This Toyota Tacoma overland build is Alaska tested and proven - [Adventure Ready 003]

All right folks well we just wrapped up an amazing adventure yet again here in Alaska. I'm actually at Craig and Brooke's home here in Anchorage and before we get on a plane first thing in the morning I want to take the opportunity to do a walk around of this incredible Tacoma that we've been running around in for three weeks now and just get an idea behind what their build looks like and why they did it the way they did and how folks have been enjoying it for almost what two or three months now so let's just dive into it and see what Craig's got going on back here. All right Craig man it's just been awesome yet again to come up here and just explore more and more of Alaska and I'd say it's been fun doing it in an entirely new footprint here with what's your name? Nenana. Nenana. Yeah. Nenana. So how many rigs do you have now? We have nine rigs so five that we own and four that we consign with. Awesome and they all have their unique name for something special. They do they all mean something a little bit to us like every single rig we call one of our girls right? Yeah. They each have their own personality and they each have their own history and it kind of makes them very personal experience with people when they come around Alaska to be able to kind of you know as corny as it sounds we've had people who've had these amazing experiences and as we drive away it's like they're watching their lost love leave. There's people with tears in their eyes and they've had this shared experience with the vehicles and you know a name's just a name but it's not until the vehicle grows that experience do they actually truly have that connection with it too as well. So that's so true it's so true when you name a vehicle it comes alive it's like Herbie. Exactly yeah and we have people today even like on Facebook who follow us and just you know when they see Nawal in their environment they're like how's she doing in her natural environment and they had that connection with them. Yeah that's so cool yeah that's so cool. Well I just want to kind of do a quick walk around and show the folks what we've been operating out of because when you consider a lot of overland rigs out there you know this is a little bit more subdued but yet it's such a perfect balance for traveling Alaska and I think that people find it interesting because it's a great footprint for them to get started with as well you know they don't have to have all the bells and whistles and yet look at what we do here. When we were building the rigs too it was very much part of the design process for us we wanted them to be able to understand that 95% of what they do and it's going to be a little bit of tarmac and dirt roads and a little bit of trail rides from that point on too so we wanted to kind of build a rig that was going to be capable of going all the way to Dalton going out to Kennecott you know doing the Denali Highway without anything of any concern right and so we built this rig purposely for that so that way we know they're going to have an amazing experience and not worrying about how is the rig built how what kind of tires do I have the secondary batteries and kind of as the build process happened it was kind of already about that you know set and forget and you know the way we did the accessories and why we've done everything we've included we want people just to really bring their clothes jump on a plane and have an amazing experience and everything else is kind of taken care of. Yeah well I can attest to that it's been a very successful pattern to do anything. That's good yeah you put her through her paces yeah she just came to give her really nicely uh and she's in this is her first season and she's had a great year. Awesome awesome. All right so let's see what uh see what goodies we have back here this is this is kind of the uh where all the magic happens right? Absolutely I mean the Tacoma I love the fact this turns pretty much into a camp kitchen table for everybody right everything comes out kind of but with us really ultimately it came down to the fridge was really the core of what we were looking for we wanted people to be able to kind of gather their food for four or five days be able to kind of hit some of these remote locations and not be worrying about ice and coolers and all of that so the fridge kind of started the impetus of the build that's what caused our secondary battery system which then caused kind of a lot of that the next kind of flow on from effect so fridge was main priority. We went with the Clearview drop slide I'm six foot seven so I'm a tall guy and then when it came to our fridge we got the slide and it came out to here and I'm like this is awesome and my wife was like but what about everybody else right so we came and found the Clearview drop slides which are awesome because it just bring it down to that next level and then from here you can gain access pretty much to you know your fridge it's clean. I didn't get all the way in there yeah let me be clear that we left the mess I interrupted them cleaning this up for the next customer just so we could shoot this. We will get back to that there you go and that's part of that cleaning process too as well because we built this business in the middle of COVID so we understood fully the apprehension that people had time of traveling to as well and so we have two days really between each rental which we fully clean the vehicle and then that also kind of came into the spec and out of how even the bedding because you know we were like do we go sleeping bags you know how do we do that and what we end up going deciding with is something that we could clean something that we could clean air out and fully just know that we're sending people off without anything that is going to cause kind of ickyness like sleeping bags or even the lioness too as well so we went with fitted sheets and we went with down comforters and we went with the down pillows too as well so that way they can kind of compress down and kind of create that nice environment of warmth too as well absolutely and we've came with those down to zero degrees up here and being remarkably comfortable and remarkably warm too. You were actually the first person to turn me on to the beauty of down so we we've moved to having those as our backups as well and it's done a great job it's just and it's clean you know you break them down at the end of the camping trip you know you wash all the sheets you air out the mattress and air out the comforter and the pillows and then you come back and everything's clean ready for your next camping trip nice awesome yeah so just put it away you kind of up it goes we call it one two and then three and then it locks off and then the fridge is connected to a secondary battery to a battery system and then that way we really expect a battery in a way that could last four days so if you're at a campsite and you want to go camping exploring hiking you know that your your fridge is going to be okay to operate for at least four days we went with the front runner drawer system and the reason why we went with that is hey zoe hi hi there hi welcome interruption yeah a little interruption then this moment's been brought to you by the neighborhood dogs we've got great neighbors this we wanted to go with a system that was capable of really fitting inside that tacoma platform really nicely we when it came to the speaking out of the back we wanted to have it fit everything that we had in really one drawer and then that gave that whole drawer system on the far side for people to put anything that they want in regards to you know food storage just organization in general right and even more security yes for like people with camera gear camera gear some people who want to come up here want protection too as well so if they have shotguns or whatever the case may be these can be locked up and secured to as well for the weather travel um yeah so we really as i said that concept of having everything that they would need to for the expedition they're not worrying about what sleeping bags to bring or what kind of you know do i need to bring salt and pepper do i bring all that side of it we wanted to make sure that everything was kind of taken care of initially for them on the first day and giving them that start because we know when it comes to spending six hours on the plane to get to alaska and then kind of the energy level you've got you want to get out there and hit the road fast and experience alaska and so we wanted to kind of get overcome some a lot of those hurdles for people to get them out there and enjoy in the state so there's a lot of we've kind of figured out in regards to our layout this is the front runner collapsible bag again we wanted to have everything in here that they needed for that so everything's picked out for four people we've got in here plates pots and pans for cooking most is put in essentially toilet paper second most is coffee pot too as well tea towels dawn dish soap salt and pepper everything in here too as well from kevin's last visit to us we now include a can opener yeah we do listen to customer feedback and change i can't believe we missed that in the first time but thank you kevin and then also a lighter just in case and then trash bags you know key make sure you pack out more than you pack in so we provide some trash bags there to get you started and then some cleaning supplies too as well so everything is included in this little easy to organize having a place for it to go this is the front runner we love a lot of you see a lot of the products that we've got here from right now we just love the packability of some of their equipment and this is a utensil set enough for four people super handy you can see at a glance where everything is at and even includes chopping block too and then you've got your bottle opener too of course the camp chef which again was a recommendation from lifestyle perhaps 100 percent did we influence you did you influence yeah we liked it because of the low heat and then the high heat functionality too as well it's great and so we move all of those in each of our rigs and then of course we have the griddle too as well so that way you can do your pancakes bacon eggs stir fry too whatever you need to is all here nice and then we've got the legs of course for the camp chef so it's got its own place we have the front runner tables and chairs as well and then also in this one we have power and water too as well for the Tacomas we feel it's really important to have water even if it's just for cleaning you don't really need it for drinking water even though it is portable water we include a filter with every single one of our vehicles too so that way if you're out there you want to use portable water you can got access to refill this uh 55 liters or 15 gallons of water which we say typically lasts four to five days depending on your water usage Kevin how long did it last for you almost three weeks yeah almost three weeks um and then also too on this side we have off the dual battery system plenty of usage for power too as well options for power and let me tell you with all the camera gear and stuff that we haul around that right there made the trip that that was awesome and we've had customers ask about seat mat sheet seat mat machine so we made sure we spec'd everything out for really any kind of need that people may had you know when it comes to camping in the wilderness the basic necessities such as a cold food electric water takes away a lot of those concerns right and just makes it a little more comfortable and obviously that's what we're going for awesome nailed it yeah now tell me a little bit about this top that you're working with so yeah we again we have the smart caps rsi smart caps on the nana we've also got the aree on uh yukon you're looking at doing the au cab too as well for the next round of vehicles as we as we continue to grow and evolve we decided to go with front runner racks because we want to make sure that if you want to carry things like max tracks or extra fuel um anything that gave you some more space especially as we design these vehicles for really a family of uh you know two plus maybe two or three kids um and obviously the eye camper which is an amazing option for us because we wanted a tent solution that was going to be uh capable of handling one person sitting up by themselves or maybe up to a family of four or five um and this is a great solution for that it's got a good range in regards to space easier to set up uh and we've had the eye camper on denali which you remember from last season yeah we've counted the number of days that she's been on the ranch she's been out almost 200 plus days wow and we've had zero issues with that uh with that 2.0 well that whole experience drove us to give it a try yeah we've really enjoyed the eye camper setup yep and then just from the rental side of it we tried the soft shelves before and i think we're going to go away from those because it's just just someone who's not familiar with overlanding they can cause um some challenges so we decided to go more hard shell and we just like eye camper and great brand and we like the we like the tents especially with the 3.0 and all the little improvements they made yeah they took pretty much all i mean it's a great tent solution originally but then all the little things that you could say i wish i could do this i wish you could do that they made those changes it's like they read they read the reviews yeah made the changes that's awesome it's exciting to see a company do that exactly yeah and so immediate too as well right yeah yeah absolutely all right so what do we got going on down here with the suspension and the the bits that make it make it a little more comfortable down the road yeah we put a lot of thought into this in regards to trying to find that good touring rig solution that gave uh bang for buck um and as much as we looked around in regards to different brands and there's some really good ones out there we ended up settling with the AIB old man emir system and we went with the three inch lift you know being this is our first year with the Tacomas and the setup that we're going to go with we think we may go a little higher on the spring settings but that's one of the benefits of this system is that as the vehicle kind of changes and adapts you can make those tweaks and changes very easily without having to redo your whole solution we wanted to go with aftermarket wheels because we know what it's like around in this environment you know you need to make sure that you've got good rims and you've got good tires and you know these are going out onto roads that most rental car companies in alaska just won't allow you go to so we selected good tires we like the toyo tires we went with the at3s they just got good all-round capability and they can handle the sharp rocks that may see on the dalton or out on towards kennicott and capable of holding that pardon for our alaskan interruption yeah candidly i was waiting for the bear to come out over the corner we had a moose today still waiting on a brown bear yeah for this trip yeah we saw a moose yesterday welcome to alaska that's right your backyard they're here so the scs rims which i love the raytans that's kind of really the one area where i kind of took my personal flavor i like those rims they're fantastic rooms there's no such thing as a bad color with those yeah and then the toyo tires and really the aib system you know it's one of those things where you just want to send people out in a way you know they're not going to have problems so if you know they're going out there and they're good tires and and as part of that to make sure that you know if there's any issues that happen they're not having to limp back home you know they've got a full capable way of getting out to a place where they can find a solution to get another tire or give us a call and we can meet up with them awesome awesome good stuff and got some sliders there for a little protection too huh we we do um that's mainly because the tacomas came didn't come with uh steps oh gotcha you know and then really it is not alaska is more mud not so much rocks right but we wanted something that just to give that level of protection to the vehicle these are cbi sliders yeah um and great product and they fit really nicely with the overall theme of the vehicle and then just a little bit of protection too as well well and super helpful for setting up the tent for you know people that aren't seven foot tall like yourself absolutely and as we say we're vehicles like these are jungle gyms right so feel free to jump on the tires feel free to jump on the sliders yeah uh you know grab onto the roof racks that's what it's for right and just don't scratch the paint just don't we'll talk more about that in a minute yeah yes we will all right well uh anything special under the hood yeah so when we first look at platforms of what we're going to base it off of course is jeeps you've got broncos you've got toyotas out there and we kind of leaned towards toyotas just because reliability dependency and yeah they just they just work they just work yeah and as part of that we decided to go with a couple of options in regards to our dual battery system off-road grid engineering for their secondary battery location had a really good option for us great company to work with really in regards to that stock location we want to again space is a huge consideration for us so we wanted to make sure that we had that secondary battery under the hood we used red arc as our bcdc charger we went with the 25 and really that's for us red arc is one of those set and forget kind of systems it just works yeah as the battery as the vehicle starts it kicks on we've talked about doing solar here as part of the next reiteration of our builds too as well because most of our run operation is during during the light during the summer season and plenty of daylight at that point exactly maybe more than you want yeah yeah absolutely and then again there's a little extra peace of mind in regards to the starter motor starting you know we wanted to make sure that we're out there none of the none of the secondary poles are coming off the starter battery everything's coming off of that secondary battery and that way when you have been at camp for two or three days and you go to turn that key the vehicle starts yeah absolutely that's huge yeah that's huge because it can be scary for a first timer in alaska to turn the key and something not fire up 100 yeah and that's again as we look at any of our builds and as we look at going into shoulder season or even winter season we are specking our rigs as if it was somebody who is not familiar with the locations or familiar with the area so we wouldn't send anybody out in a vehicle that we wouldn't trust to go in ourselves and we put a lot of thought into regards to setting the rigs up so that way it's everything's kind of thought of that you may need while you're out on the road awesome yeah so we of course again part of that space alaska as you've seen on the footage sometimes it's beautiful milo what's up buddy hi hi yeah thanks everybody okay good boy yeah as you know of alaska it's sometimes based on the footage you've seen you know even when it's rainy it's beautiful uh and it's not always a blue sky so we want somewhere to be under in case of the rain and so we went with the awning system on all of the vehicles the forerunners have the 180s and then the tacomas have the 270s of course it's based on that back gate the way the back gate opens up yeah on the nano we have the ou cab 270 awning which is an amazing system very quick to open very easy to set up very easy to put away on the other vehicles we have ovs2 as well which again if you're looking for a good 180 or 270 awning great bang for buck an amazing canopy i want an option i should say in regards to add-ons you know for you for the base price you get the vehicle and then of course you get everything that we just saw in the back of the vehicle included we really know that every experience is a little different what people are looking for so if you want add-ons we can do portable toilets for you we can do safety packages which include gps and the max tracks as well as the air up and air down options really we just wanted to give people a lot of options in regards to what they want to use so privacy tents but not everybody wants that experience it's kind of build your own adventure but the base package will include is pretty much everything you need and then really the add-ons are just more that's based on your personal experience that you're trying to create yeah gotcha awesome man well it's been an amazing setup i've i just had such a blast with the tacoma footprint and uh yeah thank you so much for giving us a tour thank you so much for letting us borrow it and i'm sorry for all the extra scratches that weren't really part of the plan but you know that's overlanding sometimes yes no i appreciate you coming out uh as i said it was been great to get to know you guys from last time you're up here we love having the experience uh you coming up and really sharing this again we live in a beautiful part of the world and we really love to share it and we're trying to find ways that people can kind of experience that in a way that overcomes maybe some of those concerns that people may have about coming to the state and then seeing you guys kind of do this uh and it really kind of they can relate to how it can be for them and uh and that's why we love seeing you guys come up here um and just the way the the ideals that you have and kind of how you resonate is very similar to us in regards to what we're looking for and so we started this business to really make it easy for people to get out there with families uh and do what we do every day and uh in alaska and just get out there and enjoy the state in a way that is off the i'm gonna say off the beaten path it's just off the tourist trap there you go ways that people can kind of typically see alaska and the cruise ship and on the bus and on the train um you know with 50 of your closest friends you know you can take one of these vehicles you can kind of go into some of those towns you can really truly experience what they have to offer uh in a way that's nimble and then go camp out somewhere where it's where alaskans go in fact in some of this trip that you've been to it's places where even alaskans haven't gone to right and seeing what is out there yeah what the state has to offer and uh you know go down into that road and see what that spot is about see what's what does this mean on this map and what's around that area right um gives you that option pick your own adventure uh and uh you know this is what these vehicles are for and that's we'd like to be part of that journey with you awesome man well again you've made it easy you've made alaska easy for people and that's what they needed 100 we hope to see more of you guys so come out and see us all right well where can people find you oh alaskaoverlander.com also you can follow us on instagram and on facebook too as well so we'd love to have your followers and uh you know we share as many of the custom experiences that have kind of had their amazing locations amazing trips uh and that's really kind of that way to connect people to alaska awesome and even if it's your own rig give us a call we'll be happy to kind of help you in regards to creating your experience um and if it's you know if you've got two weeks jump on a plane come up to alaska give us a call yeah we'll help you find some campsites we'll help you plan routes and we'll make sure that you have the best experience you can very cool man cool thank you thank you we'll see you next year see you next year watch this face