Crew cab long bed (8ft) for overlanding??? Is this viable or realistic?

[MOAK]

What will you use the back seat for? Are there just the two of you? Are you and your wife experienced at long camping trips?

I've posted here before about going with a F450 rather than 350. The main benefits are a much smaller turning radius (which helps a lot with maneuvering), higher payload (not that much though), more large tire options, lower gear ratios possible (I think), and more options for wheelbase. Ideally a custom articulated bed with integrated storage would be the way to go. I'd opt for standard rather than military tires, which would limit the rear axle to 8k lbs, but you could get military if you wanted more.

If you wanted a custom bed anyway, the cost increase isn't much. The F450 bed would need to articulate though (because it's C channel frame), while the 350 would not.

I’ll be building out the rear seat area for stowing camera gear, laptops, hiking gear; a small Engle fridge, along with a 17 gallon water tank. Yes, just my wife & I, and yes, we’ve been on multiple month trips. It’s time to retire the 80 series, the tents and all the gear that goes with it as we plan on full time till we are in our mid-70s and seek the luxury of a poor man’s expedition truck. The 450, in my humble opinion, formulated after nearly 40 years of being in the transportation business, is way too much truck, with a payload over 5,000 lbs) for what we are doing. By the time the vehicle is paid for ( 68-72k ) and all the modifications would be done, in order to support things such as fuel needs, (range) we would be way over our cash & carry budget constraints. I appreciate your outlook, but after 40 years of driving trucks of all shapes and sizes, Ford Rangers to 18 wheelers, I’m done with diesels and large trucks in general, especially the modern diesels that ford cannot seem to get right. Thanks again for causing me to do even more research. We are going into this entire arena with our eyes wide open.

 

[SimplyAnAdventure]

I’ll be building out the rear seat area for stowing camera gear, laptops, hiking gear; a small Engle fridge, along with a 17 gallon water tank. Yes, just my wife & I, and yes, we’ve been on multiple month trips. It’s time to retire the 80 series, the tents and all the gear that goes with it as we plan on full time till we are in our mid-70s and seek the luxury of a poor man’s expedition truck. The 450, in my humble opinion, formulated after nearly 40 years of being in the transportation business, is way too much truck, with a payload over 5,000 lbs) for what we are doing. By the time the vehicle is paid for ( 68-72k ) and all the modifications would be done, in order to support things such as fuel needs, (range) we would be way over our cash & carry budget constraints. I appreciate your outlook, but after 40 years of driving trucks of all shapes and sizes, Ford Rangers to 18 wheelers, I’m done with diesels and large trucks in general, especially the modern diesels that ford cannot seem to get right. Thanks again for causing me to do even more research. We are going into this entire arena with our eyes wide open.

Here’s mine…. Basically a stock XLT Tremor with 37’s slapped on it. Special ordered the truck with vinyl flooring, dual alternators, dual batteries, upfitter switches, XLT premium and Sport packages.

No lifts, void of any warranty’s, need for firewall penetrations, had 4.30 gears, rear locker, front LSD, already lifted, high axle vents, basically a turn key expedition rig. Oh and the simple and powerful 7.3L Godzilla gasser (I’m with you on modern diesels.)

Camper is a very well spec’d out Supertramp with 400aH of LiFePo batteries, solar, 12V Air conditioning, inside and outside shower, Starlink. Extremely liveable and basically ready to drive without any modifications.

Everyone’s use is different but after modifying vehicles like crazy previously I wanted to buy this one ready to roll with no changes to complicate anything…. Its worked out extremely well so far!

 

[IdaSHO]

Really is going to depend upon your use case.

For us, I feel this is the absolute minimum for a full time, true 4-season setup.
No way, no how would a short box/bed work for us.

 

[SimplyAnAdventure]

Really is going to depend upon your use case.

For us, I feel this is the absolute minimum for a full time, true 4-season setup.
No way, no how would a short box/bed work for us.

I’d actually agree. Not necessarily about bed length as everyone is different but about a hard side. My pop up is awesome! But if I was full time a full hard camper would be a must.

 

[rruff]

I appreciate your outlook, but after 40 years of driving trucks of all shapes and sizes, Ford Rangers to 18 wheelers, I’m done with diesels and large trucks in general, especially the modern diesels that ford cannot seem to get right.

The size is essentially the same, just a few inches wider at the front axle (and would be at the rear also with SS wheels). No need to get a diesel, the 7.3L gas engine is available in the cab-chassis. Price difference isn't much. Weight is about 500 lbs more based on my quick search.

A storage box like Idasho's above, is a more efficient way to have storage vs a rear seat. Though I guess if you get the supercab with suicide doors, that might work pretty well if you install a drawer system. It sounds like you are accustomed to being outside a lot, and I think outside-accessible storage is important.

I don't know your wife, but usually keeping them happy is a little more difficult. Having more amenities and comfort and being able to carry more of everything on a years-long fulltime trip, would be a good move I think.

What I proposed would definitely cost a bit more, so there is that...

 

[MOAK]

View attachment 845735
Here’s mine…. Basically a stock XLT Tremor with 37’s slapped on it. Special ordered the truck with vinyl flooring, dual alternators, dual batteries, upfitter switches, XLT premium and Sport packages.

No lifts, void of any warranty’s, need for firewall penetrations, had 4.30 gears, rear locker, front LSD, already lifted, high axle vents, basically a turn key expedition rig. Oh and the simple and powerful 7.3L Godzilla gasser (I’m with you on modern diesels.)

Camper is a very well spec’d out Supertramp with 400aH of LiFePo batteries, solar, 12V Air conditioning, inside and outside shower, Starlink. Extremely liveable and basically ready to drive without any modifications.

Everyone’s use is different but after modifying vehicles like crazy previously I wanted to buy this one ready to roll with no changes to complicate anything…. Its worked out extremely well so far!

Hmm, we are specing out a 400ah system as well. Tell me about the 12v ac system. Is 400ah enough? We’ve been tenting for decades without AC. The rep at FWC recommended using the AC with shore power. We might do shore power sites a couple times a month, primarily for a long hot shower.

 

[SimplyAnAdventure]

Hmm, we are specing out a 400ah system as well. Tell me about the 12v ac system. Is 400ah enough? We’ve been tenting for decades without AC. The rep at FWC recommended using the AC with shore power. We might do shore power sites a couple times a month, primarily for a long hot shower.

So…. Air Conditioning powered by batteries in a camper….


I get it. Tbh I didn’t think I would ever get air conditioning and when I originally spec’d and ordered the camper I didn’t select it.

After further reflection my thought was that I would hate to buy my absolute dream camper and spend what I spent and not have quite the camper I wanted. So I just went for it.

It works absolutely fantastic. I took a trip to the SW for about a month this spring and we had several consecutive days in Big Bend that were in excess of 100 degrees. The air conditioner quickly cooled down the camper and made those nights tolerable.

What it can’t do is allow you to sit and work remote all day and keep the camper cool for 8-12 hours…. That’s just not realistic. Plugged into shore power it would be.

Mine has the Dometic RTX2000 and I believe 4Wh has the Nomadic version. I’ve watched a lot of videos on both and they seem to operate very similarly. I do like that the Nomadic is thinner inside.





This is my power map over 21 days of camping in the SW, you can see the large draws toward the end when we actually had to run AC all night. We didn’t use any campsites so none of this charging was from shore power rather solar and driving. Towards the end of the trip when we weren’t moving inside Big Bend very often we didn’t recharge as well so we did start to get closer to running out.

If I was going to spend a lot of time parked where the AC was running a lot I would ultimately carry my propane converted Honda EU2200i generator to keep things topped up after a few days.

Bottom line even though AC is far from a need it’s helped a lot on very hot days and also with high humidity. We use it for comfort to sleep but not as a source to keep the camper cold for full time work.

I definitely have memories of Montana back in 2019 in my AluCab when it was in the mid 90’s at night and being miserable. As auxiliary cooling for comfort at night I think it is ideal.

 

[SimplyAnAdventure]

Can you help me with that graph ? I understand the SOC data points, is it also showing consumption of ~150Ah / day ?

Assume 12v so ~1.8kWh. If so that sounds reasonable seeing as some are building campers with 8kWh battery capacities etc.

I’ll have to see if I can make a fresh chart with the old data stores in the BMS. That was a screen shot I had on my phone from going over some details with a buddy who was looking to add A/C to his 4wh camper. I believe the information you’re referring to doesn’t show on the scale of that chart. I think it’s a separate blue line that’s not visible.

I did look back through my phone and found a few other screen shots of power consumption while running the AC and showing how much was used over night. I’ll post them here.


This one is showing current consumption with the A/C running full blast in a hot camper. It’s drawing about 500W (you can see Voltage and Amp draw on there too if you don’t wanna do the math). At full tilt it shows 9hr and 44mins of available run time with that load at that temperature. The draw goes way down as the air conditioner goes into eco mode once the camper is cooled and of course as the sun goes down and the night air cools off.


This second one shows usage after a full night running it. Used just about 100Ah including a Fridge and internal lighting. I have 330W of solar and a 100/30 MPPT controller which obviously won’t keep up with such heavy usage.

 

[klahanie]

I’ll have to see if I can make a fresh chart with the old data stores in the BMS. That was a screen shot I had on my phone from going over some details with a buddy who was looking to add A/C to his 4wh camper. I believe the information you’re referring to doesn’t show on the scale of that chart. I think it’s a separate blue line that’s not visible.

I did look back through my phone and found a few other screen shots of power consumption while running the AC and showing how much was used over night. I’ll post them here.

View attachment 845836
This one is showing current consumption with the A/C running full blast in a hot camper. It’s drawing about 500W (you can see Voltage and Amp draw on there too if you don’t wanna do the math). At full tilt it shows 9hr and 44mins of available run time with that load at that temperature. The draw goes way down as the air conditioner goes into eco mode once the camper is cooled and of course as the sun goes down and the night air cools off.

View attachment 845837
This second one shows usage after a full night running it. Used just about 100Ah including a Fridge and internal lighting. I have 330W of solar and a 100/30 MPPT controller which obviously won’t keep up with such heavy usage.

Good info thanks. I read back and see you mentioned having 400Ah batteries so from there SoC has additional meaning.

Don't want to hijack but seeing as the OP showed some A/C interest can you report on the noise level inside with the AC running. I'm considering a mini split mostly for the low "sound pressure" as the industry calls it. Roof top dc A/C is A LOT easier tho, but I was quoted high $$s for install which has me looking at alternatives.

TIA

 

[SimplyAnAdventure]

Good info thanks. I read back and see you mentioned having 400Ah batteries so from there SoC has additional meaning.

Don't want to hijack but seeing as the OP showed some A/C interest can you report on the noise level inside with the AC running. I'm considering a mini split mostly for the low "sound pressure" as the industry calls it. Roof top dc A/C is A LOT easier tho, but I was quoted high $$s for install which has me looking at alternatives.

TIA

I don’t mind it one bit! In fact I might even sort of like it running. But…. I am and have been a shift worker for a very long time so fans as white noise have been part of my sleep cycle for many years. It’s directly above you (in my configuration) so if the noise bothers you, you may not like it.

@DTAdventure had one is his ST and commented that he didn’t care for it and felt it was loud. Perhaps he will comment on here but he did make a specific video on it on the YouTube that you can probably find.

Long story short it’s an AC unit, in my case about 30” above my face but I think it’s perfect. My wife is able to sleep fine as well, providing I don’t point the actual air flow in her direction.


Here’s a link to the YouTube video I mentioned.

 

[klahanie]

I don’t mind it one bit! In fact I might even sort of like it running. But…. I am and have been a shift worker for a very long time so fans as white noise have been part of my sleep cycle for many years. It’s directly above you (in my configuration) so if the noise bothers you, you may not like it.

@DTAdventure had one is his ST and commented that he didn’t care for it and felt it was loud. Perhaps he will comment on here but he did make a specific video on it on the YouTube that you can probably find.

Long story short it’s an AC unit, in my case about 30” above my face but I think it’s perfect. My wife is able to sleep fine as well, providing I don’t point the actual air flow in her direction.


Here’s a link to the YouTube video I mentioned.

Thx for the personal comments and link. Wow. Made it to the 5 minute mark and the 32nd time he said it's noisy

Different strokes for sure. All of them seem to have some cons mixed in with their pros

Works for you and yours - that's what counts

I'll just add ... those Supertramps are one sweet camper ! Lucky you guys...

We've come a long way baby, from my old Grandby.

 

[SimplyAnAdventure]

Thx for the personal comments and link. Wow. Made it to the 5 minute mark and the 32nd time he said it's noisy

Different strokes for sure. All of them seem to have some cons mixed in with their pros

Works for you and yours - that's what counts

I'll just add ... those Supertramps are one sweet camper ! Lucky you guys...

We've come a long way baby, from my old Grandby.

I LOVE my Supertramp but for Chris wanting to live in it Full Time he ended up selling his and is having a Rossmonster built.

He definitely found it to be loud hahaha.

 

[andy_b]

Hmm, we are specing out a 400ah system as well. Tell me about the 12v ac system. Is 400ah enough? We’ve been tenting for decades without AC. The rep at FWC recommended using the AC with shore power. We might do shore power sites a couple times a month, primarily for a long hot shower.

FWIW, we have 600ah of battery and 800w of solar. IDK if there it is possible to have too much energy storage or production capacity.

We camp a lot in the SW and run the AC continuously during the summer. We never need shore power and I would argue that with a properly sized battery and solar, no one does. TBH, AC initially seemed like a silly luxury but I installed it because we live in the SW and it allows us to have a safe spot for the dogs to hang while we were out doing something that wasn’t dog friendly.

Solar and lithium ion batteries have gotten cheap enough that it should be possible to be fully electric (no shore power or generator) for most people most of the time. Likewise, DC to DC chargers are efficient ways to charge the batteries while on the road (and then take advantage of both the “free” energy from an already running alternator and solar).

Regarding noise, our minisplit isn’t too bad on the inside. The head unit is mounted on the rear wall so it is as far away from us as possible in the cabover bed. That said, the camper is small, so it is still quite noticeable. It is similar to our Maxxair fan on high when it is running. Another consideration for noise is how loud it is on the outside. The exterior unit is mounted high up so that might make the sound travel more but our minisplit on the outside is loud. It is more white noise than a generator (in my opinion) but I wouldn’t argue with anyone if they said it was just as annoying. We do our best to avoid camping near anyone but sometimes it has to be done - in those cases, I am reluctant to be “that guy” making a ton of noise that bothers everyone else just.

Finally, I am biased, but I think a long bed hardside camper is the only real solution for long-term 4 season capable camping.

 

[pappawheely]

More comfort means more capacity and payload. How comfortable do you want to be? I travel in remote areas so I tend to pack heavy. Nobody is coming to rescue me so I need to bring it with me.

 

[SimplyAnAdventure]

More comfort means more capacity and payload. How comfortable do you want to be? I travel in remote areas so I tend to pack heavy. Nobody is coming to rescue me so I need to bring it with me.

Right!!



Here’s the scale weight on my truck/ camper with an absolutely full fuel tank packed with all my camping gear. Only thing missing was the water tank was empty so 24 gallons (~200lbs). GVWR on my truck is 11,499 which leaves me 1500lbs of wiggle room.