Welcome to the 10-year club

[IdaSHO]

End of the year this rear is officially the 10-year mark for our custom camper.
I know the list will be painfully short, but Id like to see who else we have here in the club.


A short bit.... I designed and built our camper from the ground up.
Its a true 4-season camper, that weighs 2200lbs dry, and in the 10 years and what must be 75k+ miles now, has never let us down.
It was designed from the beginning to outlive the trucks it rides upon, and is already on truck #2

 

[SDDiver5]

You have a build thread on here, right?

 

[Cummins_expo]

10 years on Expo or 10 years same rig? Or 10 rigs later in my case lol

 

[IdaSHO]

You have a build thread on here, right?

Sorry, no. Due to this forum and many members and their inability to accept anything wood as a great building material,
I chose to post it over on the (old) pirate4x4 forum, which has since been lost to the sands of time.

If you'd like some fun reading material check this thread out....
Its pretty silly to see how closed minded some really are.

In search of the "perfect" camper frame

As with many, the gears in my head are always turning. I find myself working out designs in my head often. Eventually I have to put something on paper. While this design may not pan out, I submit it to you for considerations, ideas, and suggestions. I am realizing time and time again that...

forum.expeditionportal.com

 

[Peter_n_Margaret]

Coming up 19 years, 270,000km and counting.

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

 

[Peter_n_Margaret]

ps.... DIY built from the ground up.
Don't ask what the construction method and materials were.
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

 

[86scotty]

10 years on Expo or 10 years same rig? Or 10 rigs later in my case lol

Yep, me too. And the one I have now is hardly different than the one I started with.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[trackhead]

Congratulations. Problem with ten year club is a lotta folks who build their own end up repeating the process sooner than ten years because many just like the process. Some are horrified by it and never do it again.

Your build remains a top favorite of mine for many reasons. The wood use is one of them. It’s proof to the nerds here that high tech doesn’t always win.

I’m building another camper next year, because I’m neurotic, and I’ve studied your build at length and plan on mimicking the materials used.

 

[Ozarker]

Congrates on your rig holding up for the decade. Now, go wear it out!

 

[Hugues]

Can I join if it takes me 10 years to build my rig ?

 

[IdaSHO]

Congratulations. Problem with ten year club is a lotta folks who build their own end up repeating the process sooner than ten years because many just like the process. Some are horrified by it and never do it again.

Your build remains a top favorite of mine for many reasons. The wood use is one of them. It’s proof to the nerds here that high tech doesn’t always win.

I’m building another camper next year, because I’m neurotic, and I’ve studied your build at length and plan on mimicking the materials used.

Id say there is a third type of person in there...

The one that knows what they want, is willing to put in the effort to do it and do it right, and reaps the rewards.
While I loved every portion of the build, from design, to construction, to finish...
from the word GO I designed it to best fit our needs with full timing in mind, in order to never have to build it again.

That doesn't mean I've never considered building it again....
But I'm well aware of how much time and energy it takes, and am simply not in the position to "waste" building it again.
I've got better things to do, with many projects and life... and this one suits us incredibly well.

 

[NatersXJ6]

Can I join if it takes me 10 years to build my rig ?

😍! We’ve all been there. Sometimes I think I’ll never finish a project. Fortunately, I consider my 90% complete to be more functional than some peoples’ 110%!

Construction method: long planning, short extreme swearing, follow-up planning!

Materials: Yes

 

[charlieaarons]

17 year club:
I ordered my chassis new from an equipment dealer serendipitously walking distance (2 miles) from my house in September 2005. I had deliberated over the options list for 2 months. 35 years of 4x4 experience helped.
Many people spend years building a camper themselves. Having a pretty good job, and having determined that Unicat was one of the best camper box builders out there, they built the camper on the chassis in about 5 months. We picked it up and took a little trip down to Morocco in the company of Thomas Ritter and 3 other new Unicats. I essentially had it drop-shipped to them
On the way to southern Africa, it’s currently getting some improvements. It was also there in 2016-17 bracketed around a trip to Mongolia.
It’s 17 years old, has 110k miles (177k km). It’s had very few “issues”, although I carry an incredible collection of spare parts and tools.
I have watched many expensive builds on ExPo, like on refurbished 6x6 FMTVs, new Sprinters, and of course the ubiquitous 550/5500s, etc etc. Only to see them put up for sale 1-2-3 years later. Hard to understand. Although I do have theories.

 

[trackhead]

^^there are so many $400,000+ rigs with less than 20,000 miles on them for sale, makes you wonder.

 

[IdaSHO]

Yeah, that's a mentality I'm still trying to sort out.

My instinct tells me its typically more money than sense, combined with a "keeping up the joneses"
All motivating the "custom builds" that are often little more than a bolt-on affair.
Social media sure the heck doesn't help any.