Outskirts Overland Podcast
Welcome to the Outskirts Overland Podcast, your go-to source for all things overlanding! Hosted by a seasoned adventurer with over 15 years of experience, this podcast offers a genuine and down-to-earth exploration of the overlanding lifestyle. Whether you're a seasoned traveler or just starting out, join us as we delve into the essentials of gear and equipment, share captivating stories from the road, and provide practical tips for your next adventure. Tune in for insightful interviews, expert advice, and a community of like-minded explorers who share a passion for discovering the world beyond the beaten path. Get ready to fuel your wanderlust and embark on unforgettable journeys with the Outskirts Overland Podcast!
Outskirts Overland Podcast
What happens when your adventure vehicle becomes your biggest investment?
The secret that nobody talks about in the overlanding world is just how expensive serious vehicle builds actually are. In this candid episode, I pull back the curtain on the true costs behind those Instagram-worthy rigs you see online.
My Tacoma represents a $147,000 investment—$36,000 for the truck itself and over $100,000 in modifications, accessories, and equipment built up over years. This isn't unusual in the overlanding community; most YouTube creators you follow likely have $150,000+ in their builds, but rarely discuss these figures openly.
I recently completed a DIY dual battery system housed in a Milwaukee Packout case. Despite doing all the work myself, the components alone cost approximately $1,000. This highlights an important distinction: DIY doesn't mean cheap—it simply means you did the work yourself. Quality components like proper marine-grade wiring, BCDC chargers, and appropriate connectors all add up quickly.
My approach to vehicle modification is heavily influenced by contingency planning. I deliberately design systems to be quickly removable if the truck is damaged or totaled. When you have a house's worth of value invested in a vehicle, protecting that investment becomes paramount. That's why I favor modular systems connected through Anderson plugs and housed in removable containers whenever possible.
Through extensive trial and error, I've committed to an all-12V electrical system without inverters. Why? Because inverters waste power, reducing your effective battery capacity. Temperature considerations also played a major role in my decision to use AGM deep-cycle batteries rather than lithium, as they perform more reliably in extreme conditions.
If you're considering starting your own overland build, approach it with eyes wide open. Understand that creating a truly capable vehicle represents a substantial commitment. Prioritize modifications based on your specific needs, and remember that while the costs are significant, the experiences and self-sufficiency these vehicles provide are what make the investment worthwhile for those committed to the lifestyle.
Hey, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, outskirts Overland. It is Monday the 30th, so it's almost July 1st. Like I said, I get back to this. Hopefully everybody enjoyed my interview with Nick Wax. Hopefully you guys learned something. They are far more vast than I thought they were could be or whatever.
Speaker 1:Over the last few days I've been getting my, I got my dual battery system done on my truck Finally. Well, kind of dual battery system. I say dual battery system. It's portable because it's all in a Milwaukee packout and really connects to the truck through an Anderson cable, anderson plug on both ends. So I could, theoretically I do everything that way, because I'm always afraid that my truck's going to get wrecked or I'm going to flip it or something and I don't want to have a whole bunch of stuff that if the truck has to get towed away I can't get off of it quickly. That if the truck has to get towed away I can't get off of it quickly. I mean there's naturally there's some things, but I mean for the most part I can grab. You know, my midland can come out pretty easy my Zolio, my scan gauge, my dual battery, my Rome case, my Zargus case, my lights, my fridge, fridge slide. Will the deck system come out easy? No, but can I rip the deck drawers out of the deck system with all my stuff in them? Yes, so I try to keep it.
Speaker 1:Not only am I trying to have this mindset of being prepared for camping, I also have this mindset of like something happens to the truck and it has to get towed away. You know, essentially it's it's reached its demise. You know there are definitely things I'm out racks, tent. Maybe my insurance lets me go take it off. You know, like I just think about that stuff because I've been in situations with vehicles in the past that are modified and it really depends on if they let you go take the aftermarket parts off or not. Because if the aftermarket parts are a large portion of the vehicle and the vehicle kind of doesn't look like a vehicle anymore once you take all the parts off, they don't like you doing that. So it just depends I say they don't like you doing that it depends on the insurance company. Not all insurance companies like you doing that. So everything I do kind of is along the lines of cannot.
Speaker 1:You know I pretty well, I've pretty well committed to the third gen tacoma, so you know I'd get another pretty much the same truck. That makes sense. Like I'd get that same thing, maybe different color, whatever. But uh, actually I just put gears and lockers in mind. So I really that's not something I want to do, but it did just to be realistic and be real with you guys.
Speaker 1:I think about it like hail damage, whatever, like would hail damage could hail damage? You know? Uh, total my truck? Yes, if hail damage was bad enough on my truck to where I thought it'd get totaled, I'll pay to replace the glass myself and drive it in it. Like I've got way too much money invested in at this point for a body damage to be the reason that I've got to start over. I've just got way too much, way, way, way too much money, guys. I mean way too much.
Speaker 1:Um, yeah, so I'm pretty well committed to the platform, but I try to think of things and the things I do in the truck by way of if something happens to the truck, how can I go about getting it all out of the truck as efficiently as possible? You know, to get in my garage. Essentially, can I to get it in my garage so that way I'm not out, anything like all my camping gear, my rear seat delete can't go. Every single thing that's in it can go. So I mean I'm gonna be out bumpers and stuff like that but I'll pop that freaking Factor 55 Ultra hook off like snap ring pliers. None of it's like a big deal. I will take a lot of it apart like quickly, like if my truck was going to get towed. It's highly likely I go, I call somebody else with a truck or have somebody go rent like a long bed truck at Menards and I'm like get over here and I'm stripping that thing as far as I can, literally right there, assuming a lot of it's good, but steel bumpers are gone. If I could get all that stuff off that would be amazing, but I don't know that. That's in the cards, but I have talked about it on an earlier podcast too.
Speaker 1:Make sure that if it doesn't total the car, I have coverage for modifications. I pay a ton in insurance because I have coverage for the modifications and I don't know that I've said this. I mean I'll just say it right now my truck in total truck and everything done to the truck is $147,000. I've itemized it out. You can look at the build list on my Instagram and my Facebook. But I have $147,000 in my Tacoma truck included. The truck was 36 grand, 35 or 36 grand. So subtract that, that's how much I got and everything else. And I've had two or three of the same thing on it, some things. But yeah, that's how much is it? It's well, over a hundred thousand dollars. Um, so I, that's a lot, that's a lot, and it adds up quick and I do all the work myself.
Speaker 1:Even so, if, if you're like, why does he always think about wrecking his truck? Well, because I have a house invested in my truck. That's that's why. That's why it's a ton of freaking money and it's I haven't done it in five minutes like it's been years, but it's still a lot of money, even in years, bumpers are two grand. You you know like everything's a fortune, like actually so much money.
Speaker 1:But so I do also consider, like, if I need to get it off, how can I do that quick? Because that's not that's the truck, that's just the truck. Like, whatever's attached to it, that's Jesus, camping gear and everything else Rooftop tent's included in that. So that's, that is camping gear included in that. So that's, that is camping gear. But there's a ton of money, ton of money. So that I mean I just built that, that power station and it's diy. I was just talking my day about it, not like talking about money too much, but I mean I think it's fair to let you guys know like what some of this stuff I do costs. So I just did that portable power in the milwaukee pack out. All together it's a thousand bucks.
Speaker 1:That was a thousand dollars for the battery, the wire, fuses, bulkheads, you know um breakers. Well, I didn't do fuses, I did do breakers instead of fuses, so that way I don't have to replace them, I can trip them. But like everything all together, the milwaukee box, the bcdc charger, the wire, the pack out, I mean fuses, all the end links, like you gotta do all the ends on it. You gotta make all the wire. It's not like that's pre-made, you gotta make all the wire, the wires. A fortune 30 foot of wire was like 110 just the wire. Like that's without the copper ends, that's without. You know what you got to cut what you need. You know I have the tools for that, but I have to had for that wire it's it's six gauge. You know copper core like copper strand core wire I have to have like a hammer, a hammer like um to put the eyelets on it, like a hammer tool, like as a special tool to get those electrical eyelets on that wire Cause it's so dense. Then you had to.
Speaker 1:I mean, it's just a lot of stuff, guys, like it's a lot, it's a thousand bucks. I mean I have a thousand dollars in that diy. You know, I did do it myself. I would bet to do a dual battery system, probably two grand if you were paying somebody else, because I mean it took some time, it took some planning. I mean I shopped for deals that whether or not you paid a shop to do it or not, I bet they're not charging you whatever deal they could find it at if you have them. Buy the parts, like the stuff is not cheap at all. So I guess sometimes I come off kind of weird with people when they're like what about that? And I'm like dude, this stuff is so much freaking money.
Speaker 1:I got six thousand dollars in bumpers on my truck. Like, guys, it's an insanity. And everybody's like, I can find a bumper for 1500 bucks, you can, it's not painted, it's an insanity. And everybody's like, oh, I can find a bumper for $1,500. You can, it's not painted, it's not mounted.
Speaker 1:I had to get all new. You know it's not painted, it's not mounted, the lights aren't wired in it. Does it need lights? Does it have spots for lights? Do you got the lights? You got to wire all that stuff, you know. Then does it come with any hardware, you know, and if it does, is it good? Grade 8 hardware probably. It's freaking nice. You buy those again. Well, grade 8, you know these aren't 5, 16ths and 3, 8ths bolts. These are like half inch bolts and nuts and lock nuts and whatever. They're like five, six bucks a piece. Who knows how many of those are on the truck.
Speaker 1:Like you can do stuff cheap, you can, I mean you absolutely can. But even so, like I still do it all myself, I'm still fortune, you know. So that's why I care like about is it modular? Can I take it out? You know? No, I like doing it myself too, because if I have to replicate it on another Tacoma, I could do it pretty easily, because outside the gears, in the lockers my truck is stock.
Speaker 1:I would lose my snorkel, which is like my pride and joy of the world, I think if I ever wrecked the truck. The snorkel's a goner anyways. But for those of you that don't know, I got an in-house fab snorkel. It's like a stainless steel snorkel from Australia that I had imported in and I love it, and I think there's companies that are bringing them into the US and you can just buy them off the shelf in the US now. But I've had it for two, almost three years. I didn't foresee that future then, but oh well, still really cool, I still really like it.
Speaker 1:But it's not something that I think I would. If my truck got wrecked and I had to look at doing it all over again, I don't think that would be something in the cards for me when I can get, you know, a different plastic one or ABS plastic one or whatever for half the price or less. So not that I don't like it, though Some stuff on my truck I would not do again, just if I had to spend the money on it. I'm not gonna spend the money, that much money again. Some of it yeah, I'd still do the exact same thing and some of it would be the exact same stuff, because I just take it off. I have a friend who wrecked his 4Runner and took some of the stuff off it and it's on his new 4Runner Smart, smart If you can, if they'll let you Like my rock sliders, they ain't going nowhere.
Speaker 1:Those are welded on. Those aren't bolted on. Could they be bolted on? They could, should they probably be bolted on? That's not what I did. I mean I don't know, I could go all day about it, but the uh, I welded them on just because the Tacoma's frame sucks my Tacoma's frame. It's not a fully boxed frame, so really I welded it on just because anything I can do to make it just like actually more rigid. My thought that's my thought Is that how it works I don't even know. That's my thought. You know that's what I considered when I was doing it. But I mean they make kits for that which I should probably at this point I should probably look into.
Speaker 1:But I don't even have long travel or anything. I mean there's tons of trucks that have equal amount of money to mine in it, that are less well-rounded. You know you could have way less like. You could go like all like king shocks. I mean just doing king shocks all the way around the long travel dude, there's 10 grand like just right there, like just shock, just just like. And that's not even complete suspension, that's just king shocks and long travel kit.
Speaker 1:You still got to buy bumps and bushings and, yeah, there's a lot that goes with that. You might want to get rcv axles at that point. That's a ton of money you got to buy. You at least have to extend the axles for the, you know. So you have to rebuild some axles for the, the, what is it? Rclt kit? Hey man, just stuff is fortune.
Speaker 1:So there's a lot of stuff I do with the mindset like, can I get it out? There's a lot of stuff I do with the mindset like, can I get it out? There's a lot of stuff I do that make it easy to get out too, even though it doesn't look the cleanest sometimes and I struggle with that regularly too Like is it, is it more important that it looks super clean or that I can service it? You know, if I could take it out, if I can mess with it, I can service it, I can fix it, I can locate problems with it, and sometimes you can hide stuff and it looks really good. But then you've got to essentially quote, unquote, unhide it to work on it. So some of my stuff is not. I've had cars where I've tucked a lot of stuff. You know you want it to look as factory as possible. I took them to car shows.
Speaker 1:This is not that at all, not even, not even slightly. This is not even slightly. That the truck is kind of, um, this kind of it's not a mess, it's not a rat's nest by any means, everything has a spot, but it is very. Yeah, I mean it's just built to where I can get to it. So there's stuff that's on the surface level that otherwise wouldn't be. There's stuff that I ran on the frame rail instead of through the cab because I want to be able to get underneath and get to it where previously I would have ran it through all the trim and stuff and through the cab into the bed etc. But now it's under the truck into the bed just because in the event that something happens, I want to be able to go down there and fix it. You know, not in my shop, just like parked at oark cafe. You know like I want to be able to pull off and and handle it best I can, and I do carry extra connectors and like a handheld heat gun and tool of all kinds of tools.
Speaker 1:I mean the most of my deck system is tools. I've got like two totes of camping stuff. I mean my truck's full of a ton of stuff and most of it's pillows, blankets, sleeping bags and you know that's about it cooking stuff. The rest of the whole, I mean the deck system, has a tub of camping stuff, cooking stuff. The rest of it is all tools, whether those are wood cutting tools or truck tools. I got an impact, a torque wrench, full, full tool, roll water purification stuff, if need be, extra parts for my max tracks mounts, like it's all spares and parts and tools. My deck system is. There's nothing freaking, some amazing camp set up in there. I have a step 22 box step 22 thing full of cooking stuff. Step 22 box, step 22 thing full of cooking stuff, which, again, most things in the deck system are in their own totes and bags. Because in the event I can't get the deck system drawers out, I'll be able to pull them bags out.
Speaker 1:Deck system is a huge cost that I wish I wouldn't have to. I've bought two of those on two separate trucks. I've bought two like one for each truck and I even built one for this at one point, but it just the juice wasn't worth the squeeze there. I built one and probably spent like seven. Okay, so, like a deck system, maybe it's went up, but it was like 1500 bucks, 1400 bucks.
Speaker 1:I had built one for like, built something for like 700 bucks out of like wood and extrusion and and it was weighed more and it just wasn't like I started. I had it probably a year, maybe more than a year, year or more. It had to be more than a year, probably a year and a half, and uh, you know it, moisture and different things. The wood started to kind of show, show some signs. And then the uh sliders, like the uh tracks what am I thinking of? I don't even know the rails, the, the cabinet rails or whatever. Man, they got so dirty because they're so much smaller, like the deck system has these huge freaking, huge freaking like skateboard wheels that it rolls on.
Speaker 1:But when you're dealing with you know the littler ones, like even the ones that you pull up with, like the blue or yellow, red, yellow tabs, they just get gummed up, just get gummed up, and I started having issues with those and I was taking them apart and it was just higher maintenance and I was like man, this thing weighs more, it's, I need to take it back apart really and recarpet it all again. And I was like you, this thing weighs more, it's I need to take it back apart really and recarpet it all again. And I was like you know, I'm just by deck system. That was, that was just. Hey guys, if you have a truck like, you build whatever you want, but I am not. I didn't have.
Speaker 1:It would have cost me more to do. Like to do like, uh, like plastic board and extruded aluminum Cause I looked at doing that too and making something more custom, but it was going to cost me like five, six $700 more. When you look at the stuff that's more like the goose gear stuff. It's a lot of money to even make. Like it would have cost me that much to do in my time. I always take what I make it work and just say, hey, even if labor was this, my time is worth that, like, what's that going to? What's, what's the cost in that? Like, what's that look like? Cause, if it's, you know, something like building an extruded aluminum you know, custom set up in the bed of my truck's gonna take some time, for sure, and there's some tools that are necessary, which I have, but you can buy the freaking deck system and put it in in your driveway with a socket wrench. It took me my whole deck system in both trucks, took me like two hours building one for the truck with all the measuring and stuff, building one. Okay, like you can buy pre-made kits too for trucks and stuff for runners, whatever. But oh my god, it's so many pieces. It's a lot going on my, my freaking my deck system took less time to get into my seat delete and my seat delete is nice and I like it a lot, but it took more time. There's just way too many small pieces to keep, you know, account for. So just a little.
Speaker 1:I guess I felt like saying it because I had somebody reach out to me yesterday, um, because I put up my dual battery setup. That I did and they were like that is so cool, like send that. You know what's that look like. And I was like I literally like I have it priced out like on Amazon. Even so, some of it's on sale, some of it's a little cheaper stuff than I used, you know. But just just just so I could have an idea. Because somebody's like how much money do you have in that? Heck, my dad was even like how much money do you have in that Heck? My dad was even like how much money do you have? And I was like 500 bucks and I was like the BCDC chargers for 65, like just that one thing. And then the Milwaukee packouts, like 120 something, and I was like no, that's a thousand 1200 bucks, I bet. And so me and him sat in my living room while he's playing with my kids yesterday and I just itemed it out and it was like 980 something and I was like yep, thousand bucks.
Speaker 1:And we did it. I mean we ran all the wire, we made all the like those are all custom made connections Like you can't buy. You can't just buy like custom lengths with the right connections and eyelets on them to fit on the right, you know bus bar poles, depending on if they're three, 8ths or 5, 16ths or what 12 millimeter, 10 millimeter, 8 millimeter, 6 m6 like what are they? So I just have a huge assortment of those on hand just at any time, but I used at least five different sizes throughout that build and then cutting wire etc, etc, etc, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 1:It's not cheap, just DIY doesn't. I think that's. Diy doesn't mean cheap. Diy just means ditty yourself Does not mean cheap. Cheap is cheap, and if you want it to be cheaper, really, than a dual battery system and you don't have the mechanical knowledge, tools or whatever I mean, that's where power banks do come in.
Speaker 1:I've mentioned it here before, though, but I did an agm battery deep cycle agm, and that's because even the other day it was 98 degrees and my lithium ion one was discharging faster than I wanted it to be, because they're affected by the weather. If you camp between 40 degrees and 80 degrees, a lithium ion battery is the cat's you know the cat's meow for you If you do anything 30 degrees or lower or 80 degrees or above, and again consider like the outside temperature isn't the temperature the battery is realizing, so add 10, you know, to that, at least in the heat. So if it's 100 outside, your battery's probably at 120. So I just picked AGM because it's the least affected and it's glass matte, so it handles shock better, where, like a lead acid, doesn't A lead acid you can kill too. You can get AGM deep cycle and it'll take some more charges.
Speaker 1:But the big selling point for the, the uh, lithium, iron phosphate and lithium batteries is how many charge cycles they can do. Well, I won't have to do so many full life charge cycles if just the weather itself isn't draining them. But it is true, you can get thousands, thousands of cycles out of a lithium iron phosphate battery and probably hundreds of cycles out of an AGM. But to be completely honest with you guys, the battery itself in my power station was less than the packout box. So if I had to replace the battery every couple of years just the battery, so be it. It's 115 bucks. You know, I don't need a freaking lifetime battery and I'm not going to.
Speaker 1:And I don't have an inverter. My whole entire truck is 12 volt and that took man, I don't even talk about it, but that took some doing too. And that took man, I don't even talk about it, but that took some doing too. Nothing in my truck requires AC power and I don't have an inverter, because anytime you have an inverter, whether you're inverting power to charge it or inverting power output, the inverter takes power. So you don't get a real, you don't get the real capacity out of your battery. The only way you get the real capacity out of your battery is to be pulling from the 12 volt system and putting into the 12 volt system. It takes more power to charge it through 110. It takes more power to discharge it through 110 because it takes power to run the inverter that inverts it from 12 volt to 110 or 120, I guess, if you have that going on. But yeah, so that's a, that's a thing too. I don't have an inverter.
Speaker 1:Every dual battery system you'll see, house battery system, all those things that people do in their vans and trucks and whatever those. Those are not just 12 volt, mine is just 12 volt because, again, time, time has taught me, you know, there's a lot of people on YouTube right now weirdly wouldn't recommend it that are going to all electric stuff from like propane and different stuff and while that's cool, like man, you're really relying on driving again to charge it, or it's being in the sun, I don't know. Sometimes I I travel slow and sometimes I'll sit somewhere for three days, four days, the same spot. So every last drop that I can get, that's the most efficient. Really kind of matters to me. And the fact that I mean I can't even imagine like those cooking appliances, those electrical cooking implants, thousands of Watts of pull, use of electric coffee maker on a like on a battery yeah, it works for like two, three minutes, but it's still pulling like 1200 Watts. You're burning a percent of battery or two for those two or three minutes.
Speaker 1:I can't afford that. I mean I can't afford to be doing that. Do I know that? Because I tried doing it Absolutely. I was like man, that's a great idea, that's so much more convenient. Like blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, yes, it is for sure.
Speaker 1:I don't always drive every day for hours on end to charge the thing back up, every day for hours on end to charge the thing back up, and I was only getting like 110, 120 volts 110, 120 volts, excuse me, 110, 120 Watts back to my power station, to the cigarette lighter plug that I ran to the bed to to run to charge my anchor power station. So it was taking hours upon hours to recharge that thing. So it's's, and if I was running my fridge while I was trying to recharge it, it's, it's barely barely grossing 40 watts, 40, 50 watts, you know like. So I'm really making no headway with what I got set up. Now the fridge is pulling x amount of watts, but I'm putting 25 amps back into the battery from the alternator. Well, that is, that's way faster. So from zero to 100, I'm looking at like three hours in the truck when from zero to 100 on the power bank, 10 hours probably, probably so I mean lots and lots, and lots of time. If I was driving like four hours a day, every day, it'd probably be fine, but, or even four, I'd have to at least do an initial four or five hour drive to get through a night where now that time from zero, from zero to 100, is like three hours, so that that that hopefully you can understand why that was worth it.
Speaker 1:Now they do make alternator fast charger, blah, blah, blahs for power stations now, but they all use that like that like two prong yellow plug, and I've had nothing but issues with connectivity with those. My stuff's all hardwired now like there is no, it's like bolted to stuff, like bus bars are bolted, like the power. Connectivity is not in question. I'm not gonna rattle anything loose. You know it's all because that's how I made it. But when it comes to charging those power stations, even like you can't wire into it, like you can't put like a hard connection into it, so you're also relying on the plug that plugs into it, you know. And how how far does that stick out from the back of the thing, or like none of them go on the side, they're all in the back, like so you're bending wire and it's just yeah.
Speaker 1:Anyways, been there, done that not talking from theoreticals, tried to do. It Cost way more money. I mean, my power station was like 1600 bucks the one I had in my truck, or I guess I still have it, but it was like $1,600. I was like I'm getting the biggest thing I can get at the time. You get bigger now because everybody's getting them for their house, but I had the biggest thing I could get at the time and it's like 1300 watt hours. So it's like 105 or 10 watt hours or amp hours Excuse me, ish. It never lasts as long as that, though, because it's inverting shit all over. Sorry, it's inverting stuff all over the place. Everything's still running through. Pure sine inverter is what you need for all the stuff. Yep, don't even got it, no more. I got a 12 volt plug with USBbs in it and we move the frick on. I don't even know that, yeah, unless I was building the van, I don't even need ac period. Everything can be 12 volt way easier to mess with.
Speaker 1:So, anyways, just getting on here, just rattling, rambling, like talking about what stuff costs, like like, do it yourself, still not cheap, that's cheap, is cheap. Do it yourself means did it yourself. Do it yourself means you know, used my skill, at whatever level that might be. But just parts, just parts, is a fortune. Just parts like no snow labor involved, no paint involved, no prep involved, no prep involved, no, you know, finishing work involved, it's a fortune. So I try to make you know.
Speaker 1:I just wanted to kind of, I guess, make sure people are aware, like because I think sometimes people get into stuff that they see me do and they're like, they're like you know, I don't talk about it, how much stuff costs, and they're like you know I don't talk about it how much stuff costs, and they're like, dude, did you know that was X amount of dollars. I'm like, yeah, yeah, yes, I do, yeah, absolutely. That's why I've been talking about putting my dual battery in for six, seven, eight months, because I mean it's a lot of money to save. It took me a year to save for my lockers and gears A year money to save. It took me a year to save for my lockers and gears a year, a full, whole year. We're talking like 12 full months and I had literally like 30 left over when it was done 30 and actually I was in the negative because I got new switches and wired them into the truck. So I still was short. Probably like 40 bucks actually. I probably I had 30 left. I probably had to spend 70 to get the switches and wires to get it in the truck. Probably negative 40.
Speaker 1:And again, maybe you guys just use a credit card, I don't know, but yeah, so like when I talk about this stuff, I'm like dude, I feel the pain, like my time, my time is what I like, my life is what I sold for that money, for those things. So I think very, very, very, very, very, very, very hard about like man, I don't know, I, my truck, was getting this stuff done and I was like man, it's a lot of money, it's a ton of money. But all I kept coming back to is my friend had to get a tow. You know he got stuck and nobody could get him out. So he had to call a tow and there was a tractor involved and multiple tow trucks and it was like a $3,000 tow. And I'm like you know and yeah, I was like you know, I'm not saying it's worth it, but that's also a super stressful day. Your truck who knows where your truck's going? Like, how are you getting out when you're like, say, I'm out with my kids and my girlfriend and I have to get towed? Well, we're not all fitting in a tow truck. So then, like, what do you do? Then You're in the like, just thinking about like off grid stuff and like how to self recover and things like sometimes I do sit there and go cause my truck hasn't been stuck I've flipped it on its side but it hasn't been stuck and I was like, man, do I need gears and lockers? And I was like, well, maybe I've just been lucky too, cause you know, the more people I hear about having to get towed out or having these issues, I'm like you know I'm, I'm next, like it's coming. So it was worth.
Speaker 1:You know, was it worth it? I don't know. Was it probably a net zero situation and a whole lot less stress to just pay for it to get done? Yes, but it's still. I mean, it's a ton of money you can't see. I have six, seven, seven thousand dollars worth of gears, lockers and compressors that you can't see. It looks stock, like you're never gonna see them. Seven thousand dollars like that is a ton of freaking money. I just bought new tires. It's 1600 bucks. This stuff is nuts. And then there's wheels on those tires and then there's, you know, the suspension and tie rods and tie rod gussets and oh my God, dude guys, it goes forever and ever and ever Like it's a fortune. It's a fortune. So not only you know, there's a lot of time commitment, there's a lot of time commitment, there's a lot of financial commitment. There's just a lot that goes on into it all.
Speaker 1:And uh, I guess, I guess it just, for whatever reason, it just clicked to me this weekend when I put up that power box and everybody's like that's sick. You know, what do you think you have in that? And I was like I don't know a lot. I mean it's not cheap. And yeah, I didn't, and I didn't use any cheap stuff really, particularly I didn't use anything that was like I didn't use Redarc stuff Like the DCDC, the BCDC, whatever that does, the solar and power control on the truck, I mean that's Redarc. And the packout's packout, I mean it's real Milwaukee packout. But I mean other than that, the rest of it's. You know bulk stuff You'd get it at either Butler Supply you know electrical supply or I mean like, yeah, I mean, that's really it Bussman bus bars, which aren't a fortune but aren't cheap either for what they are. You know, stuff's just a ton of money, stuff's just a ton of money.
Speaker 1:So just planning it out's worth it and kind of weighing the odds. I'm always weighing the odds, like if this is a hundred dollars and this is two hundred dollars, is the two hundred dollar thing worth a hundred dollars more to me? Or is a little bit of like stress or extra work? You know what is that? You know, is the, is the? Is the? Is the bigger cost worth it? And there's times where, like even with this dual battery system, like I just did that but I just took out an anchor 1200 watt hour power station, so like I didn't think it was worth my time initially, and now, three years later, I'm doing dual battery system.
Speaker 1:So I have made those mistakes in calculating that you know before like, ah, it's not worth it, I'll just buy a power station, hook it up and move on with my life until it's, you know, below freezing, close to zero negative degrees. And now I got no power and I've got my diesel heater which is, for whatever reason, mine's decently reliable, but I can't run it on anything because I got no more power, because I've got these quote unquote fancy batteries that don't work worth a crap in the cold and now I'm freezing Like it just isn't. I just guys, I learned the hard way. I hope you guys don't listen too much to what I say Sometimes. I hope you guys learn the hard way too, because then you'll make different decisions.
Speaker 1:Heck, at that point you guys might just buy a better sleeping bag or a heated blanket. You might do something completely different. Those are thoughts that my friends have. My friends have heated blankets. I have friends that roll heated blankets all day, all the time. I have friends that do different stuff than I do.
Speaker 1:Um, you know, I like the diesel heater because it dries all my stuff out, and I've probably talked about it about a thousand times here. I like out. I was the last one to get a diesel heater and I'm like sold on a diesel heater. I think they're great, dries everything out, like it's so nice for that. It's just that's so nice. So I really like it. But it's not worth anything without any power and so I mean that's what it is.
Speaker 1:But anyways, guys just rambling about truck stuff and costs and whatnot, because I feel like it's just you guys to see all these trucks like I mean, I'm not going to talk for anybody on YouTube, but YouTubers, you're watching, they got nicer stuff than I do. You're looking at 200, $250,000 vehicles. You might not have thought that and you may think I'm exaggerating, but go comment on their stuff and see if they'll tell you. I know for a fact, just based on what mine has on it and what it costs. Some of these guys got, you know, america's most wanted engine swaps. That's probably 20, 30 grand right there, like just that, just that.
Speaker 1:And that truck hasn't even been. That is a huge modification. But that's not even any overland modifications. You're looking at a hundred. You're definitely looking at 150 plus thousand for everybody you watch on youtube at least at least, and they're selling you trinkety stuff like their awnings and roofs, you know rooftop tents and this stuff, but like just suspension, tires, wheels, axles, like just their overland stuff so they can have reliable enough vehicles to use in that use case. Dude, they've got tons of money in the vehicle and most of them still have stock seats and some of them even do sound systems and I mean dude is wild.
Speaker 1:So I just didn't want to be the guy that's like. You can do it on a budget, but if you're watching people online that didn't do it on a budget you I think that the people need to be aware Like it isn't is very, very like. You need to be ready If you want to do like, if you're looking at it and you're going. I want a truck like X YouTuber or Y YouTuber. I mean I'd really think a lot about like what that means because, mean, I'd really think a lot about like what that means, because 60 grand ain't gonna do it. I mean 60 grand on top of the vehicle ain't even gonna do it. No-transcript.
