4x4 OVERLAND CAMPER Conversion
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Matt and Amy met in Nicaragua working at a surf camp. She lived in Oregon and he lived in California when they weren't traveling, and they decided to move to Maui, Hawaii and basically as soon as they started to set up their lives they were like, "well, we gotta go traveling, that's what we do.'' They put together a list of all the places they wanted to visit, talked about why they wanted to go to those places. It kind of just was natural for them to say, "well like, let's do a big road trip." They both like to surf, they like beaches, they like warm weather and they decided that they were gonna go do the rest of the Americas, drive down to Panama and back. They don't have a lot of money, they saved and worked for about three and a half years but it was important to them to not spend all of their money on a vehicle.
Their main requirement was to be able to sit up inside the vehicle, and Matt was insistent that they keep the surfboards inside, hoping to not draw too much attention to them and hopefully keep them from theft. They picked the Toyota T 100 because they knew that they could get parts all through Mexico and Central America. It's kind of like a random mashed together of different trucks that Toyota came out with. The whole suspension is the same as the Toyota pickup or Toyota Hilux. That's probably the most popular vehicle throughout Mexico and Central America, and then the engine and drive lines are all the same as the generation one Tacoma, which is also pretty popular down there.
For electricity, they have 300 watts of solar power. They intentionally did not mount them to the roof because they wanted to be able to park in the shade as much as possible while they were traveling through Mexico and Central America. Keeping them off the roof meant they could be moved independently of the vehicle. They also have an ARB awning which they treat, as their kitchen and their living room once it’s set up. They have a King Camp table and even though it is a little tricky to set up, it's really sturdy.They’ve used it for over 506 days and it's still holding up just as strong as the day they got it. They have a Camp Chef Everest stove for cooking. It still works, although all those days on the ocean have rusted the hinges apart so it’s a little rough around the edges. And then they have two boxes that consist of all of their kitchen items. All of their pots, pans, coffee makers, silverware, everything.They purchased these boxes at the Container Store and they are waterproof and they are ant proof.
They actually leave all of this stuff outside 95% of the time. They have some locks that they string through the boxes and then they string it through everything when they go to sleep at night, so they don't have to worry about somebody coming by and taking something. Their propane tank is a 10 pound propane tank and it lasts them on an average of two months. They installed a light that runs off of their battery and solar power so that if they did hear something in the middle of the night they could just turn it on from inside the camper while they’re sleeping.
For tires they knew that they needed some all-terrain so they got BFG all-terrain tires. They have a regular camper shell that they cut the top off and then bought five millimeter plywood and fiberglassed it to the top of it for additional height. It’s really hard to find their model of truck with bucket seats. They actually had a bench in there to begin with. Since it was a split bench they were able to keep part of the seat stock, and replaced the other side with the seat they were able to get out of a different truck.
There's a pretty solid tactic that they used for not paying bribes and it's understanding what the actual law is and in most of these countries they're going to take your driver's license. They're supposed to take the driver's license to a police station, you go to the police station or a bank that the police station tells you and you pay that fine and then you get your driver's license back. It's the law. So if a police officer tries to pull you over and tell you how bad you are for whatever you supposedly did, you just have to insist that they write you a ticket. It sounds weird to beg a cop to write you a ticket but they never got a ticket written. When you insist on that ticket they give up when there isn’t an offense they can charge you for. So if you want to get out of bribes do it legally.
They got seat covers with pockets in the back that they can just shove stuff in. They keep road triangles accessible as they are legally required down south. In the cab they use a yeti cooler that they keep stocked with ice that they make with an ice maker while on the road. They removed half of the bench seat that's normally in the back of the extended cab and built this box and inside there they got a bunch more storage. They have their first aid kit, toiletries, and their computers and games and stuff in there.
They have a little separated compartment and that's where they keep their batteries. They have two Optima Yellow Top 75ah 12v batteries wired together. The 150ah is sufficient when they’re in areas where it's not as hot. When they were down south, the fridge ran a lot more and so they were constantly monitoring it trying to make sure they had enough power. It was still enough if they had good sun, but if they had a cloudy day they’d end up having to run the truck’s alternator which is wired into the house batteries.
Their indoor living space basically consists of a bed. The majority of the space inside the truck they chose to use as storage. Up top they have six surfboards on a rack, as well as a spear gun and a few fishing rods. For clothes storage they use two drybags, one for clean clothes and one for dirty. This keeps every accessible and easy to grab.
Their fan plugs into their outlets that they have down along the fridge. One thing that they did that's handy is the awning on the outside. they attached it and put a bunch of caulking in the seam so it works kind of like a gutter, so they can actually leave this window open even in heavy rains. Tthey also have 15 gallons of water that are stored in three separate jerry cans. The main jerrycan has a built-in water filter so they pump it up to pressurize it and then they can fill things up with the tap that prefilters all their drinking water. They’ve got a Luggable Loo that's their toilet if they need it, but they don't really use it that often. They’re generally either somewhere that has facilities or they’re far enough removed that they just dig a hole, but that they use it as storage mostly.
They have a 12v Refrigerator Freezer Combo and they built a slide for it so it can come out. That way it's easily accessible from their kitchen space outside. Its combined space between the freezer and the fridge is 66 liters. They have another section that slides out, and that's where they keep the bulk of their clothing. They also have an ARB mosquito net and it just slides right into the awning. It's a little bit of an extra set up, but it can make the difference between liking the camp spot and needing to leave.
They started out by getting a book, this was a game changer for them, called 'Don't Go There, It’s Not Safe, You'll Die'. It gave them a lot of useful information about getting into the lifestyle, particularly south of the American border. There's also Facebook groups that can offer a lot of useful advice, so if you just type in pan-american into Facebook or Google you can ask to be invited into the groups and they talk about crossing the Darién Gap, current information on borders, and then you have the app iOverlander which was developed by the same people who wrote that book. Everything from borders, campsites, where to get water, where there's propane refill stations. It's an incredibly helpful app and people are constantly updating it.
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