Photographer's CUSTOM Minimalist EXPEDITION CAMPER 4X4 Diesel
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Before he had this truck Basil Lynch had a 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser. It was pretty heavily modified, he had that thing for four years and he put over 120,000 miles on it in four years, so that's kind of what got him into the whole off-road overland camping world and then from that it just kind of progressed further and further, building the FJ and then eventually going and getting this giant camper truck. First when he went to Boulder it was just to go to college and see if he liked it, but he decided that it just wasn't for him. He and a buddy pretty much just packed their trucks and drove up to San Francisco which is where he found this truck listed on Expedition Portal. He has found that jumping on opportunities like that as quickly as possible has worked out really well for him. If you sit and think about things for too long the opportunity will pass you up.
When Basil bought it it was just a stock 2000 Ford F250 with a 7.3 diesel and a camper on the back. So far he’s added 35 inch Yokohama tires, a 4 inch lift kit, full rigid lights, and got all sorts of front lights. It came with an exhaust, but he also added a bunch of performance parts from Diesel Power Products, did a full intake tuner, and an edge insight to monitor all the vitals of the truck just so you know what is going on with it. With the camper he’s added a propex propane heater, and then he also added a Maxx Air fan just to help get the air flowing inside of it.
On the front end of the truck it's got full lights by Rigid Industries along with a goal zero 100 watt solar panel. There's also a second 300 watt panel on the roof that charges the house batteries inside. The one on the hood is connected into the goal zero lithium power pack inside the camper. The truck is sitting on some 35 inch Yokahama all-terrain tires and for suspension it's got a custom set of leaf springs and some BILSTEIN 5160 shocks. He gets on average about 15 miles to the gallon which is mostly because of the big diesel engine. It definitely helps, as the truck is almost 10,000 pounds.
On the passenger side there is an exterior cabinet. It's mostly electrical, it houses two full river battery group 35 batteries along with a 1500 watt inverter. He doesn't use that a ton because he has the Goal Zero Yeti, but it's nice to have the option to run that also. He had to add a set of stairs on the truck, the previous owner only had this little step. When he lifted it and put bigger tires on it, It became pretty hard to get into, so he put a different set of stairs on it, making it a lot easier to get into the truck.
He has an ARB awning across the top. It's a bit hard to open since the truck is so tall now, so he’s going to get it switched out in the future, but for now it works. On the back of the vehicle there's a kind of ladder/storage system to help access the roof and clean the solar panel when you need to. There's also an outer limit supply first aid kit. It's got just about everything you need to help someone in need. There's also a Camplux outdoor hot water heater. It's plumbed into the indoor sink along while having a hookup for an outdoor shower if you need it. He also has Maxtrax recovery boards. He put these on the outside of the vehicle. It's nice to be able to mount crossbars horizontally on the vehicle so you can do externally mounted stuff.
On the side opposite to the electrical is the fluids cabinet, which also holds the fuel filler, spare parts, and the propane tank with shutoff valve. Inside the cab he’s got an iPad for navigation, as well as a hand radio to be able to communicate while out on the trail. There's also a tuner on the engine that helps performance and mileage while monitoring all the vitals in the engine.
One of the great things about this truck is the amount of storage it has. On the back wall he has a food pantry and then underneath is his cooking stuff. He has a big fridge-freezer, nothing in the freezer right now, but there is plenty of space for everything you might need. There’s a nice big countertop, and one thing he really likes is having space to work. The propane hookup for his stove is built right into the countertop. It’s a camp stove that he can pull out when he needs, otherwise the counter is free for other stages of food prep.
He ended up installing a switch to turn off and on the water pump rather than let it keep the lines pressurized at all times. This way if there was ever a hole in the lines he wouldn’t lose all his water. The main faucet is hot and cold water and then the second little faucet is purified water. This way he can put any kind of water he wants into his two seven gallon tanks and still be able to drink it. It's got bacteria and particle filtration to it. Total water is 14 gallons total in two seven gallon tanks that he can take out and carry into a convenience-store or wherever else you want to get water. Right now the sink just drains into a bucket, so he has to remember to empty it before driving, otherwise he gets water everywhere. Eventually he’s going to tie in a valve so he can choose to either have the bucket hold his grey water or have it empty directly outside. He didn't want to have a big black water tank underneath, as he’d have to worry about freezing in colder climates. Right now all the water systems are inside except for the water heater, which helps in cold weather.
Up on the counter is the Goal Zero which he uses for powering smaller electronics. There's a small pass-through into the cab that he hasn't tried yet. It's pretty small so maybe in an emergency he could fit through it, but he doesn't see himself using it consistently to go through the cab. On top of the cab is a nice big bed. It's six foot eight long and about fifty five inches wide. Ge’s 6'4" and he fit in it perfectly fine. Right now his surfboard lives up there. He doesn't really have a good spot to keep the surfboard, so it kind of just stays up there and he put it on the floor when he sleeps. There are nice big windows on each side for ventilation and then there's one big one across the front that has a cover on right now.
So for lighting he’s got the little mini Goal Zero lights along with just a normal switch light. He definitely prefers the Gold Zero just because they have a more natural feel to them. Not far from the bed are the electrical switches for the Maxxair fan along with the solar controller and an indoor and outdoor temperature reading. In the overhead cabinets he has camera gear storage, as well as books, hard drives, and computers. He had to put latches on them because he kept coming in the truck after driving off-road and everything would be on the ground, so most cabinets have nice big latches on them.
He thinks that he probably travels with too many tools, but he likes to be able to fix anything that breaks on the road, so he does all his own maintenance and work on the truck. On the back wall he has a big grab all cabinet for backpacks, broom, camp chair, wetsuits, and other camping gear. Next to it he has all his clothes storage. It’s not very full right now, but he doesn't need a lot of clothes, so it works out.
Right now he works for a company in Oceanside. They mostly do off-road and race video and photography. He specifically does photography as well as more logistics and mechanic work for them. His goal in the future is to go from a full-time job to more of a freelance job, move full-time in the truck and then just travel around and see what happens. He’ll definitely have to live off of ramen noodles and chicken noodle soup for a little bit, but it kind of seems like that's what you have to do to break into the freelance world.
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