What's your favorite ORV/comfortable camping vehicles?

im not sure of its off road capabilities though!

have david (or edm1) bust out some photos of his 4wd motorhome. AMAZING where he puts that thing!

A short bed pop up is pretty small, even worse is a one for a small or mid size pick up. My F-350, long bed, crew cab and pop up, is too long, too wide , too heavy to go lots of places. You need to think about the trade offs. And bring a shovel..

perfect rig? MINE!!!

I went for Sportsmobile. 4x4 RV that's small enough to get around on backcountry trails. Unlike a truck camper, the front driving area doubles as living space while camping.







-- Geoff

EDM 1 Art's incredible 4WD RV with front and back lockers!

This was THE Baja motorhome of 2010!

Mission Santa Maria's grades bogs and rocks or Shell Island's bottomless sand could NOT stop it!













It wasn't big enough for all the comforts of home, so to make things nicer for his wife, Art went with a bigger 4WD motorhome:

Love the examples. I like the Sportsmobiles. Have seen several in Baja. Reminds me of my old 71 Westie camper on steroids.

Last whale trip, in March, I met the owner of a diesel 4x4 ambulance, fueling up at Cactus Pemex. He had just returned from San Juanico and loved all the storage space, rugged chassis, headroom etc. Hadn't done much to convert it to an RV yet- just room to sleep, carry bikes and surfing/diving/fishing gear.

Here's a good "mix and match" website:

http://www.wiltshire.eu.com/demountables/index.html

Makes me think: If I could find a salvaged Chinook-style small, light, fiberglass RV shell, with a blown engine or damaged chassis, and remove and mount it on a deisel 4X4 van frame... I'd be getting close to what I'm envisioning!

Or I could splurge on this for $45K:


From http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/rvd/4448773875.html

[Edited on 5-5-2014 by Whale-ista]

Skamper

Best thing about a Scamper is you can paint them like a watermelon!

Love this thread… Baja… adventure camping…devising ways to do it comfortably …all right up my alley. For me, there are no rules cut in stone for camping in Baja. It’s always been a place for adventurers and there are as many styles of OR vehicles as there are imaginations. If you can dream it, you can do it. If you want to do something, don't sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy. Like the saying goes: ‘I'd rather attempt to do something and fail,….than to attempt to do nothing and succeed.’



Now, I say Amen on being comfortable whenever you can. I’ve done all the canoe, tent, and backpack camping when I was a whole lot younger. Plus I’ve seen a whole lot of Baja’s outback, but as I get older, reality rules my world. Since I travel a lot, it's always great to feel like you're at home. There's nothing like getting to raid my own refrigerator at two in the morning.


I’ve always tended to avoid the normal and accepted methods of Off Road travel. Trust that little voice in your head that says 'Wouldn't it be interesting if...'; And then do it. Adventure should be 80 percent 'I think this is manageable,' but it's good to have that last 20 percent where you're right outside your comfort zone. Still safe, but outside your comfort zone.

We always begin a Baja camping trip with this thought..."This is the beginning of a great adventure."

I’m familiar with and done the tent, van, pickup with shell, pickup with overhead camper, 4X4’s, etc…all of which were great experience-builders for getting more… ‘COMFORTABLE’. You’d be amazed at what roads you can travel in non-conventional OR camping rigs.…if you just pay attention to weather, clearances, overhang, footing, etc… AND what your rig is actually capable of doing. Or course, It helps if ‘you’ have control of your vehicle and not the other way around.

Then too…Travel for me becomes a strategy for accumulating photographs, which will explain the following:

An early Baja camper. A 25ft Minnie Winnie by Winnebago….it’s been where a goat couldn’t go. Plus, it’s got way more amenities than a goat!

…and hopefully nothing falls out of the overhead cabinet while you’re sitting on the John, and Co-pilot is driving. Man, did that smart!



Off-the-beaten-path camping places we’ve been in our ‘comfy’ rigs.

White tanks near Erindera, Agua Verde, El Tomatal, Catavina rock fields, San Nicolas, Scorpion Bay, and a dozen other remote places.



Overhead view of Agua Verde campsites…1985. On the old ‘unimproved’ canyon trail.



San Sabastian Cove





West of El Rosario/Catavina…in the boondocks.



Southwind 36’ motorhome….pick your paths and you can do it. Here we are on a rocky beach in Asuncion, blocking shari & Juan’s view…or maybe giving them one!







Baja by plane…one of the best ways to see remote parts of Baja.

Defining your flight to Baja’s outbacks….You define a good flight by negatives: you didn't get hijacked, you didn't crash, you didn't throw up, you weren't late, you weren't nauseated by the food. So you are grateful.

Co-pilot quote: Airplane travel is nature's way of making you look like your passport photo. Plus this gem…Airline travel is sometimes hours of boredom interrupted by moments of stark terror.
(We once narrowly avoided a mid-air with a breaching grey whale. I told her we had just missed our chance at making history….)



In an airplane there are no signposts in the sky to show a man has passed that way before. There are no off-road trails marked…no tire tracks to follow. The flier breaks each second into new unchartered places.


A Cessna 180 taildragger with tundra tires is perfect for camping at remote Baja beaches …or wherever you can find reasonably flat stretches. The landing strip doesn’t need to be so long…just really, really WIDE!



One great thing about a 180...if you can get it all in, you can fly with it.





Got an old farm truck?…..Well, with just a little improvising you’ve got an ideal Baja camper. Note the over-the-cab queen bed for those moonlit nights in the Baja outback. You two with the coyotes serenading. You can’t buy that at any hotel.



Infuse your life with action. Don't wait for it to happen. Make it happen. Make your own future. Make your own hope. Make your own love…and do it in Baja!



[Edited on 5-5-2014 by Pompano]