Ford F-150 with Pastime camper. The camper is lightweight for its size, comfortable, and well made. With the exception of backpacking trips the tent stays in the closet.
Ford F-150 with Pastime camper. The camper is lightweight for its size, comfortable, and well made. With the exception of backpacking trips the tent stays in the closet.
I have a Roadtrek which, ifyou aren't familiar with it, is a camper-type on a (the model I have) Chevy van chasis. It is 21' long and has everything - a king size bed in back, stove, water heater etc. If I'm conservative driving I get 15 miles per gallon (300hp V8). I got it after finding that visiting the Four Corners area I could not find a motel near where I wanted to be and I hate bad restaurants, especially for breakfast when I don't want to get up and dressed and go somewhere. I am not a good morning person. Admittedly the Best Western is an option, but I have found them often miserable; noisy, bad beds and generally uncomfortable. And I hate unpacking stuff for one night. The Roadtrek allows me to park on the street in cities and get around most places any car can go; but it is not an off road vehicle and does cost a bit more to operate than a car. But I can haul all the camera stuff I want, stop for lunch and heat a can of soup or whatever, expose some film, and move along. The ideal, I think, would be to have one of these giant land yachts ($300,000+) with a driver to follow along and/or arrive where and when I say. Oh well.
Jack,
One more persons view. I too have used VW CVs 17 years with many trips.
The next move is 1988 Ford f250 with a old pop up camper, and next came a used Alaskan still using Ford. The gas milage is bad but it still gets me out and off the road. 4 wheele drive is not something I ever wanted but a posa-traction to the rear end is fine.
We are both the same age and sleeping on the ground is not for me. The Alaskan is just fine I can get the coffee pot ready the night before and start it in the morning. I do work in large format and designed a film changing tent for the upper bunk.
Every few day we hit a motel or a camp ground with showers to get cleaned up.
Just 2 cents more
Jan Pietrzak
I echo the little pick-up with a camper-shell philosophy. My 2000 2wd/4cyl/5spd Nissan king-cab gets 26mpg highway at 70-75mph. Easy to drive in traffic, decent ground clearance on rough roads, and quite comfortable with a carpet kit and futon in back.
Subaru Outback or legacy wagons are great for roadtripping, AWD, OK gasmilage (about 25mpg highway) you can sleep in the back if you really need to (ive done this a bunch of times although it can be a little cramped with 2 6ish foot people in there) and you can slap a piece of plywood on the roofracks for a decent elevated shooting spot
Probably the ultimate in performance as well as price.
www.earthroamer.com
On a budget? Try this: Late 80's Toyota mini panel van (looks like a cruiser from "Space 1999"). It's a tin box on a small pickup frame. Customize the interior to your own specs, very private. 4cyl (model 24R) engine, between the seats, where it should be, ha.
Like a 50-60's Chevy, cheap parts are available anywhere in the world-eg: new clutch in Tijuana, Mex- US$222.00, installed. Rear wheel drive. Good mileage, even by today's standards (25mpg avg). Bulletproof reliability, good for 250K miles easily. Buy one out west; they rusted on the freighter trip from Japan, but it was superficial.
Downside: insanely loud road noise- on road trips, you must be comfortable with your own thoughts, 'cuz you won't hear anything else until you insulate. Really insulate.
For 4 grand you can have one completely outfitted for any situation. Start with eBay.
jbhogan
Land Rover Discovery. Other wise known as a Hummer rescue vehicle. I've owned a few full size 4wd pickups and none can compare off road. The Land Rover has a shorter wheel base than a pickup which gives it an advantage off road. Great ground clearence and plenty of low end torque. The V8 gets 19mpg highway which ain't that bad and the v8 can come in handy when it comes to towing or performance in the mountains. The cargo area is huge. I picked up a 2002 with 38k miles for 15K. A nice wall tent or a pop-up would compliment it nicely. They do make a large tent that attaches to the rear of the vehicle. But I wouldn't want to tie up the vehicle. I would much rather set up a base camp and keep the Land Rover free for getting the equipment to the shot. Especially since I shoot ULF. A full size roof rack with ladder and a brush guard and let the safari begin.
Advancing this discussion beyond the posters exact question......
This is one of the biggest quandries of most serious landscape shooters! Just like cameras, is there is no one perfect rig. But if one has the money, the Earthromer Doug mentions is one sweet rig, of course, it was designed and built by a nature photographer, but at a price tag of $175k USA, it's a bit expensive.
After one has left the vehicle concept, as they need more space, don't like sleeping in the back of it, tired of treking to hotels, etc., then, the big decision is.... do you trail something, or simply use a motorhome type rig, or, as another poster mentioned, the big Foot camper concept, which is very similar to a motorhome, except, you do not have access to the camper through the truck. Of course, much of this is dependent how big you are, how tall you are, how many are travelling with you, your shooting style, how often you use it, etc.
If you often shoot in one area for long periods of time, pulling a trailer or a camper is ideal, as you can dock it at a campsite, and use the truck to photograph during the day. This assumes you don't carry an obsessive amount of gear and you can do without the bathroom, kitchen and working area the motorhome offers.
if you shoot n move constantly, now the dropping-off concept becomes less appealing, as your constnatly going back to pick up the trailer. Also, its not easy riding on roads which are maintained, but not in great shape when you are pulling something. In such a case, the camper on pickup, or all-in-one motohome concept is appealing. I ended up buying a motorhome, as I found it was the best rig for my shooting style, as I tend to stay out for long periods of time, 4 - 6 weeks and need lots space for all my gear. Its one big shortcoming is not being able to access bad roads, in which case, I dock the motorhome and rent an SUV for those times...... Of course, the Earthroamer would solve this problem, but the extra $100k for the rig can justify a lot of SUV rentals. The older i get, the less I shoot far from the motorhome anyway :-) There is not a lot of small motorhomes, but there is a few including the Roadtreks mentioned above, as welll as Winnebago, Rialta, and one company in TX makes van conversion, into 4x4 motorhomes, sort of designed for outdoor photographers.
http://www.sportsmobile.com/4_4x4sports.html
Of course, any rig that weighs a ton, and is top heavy can be dangerous, or at least very hard on the rig when trying taking it off-road. But these sportsmobiles are about the closest you get to a van type motorhome made for offroad, but not cheap, about $90k USA. For me, the problem is headroom, at 6'3", many of the vans are a bit too short, and I hate constnatly ducking.
The other consideration is how often the rig will be used. If you shoot once a year, of course renting a motorhome can be a nice fit, even at $175 a day, its cheap compared to the expense of owning one. If you buy a rig specially for shooting, and do not use if often, you run the incredible expenses and maintenance of keeping a rig operating when not using it. Fuel goes stale, seals start to wear, etc. So the location of where its stored is an issue, as you must constantly go start the rig to keep everything from fouling up.....
Another concern with docking a camper / trailer is, security. When you have expensive items sitting in a rig with no one around, well, its very risky in my opinion, one of the reasons I try to always be close to my vehicle, I even have an alarm, that advises me via a remote control when the alarm has gone off. As most of us spend years of saving and planning to get our photo gear just right. Insurance is not a cozy safeguard. A pit bull would be better :-)
When I started serious landscape photography, I never thought the rig would be my largest nagging concern, constantly dealing with all its issues, maintenance, storage and expenses..... so, this leads us back to the hotel concept......which, if you don't shoot often, sure has its benefits!
I like my 89 Volvo 240 DL for driving around Brooklyn looking for stuff to shoot. Cumfy and good on gas
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