Big Booty Judy - 2014 w OVRLND Camper and other goodies

So first impression, do you like it better than tour Habitat?

 

Set up time for the OVRLND is far less than the Hab. Having camped at Natural Bridges in similar weather as YoNP, the smaller overall space and fabric area lent the Mr. Buddy to being *slightly* more efficient, but not by a ton. I'd call it a wash there; an insufficient heater is insufficient in both cases.

For the quick stops, I like the OVRLND better as we could get comfy quickly for a lunch stop inside the camper, even when making a meal on the side of the road. Meal prep wise, camper shell, hab, or OVR...all the same. Enjoying the meal in the back of the truck, the OVRLND wins out easily.

Gas mileage, the camper shell wins, duh, but the Habitat is second given the profile. I will definitely be regearing the truck in the very near future. Ease of use wise, the OVR is my choice.

Now, product and customer service wise, its a draw. I've been a customer of Martyn and Mario since they were in CA back in 2005/2006 or so and just getting started. Janine and their crew are exceptional. Jay, Maggie, Cole and the rest of the guys and gals at OVR are on the same plane, just far newer to the game. I know I could stop by either shop and get the help I need regardless of camper, and in talking w them both, neither bad mouth the other, so I've respect for that in the close-knit community that is the "overlanding" game.

Thats all for now I suppose.

 

Do you believe the regearing will aid fuel mileage? From my research, it appears to be no change on mileage but truck drives better??? My only complaint on drive-ability is gear searching at highway speed.

 

Thats the hope. From folsk I've chatted w that have gone to 4.88s and my tire size, and the same camper, mileage bumped up 2-3 depending on conditions, and drivability increased drastically w less gear hunting at speed.

 

Did you find someone local to do the gear swap?

 

I'll have Arron do it most likely. Not sure which shop of his it'll be at, but he is about the only mechanic in town that I trust.

 

What's the name of the shop? I need gears too

 

The shop is Randy's. Arron is the owner and has all the old tooling that Triple R Driveline used to have at his shop. I chatted w Arron earlier to day and he said to go w the Nitro Gears as he has had really good results w them. So, I'll place the order later tonight. He has 2 other guys aside from him that do the gear set-ups, but he prefers to do them himself.

Now I have to decide if I want a locker or LSD in the rear.

 

Cool. I'll have to give him a call. I was thinking 4.88's and a powertrax.

 

Very interested in your real world results. What are you at now? On the toad, i am 11-12 mpg. Towing drops to 10.

 

Not really any new changes on the truck, but last week, I covered a clinic of mine in Payson, and was able to get some time on the water for some native trout ...the Gila! Got my first one last year, and then the piggy today. Always good to be on the water, and the 10 miles of hiking was a welcome change from nutty psych pts.


Caught this beast of a Gila at the base of a waterfall on an ant pattern....second cast put the fly(ant) right in to the waterfall, and that's when it hit and hard!




This was the Gila from last year:









And of course, the Tundra making it all comfy:

 

Looking at getting an ovrlnd camper for my 1st gen tundra. How's it working out for you?

 

Its been absolutely amazing. We just got back from 21 days on the road and it preformed really well. Plenty of room, good sleeping area, and still able to get in to the tighter spots that we go to in the backcountry.

 

That's awesome how many people do you sleep in there?

 

Well, I've been on a work sabbatical from my clinic since August, and use that month to build out the camper a bit more, and then the wife and I hit the road for most of September. We did a few days at a friends house, but primarily camped in dispersed areas in UT, ID, MT, WY, WA, OR and NV.

Leading up to the trip, I removed the wooden platforms I had built and used some extruded aluminum to make a new structure, as well as wiring in new lights, a switch panel and some other random things. The time has finally come on the truck to make it more dedicated to traveling and trips, so other changes are on the docket, but here it is for now.

The start of the buildout; new NL fridge is freaking amazing.


Used the stock bed rails and some t-nuts to anchor everything to. No holes through the bed, and no weight bearing on the camper walls per the mfg recommendation.



I made a dedicated area for the water to be stored, and run a Dometic pump, which functioned well. Vacuum locked it once and it started working as soon as a let the pressure off. First recharge on the pump too and its been about a year of use.


Made a fold down ledge for the pump w some old scrap and a friction hinge:



Added external lights on both sides....have to send one back because it has water in the sense area already and was rated as waterproof.


Made an "electrical panel" out of a cutting board and then a j-box from HD for the switch panel. Pic was pre zip tie tidying up, so excuse the rats nest.


Made a propane mount for the RIGD too:



Partner stove on the RIGD tailgate table and propane runs to it quite easily. My wife loves to be able to cook this way, so it was a good build.



Final look after getting everything cleaned out from the truck:

 

I bought a shitbox 2003 accord late last year, gets 30mpg vs the 10mpg in the truck around town, so the truck has just seen snowstorm duty this winter.


The other day, I picked up a practically brand new set of CaliRaised bed stiffeners and installed them....such an easy install, and didnt have to modify the existing extruded aluminum build. Had to notch the bed rug a bit, and glued the portion down w some 3M.




I also finally finished the insulation in the roof; Jay/Maggie and crew are going to be installing the headliner in a few weeks:

 

How was your first setup with the cap? Thinking of trying to find one and ditching the RTT.

 

It worked well for what I needed at the time. It was just me and the kids, they were 10 and 7 at the time, and far more compact. Getting some of the gear in and out took more time, especially w the bags in place, but again, it worked. If I were to do it again, I'd get a mid or high-rise shell top so I could sit up comfortably, and still haul stuff on the roof.

 

We are glad you have our bed stiffness installed! If anyone wants to check them out here is a link: https://caliraisedled.com/products/2005-2022-toyota-tacoma-bed-channel-supports

 

For everyone asking about wind noise...it really isn't bad. A few years back in the White Mountains, the Hab was terrible, but with wind gusts at +40, working in the camper was mellow.


I had OvrLnd add the headliner a bit back, and it was incredibly easy to add the daisy chain loops in since I can't loop anything over the struts like before. Used the trusted Harbor Freight rivet installer, and called it good.
ac

 

DANG!!!! One heck of a set up. Ya done did good it looks amazing!! and for that,
Good On Ya!! Very nice

 

I finally got around to making a drop down table for the camper. On Jay's advice, I VHB'd the aluminum unistrut to the skin and through-bolted the assembly.


Should work well for a prep table for lunch; I'll build a 8020 box on the inside to hold utensils and things like that. I think it came out alright.

 

I love the build man. Every time I look at it I get more excited for our OVRLND camper to be done.

 

Thanks man; I've enjoyed the flatbed project pics on Insta and your rear bumper is something else. If I were smart, I'd order it and have it delivered when you come to Flag for the camper!

Jay and Maggie are a phenomenal pair, and its great to have the company a 5 miin drive from the house. Lemme know if you need any camping suggestions if your staying in the area.

 

I may have to hit you up for a spot. We just had a baby last week so we'll stay in an Airbnb for a couple nights in Flagstaff in place of our big summer camping trip, but I think we're gonna camp on our way back home.
Jay, Maggie and John have all been great to work with so far. They're doing quite a few custom requests on the camper for us. I'm pretty excited to get out there and check out the operation.

 

I am an OVRLND owner moving from an F150 to a Tundra and I echo your love for the camper! Nice buildout! I thought I was going to get to insulating over the winter but life got crazy.... I want to go to bolt down instead of clamps, any tricks for bolting? Simple nuts and washers under the bolts?

 

I can take some better pics later, or find some previous ones, but I bolted each side down in 5 spots.

 

Do you happen to have a link for these lights?

 

https://www.superbrightleds.com/5-rv-trailer-led-light-porch-and-utility-700-lumens-12v

Here ya go man!

 

Over the weekend, finally got around to replacing the tailgate hinge since the bushing was completely gone. Sadly, the soft drop still doesn't work well.

The lower bolt came out just fine, but the upper bolt took some persuasion...ultimately a dremel, induction heater and cold chisel did the trick.







I have a Mountain Hatch tailgate plate that adds enough weight that more help was needed. I ordered the Rough Country kit, and initially installed it on the PS of the tailgate. My reasoning was to distribute the load on bother sides, since the DS already had the factory strut. Well...that didn't work because of the notch in the PS hinge that allows you to remove the tailgate. No problem, swapped everything to the DS.

You have to start them young in their hatred for Torx head fasteners. Told the boy to grab the Torx, and he came back with my old VW set of triple squares, so I let him try those a few times before I corrected him.

All in all, happy w the mod.