Wilmaaa - Our home away from home
The Truck
“Wilmaaa” (Did you hear Fred Flintstone yelling?) is a 2019 Ram Rebel. She was actually the first 5th Gen Rebel to ship into Ohio. When we spotted her, we knew she had to come home with us. It was one of those pound puppy sad eye moments where all logic leaves and a pure emotional decision is made. Luckily it seems to have been a good one….
She has a 5.7L Hemi, 4WD, and a locking rear axle. Beyond a cold air intake and oil separator, under the hood remains stock. The suspension is fairly mild as well. Up front gets ~2” additional lift with a ReadyLIFT strut spacer and upper control arms. The rear is lifted with 2” spring spacers and Air Lift bags to keep her level with the additional load.
Her shoes are ALPHAequipt Delta wheels in red with 295/70r18(E) Falken Wildpeak AT3 tires. The tire actual measurement is about 34”x11”. This combination has worked well for us since the factory tires wore beyond our comfort at around 40k miles. They have been in the desert heat and sand to the arctic circle with many highway miles in between.
This has proven to be a reliable and comfortable setup for our needs. While we no longer have the offroad trail capability our Jeep had, we still explore the backcountry as aggressively as want. In fact, her mild build works as a “gate keeper” to keep us from getting in over our heads since we are often very remote and alone.
At the time of writing this, Wilmaaa has just under 80k miles. All of which have been exploring North America on some of it’s most challenging roads. So, she is due for a little love soon. Perhaps suspension upgrades, brakes, tires… Who knows?
Topper and “Living Quarters”
Our tiny home is an AT Overland Atlas topper with several factory options: a MaxAir 6200K fan above the bed, an Arctic Tern window on the passenger side, a Truma VarioHeat propane furnace, and a quilted tent liner to assist with those colder nights. One of the first items we upgraded was the 2.5” cushion they intended for you to use as a mattress. We had a fellow truck overlander suggest the King Camp 6” foam insert inflatable mattress and it has worked out well for us.
The hardest part throughout the build process was trying to determine what items we wanted to have easy access to and what could be put away until we needed them. Having a short bed truck does put a damper on the amount of space we had to work with. However, two built in storage benches and cubbies lining the driver side wall, we have plenty of spaces for the items you accumulate in order to be “comfortable” while sitting still at a camp site. After all of those areas, and much research, we decided we could use a few SidioCrates for portable storage as well. We still had room for a Lagun table mount between the bench seats and used the largest table top we could maneuver around. Of course, this area was not complete until we determined the permanent locations for our Starlink router and games!
Alana brushed up on using her sewing machine as we needed several items that just couldn’t be bought. She made the window curtain and insulated cover, as well as the bench cushions and bug screen. We are happy with the turnout of everything in the build and amazed that we still have room for additional items. Our goal was to have a place to escape on the bad weather days, and we certainly have that!
Electrical Systems
To support our off-grid exploration, we built in a “house” electrical system as well. That system has 200Ah of LiFePO4 storage capacity using 2 100Ah Battle Born Batteries. There are three ways we keep them charged: A DC to DC charger that can provide 30A from the truck’s alternator when running, a 120VAC to DC charger that can provide 25A when we have a shore hook-up, and a MPPT solar charger that puts the 3 100W solar panels on the roof to work when the sun is shining.
When shore power is available, it does more than charge the batteries. It directly runs an outlet in the living space as well as our fridge switches to this source. For the Starlink and outlet to work off battery power, we have a 1200W Inverter.
Since any Lithium based battery can struggle in the cold weather, we also added some small heating pads to keep them warm and in good health during winter use. It also helps that they are placed in the space that is often heated and has a healthy layer of insulation between them and the outside temperatures.
This has proven to be a very reliable and adequately sized system for us. While in Denali National Park, our site didn’t offer electric and we had three days of rain where solar generation wasn’t possible. Running our fridge, lights, heater, and Starlink with a Laptop pulled us down to 37% by the end of the stay.
Clothes, Food, & Stuff
A lot of space was gained from the modifications we’ve made to the back seat area of the cab. Here, we’ve pulled the seats and swapped in a custom storage, shelf, and rack. The Dometic Fridge is in the center of the space where we can easily access it while on the road or while at camp. From the passenger side, there is a shelf where we typically store our non-perishable foods. This may be in an open tote, or a bear rated cooler depending on our travels. Two carry-on suitcases (his/hers) fit under the shelf for extra clothing on longer or weather diverse trips. On the driver’s side, the shelf provides a perfect Starlink dish spot underneath while maintaining useful space above for bags and other recreational things. All along the lower back is a deep storage box with access doors for things we like to have with us, but rarely need to get to. On the back wall, we have a custom rack where we can attach our hiking bags, coats, and jackets with some adjustable shelves for shoes and such.