V13E1- Overland Explorer Camp-HBE - Part 1

It is Tuesday around midday, early September 2021. For this episode of Venture Forward, and the next one, I am in a completely different vehicle. My Jeep RNG is in Denver getting a rest, and I am in OK4WD's brand new build, the Ramper. This is a complete, or nearly complete, Overland build from New Jersey in a 2021 Ram 3500 Cummins turbo diesel with only 3,280 miles on the clock, and half of those miles were logged just getting it from New Jersey to Colorado. It is a one-ton truck equipped with an Overland Explorer Camp HBE flatbed camper. HBE stands for Hudson Bay Edition, and it's a bed camper that is mounted on top of an Overland Explorer bed tray. Flatbed campers like this one are usually advantageous because they maximize living space. In addition to the bed camper, the truck is equipped with a suite of accessories from American Expedition Vehicles. 37-inch BFGoodrich all-terrains on AEV wheels, AEV front bumper, come-up winch, and AEV shocks and suspension components. I have never operated a vehicle intended for backcountry exploration of this size and weight before. It is empty. It is 1,100 pounds with 5,100 pounds over the front axle and 5,900 pounds over the back. That is twice the weight of my Jeep, and that is about 3,000 pounds heavier than our Winnebago Revel. Yesterday, on Monday, I left Denver and I brought this straight into the Rocky Mountains. Since I'm not accustomed to a vehicle like this, I wanted to quickly acquaint myself with its weight, with its stability, and its off-road prowess. It does not have selectable lockers, nor does it have the sway bar disconnect like the Ram Power Wagon, but the suspension is very supple. I aired down to 30 psi on each corner, and even technical tracks are fairly smooth and comfortable. It will lift a wheel from time to time, but so far I haven't had any trouble maintaining forward progress. But the fact is, this is a brand new truck that is more than I can afford, and it does not belong to me, so I'm going to do my very best not to scratch it, and not flop it, and not roll it, not get it stuck on top of a mountain. I'm going to do my best to put this through its paces and use it as it was intended, but at the same time do my best to avoid catastrophe. Awesome. Awesome. I'm going to spend the night up here. Sauce to pasta ratio is a little bit off, but whatever. Wednesday morning, 7 a.m. on top of mountain. The camper is equipped with a Truma propane heater. In fact, the fan kicked on just now. I set the thermostat to 75 degrees Fahrenheit, and it was very comfortable in here all night. It pretty much held that temperature. I am at 12,500 feet, and I think outside during the night it was maybe in the upper 30s, low 40s. The fabric walls on the pop-up are extremely thick and well insulated, so this could very well be a four-season camper. I don't think it'd have any trouble being comfortable in here in freezing temperatures. I am going to get out of bed, make coffee, and then this morning I think I'm going to explore around the mountaintop a little bit on foot. What a beautiful day. The sun is out. I think it's in the low 70s, maybe the upper 60s. September in the Rocky Mountains. The aspen leaves are starting to turn. The peaks are still bare. There isn't any snow. This could very well be the best time of year to visit Colorado. The summit. We are at 13,216 feet. That's about 700 feet above where I parked the truck. Now would be a good time to take a look at a few things. The camper is equipped with a Novacool refrigerator. This is actually the same refrigerator that is in our Winnebago Revel, or roughly the same. The dimensions are a little bit different. It's efficient, and it's on all the time. One thing that I do have a problem with. These Novacool refrigerators don't latch very well. They're prone to flying open. If the vehicle pitches suddenly to the passenger side, the one gallon jug of milk that you have in your Novacool refrigerator lunges toward the door, and it just bursts open. That's happened to me twice already in this vehicle. I opened the door to find tomatoes and bottled water all over the camper floor. This is the console for the Red Arc power management system. This is the terminal for the Truma heater, which is a propane heater and a hot water heater. Here we have a series of master switches for things like the interior lighting, the fresh water pump. Right inside the entranceway, the dinette is to the left, and to the immediate right is a closet that contains shelving. The lower portion has facilities for a portable toilet. There's a light switch up here. On the top shelf, there's extra bedding. On the middle shelf, I have my clothing. We use these felt bins in the Winnebago Revel to store our clothes, and I just pulled it out of the van and put it in here for this outing. And strapped to the floor is a wrap-on green toilet. After you're done doing your business, you flush, and the wrap-on seals your waste in a plastic bag. The platform underneath the dinette is a battery compartment, and right now this particular unit is equipped with a single 125 amp lithium-ion battery. On the side of the counter next to the stove, there are two USB ports. In the front of the camper, you've already seen that there's a queen-size sleeping platform. So that sleeps two, and if you have company, the dinette also converts into a full-size bed. Underneath the cushion on the passenger side, there is another storage compartment. This isn't my stuff. This belongs to the guys at OK 4-Wheel Drive, but it looks like sleeping bag, bedding, and there is a utility compartment underneath the platform on the driver side. So here is a little pocket for maybe the owner's manual, and below that you have access to your Truma heater and hot water heater. This is one of my favorite features, not because I take a lot of showers, but just because of how elegant and high-performing the system is. Make sure the fresh water pump is on, and then lift up this exterior hatch, plug it in, turn to the left. Excellent water pressure. It gets warm very quickly with the Truma hot water heater, and the camper is equipped with a 38-gallon fresh water tank. That's enough to actually linger a bit and enjoy your shower. I am down off the mountain, and I'm working my way back to pavement. Looks like I have one, two, three, four, five, six miles-ish. I'm looking forward to spending some time in Buena Vista, Colorado. It's one of my favorite Colorado towns. It's a popular for river sports, kayaking, whitewater rafting. In addition to having a great outdoorsy small-town vibe, there are a lot of cool shops and restaurants. There's a pizza shop called Crave that I just enjoyed for the first time a few days ago when I rolled into town, and downtown is The Roastery, a nice coffee shop and bakery where you can sit down and unwind with a hot coffee and a It's a beautiful evening. I am back at base camp after an exhilarating adventure in the mountains. I got to know the truck a lot this week, and I really like it so far. It's cool, almost as cool as Colt Seaver's pickup truck on the Fall Guy. If you're familiar with Venture Forward, you know that we now roll in two different vehicles. The 2013 Jeep Wrangler R&G and the 2021 Winnebago Revel. One vehicle, the van, offers spacious creature comforts, and the other vehicle, the Jeep, offers backcountry mobility. Well, I feel like this ram behind me with the Overland Explorer Camper strikes an excellent balance between comfortable off-grid living and four-wheel capability. This is episode 1 of 2 that focuses on adventures and experiences with OK4WD's 2021 Ramper build, so tomorrow I'm going to start editing this video to have it out for the weekend, and then we'll take the truck back into the field to see what else it's got. As always, thanks for watching Venture Forward, and I will catch up with you next week.