Exploring Options for an Expedition Vehicle for Global Travel
- Thread starter Sailmike
- Start date
nickw
Adventurer
I hear ya, but it's kinda pick the devil you know vs the one you don't. I suppose it depends on where you'll be spending most of your time. I have a buddy with an older Gwagon in Canada and the thing is in pieces and taking forever to repair, very difficult to source parts. Same "problem" with the older cruisers, certainly a workable solution, but there is no visiting dealerships to source parts.
Tom Sheppard had a problem with his Gwagen in a Sahara and had to ship it back to the UK/Germany if I remember correctly and took months to diagnose.
nickw
Adventurer
Where are you planning on traveling?
Cackalak Han
Explorer
shade
Well-known member
Build your Own Overland Camper - I found this book interesting. It provides a broad overview on the topic, covering vehicle selection and construction techniques. You may find it helpful in narrowing down what would be the right type of vehicle for you.
luthj
Engineer In Residence
Is the 30-40k your vehicle budget? Your travel budget? Or both? How long do you want to stay on the road? Sounds like indefinitely? If so, whats your income look like? I know for some these are highly personal details, but good responses to your query require it.
As far as rough costs, for one person, 50$ a day is doable in most of the developed world. That will cover fuel, food, motor insurance, incidentals, and some leisure. You will not be able to pay for lodging all the time, that eats money very quickly. Of course thats what a good camper is for. For two people 75$ a day is living pretty well. Assuming you mostly free/cheap camp. Remember that is saving ZERO for retirement, and minimal or no health insurance. Those figures also do not include depreciation/wear on your vehicle (home). They also do not include shipping a vehicle via ocean freight, or carnets.
Building your own camper is a HUGE time consumer. Especially if you want something comfortable and reliable for full time travel across the seasons (world). It can take 1,000 hours easily. Unless you have lots of experience with the various types of work this involves, or you have lots of time to burn, I suggest finding something pre-built that meets most of your basic needs. Then refurbish/modify it to suit your travel style.
Nothing on the market is going to be truly designed for full time overlanding (except some expensive niche vehicles). Even then its not going to meet your exact specs. Having built a number of complex projects from the ground up over the years, I can say its 50% less work to start with something, anything really, as a base. Most of the time eating design stuff (most of which no one ever thinks about normally) is done for you.
My final question. Do you need a truck or something with 4x4? Cause a motorcycle on a carrier gets you pretty darn far. If you eliminate the 4x4, you can choose one of many well built RV type vehicles. Modify for your usage as needed. These will have 30% more usable space, and be cheaper to operate and buy. For example a box on a cab-chassis, van or cabover, is very roomy with a good layout. Still parks in a regular spot, and can be turned around on a single lane road with patience.
Most of our travels are on our blog (signature below).
Th Aus porition is also posted here.
www.expeditionportal.com
I am slowly posting the NZ part here.
expeditionportal.com
As far as rough costs, for one person, 50$ a day is doable in most of the developed world. That will cover fuel, food, motor insurance, incidentals, and some leisure. You will not be able to pay for lodging all the time, that eats money very quickly. Of course thats what a good camper is for. For two people 75$ a day is living pretty well. Assuming you mostly free/cheap camp. Remember that is saving ZERO for retirement, and minimal or no health insurance. Those figures also do not include depreciation/wear on your vehicle (home). They also do not include shipping a vehicle via ocean freight, or carnets.
Building your own camper is a HUGE time consumer. Especially if you want something comfortable and reliable for full time travel across the seasons (world). It can take 1,000 hours easily. Unless you have lots of experience with the various types of work this involves, or you have lots of time to burn, I suggest finding something pre-built that meets most of your basic needs. Then refurbish/modify it to suit your travel style.
Nothing on the market is going to be truly designed for full time overlanding (except some expensive niche vehicles). Even then its not going to meet your exact specs. Having built a number of complex projects from the ground up over the years, I can say its 50% less work to start with something, anything really, as a base. Most of the time eating design stuff (most of which no one ever thinks about normally) is done for you.
My final question. Do you need a truck or something with 4x4? Cause a motorcycle on a carrier gets you pretty darn far. If you eliminate the 4x4, you can choose one of many well built RV type vehicles. Modify for your usage as needed. These will have 30% more usable space, and be cheaper to operate and buy. For example a box on a cab-chassis, van or cabover, is very roomy with a good layout. Still parks in a regular spot, and can be turned around on a single lane road with patience.
Most of our travels are on our blog (signature below).
Th Aus porition is also posted here.
Exploring Australia From The Left
Hey folks. At the end of last year, we complete a 11 month adventure in Australia. We kept a blog of our travels, and it is my plan to recount it here over the next few weeks. Some background. We got introduced to overland traveling after working for an airline. Ironic isn't it? We could...
www.expeditionportal.com
I am slowly posting the NZ part here.
Exploring New Zealand From the Left.
Back in 2017 and 2018 we shipped our Van to Australia and then New Zealand. The first part is written up in the thread below. https://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/exploring-australia-from-the-left.193389/ The second part, our New Zealand travels has not been posted here. Over the...
expeditionportal.com
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shade
Well-known member
I think it's a good idea to keep payload capacity and power needs in mind from the start. Once you take a vehicle into the full-time living realm, it's easy to lose track of weight, and that can create cascading problems with fuel consumption, road manners, off-grid endurance, wear & service intervals, etc.
For house power needs, I like the idea of using electricity as much as possible. Solar charging is effective, and electrical power is very flexible. I can see how an adequate battery capacity and a powerful alternator paired with solar charging can add a lot of convenience. If the only other fuel used is whatever powers the drivetrain, life seems simpler than messing with batteries, propane, petrol, and diesel.
