BEV - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q. How many horsepower, how fast, how long, how wide, wheelbase, departure angle, etc.?
A. Click here and scroll down. All the basic project specs are on this site's home page.
Q. What did it cost?
A. Less than a Boeing 737. You could duplicate the basic concept for ~$100k USD. A new Mitsubishi Fuso FG truck chassis is about $32k USD, a new Bigfoot camper is about $32k and you could spend $10-30+k on the raw materials, pivot frame, custom boxes, and other fabrication depending on your location and resources. You would be viable with a little Honda gas generator or the Bigfoot optional LP generator and some solar panel capacity. You don't need all the extra systems we put on our rig to be viable for this type of expedition.
Q. How much does it weigh?
A. Surprisingly, the same as the cost - less than a Boeing 737. Seriously, the weight is more than we'd hoped, but near enough to our design target. It's heavy, but do-able. The FG chassis weighs 5,842 lbs. / 2,650 kilos. Our camper weighed 3,773 lbs. / 1,711.4 kilos out of the factory, plus options. The FG's GVWR is 14,050 lbs. / 6,373 kilos, so after the core components you've got 4,435 lbs. / 2,011.7 kilos available for the pivot frame, storage boxes and all the systems you want to put on. If you are like us, you'll take some things off of the chassis and camper and you'll put some things back onto both. In total, you don't need all the stuff we put on to be viable. You'd be viable for expeditions with the camper and a small Honda genset or the Bigfoot optional LP genset and some solar panel capacity.
Q. I'm interested in building a rig on a Mitsubishi Fuso FG 140 chassis. What are the top changes/additions to the chassis you would recommend for an expedition vehicle?
A. Ranked in order of priority:
Q. How long did it take to build this rig?
A. After three years of research, training and preparation I learned that my wife did not want to go out on a sailboat as planned in mid January, 2006. After a period of mourning and subsequent frantic research. the decision to use the Fuso FG platform and a Bigfoot camper was tentatively made in May, 2006 and finalized in June, 2006 after a one month proof of concept test in a rental camper in British Columbia, Canada. Our FG was purchased in late July and the Camper in August, 2006. Both were delivered to the shop in early September, 2006. Full time construction began ~ 15 September, 2006.
I worked 7 days a week, 10-14+ hour days, mostly the latter, until 3 June, 2007. My wife estimates that I took off a maximum of 20 days during that span. I honestly don't know how many days the subcontractors put into it, but I believe it is fair to characterize it as "a lot." I don't know how many man-/person-hours that adds up to, but again, I think "a lot," would be a fair characterization. To get an idea of the tasks involved, check out the project timeline by clicking here. Most of the "actual" tasks listed roll up quite a few things into one line, but it will give you a feel for what is involved. This would have been a multi-year undertaking working on it part time.
Q. Why not stay on the bike?
A. We love the freedom and connection with the surrounding world of the bike. We are also very concerned with losing the "instant icebreaker," immediate connection with villages, communities and people that travel by motorcycle provides. The downsides of extended global travel by motorcycle for us are:
Weight - the bike weighs about 1,100 lbs. fully loaded for unsupported travel in developing countries. This weight removes a lot of the joy of motorcycling for me. It also limits where I'm willing to take the bike with Steph on the back for exploration.
Solo operation - Steph can't ride the bike, so we can't share the load and if I get hurt, she is stuck wherever we are.
Bag drag - Dragging the bags off the bike every night gets pretty old after a few months.
Hotels - We carry a lot of photography gear in lieu of camping gear, so we are tied to hotels. We've developed good techniques for locating hotels in new cities where we don't speak the language (find a cab and follow it to the hotel), but it is still significant daily stress to identify, contact, book and locate a hotel.
Q. Why not a sailboat?
A. Steph found she cannot handle the open ocean. We are attempting to duplicate the fundamental capabilities of having our head, galley and berth along with us in a land vehicle. The dirt bikes will provide the dinghy functions of scouting, errand running, etc.
Q. What are the downsides vs. a sailboat?
A. I would rate an exploration of the planet by sailboat an 8 to 9 on the scales of adventure, fulfillment, accomplishment, intellectual challenge, romance and discovery. Comparatively, a bike is about a 5-6 on that scale and I would rate one of these overland expedition vehicles about a 1-3, so that deficit is an important difference to me. From the financial perspective, you can insure a sailboat against all risks for any amount anywhere it is in the world, but that type of coverage for a land vehicle is not readily available. Lastly, the wind, while not actually free when you are paying to keep a sailboat maintained, is not sourced from politically unstable regions, tin-pot dictators or terrorist financing religious fundamentalists.
Q. Why a factory pickup camper?
A. We went with a factory camper due to the following factors:
Timeline: We didn't have the time to design and build a custom house box.
Cost: We couldn't design and build a custom house box for anywhere near the comparatively low cost of a factory camper.
Weight: The rigs we were aware of that used custom house boxes all had weight challenges anyway, so we didn't think we could save a lot of weight there without investing in comparatively exotic materials & construction techniques.
Experience: Anything we designed and built would be a first try. Camper manufacturers have been doing this for years and I thought the potential trade-off in floor plan and construction would be worth the fact they have sorted out most, if not all, of the major issues.
We chose a pickup camper over a trailer because the space over the bed is underutilized in a trailer design. We wanted a permanent bed, so rather than waste that space, we chose a pickup camper where we can use the vertical space below the bed to store the dirt bikes.
Q. What are the major downsides of a factory camper vs. a custom build?
A. The main issues are as follows:
Width. North American market campers are almost all 8 feet wide, making them too wide to ship by container. A custom build could easily be designed to be removed for shipment with the chassis in a standard 40' shipping container.
Floor plans. Factory campers offer a few different floor plans, but it is unlikely you will find exactly what you would like.
Quality of design, materials and construction. I can't speak to European or Australian built units, but I can say with confidence that North American RVs are almost all junk. They are built to a standard of use for two to three weeks a year and most couldn't withstand that much utilization. The industry standard materials are cheap and flimsy, the designs and construction techniques are one step above cardboard and Elmer's glue and they simply explode and/or disintegrate in a collision or crash. We found the Bigfoot brand to use what appears to be a significantly different standard of materials and construction techniques for their 3000 series products, but it remains to be seen if the unit's performance and durability match our hopes and expectations.
Q. Did you use a camper with a slide out?
A. No, we specifically chose not to get the slide out model for the following reasons:
1. Loss of structural rigidity. The large hole cut into the side of the camperfor the slide out leads to a loss of structural rigidity in that section of the camper wall. We will be spending a lot of our time on very, very rough "roads" and unpaved areas in developing countries, so we wanted as much strength as possible.
2. Dust & moisture seal challenges. Due to the same reasons as #1, twisting, turning, rough roads, etc. we anticipated dust & moisture seal challenges with the slide out in our intended use areas.
3. Added weight. We've got enough weight challenges without adding the slide out, drive motor, track, etc.
4. Loss of overhead cabinets. In the slide out model you lose the overhead cabinets above the dinette that we use for some required systems.
5. Net space gain. We didn't feel the space gained by the slide out was all that significant. In an A or C, 5er or tag the slide outs can make a huge difference in living space. We didn't think the space gain in the camper we were using with the slide out option was worth it considering our other requirements and anticipated utilization.
Q. Why a Mitsubishi Fuso FG?
A. It is the only cab over, factory 4x4 chassis for sale in North America. In addition, the Fuso FG is sold in over 150 countries around the world as the Canter so parts and service are available outside the North American market. Every rig we know of that has been built on this chassis has had no problems, including one that has circumnavigated the planet with zero chassis problems.
Q. Why a cab over design?
A. It offers the most possible payload length for a given wheelbase/frame length.
Q. Why a 3 point pivoting frame for the camper?
A. We tend to seek out areas in the developing countries we prefer to travel in that are less trodden by tourists and Westerners, which means more rough roads, two tracks, off-roading, etc. than a more road-bound route. We had doubts that a rigidly mounted camper could survive the twisting forces generated on an off-road or primitive two track by the relatively flexible Mitsubishi Fuso FG frame. You can learn more about 3 point pivot frames by clicking here.
Q. What energy systems does the vehicle use?
A. Diesel (chassis engine, generator), Propane / LP / LPG (water heat, camper heat, cooking), Solar cells (house battery bank charging) and gasoline for the dirt bikes.
Q. How is the house battery bank charged?
A. Roof mounted solar cells, generator powered inverter/charger and a dedicated, chassis engine powered alternator. If we are ever plugged into shore power the inverter will also charge the house batteries. If we are plugged into 220/240VAC shore power we have a dedicated charger that will charge the house bank in that scenario if required.
Q. Is the camper removable?
A. One design requirement was that the camper be
removable for service or repair. We hope to never have to take if off again, but
if we need to, we can.
Q. What is the fuel mileage?
A. We anticipate 10-15 MPG. I will post actual mileage once we have some experience.
Q. What was the biggest design/construction challenge?
A. Weight management.
Q. Would you build another one?
A. I think the saying goes something like "There's not enough money in the world..."