pop-up campers always felt like being in a tent. We wanted a hard-side camper. We already know how tall it will be. We already know how top heavy it will be. Every decision we make in this build is trading one thing for another. We're optimizing for comfort at camp.

We really liked the form factor of Total Composites campers. Love the four season utility of the well insulated walls and how light they are. We looked at quite a few builders but once we met Quade from Overland Adventure Truck it was a pretty easy decision. Quade was so easy to work with and accommodated all of our custom dimensions. He's been doing this longer than most and really understands the build process.

Last summer, OAT switched their manufacturing from TC panels over to Cascadia Composites. The reasons Quade gave me was that the new panels are tougher (I got to beat the ******** out of sample in his shop with a hammer and didn't even make a mark) and higher R value. They are manufactured in Canada so they aren't subject to oceanic shipping and Chinese tariffs (although Canadian tariffs might become a thing soon). Plus, they aren't bright white so the camper doesn't look like a soda delivery truck. We put a deposit down at Overland Expo PNW in June and picked up the camper in December.











Doing some story stick measuring of the camper interior dimensions to create an "as-built" 3D model






Our asspain of a kitchen made from our own trees...

 

[simple]

Do you plan to tow anything with this rig?