Considering buying or building an Expedition Truck? Then you want to think twice about making room for these 3 things.
But before we tell you more about them, you might wonder how did this top 3 list came to existence?
We’ve been around a lot of people who are planning their dream expedition truck and who’ve traveled with their expedition truck. We noticed 3 things people strongly believed they needed in their Expedition Truck, but eventually confessed (rather reluctantly) it was a waste of money and space.
Although we can’t tell you what you need, and you likely strongly disagree with this list now … we did warn you.
Bathroom sink
Having a bathroom sink in your expedition truck simply because you are used to it at home or because it is what others do, is not to the smartest thing to do.
Space is premium in an expedition truck.
A bathroom sink in any overland vehicle or camper, takes up proportionally a large amount of space. Additionally it requires extra supplies that need to be purchased and extra time to install it all.
As an end result you will have a sink – in a now cramped bathroom space – that is likely too small to wash you’re hands in without making all the rest wet. And good luck with brushing your teeth without getting sticky toothpaste on the faucet.
Once you hit the road, you will then miraculously discover that when you take 2 steps further you have a far more comfortable and fully functional sink in your more airy kitchen. Bye bye bathroom sink.
Generator
Most Expedition Trucks today have their roof covered in solar panels. If you have not thought about this yet, put it on the top of your “MUST BE INSTALLED” list.
And when you plan your electrical system and usage right, 99% of the time you don’t need anything else.
Thus, for the 1% of the situations you might want a back-up plan. When we started the build of truck our first thought was, like many others, to purchase a generator and make some room for it somewhere. But then it hit us. Those generators make a lot of noise. So imagine yourself wild camping at a magnificent, deserted spot:
Sunny days
When the sun is shining your solar panels charge your batteries. No need for a generator then. Except when you insisted on having an air conditioning in your truck, that you want to run longer than an hour. To enjoy the AC, you need to move inside the truck instead of staying outside enjoying the wonderful scenery. On top, you will now no longer hear the birds and the leafs, but the less tranquil noise of your generator. You can say goodbye to stealth camping. And when you do have some other vehicles camping next to you, they will not appreciate you running your noisy and smelly generator. Thus, when having an AC running in your truck is absolutely a necessity (but please do check out first how others manage to get agreeable temperatures in their home on wheels), we advice you to move to a campsite and plug into the mains.Rainy days
But what if the sun is not shining for several days, and your heating system is requiring more electrical juice. Then you still have several options:- You hit a campsite or any other place where you can hook up your truck to the mains until your batteries are topped off again.
- You install a battery combiner like we did. This connects the batteries in your living unit to the starter batteries. When the truck’s alternator is running it can also charge your household batteries. Thus, go for a drive (or less ideal let your truck run stationary) and your batteries are in no time fully charged.
Additional Tip: Make sure that you have several ways to heat up the water in your boiler/calorifier (also while driving). This will way you will never run out of warm water.
1200liter fuel but only 120l water
We have seen it, an expedition truck boosted to have the capacity to take on 1200L of fuel but hardly any water (1/10 of it). That really makes sense …not.
Nowadays it is easier to get fuel than clean drinking water. Not convinced yet?
Then let us ask you the following questions: Right at this moment where is the closest place where you can fuel up your vehicle? How long did it take you to come up with an answer? If you are in an unfamiliar place your GPS will mostly likely helped you. However, when we ask you where it the closest public place (so not at your home or acquaintances) where can you fill up your water tanks with clean drinking water? How long did it take you to find an answer now. Many will eventually come up with a campsite as an answer. Now, is this campsite open during off-season?
There is also another reason why you might want to rethink you fuel vs water supply. When you’re wild camping at beautiful spot, you don’t (or barely) consume fuel, but the water level in your tanks will drop. You really don’t want to be in the situation where you have to pack up and leave that special and beautiful spot to look for water. And yes many do have filtration systems that could supply a remote village for a year with clean drinking water, but never use it.
So do you really need that much diesel? What if instead you use some of that space and weight for water and food supplies. It will give you definitely more time to actually enjoy your travels and surroundings.
Happy Travels!
Nicole & Elmer