EarthRoamer XV-JP "Northwest Edition"

[mhiscox]

We are in Mexico for a couple weeks enjoying the weather, the food and the locals...

Good call on the weather, given that in common with Portland, Blaine looks like the sun will come out again . . . about never. I trust being a long ways from an atmospheric river makes life more pleasant.

Best wishes from all of us here. Enjoy the holidays.

 

[mhiscox]

Yes, indeed . . . let's hear it for perseverance and Old School. I don't know when this happened, but last week I noticed that the view odometer for thread views had rolled over to 1M. I'm pretty sure there's no monetary award and that this is the extent of the celebration. But I want to use the occasion to thank the talented folk who deserve credit for creating a rig that was both good for my use and interesting in its design and construction.

A great deal of credit has to go to John Bendit who, back in the day, was arguably the principal Sprinter guru west of Chicago and was a wicked good fabricator. We were friends because of both having Sprinters at a time when barely anyone did. John was the guy who helped me turn the original Earthroamer giant tent version into the more practical lifting roof version and he removed the ER interior. John wasn't an overlander per se and I don't know that he's ever appeared herein, but he got the conversion underway with class. Then I hired James Lombardo, who took the empty Jeep to Hood River and did multiple useful things to improve it--roof tent design, swapping the suspension from off-roady Teraflex to more dual use AEV, installing the auxiliary fuel tank (probably my favorite mod), etc.--and make it handsome and good to drive. (James actually started this thread; before I was planning to introduce it, he decided to tell everyone about the work he was doing without alerting me. Anyway, that's the curious reason why I'm not listed as the OP.)

However--and as long-term readers know--the true hero of the thread is Paul Jensen, the master Washington surfer, designer and craftsman who did the interior and fiberglass work. Paul made this thread with his detailed descriptions (and excellent photographs) in the literally hundreds of posts he created to explain and demonstrate his work step-by-step. At times, ExPo folk got get a daily post showing the progress made the previous day and, most importantly, the "how" and "why" of his work. I suspect there were many who learned a lot that helped them with their own projects. So all that was swell.

But, as people who were around here a decade ago know, Paul is singlehandedly responsible for the fact that this thread has had any posts in the last nine years. Paul reconstructed the Jeep from it being nearly destroyed by the inept work of a . . . well, it's a long and sad story. Paul took the carcass of the cabin and turned it into the very nice rig he and his wife used to travel throughout the Pacific Northwest. He did the same great job describing and photographing his work on the rebuild as he'd done with his original work. When he decided in early 2021 that this XV-JP was a wee bit small for extended trips for two people, he turned it back over to me. I changed and added a few things to make it a better solo rig, but Paul did all the work in making that possible by saving the Jeep when I had given up.

There's a number of others who have contributed and I particularly appreciate the occasional help of my local buddies Jeremy Williams, Chris Brandt and Steve Robinson (mk216V, Squeezer and SARConcepts herein, respectively). And I'll pat myself on the back for some of the design and gadgetry that makes the rig camp really well in its current solo iteration. But it's Paul who was dedicated to sharing his knowledge and who was clever and informative enough to warrant an audience for his posts. I hope he'll consider this a milestone worth celebrating.

And, finally, special thanks to anyone (must be a few) who's stuck with the thread for the whole 15+ years. What a long strange trip it's been.

 

[mhiscox]

The lightning round review of the SIX--count 'em--SIX revisions of the Northwest Edition XV-JP:


Version 1: Bought very lightly used near Philadelphia



Original with tent deployed



Version 2: Being gutted and the roof changed at John Bendit's . . .



Version 2: Post James Lombado's work . . .



Version 3: Paul finished off the interior and added many fine touches. Here it is on the White Rim Trail with Jeremy's E350 . . .



Revision 4: The low point. Version 3 was better . . .



Things weren't looking too good and I expected it couldn't be a camper any more . . .



But Paul resurrected it for Version 5 and made good use of it . . .



And here we are today with Version 6.

 

[mk216v]

WHOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, HUUUUUGE congrats Mike!!!! What an absolute honor.
This has to be an ExPo record, no? Is there any other thread with as many views as Mike's XV-JP-NW?
And is there any other ExPo OG more OG than you, who is still kicking around these parts, active on threads in helping understand and navigate "Overlanding" in 2026?

I am humbled to be listed above buddy, thank you!!! What a long, very very strange (hugely aggravating at times, ahem D-I-x-N), fun, and adventurous trip (with lots of wonderful memories) it's been to this point.

And, for those who aren't aware, this XV-JP thread has been instrumental in the lives of others and their overlanding dream. For example, M.G. on the east coast who just bought my beloved ER XV-LT, has been following Mike's XV-JP build thread for over 10yrs now--was the first thread he found on ExPo. Now over 10yrs later, upon retiring, M.G. put ER knowledge into practice, bought my XV-LT, and is now traveling the America's in another epic EarthRoamer! This community still rocks, all these years later.

 

[Victorian]

feels like yesterday Cheers

 

[AbleGuy]

A thread that’s 122 pages long?

NFW!

Hat’s off to the incredible durability of the Expo portal, the hunger of members constantly seeking and supporting entertaining posts of valuable educational info and the sheer perseverance of posters like this determined to share their inspirational adventures