It has been a very challenging past couple of months. We’ve had some personal medical issues at home and production issues in Sturgis, both of which have caused substantial distraction and delay to the project. So, I haven’t really been able to post any updates.

HOWEVER, Kurt and I just spent last week working on the truck, and we’re back on track and there is some great momentum.

Here’s a start of what’s new since you last heard from us. There’s much more to tell which I will post over the coming couple of weeks. (I promise!)

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When I last posted, we were just headed for the Overland Expo in Arizona. It was an AMAZING event, and it was so great to meet so many of you there. It’s kind of funny, you build a big project like this pretty much in isolation in the shop (aside from ExPo posts of course) so, to be able to walk through the truck with so many of you and get real-time questions and suggestions was great. I have incorporated a lot of those suggestions into the truck now.

Here’s some truck porn from the drive out to Arizona:

On the way out I stopped in New Mexico to meet Doug Streight (“Spressomon”) and pick up his Adventure Trailer Horizon, which is now the first member of the Muskoka Foundation‘s fleet of FREE trailers for people interested in doing some volunteer work on their next Overland Adventure.

Here he is saying good bye to his trailer and how tiny it looks behind the truck…

In order to tow the trailer, we built a removable 2″ receiver hitch on the back of the EcoRoamer, that allows us to tow class 5 level trailers, but also comes apart in pieces so we don’t sacrifice our departure angle when not towing. Here is what it kind of looks like:

It worked great on the way out to Arizona and back.

If you want to learn more about the trailer, see more pictures or sign-up to take it yourself for free, check out the vehicles page here.

At the Overland Expo we launched The Muskoka Foundation, which is our new non-profit to help Overlanders “Do Good As You Go”. Thank you so much to everyone who came up and talked to us. We’ve had over 350 different overland travelers come to the www.TheMuskokaFoundation.org website since the Expo, many of them signing up to potentially be future travelers. So thanks again! Here’s the EcoRoamer doing double duty as our show booth…

One of the things you may have noticed in the above pics, that I haven’t mentioned before is the spare tire rack.

It mounts on the rear ramp door, and has release so that it comes down under it’s own weight with gravity when the door is lowered.

Here’s what it looks like with the tires down:

I’m not happy about having that much weight up so high, but we went through a dozen other possibilities, and I believe this is the best solution. I particularly like that it doesn’t require a separate winch/aparatus, and Alice can run it herself if she ever had to in the middle of nowhere.

Oh, and to answer the question this week, that rear ramp is lowered by the two Warn 2500 winches, that have their controls attached together, so you physically hit both switched simultaneously. There is no electronic syncronization, but it lets you make fine adjustments as you watch it go up/down.

My experience has been that they never run at the same speed so small adjustment is usually required.

Because of the size of the door and the number/strength of the bottom hinges, there’s quite a bit of flex in the door to allow you to adjust it.

As for not pulling it in too far, I’ve been thinking about putting a cut-off feather switch inside the door frame, but that’s just another thing to go wrong. So long as you use your brain, it should be ok. I’ll let you know then I violate that rule and screw it up!

There’s lots more to tell, but that’s all I ave time for today. I’ll post more again tomorrow. Feel free to send me any questions / suggestions – they’re always welcome!

Also, there are loads more pictures available already at: www.EcoRoamer.com