What would you do?

[aowanders.com]

If you only had $35,000 what would you do, if your goal was a full time 4x4 hard walled mobile habitat that could function as a glamping chariot at a local campground or if the ambition is there ---take on a global road trip?

Assets you own to use in combination of bag of money.

2012 Toyota Tacoma 4x4 crew cab manual 6-speed transmission - free and clear
2018 Toyota Tundra 5.7L V8 4x4 Crew cab -Not free and clear
Sunlite 690 Truck Camper- Remodeled with basic solar.

Rip the truck bed off the Tacoma and build a flatbed camper?
Trade/Sell the Tacoma for a __________?

Buy a new rig and build it out? What kind of rig? Ambo? Vanlife? Short school bus? Box truck? Military vehicle? Different base truck and build my own?

Rip the truck bed off the Tundra and build a habitat? ( The reason I keep suggesting flatbed truck camper cuz wheel wells take up valuable real estate that house something more beneficial)

I don't want a trailer of any kind. It limits mobiliy and accessibility. I had one for 8 years. Also no pop-ups or softwalls as I love skiing.

Really curious to get some feedback.

 

[AbleGuy]

My two cents err, nickle (no pennies being used anymore )…



Creating a Glamping rig on a $35 budget will be a challenge.

Sell the Tundra and go debt free.

Buy and Build out one of these and convo it to 4WD.

The narrow body, straight sided walls and low but stand up height roof give you Max interior space for living and storage but still leaves you with a small and easy to drive/park rig using parts easy to find anywhere.

A skoolie would be harder to insulate well due to the amount of glass (skiing =cold weather, yah?), stay away from duallies (headache outweighs helpfulness’s on a smaller rig), ambo would be too heavy (crappy gas mileage and duallies). The Taco may have a too limited cargo carrying capability due to the tranny.

Your hopes are very doable, just stay creative and adaptable, keep dreaming and planning and keep us up to date…

 

[rruff]

2012 Toyota Tacoma 4x4 crew cab manual 6-speed transmission - free and clear
2018 Toyota Tundra 5.7L V8 4x4 Crew cab -Not free and clear

The Tacomas could be had with a 6' bed... is that what you have, or the 5'? Also, the engine on the Tacoma is the 4.0l or the 2.7l? How many miles on the trucks?

Is this just you or ...?

At any rate I'd keep one of the trucks and build a camper on the frame. That's what I did.

 

[FrenchieXJ]

If you only had $35,000 what would you do, if your goal was a full time 4x4 hard walled mobile habitat that could function as a glamping chariot at a local campground or if the ambition is there ---take on a global road trip?

Assets you own to use in combination of bag of money.

2012 Toyota Tacoma 4x4 crew cab manual 6-speed transmission - free and clear
2018 Toyota Tundra 5.7L V8 4x4 Crew cab -Not free and clear
Sunlite 690 Truck Camper- Remodeled with basic solar.

Rip the truck bed off the Tacoma and build a flatbed camper?
Trade/Sell the Tacoma for a __________?

Buy a new rig and build it out? What kind of rig? Ambo? Vanlife? Short school bus? Box truck? Military vehicle? Different base truck and build my own?

Rip the truck bed off the Tundra and build a habitat? ( The reason I keep suggesting flatbed truck camper cuz wheel wells take up valuable real estate that house something more beneficial)

I don't want a trailer of any kind. It limits mobiliy and accessibility. I had one for 8 years. Also no pop-ups or softwalls as I love skiing.

Really curious to get some feedback.

You may have a problem here?
I do not know you or your goals in life, your life style, just to name a few. We do not these answers so, I will point out some thoughts and only you have the answers.

Depending to the length of time you will be gone, will make the decision of keeping or selling the other vehicles. Like a 3 month gone time or 3 years, totally different answers. Just having a glamping chariot with your budget can be doable. Use what you have! Paying for a vehicle sitting at home while traveling. (my opinion) A waste of money as it still deprecates sitting there. You can sell it for extra money for your adventure.

Extended travel generally limits your income.
Do you have plans for your income?
Do you own a home and have house payments?
Are you married?
Are you retired or working?

With my years of experience, I need these question answered (for a start) to give you any usable answers.

That is my Indian Head nickle.

 

[simple]

Where you live is also a factor? Do you have a work space to build things? Do you have space to store a camper out of the elements?

 

[Gravelette]

If you only had $35,000 what would you do, if your goal was a full time 4x4 hard walled mobile habitat

Do you mean full time 4X4 drivetrain or do you want to live in it full time?

 

[aowanders.com]

Do you mean full time 4X4 drivetrain or do you want to live in it full time?

Full time living. Sorry I should have been more clear.

 

[aowanders.com]

Where you live is also a factor? Do you have a work space to build things? Do you have space to store a camper out of the elements?

I want to live out of it fulltime. So it would be in elements 24/7 and some pretty extreme ones in the winter.

Ive been fulltime RVing since 2008. Its now time to build my own rig with as few compromises as possible

 

[aowanders.com]

My two cents err, nickle (no pennies being used anymore )…

View attachment 904972

Creating a Glamping rig on a $35 budget will be a challenge.

Sell the Tundra and go debt free.

Buy and Build out one of these and convo it to 4WD.

The narrow body, straight sided walls and low but stand up height roof give you Max interior space for living and storage but still leaves you with a small and easy to drive/park rig using parts easy to find anywhere.

A skoolie would be harder to insulate well due to the amount of glass (skiing =cold weather, yah?), stay away from duallies (headache outweighs helpfulness’s on a smaller rig), ambo would be too heavy (crappy gas mileage and duallies). The Taco may have a too limited cargo carrying capability due to the tranny.

Your hopes are very doable, just stay creative and adaptable, keep dreaming and planning and keep us up to date…

You saying all the things that are running through my head.

Original plan was to build out the Tacoma, but tye tundra fell in my lap.

The Tacoma pulled a 30 foot travel trailer all over the country daily for 8 years. New transmission put in last year less than 10,000 miles. Which is why I paid for this, and then the Tundra came up.

Was so excited, but its lifted with steal tires and found out it dont have the payload I thought. The little 690 truck camper with my gear has its leaf springs flat. Thank God I installed airbags.

I was going to have someone weld me an aluminum camper/habitat 10x10 frame to frame mount but im a little nervous.

So now im looking at box trucks, unimogs, fuso's, ambos and other foundation vehicles. Just feels like ive cornered my self by getting attached and living out of my attachment. So selling and pivoting isn't a simple transaction.

I think your right tho. I mean theres thousands of these things listed every day. Just looked at a promaster 2017 3500 box truck that has engine problems for only $2500. I could take that box off and put it on a bigger rig or these hauls are all over market place for less than $10,000 and there already a good base with 90 degree angles. 4x4 conversions only $10,000 "ish"

Plus I think theres gonna be alot of vanlifers and rvers and skoolies tapping out of the lifestyle next few years as its not as romantic as they saw on Instagram so the influx of used inventory might drive prices down. Duno if I should wait or just pull the trigger.

Appreciate your time and thoughts.

 

[simple]

What do you plan to use 4wd for?

For $35k, you can buy a decent full size 4x4 and camper already setup. Not much storage for full time living though.

If I was living full time, I'd shoot for comfort. Good bed, shower, toilet, gear storage.

I'd do a stealth 12' single rear wheel gm 4.8 or 5.3 liter box van with cab fairing. Bone simple and reliable. Lower miles truck for $25k or if your handy buy a high miles one for cheap and keep it running. Keep money aside for an engine or trans replacement. Parts for those trucks are easy to come by. Rear diff goes south, swap the whole axle assembly out.

On the occasion that I'd be driving in snow, I'd use chains. If I got stuck turning around on a gravel road, I'd pull winch rope. If I was on gravel more often, I'd install a rear selectable locker.

Keep part of the rear door access as a garage and have a small motor cycle or e-bike. Inflatable boat or portabote.

 

[rruff]

I was going to have someone weld me an aluminum camper/habitat 10x10 frame to frame mount but im a little nervous.

To put on your Tundra with a 5.5' bed?

Don't do aluminum. If you build a camper box use foam and fiberglass composite.

I'd do a stealth 12' single rear wheel gm 4.8 or 5.3 liter box van with cab fairing. Bone simple and reliable.

Not a bad choice at all. Giving up 4wd will make it tougher to get to out of the way places, but not as much as most people think. Ground clearance and decent tires will go a long way, and a locker would be nice.

 

[Gravelette]

I want to live out of it fulltime. So it would be in elements 24/7 and some pretty extreme ones in the winter.

Ive been fulltime RVing since 2008. Its now time to build my own rig with as few compromises as possible

What kind of RV have you been living in all these years?

 

[aowanders.com]

What kind of RV have you been living in all these years?

Kind of had one of each. Which is pretty normal for all RVers as their style of travel, needs and hobbies change so does their RV needs.

I started out where all idiots start out -with the grand daddy of all mistakes, only I trippled down on dumb.

My first one was 40 foot city bus from the city of portland, and I had no idea what to do. I put a full size wood burnign stove in it trying to live out of it in Washington over my very first ski season. Too many things to learn about bus living, ski bumbing and nomad living on a shoestring budget. Barely survived so naturally I sold it to a USA men's soccer team of amputees.

Next was a 1984 house boat that again was brimming with potential I just didn't have the skills or support to know what to do with it as it was a blank shell that just needed some love and money thrown at it, but again operating on a shoestring budget with zero network or support.

Than I finally learned my lesson with a 1978 Dodge Class C that required 1 quart of transmission fluid for every 100 mile drive.

Buying My First RV Murdered My Home Buying Dreams

Lessons From My First RV My first RV was a soul sucking money pit of a camper that stole my heart, and murdered my home buying dreams. Singlehandedly, this weathered -- Class C motorhome relic

aowanders.com

After that i migrated to a class B Telstar, but still wasn't experienced enough to realize how much potential that rig had, and social media wasn't around to show me all the cool things i could of done with that potential.

So the universal took pity on me and dropped a 29 foot K-Z sportsman with a full wall slide landed in my lap in a payment takeover relationship that i dragged all around th PNW workign at ski resorts in the winter time and tourist towns in the summer for over a decade. It was my favorite, and basically a penthouse on wheels for me and my needs at the time. But it wasn't meant to be dragged around as a daily house or lived out of the way an adventurous nomad lives. Plus I shouldn't have been pulling it with the vehicle I was for that many years, and it required a 70 foot parking spot.

I over course corrected to an oversized dog house of a custom built truck camper. Which got dumped for a smaller travel trailer until I landed in my current truck camper.

So now instead of searching for a cheap made rv that checks most boxes its time to find the rig that checks all the mechanical boxes and build the habitat that also checks all my travel requirement boxes.

 

[aowanders.com]

To put on your Tundra with a 5.5' bed?

Don't do aluminum. If you build a camper box use foam and fiberglass composite.


Not a bad choice at all. Giving up 4wd will make it tougher to get to out of the way places, but not as much as most people think. Ground clearance and decent tires will go a long way, and a locker would be nice.

I would be ripping out the bed and most likely extending the frame if I decide to stick with the tundra. At this point astethics and conventional are out the window. I've compromised long enough with "good enough" - its time to just get the job done.


Which has me questioning the assets I have to move forward with. Especially like the other poster mention there are better base options, and 4x4 isn't a deal breaker because you can always add it and its more of a luxury than necessity.

But I am from Minnesota, I do play in the elements in the mountains when schools, roads and governements get shutdown from those elements. I also haven't stayed at a campground since the 90s so boondocking is my jam, and with starlink in the toolbox and the farther away the better.

Theres just so many options out there, and this time I want to choose based off my needs instead of availability.

 

[aowanders.com]

What do you plan to use 4wd for?

For $35k, you can buy a decent full size 4x4 and camper already setup. Not much storage for full time living though.

If I was living full time, I'd shoot for comfort. Good bed, shower, toilet, gear storage.

I'd do a stealth 12' single rear wheel gm 4.8 or 5.3 liter box van with cab fairing. Bone simple and reliable. Lower miles truck for $25k or if your handy buy a high miles one for cheap and keep it running. Keep money aside for an engine or trans replacement. Parts for those trucks are easy to come by. Rear diff goes south, swap the whole axle assembly out.

On the occasion that I'd be driving in snow, I'd use chains. If I got stuck turning around on a gravel road, I'd pull winch rope. If I was on gravel more often, I'd install a rear selectable locker.

Keep part of the rear door access as a garage and have a small motor cycle or e-bike. Inflatable boat or portabote.

Honestly, I don't use 4x4 for much, and even when I do I'm not entirely sure I even need to, but I do anyways out of precaution. Rather have it engaged than get stuck and try to get loose after the fact. Most of the time that entails trying to access a boondocking site in the winter down an unplowed trail/road. In the summer time I have never engaged the 4x4 except a couple time to manuever the travel trailer I used to have.

I've been looking for years. Every time I find a 4x4 camper already setup its always has a price tag north of $50,000, and just like you said all I am looking for is comfort. Good bed, shower, toilet, gear storage. I've been looking hard at the shuttle buses because alot of them have that rear luggage storage I could use as a garage/gear room. I also believe they have better towing capacity and payload capacity. Plus more real estate to build off of. Just not a fan of the double wall of windows for multiple reasons. Along with the cockpit of controls that are unneccessary if I'm not using it for a bus.

But like you said I've also been looking hard at the box trucks cuz they are already to go. No window deletes. Made for hauling. Parts and access are everywhere. I've been looking at the FUSO's though over the GM. Not sure why. Maybe cuz i see more overland rigs with that setup than GMs. Duno. That also got me looking into the ambulances, Unimogs and militray trucks.

Its hard to pivot though when you've been collecting assets for one build and now thinking about pulling the emergency brake on that build.

Thanks for the advice. appreciate the time and knowledge.