IS THIS THE FUTURE OF AUSTRALIAN TOURING F-350 RUNDOWN - EXPLORE RIGS EP9

Hi guys, welcome back. It's been a little while, but welcome back to Explore Rigs. We've seen this absolute monster driving around and we just had to get a bit of content for you guys. It's definitely a little bit of a one-of-a-kind. So we've got Derek here from Lapping the Island. Mate, what an absolute monster, hey? Yeah, thank you. Big F350. Yep, we looked at the 250 and the 350, but weights had to go three. Weights had to go three. So a little bit of a backstory about what you're doing and why you went something this large. Well, we've been traveling Australia. We did around 18 months. We had a 200 series, just a typical wagon. 21-foot caravan and the missus wanted to go a little bit bigger with the caravan. The kids are getting older, three kids, so got to keep the wife happy. And unfortunately, the 200 couldn't tow the caravan that we wanted. So we looked around, we looked at rams, we looked at F trucks, we looked at chopped 200s, 79s, we looked at it all and I just fell in love with the F trucks and did all my calculations and the 350 was it for us. The one that worked. So we'll get stuck into some technical questions at the end, and so stay tuned for that. We'll ask him about all the weights, the GVMs, all of the nitty gritty. We always put a post up on social media, so make sure you're jumping over and follow us on social so you can get involved with these things. And we're going to answer a heap of questions at the end that people have sent in on socials as well. So we'll kick it off. We'll basically just do a full walk around of the whole truck and then we'll look inside the cab and then we'll finish it off with in the canopy. I don't know that much about the F truck. So it's a It's 2020. 2021s were struggling to get over to Australia due to corona and the chip shortage. Yeah, roger. So they're just starting to filter into Australia now, but yeah 2020 has just clicked over 2000ks on the way up here. So yeah, brand new. She's a monster. All right, let's get into it. We'll start at the front. Up front, I can only just see over the bonnet, this thing is massive. So it's pretty clean up front mate, which I like to be honest. So obviously you've got the worn winch, you've got your GME radio up the front for UHF, which I'm guessing is the XRS unit. That's correct. We'll have a look when we get into the car. What type of bar is this one? So this is a Fab Four. So they're built in America. It's the Matrix style. It can only house the 12,000 pound winch. The next Fab Fours can go to 16, but it was not as good looking as this bar. It's pretty clean looking. So you pick up a nice little light bar, you get two big recovery points and then four little steedy lights. That's clean. I'm definitely a fan of that. Personally, I like hoops when it comes to bull bars because I like protection on the front end, but I guess you sit up that high, you probably don't have to worry about that. I was worried. So ARB used to make a full cover bar for the F-Trucks. They've since stopped and all the American ones are like all the robotic looking ugly ones. So I had to keep it flush and clean. I didn't want anything too bulky at the front. I do want hoops. If there's a good hoop bar out there, let us know because I'll jump all over it. But yeah, I am worried about the grill getting smashed, the lights getting smashed. These kangaroos aren't small out here. No, fair enough. All right, we'll keep it dancing. We are going to get around to the side, but we thought while we're here, we'd pop the bonnet. Now it doesn't look like there's a lot of room under this bonnet, but there is a massive 6.7 power stroke under here, mate. Any modifications or is she pretty much stock? Engine, tranny, drive line, all 100% stock, five-year warranty. I'm not going to muck around with that. So we'll keep that stock as a rock for We won't talk power figures now, but it pulls like an absolute train. You don't need any more out of it. I don't, to be honest with you, but... For fun down the track. That's right. Yeah. Reliability sometimes, especially when you're touring Australia and living on the road, you've got to look after it. That's right. All right, perfect. Dual batteries under here? Yep. Standard. Standard. Standard with dual batteries. Got to be happy with that. Anything else you can point out? Big isolator switch, that's all standard? No, no. So all the electrics, they've all been done for me, for me lights and everything like that. So that's all the add-ons, but that's the only thing that's been added on for here is just electrics. Yep. All right, now we'll sneak around to the side. We'll talk wheels, tires, suspension. I was just having a look then. I actually thought it was on 35s for some reason, because it all looks in proportion, but these are 37s on what size rims? 20 inch rims. 20s and 37s. So originally I wanted 18s, but with the engineering side of things, the swerve tests and that, there's too much tire roll and it fails engineering. So I have to have it on 20s, yep. Less sidewall and it passes all engineering. And you're running the, what are these ones? They're the Fuel Blitz. And yeah, the Nittos, yep. How do you find the Nittos? I've always had BFs and I've never, ever changed. So far up here, like I said, I've only done 2000Ks, but they seem- Yeah. Well, I don't know about going away from BFs, but that's another argument. So King's suspension, how big a lift is this one running? So it's a four inch lift and it's done by Superlift. So that's an American lift kit for these trucks. It's all Australian King's shocks and stuff like that. So it's not imported from America directly through me. It's through them. Yeah. So four inch, legal everywhere in Australia, engineered, signed off, 37s, 20s. Perfect. Can you go like six inch lift or four inch is what they've engineered in Australia? Yeah. So if the truck comes into Australia with a six inch lift, you can keep it. If it doesn't, I've been told, I haven't done the research myself, but four inch with 37s and 20s is the highest you can go. Okay. To be legal everywhere in Australia. And so you bought this, the 350 stock in Australia? I've done everything to it. Who did the build or did you have multiple people? Harrison F Trucks. I brought the truck through. They've done the tyres, the lift and bull bar. EC Offroad did all my electrics and GCI did the canopy. Jeez. As soon as you go to these bigger trucks, any American trucks, you just look at the size of the drive train and driveline on them. They're just built for towing, right? They're built for weight and for towing. They're just monsters out of the box. And towing, this thing doesn't feel it at all. It's huge. I feel like there'd be some trucks that I've been down, you'd be in strife with this thing to be honest. Yeah. I am worried about that. That's future me problem. Yeah. Future you problem. But when it comes to like, I drag a little 14 foot band around. When it comes to dragging like a 22 foot band, I just don't think you can really go past like a big Ram or a big F truck. They're just built for it. And plus this is what we'll get into at the end, weight. That's where it all gets super important. So we'll keep it moving, but up the Kings. All right, now this is something that I do absolutely froth. The old power steps, the mirrors come out at the same time and it would be bloody handy to have some of these, I'll tell you. But the only thing that I'd be worried about, mate, is you don't get a proper sidestep or protection on your seals there. Yeah, it is on my mind. It's one thing that I am a little bit worried about. Yeah. I've had a few dings and dents with the 200, especially on the tele track and stuff like that. Yep. And this being quite long wheelbase. Yeah, the ramp over, that's where it's going to be hit. That's where it's going to be killed. So yeah, I suppose these do give you some protection, which is good. Some. There's always going to be a compromise, hey? Yeah, that's right. But these are pretty bloody handy. You wouldn't want to not have them. I had the standard ones on there and they just look terrible, like just up high and you still have to do that big step. So these were the next best thing that I could get. While we're on the side, we won't go inside just yet. Up top, you've got the Rhino rack. Yep. That's a 50 inch light bar on the front. That thing looks like a weapon. A steady 13. 13s on the side, just for camp spots and bits and pieces. That's right. And then, uh, is that one whopping solar panel or two? It's only one. Yeah. And I'll be honest with you, I have no idea what it is. Yeah. It comes with the full package. It's EnerDrive. The solar panel only takes up half the roof. So it looks like you've got extra storage up there with like a dirty zone bag or something like that. It's a stand up paddleboard. Oh, sub board. Yeah. How good. And then of course, Max Trax holders, the four Max Trax on the side. You're definitely going to need them at some point, I'd imagine. Definitely. The first time I went four wheel driving, pulled them out, got me out of the wrap already. No, Max Trax, to the rescue. I would be stuffed if I didn't have Max Trax. This is something I do want to point out, which I think is pretty cool, mate. What is going on with the little keypad on the side of the door? So it comes standard with, uh, with the F trucks. So you go for a swim, you can chuck your keys in the car, punch in your code, locks the car, go for a swim, come back, punch in your code, unlocks the car, get your keys out, start up, drive away. How good's that? No more padlocks, no more hiding underneath the wheel arches or anything like that. Or even if you're just going for a hike out in the bush, you can chuck them in, lock it up, there you go. That's pretty handy. All right, let's get inside this beast. I'm a little bit scared. I know how nice it's going to be. Uh, I'll go, I'll go to the driver's side and we'll jump in. All right, welcome to the lounge room. You're kidding, eh? This, this seat is, I've got aftermarket seats and they're pretty comfy, but this thing is ridiculous. The room you get in these big trucks, like for long hauls, especially towing, mate, you could drive all day in this, I'm sure. Yeah, it's beautiful. Just comfy as. So these ones have got heated, cooled seats. The next model up has actually got the massage seats. So this is the Lariat. What's the one above? So, uh, there's, there's lots of different packages. It's too hard to get into, but your main ones are limited, which is your top of your range. So your Sahara, your Platinums, which are around your VX. And then this one is a Lariat, but it's been upgraded with the ultimate package. So it's sort of got most of the stuff that the Platinum and the Ultimate has. Yeah, Roger. Without paying the excessive, the big price tag. So basic things, steering wheel's nice, all your steering wheel controls. You get four cup holders from standard. You only get one in a Toyota. Nice little mount down here for the XRS unit, which is that a brand, is that the brand new too? Yeah. Oh, flash. I might need to upgrade. And then, uh, you've got a little touch pad down here. What's, what's the brand of that one? That's Switch Pro. Switch Pro. Yep. So that's, uh, all Bluetooth. Uh, you program it all in so that you can have lights come in, um, when you start, uh, when your high beams are on and it all hooks up to your phone and click a button and you can have lights everywhere. Way you go. So it's definitely something that I do like, um, in, in a four wheel drive. I've got the link system in mind, but any sort of switching pad or switching system so that you don't have buttons and bloody switches everywhere. It is super neat and tidy. That looks bloody factory, um, where you've put that, uh, which is extremely cool. And then a little safety tire. So that just, that runs your tire pressures. Yeah. So tire pressures and, um, temperatures for the van. When you're on gravel, you can't see your van tires. Yep. Let you know if you've got a flat tire or anything. It's already saved me two tires. Oh really? So it's, it was like $400. What's a brand paid for itself on the first time. Yep. And then the HEMA HX1 tucked up the front there. Yep. And you've got the airbag main little controller there. So you can see what pressure your bags are running. Yep. Standard, um, brakes. I don't need the, uh, Red Arc tow pro like I had in the 200. Yep. Comes standard works perfectly like the Red Arc one. But other than that, no, she's, she's stock bulk. This is the benefits of going, uh, the American style trucks. It's always a big argument, you know, your Toyotas, your 279s or patrols versus your Rams and F trucks. And look, when you hop in these, it's still got the new car smell, mate, which is a bit surprised myself with three kids. Obviously good stereo system straight off the bat. Yeah. All right. We'll have a quick look in the back and, uh, that just about wraps up the interior. Sweet. Well, have a go at this. It's just like the back of a 70 series, really plenty of room. Uh, lots of leg room, just like the 70. This is insane. I have got that much leg room and this front seat is actually tilted right back as well. When I was just sitting in it, the leg room's ridiculous. There's a full baby chair in here. You could comfortably have three full-sized lads in the back here. A couple of cup holders here for your cold tins. You get all your air con and, uh, accessories, uh, you know, phone charging and buddy. Oh, there's a little power outlet there. Is that 240? Yeah. Yeah. Of course there is. There's a 240 power outlet, uh, in the back for the kids. Super nice leather interior. Comfy as hell. Yeah. Just like the 70, ain't it? All right. We're getting to the fun end of town. Um, massive canopy on the back, mate. GCI, uh, they obviously make a great canopy. What's the sort of length? Uh, so tray alone. Yeah. It's a liftoff canopy. Yep. It's about just under 2.1. Yep. Canopy's around two meters, two meters by two meters by, I can't remember. However high. Absolutely massive. We will, uh, we'll get inside. Don't stress. But up on top, you've got the Almark loader. Yep. Uh, how do you find that? Beautiful. So far, so good. So winch on the front. Yep. And, uh, look, same as, same, same style of the one that I've got on the van there. So nice and easy. Uh, one man job, winch on the front, winch controller. To travel around Australia without a tinny is a big mistake, I reckon. It's a huge mistake. I did it once. Yeah. Oh, you did? Wasn't doing it again. Yeah. Fair enough. Yeah. I think, um, even if you're not a fisher or a mad keen diver or anything like that, just the ability to pull up at a beautiful little spot, uh, take the tinny off and just be able to go for a putt around just lets you go that little bit further, eh? Yeah. 100%. Especially with three kids, it keeps them entertained. Oh, I bet. They love it. Take the little pink fishing rods out and catch them a brim. That's right. What, uh, what brand is the tinny? Uh, so it's a CJ Nomad Highside. It's got the thicker gunnels on it, so it's nice and steady. We can sit on the sides. Yeah. That's sick. Is it a four metre? Uh, 3.7. Even a little bimini in there as well. Yeah. Yep. And that just stays in there. All internal. Folds in, folds out. So neat. Um, all right. Back at the canopy. GCI, they have a pretty cool ladder. Do you want to show us that ladder system actually? Yep. So that one comes down. I do like the GCI ladders. I've seen them before. You get a nice thick flat step on them, which is pretty cool. Yep. Um, and to change your spare tyre, you can undo these and that one folds down. You can pull your spare tyre out. 37 inch tyre fits on the, on the back. And then, uh, is there a reason you're only running one spare? Uh, well, last time I had two spares on the car, two spares on the van. Yep. And I plugged most of my tyre repairs. Yep. Um, there was one where the rim cracked, but that was out of my control. Yep. So one's enough. Yeah. One's enough for now. I'm sure a 37 on 20s is not the lightest thing, so you probably save yourself a bit of weight. That was the other thing as well. I am worried about if something does happen and I need to get one in the middle of nowhere. Yeah. But I'm thinking about maybe ordering some and just keeping them out stock at my parents' house and they can send it up to me. Yep. Makes sense. So then instead of the other spare, you get a jerry box. Yep. Little jerry can holder. Also pretty neat. It opens up. No one can siphon your, your, uh, jerry can. Yep. It's fully locked in and no one can steal it at the same time. So we've got rear drawer. Yep. Pulls out. Big rear trundle with a table. Slides up. So what are you keeping here? Uh, so this is all my recovery gear. So earing up. Yep. Um, straps, uh, nuts and bolts, and then yeah, tyre repair kit, jack, just all your stuff that you need to access pretty quickly and easy. Yep. Happy days. Um, one thing that I do like that I've seen on, uh, the GCI trays is the little, uh, little water points they give you. Yes. Basically clip it in and that gives you your water outlet. It is super neat and tidy. I've got a hose on the back of mine, but yeah, I'd reckon that'd come in handy. Yeah, definitely. So 150 litres. 150 litres of fresh. Yep. So I can transfer that to the caravan, free camp, wash yourselves, whatever you need to do. Comes in so handy, eh? Yeah. I've got 150 litres in mine as well, and the ability to just have that much water when you need it. And then same thing when you're, when you're remote, you can, that's another 150 that you can put in the van for showers and all sorts. And that's what you need. Yeah. So another 12,000 on the rear? Yep. 12,000 on the rear. So the reason I did that is with the 200, the most times I used the winch was to help someone else out. Yep. So being a bigger car, I don't want to have to turn around in the bush. Yep. I can pull that out, help them, or if the van gets stuck, I can just rip that out without having to turn around and it makes life a lot easier. Oh mate, I've, I've got the front and rear 12,000s as well. And rear winch is one of those things where people are like, do you need a rear winch? And I've used the rear winch more than I've used the front winch. You just, it just seems to come in handy for, for everything really. And even those bogs, if you go in and get bogged, the front's normally buried under bloody mud and bits and pieces. So you can drag her out backwards. Or if you do get through on tight tracks, like you're saying, you can winch old mate out from behind you. Yep. ARB, so that's, you obviously run an ARB compressor. Yep, yep. Dual compressor. Dual compressor. Yep. So that's the outlet. Nice and easy. Have a go at this hitch. So that's DO45, the big whore. Yep. And what brand's this? Gen Y. Gen Y hitch. So that's a four and a half ton suspension hitch. Yep. Just takes all the shock out of the car, out of the van, when you're going over corrugations or bumps. Massive. A couple of Anderson plugs for the van. Another couple more lights. Yeah, a couple of rear lights for, yeah, reversing, setting up camp and that. Yep. All right, let's get stuck into this canopy. All right, let's go. The fun part. Checking out everyone's canopy setups. Have a look at the space in here. Mate, you could have a double bed in here. Mate, we're in the doghouse, mate. That's my bed. Yeah, we're in the doghouse. Put the sleeping bag in here and shut her up. All right, so let's run through it. Obviously, this is where all the magic happens for the 12-volt. Yep. So full 12-volt system. Yep. So that's the full touring package from GCI. So it's the 2,000-watt inverter, 200-amp battery, and then the full Symarine by Enerdrive system that runs it all. So 40-amp charger. Yep. The Symarine is pretty nice and neat. So if anyone doesn't know, Symarine's just a little control pad that links up with this Enerdrive system. Basically, it just tells you where everything's at, how much power you're using. You can see your solar usage going in and all that. So you've got all your 240-volt outlets. Looks like you've got all bloody USB outlets, charging points. You obviously do filming as well. So forever charging laptops. Forever. GoPro batteries and drone batteries. So fridge, definitely loving the little drawer fridge. I was going to say, is this one for beers? And it's full of beer. So this one can be turned into freezer or fridge. So if we go off-road, we can turn that into the freezer, put all of our meats in there, freeze all of that. Then beer fridge goes to the other side. If not, beer fridge stays on this side, and we fill that up with fruit and veg and also the caravan fridge. Happy days. So then you've got one big storage drawer here, which is absolutely massive. And then a nice pull-out stainless table. How do you go, because this is something people are going to ask, how do you go with heights, reaching and getting into things? To be honest with you, it's probably a little bit high. I had nothing to judge the car off by getting the four-inch lift. And I was going off mates' cars, off how big they were, and it turned out a little bit bigger than I expected. So I've got a really manly step that I can put down and use that to look in the drawers or lean on the bench and have a beer with mates. Yep. And then the rest is pretty clean, mate. So you've just got a nice big storage shelf up here. So I've just had some fishing rod holders made. They're going to be bolted up the top here. Perfect. And I can carry six fishing rods, all broken in half and ready to go with reels on them. Pull them out, put them together, go. So that's why I left this side clean, is because I just want somewhere to have fishing rods. And this looks like all your tackle and fishing gear? Yep. And then you'll see better on the other side, but the outboard sits in the back of the canopy. Yeah, so a little 15 yammy two-stroke sits on the Elmac boat slide. Perfect. All right, let's get it around and check out the kitchen side of things. Righto, here we go. I'll tell you what, the white, it does look clean, mate. Yeah. Does it stay clean or you're not sure yet? Yeah, there's a bit of sand in there. Yeah. We'll see how we go in the dust. No, it's a nice finish. Everything looks super clean. I like the way that everything's filled in. I don't really like seeing wires and bits and pieces going everywhere. So you've got a couple of 240 outlets here, some more charging points. Yeah. And what size is the fridge? 130 bushman. 130? Yeah. Oh, there you go. So that's actually bigger than mine. I'd run a 110, but you probably have a little bit more height, hey? Yeah. And how do you find the upright fridge? Like I said, first trip. First trip. I've always had the angle on the drop-down slide. Yeah. So far I've probably landed towards this one a little bit more. Yeah. It's one big question that I get asked all the time is, how's my upright? Do I like it compared to your typical drop-down slides? Personally, I think they're, well, firstly, they're way cleaner. Yeah. Way neater, a lot less weight as well. And you save a bit of money because a drop-down slide's about the same price as a fridge, which is pretty crazy, but depends on the setup and what you're doing. So you get another big storage drawer, another slide-out table, just storage up here. Yeah. So at the moment it's just, it's got my dive gear in there, just sorting out where I want stuff in the canopy. The first, obviously the first time we're using it. So it is supposed to be the kitchen side and I've taken it over, so. Yeah, right. Well, I suppose you've got the big van, so it sort of gives you the opportunity to have this a little bit cleaner and put all your fun stuff, mate, your diving and fishing gear. It's important. It's very important. It's very important. Most people don't understand that. So then you've got the LMAX slide. This is basically the same one I think I've got on the front of my van. Pretty much, yeah. Super easy, so they just slides out, pivots, allows you to get that outboard off nice and easy. Anything I'm missing? I suppose we should talk about the drawers while we're here. Yeah, that's about it. So the drawers. So this is something that I haven't seen on too many canopy setups. It may be the only one, actually, I'm not sure. But instead of your underbody toolboxes where the door folds down, these are an actual drawer. So far, so good? So far, so good, mate. Seems pretty nice and easy. Yeah. Sealed, like there's no water and no dust getting in these things. No, the seals actually are pretty impressive. When you shut this one and twist the handle, you can actually hear the air pushing out around the seal. So I was pretty impressed by that just quietly. What's going on here, mate? It's to change my hitch for the boat to the caravan. Oh, you've got to put a standard one back on. Yeah, I need another tongue. So at the moment, I'm just using them. When I get back to Perth, I'll buy another tongue so I don't have to keep doing that. Just your standard socket? I am a seasoned mechanic, so I pick up work along the way and who knows, I might need them. Now, I've just seen power in there, so central locking on everything? Full central locking on everything. Each little box has its own little light in there as well, which is super handy at night. That's one thing that I absolutely froth about my canopy, and I see my mates basically don't lock their canopies, or they've got to run around with keys. If you're building a canopy and you've got the option to put the central locking in, I couldn't recommend that highly enough. 100%. Especially if you're traveling full time, because all you do is stop, get out. To just be able to lock it with a button is hell impressive, to be honest. And that way, your stuff doesn't get pinched while you're sitting at the pub. That's right. All right. Diesel filler, and is that the water filler? That's AdBlue. AdBlue. Yep. So this thing runs AdBlue. Yep. Water's on the other side. What's going on here? So jack off canopy. Yep. So when that rips off, you can buy your standard ute tray sides. Yep. They go onto the hinges here. Yep. And then, yeah, so it leans up, locks into there, flush mounted. Ah, roger. So it's got rid of all of those dicky little clips that you normally get on those standard ute trays. Yep. It's all flush. Happy days. Well, I think we've just about covered everything. We'll jump back around the front of the truck, and we'll get stuck into some questions, and we'll find out some weights. Let's do it. So we're going to get into some of the questions that you guys sent through on socials. It's only been up for the last 20 minutes, but we got some great questions coming in. So kick it off. Fuel usage per 100 kilometers. So we'll talk car, and then if you know car and van. I don't know car. Pretty much just driven around city, and then towed the van up here. So on the way up here, she was sitting at 25. Yep. When we did the short little trip from Perth to Lancelin, and then down south to Bunbury, I was on 22s. So punching into a fair breeze coming up to this way, and yeah, 25. Remember he's towing a three and a half ton van? Four. Four ton van. My car uses that much. So pretty impressive, I think. Let's get into the weights of the car, because people are going to want to know that as well. So what is your GVM, and your towing capacity, and how heavy is the whole show? All right. So GVM is 5,820 kilos, and towing is 4,500 kilos. So that's more than what my van actually can go to. The car itself, I haven't weighed it with all of my stuff in there, but straight from GCI slash Harrison F-Trucks delivery to me in WA, it was weighing 4.8 ton, and that was with 150 kilos of water, 220-odd liters of diesel, and all the canopy and everything like that set up. So the only thing you've really done is outboard and all the gear that's inside it, and you've still had a ton of payload. Yeah. So 330 kilos of ball weight, 250-odd kilos of us in the car, and then all the rest of it. So you've probably got 400-odd kilo off your sleeve. Yeah. And that's conservative, huh? Yeah. So when you're looking at your land cruisers, and shops, and bigger GVMs, so I've got the biggest you can go on the land cruiser, whether it's a 200 or a 79, which is four and a half ton, and you're at 5.8. And I definitely am very cautious of weights and bits and pieces, and you can smash four and a half ton like that. Easy. Easy. So there's a couple of little downsides to going the bigger GVMs, which is... Truck license. Truck license. Yep. Zero alcohol, which can sometimes kill you. So that's just something to think about. Some people don't really understand that. So what he's done, by taking it, as soon as you go over that four and a half ton, so mine's 4495, you've got to stay under four and a half, as soon as you go over four and a half, you go to your... Light, rigid truck. Light, rigid truck. Yep. So you do need a truck license to tow it. The missus is going to get her soon. She's been staying up for six months. She'll get there. She likes having a beer at the pub and just stirring you, or what? Yeah, that's right. So that's something to point out. But yeah, the more gear that everyone seems to take away these days, and look, it's definitely... I can understand why so many people are doing it, because you run out of payload. Our last trip with the 4.2 ton GVM and the 200 series, three and a half ton towing, everything was just decided by weight. So kids' birthday presents, Christmas presents, everything was just weight dependent. Yep. And now you don't really have to worry about it too much. Yeah, not too much. Yep. What is the van you're towing, actually, just so people are aware? 23.3 foot Lotus Trooper Caravan. Yeah. This thing is an absolute beast. That is huge. To see the whole show on the road, it's pretty bloody impressive. How hard is it to get the boat off? Easy. That Elmac, I can do it by myself within two minutes. Yeah. One man job, throw a couple of ropes on, plug in a controller, and you're basically away. Do you have a house or just live on the road? Live on the road. Sold everything. Furniture, second car, everything's gone. How does it fit on the tracks being so wide and long? Well, I've never done any measurements, but from what I've been told by looking at specs, this thing's only 60 mil wider than a 200 series. Yep. So a lot of people comment on how wide it is, but I've done one small track goading into Lancelin, Wedge Island and stuff like that. Yep. No problems at all. You get the odd bush that comes through and scratches ya, same as every car. It's only a new car, I haven't fully taken it off road, but that's what we're here to do. We're here to test it and see where it goes. Yep. So I'll put all the links in the description guys, so you can jump over there and check these guys out. They are going to be creating a heap of content and then you can really see how it goes off road. And these guys aren't shy either, they're not going to be sticking to the bitumen. So it'd be worth a look specifically if you're going to buy one of these big American trucks. A ballpark price, I'm guessing 350K worth it though. So price, where are we at for this full build on the 350? As it sits here right now, we're sitting just under 300. Just under 300, there you go mate, you were 50K over, so you got 50K to play with. Go buy yourself a boat. That's not bad, that's pretty good. Yeah. And it's not like you've spared anything, you've got everything bloody bar the kitchen sink. Yep. At 300K, we're talking about for full high-end builds. Yes, it's bloody expensive. It's a lot of money. It adds up quick. Just like myself in the 79 in the van, this is our home. This is everything. This is everything. They've sold everything just like I have and this is home sweet home. So it's not a little weekend truck to pull up and down the beach. So it definitely pays to spend the coin when you're living on the road and you've already done a lap or two laps. One lap. One lap. So you figure out real quick the little creature comforts and you're travelling with the missus and kids as well. The further away I can be, the better. Unhook the van and just get out of here. This is a great question and we just spoke about this before. Why the F350 and not the F250? Okay, so F250 is for four and a half tonne. Yep. So it's in a car licence. You can get a GBM upgrade to 5.2 which tips you over to that truck licence. Yep. That's pretty much as high as they go. Yep. With the canopy and the big caravan and whatnot, the 350 had to get a GBM upgrade as well. So 5.2 was standard. Yep. I got it up to 5.8. Now this is the pretty cool thing and I didn't know this but the difference between your F250 and your F350, the 350 is not actually a bigger vehicle. It's not wider. It's not longer. It's the same chassis, same cab but all it is is a suspension upgrade in the rear. Yep. So it's just got an extra helper leaf spring in the back that gets you that higher payload. Everything is exactly the same. Engine, tranny, driveline, everything. So in my opinion, why wouldn't you go with the 350? Yep. Just the truck licence scares people off. Yeah, okay. Well that'd be why. That makes sense. But if you're going to sort of do a big touring trip or build a big tourer and you're going to be at your 5.2 and a truck licence anyway, yeah it makes perfect sense to jump up to the F350. How do you go with getting spare parts around Australia? Obviously you've just got it. They're definitely not, he says, as it isn't as common as the 79. But how do you think you go for parts? So that was one of my biggest things before I bought it. I did a lot of research and you know if you break something on the 79 and you have to sit out of place for a week or two, this is no different to this. So there's places in Goldie, there's places all throughout the East Coast and there's a couple on the West Coast that supply F truck stuff. So you can get it sent anywhere in Australia reasonably quick now. So I feel like that was, I don't know if that's too much of an argument anymore because when you break something, whether you're in a Toyota or an American style truck, normally it's remote where you don't really want to break something. That's where it tends to happen. You don't normally break something when you're on the Gold Coast or in a major town. So like you're saying, whether it's a Toyota part or not, obviously it may take a little bit longer because there is a lot more Toyota parts and you can get the odd wreckers in the small towns. But I guess that's the trade-off. What is the purchase price of the truck from factory? Stock standard, it was $170,000. $170,000. They're a little bit dearer than the Toyotas. Probably not the 200s these days, they're out of control. Righto, so horsepower. That's what another popular question is, mate. So you've got the 6.7 litre big V8 under the bonnet. What are you making? So stock standard, nothing done to it as I said. 450 horsepower straight from factory. How many newton metres? That's sitting around 1300 newton metres of torque. So that's like what you dream of getting out of a Land Cruiser. Coming factory, out of the box, these things are definitely a towing machine. You wouldn't even know the van's behind you. I hear a lot of people say that sort of stuff and I'm always like, you always know what's behind you. But seriously, when I put my foot down and it goes, 10-speed gearbox, bang, bang, bang, bang, straight through them and the van's not even there. 10-speed gearbox, automatic. God, I would love an automatic. Who's getting more fish on the tinnies? That's this bike. Certainly not me. We went out yesterday and we were supposed to go out together but we may have slept in and they went on the west side and we went out the east side. We actually got a couple of trout and what happened, mate? I got donuts. Donuts. No, beats being at work though. Oh, doesn't it ever. What an absolute beast. I love looking through everyone else's touring trucks. I hope you guys have enjoyed this as well. Make sure you let us know in the comments if you want us to do a few more explore rigs. We're definitely going to do our best to try and find the biggest, baddest tourers out there and bring them to you guys. Mate, really appreciate you showing us around the truck. You've done a stellar job. This thing is an absolute weapon. Thank you. Definitely a little bit of jealousy. But guys, if you want to follow along their adventures, in the description below, I'll put his Instagram and I'll put their YouTube link so you can get over there, follow along. He will have a more in-depth build video as they're going along as well. So if you want to see a little bit more of this truck, get over there. Thanks for watching, guys. Till next time, make sure you get out and enjoy the explore life.