GXV Patagonia on the Kenworth K370 chassis

[waveslider]

Indeed. And I have to assume - or rather I saw it plain as day with GXV - that not all aftermarket manufacturers support their products equally.

These builders likely suffer the same challenges we do as consumers and struggle to get support from some companies and get great service from others.

When you think about it, unless it’s a big ticket item, companies like GXV/ER/EC aren’t exactly high volume purchasers compared to a RV company pumping out hundreds of units a month. So might not have much more leverage than the avg consumer.

In any case, if it wasn’t clear, I’ve been very happy with our truck and I’m regularly amazed with the quality as I begin to poke around and learn as much as I can since I can’t take the assembly team with me on the road and will be required to fix bent and broken parts on my own.

 

[Aussieoh]

Just wanted to chime in and say thanks for the thoughtful responses. We're just a couple of months into our Patagonia build so absorbing info from folks who are using the product is helpful. We, too, came from a SMB and are in the process of selling it. When we bought the SMB 8 years ago it seemed like such a stretch to put six figures in a 1 ton van. So here we are now with an acquisition price well beyond but that doesn't dampen the enthusiasm of getting our dream vehicle. The comment about having realistic expectations is spot on. I suppose some people figure their GXV is a house on wheels and maybe it is but a minimalist mindset certainly helped traveling in the SMB so I think that it will serve us well in the GXV. Now, we just have to get through the wait.......

 

[waveslider]

Sweet Aussie. I can tell you that if you are coming off a SMB you will find the Patagonia to be a great extravagance!

We were so used to being miserly with our power and water usage we actually thought all our gauges were broken! Nothing was going down! We spent a week in it and went from 100% full water to like 90% full water. Lol

Stay engaged through the build process - you will be rewarded with a better understanding of how your vehicle was put together and how to maintain and manage it. Look forward to seeing it.

 

[waveslider]

Just thought I would drop a photo in here from our recent trip. Not to make it worse for you Aussie... We are loving our truck and it took quite the pounding to get to this particular spot but it was worth it for 2 weeks of near solitude.

 

[Keyne]

Looks great. Would love to see some interior shots with those big windows. Wonder what the layout looks like. Maybe lounge forward, bed in rear, and kitchen on passenger side?

 

[Howard70]

Just thought I would drop a photo in here from our recent trip...

Along with that great looking truck, I like the shovel. When ours sits like that it means the capacity of our composting toilet is being extended........

Howard

 

[waveslider]

Indeed. The latrine actually meant that we didn't use our toilet /cassette) once during a 2 week outing.

Keyne, let me try to find some interior pics and will post below. But a few notes. You're correct that we have the lounge forward, kitchen on pass side aft of the access door that looks out that big window, bed running E/W in the back and bathroom on drivers side.

As I think I stated previously, I'm tall so we had to make the box slightly taller than "standard" which was no big deal for GXV. But the other main change with that is they had to create a custom shower pan that sits directly on the floor essentially instead of their normal design which would sit up and allow for pluming and other things to run underneath it. As a result, that meant that it needed to be able to drop straight down out of the shower into the grey water tank which kind of dictated the location of the bathroom/shower. No biggie and allowed for more windows! Without a doubt, this is the most open and "light" rig we've been in which is great because that's what we were going for. Very much like the natural light you get from an EC or a SMB with the top up and 360deg view.

 

[gregmchugh]

Indeed. The latrine actually meant that we didn't use our toilet /cassette) once during a 2 week outing.

Keyne, let me try to find some interior pics and will post below. But a few notes. You're correct that we have the lounge forward, kitchen on pass side aft of the access door that looks out that big window, bed running E/W in the back and bathroom on drivers side.

As I think I stated previously, I'm tall so we had to make the box slightly taller than "standard" which was no big deal for GXV. But the other main change with that is they had to create a custom shower pan that sits directly on the floor essentially instead of their normal design which would sit up and allow for pluming and other things to run underneath it. As a result, that meant that it needed to be able to drop straight down out of the shower into the grey water tank which kind of dictated the location of the bathroom/shower. No biggie and allowed for more windows! Without a doubt, this is the most open and "light" rig we've been in which is great because that's what we were going for. Very much like the natural light you get from an EC or a SMB with the top up and 360deg view.

My plan if encountering a long term stay away from anyplace to dump the cassette is to continue to use the cassette toilet and then bury the contents when it is time to dump the cassette. Any reason why this plan would not also work?

 

[waveslider]

There is probably someone here that understands the ecological piece better but when we use an outside latrine as it were, all paper is collected and either burned or disposed of with the regular trash.

We also use the chemicals in our cassette when we do use it and I would think that dumping (even if burying) with the chemicals is a non-starter. In truth, even if someone told me it was OK, my sensibilities just wouldn't allow for it.

I suppose if you didn't use the chemicals and didn't include paper, it might be acceptable. I haven't researched it to any great degree.

 

[waveslider]

Although these were taken while inside a big shop, hopefully you can see how much natural light that would be coming in the big windows.

We wouldn’t trade them for anything

 

[waveslider]

We are planning to make a weekend trip in the rhino this weekend. Will see if I can get one from the inside with natural lighting.

 

[wfv56]

We are planning to make a weekend trip in the rhino this weekend. Will see if I can get one from the inside with natural lighting.

Wave slider that’s a beautiful rig. Tell me about on road travel in the K370. Comfort, ride quality, noise etc. Any drive train or maintenance issues?

 

[waveslider]

I would say all are at or above normal or average. I did just recently add some dynamat to the doors, not because I found it to be noisy but I had some laying around and we really like leaving the pass thru open and I know from previous experience that it really helps with the insulation. It was a nice upgrade but not like it was needed.

The driving comfort is fine. Since the pass thru extends to behind the drivers' seat I can lean back a little more and I added a bracket to adjust for my long legs. GXV offered to do that but I decided to tackle it myself since I have loads of experience modifying vehicles to fit. Lol. Its definitely a tight fit for me on the passenger side but normal sized humans should have no trouble.

I'm told their new extended cab model that GXV is offering is pretty sweet and creates loads of room.

Truthfully, I'm amazed at how nice the truck rides on the freeway/paved roads. Its very manageable and not at all like driving a dump truck. Better road manners than our SMB. It does slow considerably up steep hills but that's the trade-off for gearing that saves a bit on fuel. The cruising speed produces low RPMs which is great. But we haven't put NEAR as many miles on ours as some of the folks here like Greg. He's been across the country several times. I don't want to drive that much frankly and won't run out of things to see west of the Mississippi before I die. The MINUTE we hit gravel tho I air down and that also makes a huge difference.

We haven't had any drive train issues and we've used the 4WD pretty extensively.

So far so good.

 

[wfv56]

I would say all are at or above normal or average. I did just recently add some dynamat to the doors, not because I found it to be noisy but I had some laying around and we really like leaving the pass thru open and I know from previous experience that it really helps with the insulation. It was a nice upgrade but not like it was needed.

The driving comfort is fine. Since the pass thru extends to behind the drivers' seat I can lean back a little more and I added a bracket to adjust for my long legs. GXV offered to do that but I decided to tackle it myself since I have loads of experience modifying vehicles to fit. Lol. Its definitely a tight fit for me on the passenger side but normal sized humans should have no trouble.

I'm told their new extended cab model that GXV is offering is pretty sweet and creates loads of room.

Truthfully, I'm amazed at how nice the truck rides on the freeway/paved roads. Its very manageable and not at all like driving a dump truck. Better road manners than our SMB. It does slow considerably up steep hills but that's the trade-off for gearing that saves a bit on fuel. The cruising speed produces low RPMs which is great. But we haven't put NEAR as many miles on ours as some of the folks here like Greg. He's been across the country several times. I don't want to drive that much frankly and won't run out of things to see west of the Mississippi before I die. The MINUTE we hit gravel tho I air down and that also makes a huge difference.

We haven't had any drive train issues and we've used the 4WD pretty extensively.

So far so good.

I looked online for a extended version of the k370 and didn’t see it. Is that a GXV modification of a k370? Thanks for your detailed reply.

 

[waveslider]

Yes, I am to believe that they are working on an extended cab model. You'll need to contact them about availability.