How tall is too tall?

[G_fresh]

Question: For an "Around the World" vehicle, how tall is too tall?

I am really hoping to get opinions from people who have actually done a multi-continent, multi-year trip.

The reason I’m asking is that we are trying to figure out what to do for a camper for our Unimog 1300L:



My wife and I tend to probably go that "extra mile” (or many miles) to get to remote places when we have travelled in the US, Mexico, and Australia. This may mean that we’d like to have a lower overall vehicle height than perhaps people who would tend to stick to the Pan-American Highway.

In small towns, we’re willing to ditch the vehicle and explore on foot. So, I’m not as concerned about height in these situations. Or, should I be?

We are roughly planning on the Americas, Southern and Eastern Africa, Europe, Siberia/Mongolia, and maybe Australia again? Most of these places are fairly open country. But, there will be forests and jungles at times. We have some experience with forests and virtually none with driving in jungles.

Thanks for your help!
Ryan

 

[B85]

My max is 12'2" but I'm in the US and Canada.

 

[Darwin]

I would say under 11' Preferably more like 10'5. I would be concerned about the small market towns since you will likely not be able to avoid many of them, even if you just parked your rig on the pan am and bussed it to towns off that road.

For the camper I think if you could do a lifting roof type you might be able to really keep the height down.

 

[downhill]

Nice rig and project!

I'm not a world traveler, but I have traveled extensively for decades. I think height is always a trade off that people have to make. Height is never good, and the higher you are, the worse it is. Overlanding, by its nature, is uncertain. The question really is what you are happy to live with. I had a vehicle that was 8'6' for many years. Mostly it went where I wanted to go, but I did encounter old train trestles, and forested roads that forced me to take another route, Once in the Canyonlands I was forced to the very edge of a road, overlooking a steep canyon because of a rock outcropping on the inside of the road. It was a major pucker moment! Smaller vehicles had no issues. Even parking on city streets with trees can be a frustration. Basically, here is how I see it:
Pros: you have more head room.
Cons: Greater risk of trees and man made obstacles rerouting you
Greater risk of vehicle damage
Decreased gas mileage
Higher center of gravity
Higher visible profile, making covert camping more difficult. (there will be times when you do not want to be seen)
Greater susceptibility to cross winds

I draw the line lower than most, but for me I want just enough room to stand up to pull my pants on. For some reason, wiggling into my pants on the bed annoys me. That is my personal line. The rest of the time, I am sitting. My style of travel is free flowing, and I often just take a road because it looks interesting. I seldom know where I will end up, or where I will be spending the night. How you travel will influence your decision. When I travel I live outside unless I am sleeping or weathering a storm anyway. I would rather be outside where the headroom is unlimited.

Here is a tip that you might find helpful. I mounted a fiberglass buggy whip at both front corners of my truck and then trimmed the tops so that the buggy whips were 1" taller than the box behind me. That gave me a visual from the cab that was extremely useful. If the buggy whip just barely cleared, then I took it slow and went ahead. I never hit anything using that method. I came to an ancient bridge underpass once that I was sure was tall enough. I probably would have tried it, but the whips just caught the top, so I backed out. Much of my travel was solo, so having that feature was a huge help.

 

[IdaSHO]

Multi continent, Id have to say your height limits will be dictated more by the max overall height permitted by a shipping container, than by limitations when behind the wheel.

As I recall, the header height on a HC container is roughly 8 ft 6 inches


That is, if you expect to ship it by container

 

[Coachgeo]

Plus one to what IdaSho says. for Unimog info on this suggest you go to Benzworld.org/forums/unimog That is where the largest US based Unimog Folk are and many have shipped mogs back and forth overseas. There is alot of factors such as what you use to roll wheels on once removed so you can fit into container..... or if your going to seperate box from Mog and ship that way orrr?

 

[dwh]

From someone who has been there and done that:

http://www.silkroute.org.uk/equipment/choosevan.htm

 

[downhill]

this thread is a great read: http://forum.expeditionportal.com/threads/19150-Roof-design-examples-and-comment/page5

 

[Ozrockrat]

High enough to comfortably stand up in. Seriously having to kink your neck a little as you are moving about sucks after a while. You will be spending way more time inside the box than you will worrying about "will it fit". Also remember that most of the places you will go will be serviced by trucks and buses. And the poorer (more interesting) the country the higher they pile people and crap on to roof.

So my vote is as tall as needed to standup inside and carry an insulated forked stick (power lines etc) and a pole saw. Also having some tell tale you can put on the bullbar when in suspect areas (jungle etc) so you know exactly where the top of the box is.

 

[G_fresh]

From someone who has been there and done that:

http://www.silkroute.org.uk/equipment/choosevan.htm

Thanks! I found that a very informative read!

 

[G_fresh]

Thanks for all of the good links/suggestions. I also found this to be a worthwhile thread:

http://forum.expeditionportal.com/threads/160244-Who-Built-This-Unimog-Camper