YellowCow
New member
OK – it’s time to ‘come out of the closet’ and after being a long-term silent listener it’s time to give back to the forum and share some thoughts about my journey and decision process for buying a custom built Expedition truck.
The idea was born 5 years ago in the Atacama desert, when travelling through Chile in a (boring) rental car. We were in San Pedro de Atacama after watching some of the Paris-Dakkar rally - which interestingly enough is held in South America for the past years instead of in Africa as the name suggests, when my girlfriend saw this cool looking vehicle, that seemed to be out of Mad Max movie, fitting right into the harsh, moon-like desert landscape.
“It’s a UNIMOG” I responded to her question what this monstrous truck was.
A dream was born – we wanted to come back to this amazing place one day in our own Expedition truck…
…and - finally - we have started to turn this dream into ‘reality’, after years of research and sleepless nights.
The ‘reality’ is – we bought a STEYER 12M18 truck from EXCAP www.excap.de in Germany that will be married with a custom built cabin from KrugXP www.krugxp.com in the Ukraine.
As far as I know, EXCAP and KrugXP are not commonly known brands outside of Europe (yet) and I just want to point out that I have no relations with either company nor do I get any kickbacks. I am just describing the long journey that lead us to this decision.
UNIMOG it always was from the birth of this idea and as a German, I was convinced that this would be the ultimate truck base for an expedition vehicle. So I started reading all I could find about UNIMOGs and expedition trucks in general. I learned a lot from this forum – thanks to all of you for all the great and interesting contributions!
I test drove and researched about the various UNIMOG models and followed this path for several years. I am not a total truck ‘Greenhorn’ and driving a UNIMOG with trailer was part of my drivers’ training for getting a military tank license during my mandatory German military service back in ‘82. The only two good things I got out of these useless 15 months in a tank battalion – driving a 33 ton 600 HP MARDER SPZ tank, the coolest vehicle I ever drove – plus a civilian truck license. The truck license allowed me to earn good money as contract truck driver during college times…hauling anything from concrete to German beer.
Besides that, it comes in handy now, because in Germany you need a truck license for trucks exceeding 7.5 tons and the league of good expedition trucks, including the STEYER plus cabin, mostly exceed this limit.
The more I read about the UNIMOG, I realized that it is not really a long-distance truck – it is a UNIversal MOtor Gerät (translated Universal Motor Tool) and probably too sensitive for long trips due to the axle overheating problems, noisy cabin and low cruising speed (without modifications).
Since I am not planning to participate in a Paris-Dakar rally and think that realistically I will be travelling 75% on tarmac, probably most of the off-road miles on dusty fire-roads and “washboard”, I started looking at alternative platforms that are better for long-distance travel and at the same time offer decent off-road capabilities.
One of my main ‘handicaps’ is the fact that I ultimately want to import the truck into the U.S. and drive it from here to Patagonia – but that is still a long shot. Unfortunately, you can only import vehicles into the U.S. that are 25 years or older – this is one of the pros of the STEYER – mine is built in 1989.
Besides thinking about MERCEDES Sprinter 4X4 or 6X6 as a base for a bit, the one alternative that I really pursued for a while was the FUSO based platform and I liked the Earthcruiser www.earthcrusier.com concept, have visited the factory in Bend, OR and also considered the WOELCKE FUSO based model, called AUTARK for a while.
The FUSO of course rides much smoother than a UNIMOG, but when test driving it, I felt that it might be under-motorized and the Earthcruiser pop-up cabin – at least for us, planning longer trips - had too little storage space and comfort. I initially fall in love with the concept and trust the ‘Aussies’ that they know all about the outdoors and the concept seems very well thought through and robust – but since I also wanted to add a motorbike rack, the FUSO weight limitations would most likely be exceeded.
When the EURO exchange rate dropped to acceptable levels I started expanding my search to Germany. Besides looking at potential cabin builder alternatives, I got interested with the STEYR 12M18 as a base model and was reading a lot about this truck and ran into an article about EXCAP www.excap.de in the German Off-road magazine Allradler www.allradler.com. I immediately made arrangements and added a last minute visit to this small niche company, which is specialized in refurbishing STEYER 12M18 military trucks. In the past these trucks were available at auctions like Dorotheum www.Dorotheum.com, where the Austrian military was selling these trucks. I heard that in the good old days you could get a decent STEYER from EURO 6,000 onwards. Unfortunately, these days seem to be over due to the increasing popularity of this truck and the endless supply from the 4,000 trucks that the Austrian army bought between 1986 and 1993 is drying out.
Stefan, the founder and EXCAP owner agreed to see me on a Sunday on short notice, since it was my last day before flying back to the US the next day. I spent almost the entire day at his EXCAP shop, which is located in a small village in the idyllic Odenwald area, not too far from Frankfurt.
It was ‘love at first sight’ when I saw his meticulously refurbished STEYR EXCAP trucks. Being an industrial designer by trade, his attention to detail shows in every single part of the refurbished truck, down to the individual screws, which are each color marked during assembly for quality control purposes.
His business concept is to ‘totally’ dismantle the trucks down “to the bones”, sandblast every single part, repaint and/or coat the parts, replace wear& tear parts and the reassemble the entire truck. The cabin gets sound insulation, air suspension seats, storage space, stereo and lately even a leather steering wheel. The end result is a better than original condition truck that has been technically and visually been optimized and ‘prepped up’.
Before making the final move to sign a contract, I have read a lot about the STEYER, spent numerous sleepless nights on the German STEYER forum www.steyerforum.de and talked to several STEYER owners.
Seeing the EXCAP in his full beauty – I immediately realized that the STEYER was the right truck for me.
Here are the main reasons why I picked the STEYER 12M18 and bought it from EXCAP:
OK – I could go on and on about the base truck decision making process – and of course there are con’s to the STEYER as well, like the lack of spare parts and service coverage - but let me rather talk about the cabin now.
As part of my years of research, I started looking in the U.S., visited numerous vendors and have checked-out various new and used expedition trucks – although I liked some of the trucks – like the U500, I was always disappointed with the cabin finish, design and craftsmanship.
Once I had laid my eyes on a UNICAT , I actually saw the demo model that was for sale by the U.S. UNICAT CEO – this became my new ‘standard’ for cabin quality – and most anything that I saw in the U.S. after looking at the UNICAT, looked flimsy, not well thought through and most of all old-style.
I visited the UNICAT factory in Germany – but when asking for quotes, I got a ‘sticker shock’ and realized that this category was out of my financial reach.
So I branched out and besides looking at European trucks also explored European cabin makers and surprisingly found several that in my opinion come close to UNICAT for a much lower price tag.
ActionMobil www.actionmobil.com is also in the top price range and based on my experience the price tag gets lower in this sequence of vendors - Langer & Bock www.langerundbock.com
,BlissMobil www.blissmobil.com, OrangeWork www.orangework.de , Bocklet www.bocklet.eu,
Fuess www.fuess-mobile.de , Ormocar www.ormocar.com, Woelcke www.woelcke.de , BiMobil www.bimobil.com, 4Wheel24 www.4wheel24.com.
One of my initial cabin favorites out of the above list was BlissMobil. The STEYR truck that I ended up buying, was the EXCAP demo truck, which had a 15” BLISS cabin on the back during the 2015 Allradmesse in Bad Kissingen, Germany. BTW - this supposed to be the biggest Off-road exhibition in the world and is a ‘must-see’ for everyone that is reading this article www.abenteuer-allrad.de/en.
So initially I thought – BlissMobil is it and felt that this was a natural fit for the EXCAP. I visited the factory in Breda, NL and really liked what I saw and was very convinced about the container concept. Diving more into the details and pro’s and con’s of the Bliss concept, I deviated from this idea partly due to the price tag, but mainly due to the fact that we did not 100% like the interior layout and options, since Bliss only offers limited customizability. One more point was the fact that literally everything is contained in the cab, including black and grey water tanks. My plan was to use the truck- and cabin space as efficient as possible and ideally planned to put the black water tank(s) somewhere outside of the cab in the truck frame.
One very helpful resource I have to mention is Ulriche Dolde, he has built his own Expedition camper on a Mercedes base and wrote a book about ‘how to build your own expedition camper’ and his experiences and lessons learned. He is very familiar with all the different vendors and components that are available on the market and provides consulting in this area. He is in the process to translate his book from German into English and it should be available for purchase soon. He also has an interesting website with tons of information and a gallery of expedition trucks on his website. www.selfbuildmotorhome.com.
OK – so how did I end up with KrugXP.
I actually had already narrowed my decision down to two cabin builders – Ormocar and 4wheel24 - and had spent a lot of time communicating with them about the details, visiting the factories and had detailed proposals from both companies. They are both great companies and I want to thank them for their dedication and effort.
While I was trying to make up my mind about which company to choose, I had several conversations with Stefan from EXCAP, and he pointed me to KrugXP, a Ukrainian company and mentioned that he planned to get a cabin from them for himself. He sent me some cabin sketches and a link to their website www.krugxp.com . My initial impression was a real ‘wow’ effect, compared to all other cabin interiors of other companies that I had seen so far.
Trusting his industry experience, eye for quality and also his good design taste, I added KrugXP as an option to explore and did not wait long and combined another family trip to Germany with meeting Joerg Eden, the KrugXP sales manager. He did not hesitate to drive his MAN TGM 18.340 4x4 demo truck 500KM on a short notice, to meet at an Autobahn rest area to show me KrugXP quality first hand.
Over a nice Espresso drink from his NESPRESSO machine, we talked for several hours and he showed me each detail (besides the NESPRESSO machine) on his truck and answered all of my questions about KrugXP that I could think of in this limited time.
Everything I saw was exceeding my expectations – from cabinet locks, lights, electrical wiring and plumbing to the several 100-plus page manual with details of all components, electrical wiring diagrams, cabin drawings, etc., that comes with every KrugXP cabin.
A perfect match to the EXCAP quality and attention to detail - very efficient and smart interior layout and design combined with top notch components and good craftsmanship.
One component to mention, are the real glass windows that match the KCT window quality - but are produced by KrugXP. Other highlights are the high-end components, like MIELE appliances, MASTERVOLT Lithium Ion batteries, charger and Inverter - and I could go on and on…
… so to bring it to a point – similar to my EXCAP experience – KrugXP was also ‘love at first sight’.
What a quality difference compared to a US$ 350K U500 UNIMOG truck, built by a reputable U.S. company, that I test drove when the cupboard doors in the cabin almost fall off during the test drive. According to the owner, the water piping had broken and flooded the cabin previously, because non-heat resistant plastic pipes where used – ‘WOW’ – good that I continued searching and did not buy that truck just because I was focuse on UNIMOG at the time.
I had almost made up my mind about KrugXP - the only problem was, that nobody knew KrugXP – I hardly could find any references since the company is based in the Ukraine. I was a little hesitant to ‘pull the trigger’. After a lot of unsuccessful research, I finally found some reference to KrugXP by a British guy who lives in Saudi Arabia on the www.horizonsunlimited.com forum, which I visit sporadically for mostly motorbike related stuff.
His name is Tim Ansell and he got himself an amazing Oberaigner www.oberaigner.com “pimped up” 6X6 Sprinter and bought a custom KrugXP cabin that will be fitted to his MERCEDES truck. Since he was a couple of steps ahead of me, he provided me with many valuable tips and information and we are still in touch, communicating about our projects. Tim has started a cool blog, where you can find information and pictures about his truck project www.timstraveltruck.rocks.
Before jumping the gun, I decided to wait with a final decision and visit the Allradmesse in Germany, plus visit the KrugXp factory in the Ukraine. So in May It was time for another trip to Europe, determined to pick a cabin builder. After spending 3 days at the 2016 Allradmesse in Bad Kissingen, talking to numerous vendors and looking at their products, one of them being MASTERVOLT (thanks for the great draft beer at the MASTERVOLT booth!) - we booked flights to Kiev and visited the KruGXP factory in Cherkassy, Ukraine.
Victor, the KrugXP founder sent a driver and we got picked up at our hotel in Kiev in a brand new Land Rover for the 200KM trip. Over a nice lunch and spending half a day visiting the factory and talking – via Translator - with Victor, who is a vivid Expedition truck enthusiast himself. The story goes that he had a very expensive high-end Expedition vehicle from one of the most reputable companies that fall apart during one of his trips. He decided that he could do better and started building his own cabins and founded KrugXP, initially catering to a mostly Russian customer base, who loves to take their trucks to the extremes of Siberia and Mongolia. The devastated Ukrainian economy allowed him to hire extremely skilled workers and engineers that mostly come from the airspace and nuclear industry. Speaking about nuclear power plants, since Chernobyl is only 100Km from Kiev, we actually did a guided tour to Chernobyl – a once in-a-lifetime experience…see pictures here on my website www.dirkliepoldphotography.smugmug.com.
What we saw at KrugXP convinced us – and besides that we also felt the “chemistry was right” - so we signed a contract for a KrugXP custom cabin shortly after our return to the U.S. The cabin is planned to be finished by March 2017. The truck will be driven to Cherkassy, married with the cabin in the Ukraine and then driven back to Germany, where I hopefully can pick up the combined package, after getting some final upgrades done to the truck chassis by EXCAP.
Besides dreaming about driving down the Pan-Americana, I also have nightmares, thinking about the hassle to import the truck into the U.S, the Russians taking over Ukraine and even more scary, getting it registered legally in the U.S. So I still have to figure out a lot of things before being able to finally take it on a trip…
I know that some of you might have questions since I did not include a lot of detail around truck and cabin specifications in this write-up.
The good news is , that I just (today) finished to get up a blog and started to fill it with some info and photos. It is still a construction site (like my truck) … and I am ‘experimenting’ with Worldpress - so please hang-in there…I intend to add more content on my new site...so if you are interested check it out at www.exd.earth
:yikes:The bad news is, that since I am not on the road yet, still earning my money in the IT business, I am trying to stay away from ‘digital devices’ as much as I can and rather get out into the open…
The idea was born 5 years ago in the Atacama desert, when travelling through Chile in a (boring) rental car. We were in San Pedro de Atacama after watching some of the Paris-Dakkar rally - which interestingly enough is held in South America for the past years instead of in Africa as the name suggests, when my girlfriend saw this cool looking vehicle, that seemed to be out of Mad Max movie, fitting right into the harsh, moon-like desert landscape.
“It’s a UNIMOG” I responded to her question what this monstrous truck was.
A dream was born – we wanted to come back to this amazing place one day in our own Expedition truck…
…and - finally - we have started to turn this dream into ‘reality’, after years of research and sleepless nights.
The ‘reality’ is – we bought a STEYER 12M18 truck from EXCAP www.excap.de in Germany that will be married with a custom built cabin from KrugXP www.krugxp.com in the Ukraine.
As far as I know, EXCAP and KrugXP are not commonly known brands outside of Europe (yet) and I just want to point out that I have no relations with either company nor do I get any kickbacks. I am just describing the long journey that lead us to this decision.
UNIMOG it always was from the birth of this idea and as a German, I was convinced that this would be the ultimate truck base for an expedition vehicle. So I started reading all I could find about UNIMOGs and expedition trucks in general. I learned a lot from this forum – thanks to all of you for all the great and interesting contributions!
I test drove and researched about the various UNIMOG models and followed this path for several years. I am not a total truck ‘Greenhorn’ and driving a UNIMOG with trailer was part of my drivers’ training for getting a military tank license during my mandatory German military service back in ‘82. The only two good things I got out of these useless 15 months in a tank battalion – driving a 33 ton 600 HP MARDER SPZ tank, the coolest vehicle I ever drove – plus a civilian truck license. The truck license allowed me to earn good money as contract truck driver during college times…hauling anything from concrete to German beer.
Besides that, it comes in handy now, because in Germany you need a truck license for trucks exceeding 7.5 tons and the league of good expedition trucks, including the STEYER plus cabin, mostly exceed this limit.
The more I read about the UNIMOG, I realized that it is not really a long-distance truck – it is a UNIversal MOtor Gerät (translated Universal Motor Tool) and probably too sensitive for long trips due to the axle overheating problems, noisy cabin and low cruising speed (without modifications).
Since I am not planning to participate in a Paris-Dakar rally and think that realistically I will be travelling 75% on tarmac, probably most of the off-road miles on dusty fire-roads and “washboard”, I started looking at alternative platforms that are better for long-distance travel and at the same time offer decent off-road capabilities.
One of my main ‘handicaps’ is the fact that I ultimately want to import the truck into the U.S. and drive it from here to Patagonia – but that is still a long shot. Unfortunately, you can only import vehicles into the U.S. that are 25 years or older – this is one of the pros of the STEYER – mine is built in 1989.
Besides thinking about MERCEDES Sprinter 4X4 or 6X6 as a base for a bit, the one alternative that I really pursued for a while was the FUSO based platform and I liked the Earthcruiser www.earthcrusier.com concept, have visited the factory in Bend, OR and also considered the WOELCKE FUSO based model, called AUTARK for a while.
The FUSO of course rides much smoother than a UNIMOG, but when test driving it, I felt that it might be under-motorized and the Earthcruiser pop-up cabin – at least for us, planning longer trips - had too little storage space and comfort. I initially fall in love with the concept and trust the ‘Aussies’ that they know all about the outdoors and the concept seems very well thought through and robust – but since I also wanted to add a motorbike rack, the FUSO weight limitations would most likely be exceeded.
When the EURO exchange rate dropped to acceptable levels I started expanding my search to Germany. Besides looking at potential cabin builder alternatives, I got interested with the STEYR 12M18 as a base model and was reading a lot about this truck and ran into an article about EXCAP www.excap.de in the German Off-road magazine Allradler www.allradler.com. I immediately made arrangements and added a last minute visit to this small niche company, which is specialized in refurbishing STEYER 12M18 military trucks. In the past these trucks were available at auctions like Dorotheum www.Dorotheum.com, where the Austrian military was selling these trucks. I heard that in the good old days you could get a decent STEYER from EURO 6,000 onwards. Unfortunately, these days seem to be over due to the increasing popularity of this truck and the endless supply from the 4,000 trucks that the Austrian army bought between 1986 and 1993 is drying out.
Stefan, the founder and EXCAP owner agreed to see me on a Sunday on short notice, since it was my last day before flying back to the US the next day. I spent almost the entire day at his EXCAP shop, which is located in a small village in the idyllic Odenwald area, not too far from Frankfurt.
It was ‘love at first sight’ when I saw his meticulously refurbished STEYR EXCAP trucks. Being an industrial designer by trade, his attention to detail shows in every single part of the refurbished truck, down to the individual screws, which are each color marked during assembly for quality control purposes.
His business concept is to ‘totally’ dismantle the trucks down “to the bones”, sandblast every single part, repaint and/or coat the parts, replace wear& tear parts and the reassemble the entire truck. The cabin gets sound insulation, air suspension seats, storage space, stereo and lately even a leather steering wheel. The end result is a better than original condition truck that has been technically and visually been optimized and ‘prepped up’.
Before making the final move to sign a contract, I have read a lot about the STEYER, spent numerous sleepless nights on the German STEYER forum www.steyerforum.de and talked to several STEYER owners.
Seeing the EXCAP in his full beauty – I immediately realized that the STEYER was the right truck for me.
Here are the main reasons why I picked the STEYER 12M18 and bought it from EXCAP:
- The STEYER is old enough to allow me to (hopefully) legally import it to the US – the minimum age requirement is 25 years – my truck is built ’89
- Old simple diesel engine and no complex electronics.
- No need for Low Sulfur diesel or AdBlue – you can probably run this truck on olive oil
- Good cruising speed of around 100 km/hr
- Original HP is 180 (hence the 18 in the 12M18 – the EXCAP with a 6,600 CC turbocharger and additional intercooler and upgraded BOSCH Injection pump has around 230 HP
- Very agile, fast on the street and still very off-road capable
- Small turning radius (Wheelbase 3500 mm)
- Load capacity – the truck is designed for up to 12 tons (hence the 12 in the 12M18) - I plan to carry a motorcycle and don’t want to exceed total weight capacity like most light trucks below 7.5 t fully loaded do
- Big, comfortable cabin with EXCAP custom noise insulation
- EXCAP totally refurbishes the truck, including the cabin and you get an almost better than new truck – mine had only 69,000 KM on the clock. Here is just a partial list of what is included in my EXCAP package:
- Full sand and dry-ice blasted chassis and cabin
- Full double paint
- Exchange of all diesel, air and brake lines
- Fixing of known gearbox issue
- Coating of all parts and screws
- GABO split rims with new 14.00R20 Tires
- Roof rack
- LED Lights
- BOSCH injection pump
- Bigger 80AH generator
- New Batteries
- New shocks and cabin shock
- Custom cabin noise insulation
- Air suspension seats
- 580 Liter plastic tanks with heated SEPA filter
- New Stainless steel exhaust
- Cool design – I think for an old military truck it has a ‘cool’ modern look
- Price – good price/ value ratio – I looked at many trucks – and many were overprized, especially used base trucks for their actual limited level of refurbishing
- I don’t have the skills, tools, space or time to refurbish a truck myself and have not seen a similar ‘perfectionist’ approach of truck refurbishing for any other expedition tuck base – try to find and pay for a similar quality refurbishing for a UNIMOG
- Last but not least I really felt that the “EXCAP chemistry” was right – Stefan, is a very passionate, professional and trustful businessman, and it shows in his product. I spent a couple of days at his factory observing the different phases of refurbishing , had lunch with his employees and could see that they are exerts in their respective areas and most importantly I could feel that they love what they are doing.
OK – I could go on and on about the base truck decision making process – and of course there are con’s to the STEYER as well, like the lack of spare parts and service coverage - but let me rather talk about the cabin now.
As part of my years of research, I started looking in the U.S., visited numerous vendors and have checked-out various new and used expedition trucks – although I liked some of the trucks – like the U500, I was always disappointed with the cabin finish, design and craftsmanship.
Once I had laid my eyes on a UNICAT , I actually saw the demo model that was for sale by the U.S. UNICAT CEO – this became my new ‘standard’ for cabin quality – and most anything that I saw in the U.S. after looking at the UNICAT, looked flimsy, not well thought through and most of all old-style.
I visited the UNICAT factory in Germany – but when asking for quotes, I got a ‘sticker shock’ and realized that this category was out of my financial reach.
So I branched out and besides looking at European trucks also explored European cabin makers and surprisingly found several that in my opinion come close to UNICAT for a much lower price tag.
ActionMobil www.actionmobil.com is also in the top price range and based on my experience the price tag gets lower in this sequence of vendors - Langer & Bock www.langerundbock.com
,BlissMobil www.blissmobil.com, OrangeWork www.orangework.de , Bocklet www.bocklet.eu,
Fuess www.fuess-mobile.de , Ormocar www.ormocar.com, Woelcke www.woelcke.de , BiMobil www.bimobil.com, 4Wheel24 www.4wheel24.com.
One of my initial cabin favorites out of the above list was BlissMobil. The STEYR truck that I ended up buying, was the EXCAP demo truck, which had a 15” BLISS cabin on the back during the 2015 Allradmesse in Bad Kissingen, Germany. BTW - this supposed to be the biggest Off-road exhibition in the world and is a ‘must-see’ for everyone that is reading this article www.abenteuer-allrad.de/en.
So initially I thought – BlissMobil is it and felt that this was a natural fit for the EXCAP. I visited the factory in Breda, NL and really liked what I saw and was very convinced about the container concept. Diving more into the details and pro’s and con’s of the Bliss concept, I deviated from this idea partly due to the price tag, but mainly due to the fact that we did not 100% like the interior layout and options, since Bliss only offers limited customizability. One more point was the fact that literally everything is contained in the cab, including black and grey water tanks. My plan was to use the truck- and cabin space as efficient as possible and ideally planned to put the black water tank(s) somewhere outside of the cab in the truck frame.
One very helpful resource I have to mention is Ulriche Dolde, he has built his own Expedition camper on a Mercedes base and wrote a book about ‘how to build your own expedition camper’ and his experiences and lessons learned. He is very familiar with all the different vendors and components that are available on the market and provides consulting in this area. He is in the process to translate his book from German into English and it should be available for purchase soon. He also has an interesting website with tons of information and a gallery of expedition trucks on his website. www.selfbuildmotorhome.com.
OK – so how did I end up with KrugXP.
I actually had already narrowed my decision down to two cabin builders – Ormocar and 4wheel24 - and had spent a lot of time communicating with them about the details, visiting the factories and had detailed proposals from both companies. They are both great companies and I want to thank them for their dedication and effort.
While I was trying to make up my mind about which company to choose, I had several conversations with Stefan from EXCAP, and he pointed me to KrugXP, a Ukrainian company and mentioned that he planned to get a cabin from them for himself. He sent me some cabin sketches and a link to their website www.krugxp.com . My initial impression was a real ‘wow’ effect, compared to all other cabin interiors of other companies that I had seen so far.
Trusting his industry experience, eye for quality and also his good design taste, I added KrugXP as an option to explore and did not wait long and combined another family trip to Germany with meeting Joerg Eden, the KrugXP sales manager. He did not hesitate to drive his MAN TGM 18.340 4x4 demo truck 500KM on a short notice, to meet at an Autobahn rest area to show me KrugXP quality first hand.
Over a nice Espresso drink from his NESPRESSO machine, we talked for several hours and he showed me each detail (besides the NESPRESSO machine) on his truck and answered all of my questions about KrugXP that I could think of in this limited time.
Everything I saw was exceeding my expectations – from cabinet locks, lights, electrical wiring and plumbing to the several 100-plus page manual with details of all components, electrical wiring diagrams, cabin drawings, etc., that comes with every KrugXP cabin.
A perfect match to the EXCAP quality and attention to detail - very efficient and smart interior layout and design combined with top notch components and good craftsmanship.
One component to mention, are the real glass windows that match the KCT window quality - but are produced by KrugXP. Other highlights are the high-end components, like MIELE appliances, MASTERVOLT Lithium Ion batteries, charger and Inverter - and I could go on and on…
… so to bring it to a point – similar to my EXCAP experience – KrugXP was also ‘love at first sight’.
What a quality difference compared to a US$ 350K U500 UNIMOG truck, built by a reputable U.S. company, that I test drove when the cupboard doors in the cabin almost fall off during the test drive. According to the owner, the water piping had broken and flooded the cabin previously, because non-heat resistant plastic pipes where used – ‘WOW’ – good that I continued searching and did not buy that truck just because I was focuse on UNIMOG at the time.
I had almost made up my mind about KrugXP - the only problem was, that nobody knew KrugXP – I hardly could find any references since the company is based in the Ukraine. I was a little hesitant to ‘pull the trigger’. After a lot of unsuccessful research, I finally found some reference to KrugXP by a British guy who lives in Saudi Arabia on the www.horizonsunlimited.com forum, which I visit sporadically for mostly motorbike related stuff.
His name is Tim Ansell and he got himself an amazing Oberaigner www.oberaigner.com “pimped up” 6X6 Sprinter and bought a custom KrugXP cabin that will be fitted to his MERCEDES truck. Since he was a couple of steps ahead of me, he provided me with many valuable tips and information and we are still in touch, communicating about our projects. Tim has started a cool blog, where you can find information and pictures about his truck project www.timstraveltruck.rocks.
Before jumping the gun, I decided to wait with a final decision and visit the Allradmesse in Germany, plus visit the KrugXp factory in the Ukraine. So in May It was time for another trip to Europe, determined to pick a cabin builder. After spending 3 days at the 2016 Allradmesse in Bad Kissingen, talking to numerous vendors and looking at their products, one of them being MASTERVOLT (thanks for the great draft beer at the MASTERVOLT booth!) - we booked flights to Kiev and visited the KruGXP factory in Cherkassy, Ukraine.
Victor, the KrugXP founder sent a driver and we got picked up at our hotel in Kiev in a brand new Land Rover for the 200KM trip. Over a nice lunch and spending half a day visiting the factory and talking – via Translator - with Victor, who is a vivid Expedition truck enthusiast himself. The story goes that he had a very expensive high-end Expedition vehicle from one of the most reputable companies that fall apart during one of his trips. He decided that he could do better and started building his own cabins and founded KrugXP, initially catering to a mostly Russian customer base, who loves to take their trucks to the extremes of Siberia and Mongolia. The devastated Ukrainian economy allowed him to hire extremely skilled workers and engineers that mostly come from the airspace and nuclear industry. Speaking about nuclear power plants, since Chernobyl is only 100Km from Kiev, we actually did a guided tour to Chernobyl – a once in-a-lifetime experience…see pictures here on my website www.dirkliepoldphotography.smugmug.com.
What we saw at KrugXP convinced us – and besides that we also felt the “chemistry was right” - so we signed a contract for a KrugXP custom cabin shortly after our return to the U.S. The cabin is planned to be finished by March 2017. The truck will be driven to Cherkassy, married with the cabin in the Ukraine and then driven back to Germany, where I hopefully can pick up the combined package, after getting some final upgrades done to the truck chassis by EXCAP.
Besides dreaming about driving down the Pan-Americana, I also have nightmares, thinking about the hassle to import the truck into the U.S, the Russians taking over Ukraine and even more scary, getting it registered legally in the U.S. So I still have to figure out a lot of things before being able to finally take it on a trip…
I know that some of you might have questions since I did not include a lot of detail around truck and cabin specifications in this write-up.
The good news is , that I just (today) finished to get up a blog and started to fill it with some info and photos. It is still a construction site (like my truck) … and I am ‘experimenting’ with Worldpress - so please hang-in there…I intend to add more content on my new site...so if you are interested check it out at www.exd.earth:yikes:The bad news is, that since I am not on the road yet, still earning my money in the IT business, I am trying to stay away from ‘digital devices’ as much as I can and rather get out into the open…
