EarthRoamer XV-JP "Northwest Edition"
- Thread starter WhereTheHellIsJames?
- Start date
Scott Brady
Founder
Nice coverage in A Continuous Lean: http://www.acontinuouslean.com/2013/03/12/adventure-mobile-jeep-xv-jp-northwest-edition/#more-28747
mhiscox
Exp. Leader Emeritus
Geez . . . a surprise to me. Thanks, Scott, for the link and for taking the time to post it.
I follow A Continuous Lean on a regular basis. It is a cool blog if you are into heritage products, mens fashion, design and US made goods. But never did I think it would get a mention on Expedition Portal. Then again Michael the author of the blog is into old FJ40s so it not a stretch to see him write about the XV-JP.
PaulJensen
Custom Builder
******...!!!...No mention of Mike...???...His baby, his ideas...I just did my portion of what that thing is...
That said, I'm stoked...!!!...
That said, I'm stoked...!!!...
Tucson T4R
Expedition Leader
Both you and Mike, who were the team that than envisioned and built it to perfection deserve the credit.
I say, awesome team and awesome craftsmanship skills. The result is a thing of beauty. :victory:
Not sure if this has been posted already, but I found it in one of the comments on the link previously posted. Great photos of an amazing truck. I wish that Earthroamer actually created this instead of the existing design. So awesome.
http://www.hollowsurfboards.com/JeepTestDrive.htm
http://www.hollowsurfboards.com/JeepTestDrive.htm
mhiscox
Exp. Leader Emeritus
Thanks for the compliments. We appreciate them.
For anyone who wants to see the full set of Paul's test drive pictures in an ExPo thread, he posted them up here:
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/76018
Start at Post 15.
For anyone who wants to see the full set of Paul's test drive pictures in an ExPo thread, he posted them up here:
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/76018
Start at Post 15.
Mike,
Be sure to keep me informed if you make your way down south at all this summer, I know we had talked about a trip to the dry side of oregon. I will be in humboldt for a few more months, after that it's up in the air (aka wherever i can i find work!).
Thanks again for sharing the xv-jp in person with me, I find a way to bring it up almost daily!
Mike
Be sure to keep me informed if you make your way down south at all this summer, I know we had talked about a trip to the dry side of oregon. I will be in humboldt for a few more months, after that it's up in the air (aka wherever i can i find work!).
Thanks again for sharing the xv-jp in person with me, I find a way to bring it up almost daily!
Mike
mhiscox
Exp. Leader Emeritus
A new configuration for the XV-JP
This is one of those stories that starts out with an entirely different goal, but ends up with a good result. So here’s what happened.
I've added a Wilson cellphone amplifier, along with the necessary outside and two inside antennas and an antenna switch to control the Diamond motorized mount I needed to raise and lower the antenna so it needn't add any overall height. All of this left me with about forty feet of wiring to run through the truck and get organized.
Early on, it became clear that the wiring would be easier if I removed the slide-out upper bed. Unfortunately, the giant drawer slides don’t have simple tabs you can raise to pull out the moving part. But it wasn’t too hard to undo the eight socket head screws that held the bed to the glides, and I got the folding bed pieces out without a problem.
Once it was out, I was surprised at the amount of space I had in the nose, and that lead to the idea of reconfiguring the truck for just one traveler. Nothing that couldn’t be put back in place, as being able to sleep two is a big advantage to the truck. But if it was ever used for a serious expedition, it’d likely be by one traveler, so I was curious to see how it would work out.
If you take the upper bed out, that means you have to sleep on the lower bench, which is also the lower bed. By pulling the passenger seat forward, there’s enough room to flip up an extension to the bench; you then put a small foam pad (which also has a lot of other uses, like making your butt comfy when sitting on a hard picnic bench) on the extension and you have a bed that works for a six-plus-footer. But the width had been a problem, as the bench was only about two feet deep and it was right up against the passenger side wall.
It took big time guts to undo part of Paul’s work, but I cut the piece that trimmed the front of the cushion so it was removeable down to the level of the bench. It took a good long while (zebrawood is hard stuff) using my Fein Multimaster, but I eventually got it off. But I then had to devise a way to put it back on, as the bench was much more handsome with it. Some carefully drilled holes and some repurposed metal shelf supports
make it possible to pull the piece off and put it back on easily. When attached, you have to look carefully to see the piece is cut, and when it's off, it stores easily on an upper side shelf.
When the front trim piece is out, it’s possible to pull the cushion out toward the center aisle as much as you want. It turns out that about five inches is a good amount. That moves the sleeper away from the cabin wall and allows a 25 inch wide sleeping pad plenty of room. It’s a quite nice place to sleep.
O.K., that’s swell, but why bother when there was a perfectly good, and very comfy, bed up above? There are a handful of reasons. The big one is that you no longer need to raise the roof to use the cabin at night. This could be valuable if you wanted the added security, stopped late at night and didn't want to do anything except go to bed, or were facing some really gruesome weather. A minor advantage is that it’s easier to use the Porta-Potti and the sink during the night. And, because you’re already sleeping on a cushion, you can get by with a thin light duty pad (in my case, a Therma-Rest Prolite) that’s only about a quarter the volume to store of the big cushy pad used on the upper bed.
But what became cleared as I worked with the new configuration is that I was now awash in storage space. So I started in to make the space as useful as possible.
To begin with, I put down a piece of hardboard with a slippery side so that things could be moved around more easily.
Then I got myself two Rola organizers, one 15 x 38 and the other 15 x 25; these are nice because the dividers can be positioned anywhere or removed entirely, and they have convenient handles on the end to pull the out of the space. Clothes can go in some of the compartments, and I think I’ll save the 25 inch long organizer for dry food.
Having the new room on the driver’s side has given me additional space on the other side. It turned out, for example, that three 50 caliber plastic ammo cans fit in the very front area of the pssenger's side. And there's room for lots of other bags and compartments. Actually, I'm not close to optimizing the arrangement yet, but it looks like I'll have no worries. It looks like even the Pico folding chair can now go up in the nose.
All in all, the XV-JP continues to surprise me with its flexibility. It’s great that it can sleep two people, and I can get back to that configuration within ten minutes or so. And in that configuration, there was still plenty of storage space; it was already carrying everything I could think of needing. But this “sleep one” configuration offers a whole bunch more storage and might be the way to go on a long expedition. I’m going to leave it this way for the summer, I think.
This is one of those stories that starts out with an entirely different goal, but ends up with a good result. So here’s what happened.
I've added a Wilson cellphone amplifier, along with the necessary outside and two inside antennas and an antenna switch to control the Diamond motorized mount I needed to raise and lower the antenna so it needn't add any overall height. All of this left me with about forty feet of wiring to run through the truck and get organized.
Early on, it became clear that the wiring would be easier if I removed the slide-out upper bed. Unfortunately, the giant drawer slides don’t have simple tabs you can raise to pull out the moving part. But it wasn’t too hard to undo the eight socket head screws that held the bed to the glides, and I got the folding bed pieces out without a problem.
Once it was out, I was surprised at the amount of space I had in the nose, and that lead to the idea of reconfiguring the truck for just one traveler. Nothing that couldn’t be put back in place, as being able to sleep two is a big advantage to the truck. But if it was ever used for a serious expedition, it’d likely be by one traveler, so I was curious to see how it would work out.
If you take the upper bed out, that means you have to sleep on the lower bench, which is also the lower bed. By pulling the passenger seat forward, there’s enough room to flip up an extension to the bench; you then put a small foam pad (which also has a lot of other uses, like making your butt comfy when sitting on a hard picnic bench) on the extension and you have a bed that works for a six-plus-footer. But the width had been a problem, as the bench was only about two feet deep and it was right up against the passenger side wall.
It took big time guts to undo part of Paul’s work, but I cut the piece that trimmed the front of the cushion so it was removeable down to the level of the bench. It took a good long while (zebrawood is hard stuff) using my Fein Multimaster, but I eventually got it off. But I then had to devise a way to put it back on, as the bench was much more handsome with it. Some carefully drilled holes and some repurposed metal shelf supports
make it possible to pull the piece off and put it back on easily. When attached, you have to look carefully to see the piece is cut, and when it's off, it stores easily on an upper side shelf.
When the front trim piece is out, it’s possible to pull the cushion out toward the center aisle as much as you want. It turns out that about five inches is a good amount. That moves the sleeper away from the cabin wall and allows a 25 inch wide sleeping pad plenty of room. It’s a quite nice place to sleep.
O.K., that’s swell, but why bother when there was a perfectly good, and very comfy, bed up above? There are a handful of reasons. The big one is that you no longer need to raise the roof to use the cabin at night. This could be valuable if you wanted the added security, stopped late at night and didn't want to do anything except go to bed, or were facing some really gruesome weather. A minor advantage is that it’s easier to use the Porta-Potti and the sink during the night. And, because you’re already sleeping on a cushion, you can get by with a thin light duty pad (in my case, a Therma-Rest Prolite) that’s only about a quarter the volume to store of the big cushy pad used on the upper bed.
But what became cleared as I worked with the new configuration is that I was now awash in storage space. So I started in to make the space as useful as possible.
To begin with, I put down a piece of hardboard with a slippery side so that things could be moved around more easily.
Then I got myself two Rola organizers, one 15 x 38 and the other 15 x 25; these are nice because the dividers can be positioned anywhere or removed entirely, and they have convenient handles on the end to pull the out of the space. Clothes can go in some of the compartments, and I think I’ll save the 25 inch long organizer for dry food.
Having the new room on the driver’s side has given me additional space on the other side. It turned out, for example, that three 50 caliber plastic ammo cans fit in the very front area of the pssenger's side. And there's room for lots of other bags and compartments. Actually, I'm not close to optimizing the arrangement yet, but it looks like I'll have no worries. It looks like even the Pico folding chair can now go up in the nose.
All in all, the XV-JP continues to surprise me with its flexibility. It’s great that it can sleep two people, and I can get back to that configuration within ten minutes or so. And in that configuration, there was still plenty of storage space; it was already carrying everything I could think of needing. But this “sleep one” configuration offers a whole bunch more storage and might be the way to go on a long expedition. I’m going to leave it this way for the summer, I think.
mk216v
Der Chef der Fahrzeuge
Fantastic Mike!! After seeing this change in person, you've definitely made a positive improvement on an already incredible setup. The flexibility this new arrangement offers is superb.
Now I just need to get my G up to Paul for the interior build like your ex-Hundy, and then it sounds like it'd be ready for flexible stealth camping too!(although no porta potty inside for me yet, guess I'll be digging holes lol)
PS--where is this long expedition to which you speak about? :sombrero::smiley_drive:
Now I just need to get my G up to Paul for the interior build like your ex-Hundy, and then it sounds like it'd be ready for flexible stealth camping too!(although no porta potty inside for me yet, guess I'll be digging holes lol)
PS--where is this long expedition to which you speak about? :sombrero::smiley_drive:
Every Miles A Memory
Expedition Leader
Wow, who would have thought this build could have anything more done to it to improve it!
Great to see you still out there using it and working on it!
Great to see you still out there using it and working on it!
mhiscox
Exp. Leader Emeritus
Hey, I just drove it to the North Plains McDonald's last Sunday. Put the top up and let the spooky-abnormal warm March breeze waft through the cabin while I played Amazing Alex on the iPad and ate my Sausage McMuffin. Livin' the good life, yes I am.
Or were you thinking of something more along the lines of the Canol Road or Belize? :sombrero: