IdaSHO, that's a sweet rig - neat photo-set to see the evolution. And although I can see where that'd take you to some truly remote places on account of your smaller footprint, for me personally I could not see my wife and I spending 6+ months living fulltime in a rig that size, epecially if we had to spend a lot of time inside on account of poor weather. My body would end up on the side of the Dempster Highway with my wife in court pleading Temporary Insanity...
Sorry to send it off the rails a bit. My point about living with the vehicle for a while is that is the only way to know if you have it right, and right for you.
No worries at all - as I said it's all good at this point. Plus, your comment is absolutely right!!!
Jon has done an incredible job with his build, but for me there are definite deal breakers in his design...
Love to hear more about this point - what stuck out in your mind?
OP what is your offroading experience? Are you capable of changing a flat tire on one of these vehicles or getting it unstuck when a soft shoulder gives way, you slide into a ditch, or one of the 10,000 other ways vehicles get stuck in remote locations? Are you concerned about destroying trails due to the size and weight of your vehicle?
Good question - self-recovery has been on my mind quite a bit while looking at these trucks. Being the big kid on the block is no help at all when you get stuck and no-one else can help. And as far as treading lightly, I'm not planning on any hardcore trail-blazing at the moment - trips like that'll be for the motorbike, not the behemoth.
I have ideas about self-recovery for bigger rigs, but that rabbit hole would probably be worth its own thread.
And one of the first things I'd want to try with any rig I got would be to practice getting stuck and unstuck in a controlled manner, and changing a tire under poor conditions (with friends and help along for the ride the first time!!). I think this sort of exercise is a bit like doing a Man-Overboard drill if you're a sailor - time well invested at the start of an adventure!
TBH, I'd hope to avoid a lot of hazards just by practicing the "Discretion is the Better Part of Valour" approach. I'm past the age where I get a thrill out of sphincter-puckering rock-clambering in my rig (not that I ever truly did, FWIW) so if my wife and I can safely and comfortably travel over most roads most of the time - that seems pretty good to me. If we need to go somewhere really remote, we'll make a day-trip on the motorcycle. Or just head off to the next sight to see instead. It's a big ol' world after all.
One comment Rob Gray (Australian self-build on big ex-army truck chassis) made on his website really struck a chord with me:
"You don't have to be doing <<crazy offroading trails>> to find <<alll-wheel-drive>> useful however, sometimes just getting another 200 metres makes the difference between a crowded campsite with no view, and your own private patch of pristine beach. We have regularly managed to reach better, quieter, and more secluded campsites because we could handle rougher terrain than the average motorhome."
