Fred the Van. The More We Explore's Adventure Van Build Thread

sixstringsteve

Explorer
Thanks for the encouragement. I'd love to continue giving back to the community through these videos, but at the moment, I simply dont have time. I keep hanging on to the raw footage in the hopes that I'll make it a priority, but my paying job is the higher priority right now. I wish the edits didn't take 40-60 hours per episode.
 

finboy

Member
Understandable, putting that much effort into a video for armchair mechanics to rip on you must be frustrating. I found the fact that you highlighted mistakes or things you could have done more safely as an endearing factor, it actually felt like a job that anyone could complete in a driveway rather than a requiring a pro who has access to a shop, lift, rig welder, plasma cutter, etc.

Sucks to hear work is so hectic, I’m in the adult learning space and I finally had to highlight repeated 60 hour weeks to my managers. Thankfully they worked with me to reshuffle workloads, I might actually get to enjoy some of summer.

Are you guys planning to swing back up to Canada this year? Our data plans suck but our views are great and our dollar is cheap.
 

jjohnny350

Adventurer
Shoot man, it is really hard to replace. I don't know of any better combination than what you have. Are you still going to keep towing the airstream or have you changed those plans too? Man one of my least favorite things is all the idiots and the stupid crap that they say. It is really annoying and gets old. Sucks trying to do something good only to get negative crap from ignorant people. We love your videos and continue to appreciate them but man that must be a lot of time. Well keep the good ones coming when you can. Keep up the great stuff you guys do, it is inspiring to a lot of people and we need that stuff sometimes.
 

Mmm pie

Observer
Just stopping by to state, I enjoy your videos. Not many 4x4 van adventurists on you tube. most people who enjoy your videos will never say anything, only the people who don't will tell you.
 

sixstringsteve

Explorer
Thanks for the kind words everyone. I wish YouTube paid well enough to do the 4x4 adventures full time, but alas it does not. It doesn't even cover fuel expenses. Sadly, injecting drama, click-bait titles, and scantily clad women in your videos boosts views and revenue, but I won't stoop to that level. Kudos to groups like expedition overland for making such a successful video series without any of that garbage.

I appreciate the kind words from those who like what they see. It's too bad that creators mostly hear from the grumpy complainers. Just like how watching the news for hours on end is depressing, so is being a smaller YouTube creator. 90% of the comments we receive are negative, judgmental, and downright cruel. If it were paying well, it'd be worth the abuse, but this is a labor of love. It's been a way for me to give back to the 4x4 community, but it's exhausting getting picked apart for every little thing. There are hundreds of shots I filmed, but decided not to edit because the YouTube backlash wouldn't be worth it. It's easy to pick apart what someone else has created, but not so easy to be a creator. I don't know if it's the anonymity, entitlement, the American Idol mentality where everything is a judged contest inviting people to rank everything, or people's insecurity that causes them to hop on to YouTube and pick creators apart.

I wish YouTube had a filter that would only show comments from people who have posted 10 or more videos of themselves. It would really change the tone of comments. The negative nancies are never creators themselves.
 
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k9lestat

Expedition Leader
steve you guys just keep doing what youre doing and enjoy yourselves. the negative nancies are just sour grapes because they have nothing better to do. i as well as many others enjoy your content, stay safe.
 

Byzantine51

New member
Just wanted to say that I'm a big fan of your YouTube channel. Got me here, and inspired me to take up mountain biking as well. Your videos are super informative, and it was awesome to watch you review Gunnison and CB. I even saw my house in one of your videos. Keep up the awesome work, whenever you can.
 

MaxSpeed

New member
As others have said your videos are inspiring! I love the shots from outside the van as your driving where Fred is in the frame. They really show the scenery that you are traveling through and the way you speed up the clip makes it more interesting. I look forward to seeing more of your travels when you find the time to post additional videos.

BTW, I doubt I would've considered a Santa Cruz if it wasn't for you and your wife talking about them on your channel. A year in I couldn't be happier with my purchase!
 

sixstringsteve

Explorer
Thanks maxspeed. I wish Santa Cruz had an idea of how many people we've influenced. A lot of these companies still don't understand YouTube and the influencer market.

If you like mountain biking, and you dont already follow my wife's channel, check it out. It's called Dusty Betty.
 

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