mandog's Hard Shell Camper & Stories from the Road

FALL 2021 UPDATE

Well, it’s been what the kids call a hot minute since I updated or posted here. In fact, the entire summer season has come and gone and I’m back in NC completing a few truck installs and gearing up for winter.

I won’t be in my truck this year, but instead traveling with my roadie in her brand new converted Dodge Promaster. That’s right, vanlife baby! It’ll be exciting to test out the new rig and see how much it differs from life on the road in an overlander tacoma.

A loaded down, 136” wheelbase van certainly won’t be able to access the same areas I have in the tacoma, but from what I’ve experienced, just about any non-car, 2WD vehicle can reach the access points to the areas I was in and potentially travel further along considering the road conditions.

Conditions such as.... How bumpy/rocky is the road and is it driveable if opting to just take it slow? This, I think, is the number one criteria for whether any or most vehicles can access an area. Lots can be had if you just take it slow in a lesser equipped vehicle. Beyond that, factors like how wide is the pass in relation to my vehicle should a turn-around be necessary and, are the trails/roads wet or dry? Are they heavily rutted or with steep grades? Are there fallen boulders, trees or any other obstacles that might make it challenging or impassable? Will any inclement weather be approaching?

Taking a look at these questions determines the final go or not go on venturing further along a forest/off-road trail. Typically there are a lot of nice spots right at the access to some of these areas and granted they are in higher demand for those less inclined to push it or have vehicles equipped to do so, but they’re certainly in the heart of what one is after when exploring and “getting out.”

That being said, I’ll also have a lot more comforts in a full size bed, indoor galley, ability to go from cab to rear without having to exit. Head room!! Hot water shower and indoor heater. It’s the trade-offs and will give it a full maiden voyage to test out the success/failure of all these components. During the maiden voyage of Deb, the overlander rig this thread is all about, I learned a lot on the road about how to plot waypoints, research camp areas, gain access to resources and ultimately how best to utilize this camper vehicle for exploration and long-term remote travel. By the second year of full-timing it, I had pretty much dialed it in and knew exactly what upgrades and modifications were needed as well as what I got right on the first attempt. This will hopefully be the same undertaking for the van, dubbed Bruce.

https://imgur.com/a/XTMDrbJ
Our route will first take us up to the upper NE coast, an area I’ve only thought about in pictures but never had the desire to visit. We will cruise to the top of US1 in Fort Kenton, Maine which is the northern terminus of a road I’m very familiar with and seen the southern tip a time or two in Key West. From there we will make our way back south visiting NC to make any last minute installs and then cross the flat, more economical route through the southern states before landing back in Arizona once again. A lot of that has details to be worked out, but for now, lets recap the summer months!

I landed in Florida bright and bushy, eager to work after a shortened 2020 season. For 2020 we scarcely had a season with three completed Bahamas trips plus one Keys trip. For 2021 we nailed down ten incredible trips boasting some sensational highlights like having blue fin tunas cruise right beneath our bow, witnessed a tiger shark attempting to eat a sea turtle and quite a few days of glass-like sea conditions.

The weather, for the most part, was not calm. Even going so far as to experience one of the most intense tropical squalls I have ever been in while at anchor. Weather was not the only setback as we had two major mechanical failures: a starter that took a shit mid-way into a trip and yet another crack in our exhaust riser. The exhaust riser I thankfully caught seconds into it happening and was able to avoid an absolutely catastrophic and time-consuming disaster.

On a bright note, all 20 of the named storms we were able to avoid direct impacts from, short of one tropical wave that developed right on top of us (see clip below). There were four major hurricanes this season (CAT 3+), but most all took a trajectory low and below us in the Caribbean or up and away into the Atlantic. For the ten scheduled trips, we got off all ten, including one make-up trip for a film crew working on acoustics in nature.

The dolphins were fun and we had a few encounters that involved “play” where we brought in a scarf to some interested juveniles that kept a game of keep-away alive for 1.5 hours. Dolphins often play with sargassum (a natural floating seaweed) and are very vocal in these encounters.

We held two successful night drifts, where we go off into the deep water (700 ft), turn on some high powered lights and drift along in the currents. The lights bring up a scattering layer, which is filled with plankton, squid and other little fishy eats. Well, big fish eats the little fish, right? And so, in comes the dolphins displaying their prowess as night time eaters, scanning and chasing these targets entirely off of echolocation. It’s a feeding frenzy and they’re moving full speed chasing the animals around.

One of my favorite moments was when the film crew, who was there to capture sounds as the primary focus of their film, asked us to cut off the lights, generators and everything that made a noise and we sat around the picnic table with a hydrophone in the water listening to the echoey clicks as they raced around the boat. It was a surreal moment, floating in the open ocean in darkness, sitting in total silence other than the tenacious and attentive sounds of the dolphins scanning and hunting for their prey.

That, for me, will be the final moment that I remember for the 2021 season and as we pulled back into the harbor for the final time this year, I made a quick turn-around of 105 days at sea to have myself packed up and steaming back up the highway towards North Carolina.

 

Photos from this summer!

https://imgur.com/a/93hoJjz
https://imgur.com/a/pzIVekS
https://imgur.com/a/RrM4D2u
https://imgur.com/a/lI9Uw3o
https://imgur.com/a/UE298sB
https://imgur.com/a/wRJ9Fyo

TRUCK MODS SLIDESHOW
https://imgur.com/a/CbPLasL

 

That van looks like it's gonna be a palace. It's tight enough for me sleeping just a few nights in the 6ft bed, but the two of y'all on the road in the 5ft was something else.

You're gonna be living in (comparative) luxury!

 

I’m excited to give it a full run for its money! Although, if we’re comparing our luxuries... I wouldn’t mind some of that AZ heat right about now! First frost/snow up here in the NE...

 

Much like the tacoma, the first customizing mod for Bruce was blacking out some chrome!

Before, During & After (swipe <<< to view +)
https://imgur.com/a/6ud5EAv