Norcal Spotted and BS Thread

Phil I've been drinking the same juice as you, lately all I can look at is cruiser conversions or troopys. To bad there's like zero for sale on the internet here.

 

SASed first gen, on 37's, with a conversion!

 

Electrical, mechanical, and plumbing trades all pay well and are super busy. in fact plumbing contractors are struggling to find help. look into your local unions for apprenticeships if your not a journeyman.
IBEW is the electrical union. there is also non union apprenticeships. I went through I-tap here is Sacramento only because at the time work was slow and the unions was almost impossible to get into, put me to work the next day.

 

My bed has all these weird metal tubes and shiny "king" things in it though, I don't think a flip pac or habitat would fit.

 

customize?

I mean improvise

 

i'd just remove those and send them to me to inspect. Sounds dangerous

 

It's pretty hard to beat the 80s look

 

Be careful...the juice will make you lose sleep! There are so many options. When I first got the 4Wheel camper mounted on the Scout, then stood up inside... there's no going back.

Maybe convert the 4Runner?

Yes!

They both just sit on the bedrails like a camper shell. You could fabricate rubber boots around the hoops & shocks, kinda like a shifter boot, to keep water and dust out. Then build cabinets & benches over the top of them.

This is another option I've been thinking of. Contractor shell conversion:



I feel like there's a market for these in the US, but no one is willing to step up.

 

There is nothing more fun I think I would like to do than design and fabricate this kind of stuff as a business. But sooooo nichy.

 

See this @Overlanerd

https://adventure-ready.com/2016-toyota-tacoma-dual-battery-system-alu-cab-equipment/#top

 

I thought the whole "Overland" thing was too, but Frontrunner, Equipt, and AT seem to be doing fine, as well as a bunch of other companies. There are no dedicated overland distributors/ installers in the Bay Area or Sac. It's mail order everything. If someone setup a shop as a distributor, started doing installations, then moved into custom popup campers (with a standard platform), they could be successful. There's a lot of money in the Bay Area.

Sub all of the metalwork and canvas, and maybe even the cabinets. Benicia would be a nice central location... but I'll never do it. Only if I won the lottery, traveled around the world for 5 years, and was bored when I got back.

Should have jumped on this 9 years ago when I joined Expedition Portal.

 

That is an awesome setup, but they didn't connect the two! I got excited when I saw what I thought was an access hatch on the ceiling of the shell, but it was just a table. Could always...

 

The lease rate is high enough in the bay to cut way too far into your profits. Even before you have to pay a living wage to your employees and the higher prices for transportation and utilities. I would say it would be rough making a profit like the other companies you mention.

 

I have been watching that company for some time in SA, tried to get some stuff air freighted. Then they started working with ok4wd, but they didnt want my money. Glad they have a west coast distributor now, I will have that cap in black at some point.

 

Ahh didn't notice that it doesn't connect, still a sweet setup.

 

@Overlanerd I found your 35x11 tires! Too bad they are on 18's only (285/75r18) . I did find some factory 18's from a limited 4Runner for that stock look, everything else is too wide.

 

Yeah...well...I'm about to jump out of the office window at my current gig. When I got my teardrop, I got really interested in possibly opening a franchise to the mothership in SoCal, but there is already one in Norcal now, Petaluma, who I bought mine from.

 

This, I actually got my acceptance letter to the Electricians Apprentice program the first week I started at my current job. I applied for both and they both took about the same time for the application process and interviews and the current job hired me first. I think operations fits me 100 times better than learning to be an electrician, but who knows eh?

 

Who in Petaluma? Reed's?

 

So the In-laws finally got this. Not a bad way to spend 120k. Its got onboard water and air, solar, full skids and armor. They want to run the Mojavr trail with me whenever we can get the time off. Sounds like fun to me!