We might have just lucked into a Hawk flatbed, and now we're scrambling for the truck and flatbed. This will be for full time travel in North/Central/South Americas, for a family of 3 + dog. Our main concerns were being able to:
I feel like we're getting decent advice on the truck: mechanic recommended a 2001-2006 Dodge 2500 diesel with <200k on the odometer, else a late-model GMC or Chevy gas 2500, for reliability and simplicity. For the most part, this puts us in a crew cab (long-legged kid) shortbed (altho I know there are longbed megas running around for later models, we like the diesel option for range/fuel "economy").
It's the flatbed that I don't know anything about, and that I can't find as much about. We'd like a few custom features to increase our storage space. Basically this (but within budget):
I'd also look at Norweld and Sherptek, but lead times with those guys appear to be as bad as they are for FWC, so we're talking to local welders. Key features here that we'd like to get built in to the flatbed:
- hit a budget
- sleep the 3 of us comfortably when the weather wasn't comfortable to sleep outside
- provide workspace, cause I still have to pay the bills
- carry all us and all our stuff safely (ie, within payload, and not designed and built by a #vanlifer whose main qualification is an instagram account)
- balance between capability for back/rough roads, and not having a tank when rolling through towns; we're probably not going anywhere that the locals wouldn't go with their 2WD trucks, or corollas for that matter, but we don't want to risk getting stuck, for example, on the beach, or not going to that 1 in a 100 someplace because we don't have the clearance or 4WD
I feel like we're getting decent advice on the truck: mechanic recommended a 2001-2006 Dodge 2500 diesel with <200k on the odometer, else a late-model GMC or Chevy gas 2500, for reliability and simplicity. For the most part, this puts us in a crew cab (long-legged kid) shortbed (altho I know there are longbed megas running around for later models, we like the diesel option for range/fuel "economy").
It's the flatbed that I don't know anything about, and that I can't find as much about. We'd like a few custom features to increase our storage space. Basically this (but within budget):
I'd also look at Norweld and Sherptek, but lead times with those guys appear to be as bad as they are for FWC, so we're talking to local welders. Key features here that we'd like to get built in to the flatbed:
- side storage boxes
- behind the cab garage
- water tank under the flatbed
- bike storage (probably on a hitch rack)
- Would you start with a pre-fab flatbed (eg, alumaweld) or just do the whole thing from scratch?
- Aluminum, or is steel an option?
- Metal or wood deck? Is there a pro/con to either, except that if we go prefab it's going to be metal.
- Any concerns about putting a longbed flatbed on a shortbed chasis so we can get that extra 1.5-2 feet behind the cab? I'm sure it can be done, but is that going to cause some structural or weight-and-balance issue?
- Can we ditch the headache rack?
- Those storage boxes...do they have to be welded on or can they be bolted in place?
- Can you mix an aluminum flatbed and steel boxes (not welded, but just bolted in place)? I remember something from general chemistry about 2 dissimilar metals and water next to each other being a bad thing. I'm thinking mostly about the behind the cab garage...if we can find a pre-fab box that fits there, maybe it'd help with the budget.
- Any tips for stowing that water tank in the spaces between the flatbed and frame, or is it as simple as finding the space and securing it?
