Sportsmobile: British Columbia, Yukon, Alaska... July 2008

twolost

Observer
WARNING: First time poster to the Expedition Portal:

My wife and I just recently returned from a 5+ week excursion into British Columbia, the Yukon, and Alaska on-board our 2007 Sportsmobile 4x4 van.

Having only enough personal resource to document and post this trip to one web location for the time being... I chose to to post rev 1 of this report to a forum specific to the make/model of our van... (via link below):



http://sportsmobileforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=1689



* Regardless of your method of travel, hopefully you will enjoy some of the places we vistited as well.



Here are a few random Sportsmobile pics from the above report...
348214991_Znkd9-M.jpg


348534341_TpHLB-M.jpg


350892752_Yjn4C-M.jpg


350912208_9bvqq-M.jpg


351556233_eGXnA-M.jpg


352071428_PpimM-M.jpg


352082122_airG8-M.jpg


352832464_KQW4L-M.jpg




Cheers,
---TWOLOST---
 

Scott Brady

Founder
Wonderful images, thank you for sharing them. A few of those would look nice in Overland Journal ;)

I am sure the Sportsmobile was a wonder tool for the job, and it looks nice in the charcoal grey too. Is it an RB50 configuration? Espar diesel heaters?
 

twolost

Observer
Many thanks.

Our Sportsmobile base is the 2007 Ford 6.0 PSD E350 with custom interior layout (one that allows walkway access down the centerline of the entire van). We did add a diesel heater and a diesel generator to our build as well.

Overall, we could not be more happy with it.
Cheers,
---TWOLOST---
 

haven

Expedition Leader
twolost,

Thanks for posting the link to your trip report. I agree that
your photos do a great job of illustrating the story.

I have to say I felt nervous every time I saw a photo of
those gas cans out hanging out in front of the vehicle!
Did you need the extra range that the fuel cans provided?

Your report mentioned that having four wheel drive and
increased clearance made you feel confident to explore
some less traveled trails, and to drive in slippery conditions.
Do you think someone could follow the route you took with a
less well-equipped Sportsmobile?

I didn't notice a report of fuel mileage during the trip. What
was your average mpg?

Chip Haven
 

boblynch

Adventurer
Wonderful photos - thanks for posting. I really like your rear bumper setup. Is the second spare mounted to the receiver? What did you use the large storage box for? Finally, did you have the occassion to use the recovery gear and/or either of your spares?

Bob
 

Josh

Adventurer
bat said:
Great looking pics, I would be very worried if it was gas an them cans.

He's got a diesel engine, diesel genset, and diesel heater. If it is gas in those jerries I couldn't imagine what for.

I tried lighting a puddle of diesel the other day... with a propane torch.
Couldn't get it to light.


Twolost: I'm on the eve of a similar trip myself (in a LR Carawagon). Your pictures were motivating! Thanks--

Kind regards, Josh
 

Willman

Active member
Welcome to the ExPo!


Nice pictures!......Looks like a very nice route!!

Keep the pictures coming!!

:)
 

1leglance

2007 Expedition Trophy Champion, Overland Certifie
Great pics and nice rig...
I would really like to see one of those in person as they look like something you could be in comfortably for a long time.
 

twolost

Observer
Thanks everyone for the comments. Here are some answers to the questions that I have seen posted here so far:



Gas Cans (out front): Our Sportsmobile came equipped with a 46 gallon fuel tank (which gives us ~500 mile ‘safe’ range). When planning our trip, I noticed that it was about 260 miles from Coldfoot to Deadhorse. Coldfoot represented the last guaranteed chance to purchase ultra low sulfur diesel. ULSD may - or - may not be available in Deadhorse depending on various circumstances. My van’s engine will run on ultra low sulfur diesel - or - low sulfur diesel (1-D or 2-D)… but ULSD is what is recommended. I also have a diesel generator and diesel heater and did not cross check what types of diesel they ‘could’ run (beyond ULSD). As a round trip from Coldfoot to Deadhorse and then back to Coldfoot exceeded 500 miles (which killed any safety margin or additional exploring miles I had in mind), I just played it safe and went about adding an additional 15 gallons of diesel capacity. Now where to put it? After a few days of trying every location but the front, I decided that all of my other proposed locations had just as many drawbacks to running the cans out front. To off-set the added risk of having these out front, my plan was to not deploy the cans out front until after I actually left Coldfoot and was on the way north to Deadhorse. This whole apparatus was only intended to be used to go the 260 or so miles from Coldfoot to Deadhorse (nowhere else). When we started our trip, my home built fuel can holder + empty cans was mounted on the roof. The problem with that solution was that when we were camping for the evening and our roof was raised, any moderate amount of side wind would cause this raised top to flex/sway more than I was comfortable with. After only one night of having the top sway side to side, I decided to deploy my ‘empty’ fuel package our front early (in order to save the roof). As the cans were empty anyway, this amounted to little more than additional crush zone in a front end collision. I followed my plan of only filling these cans in Coldfoot and then driving to Deadhorse. Once reaching Deadhorse, I emptied the contents of these cans back into the van - which gave me my added safety margin back again (regardless of what was available in Deadhorse). Even though these cans remained out front for the remainder of our trip… the cans were all totally empty. As for the color of the cans… I wanted to paint them yellow (standard color for diesel containers) - but I simply ran out of time. The best I could do with the time I had remaining was to mark the tops of the cans with the word DIESEL and safety wire the screw on tops to the body of each respective can.



Having a 4x4 SMB vrs 2x4 SMB: The vast majority of our trip (main roads) could have been done without 4x4. There was a handful of places we used four wheel drive and there were another handful or so places where we use the clearance provided by the 4x4 package (without using four wheel drive). A two wheel drive rig that had like new tires with an open block tread design (recommend ‘E’ rating for a SMB), would do just fine on most of our route.



Fuel Mileage: Will post this in the next day or so, once I unpack my receipts.



Secondary Rear Tire: This was mounted to the rear hitch receiver via some custom mods I made to my MotoJackRack.



Rear Box: This is where I carry my tools, recovery lines, bottle jack, air lines, spare oil, Dremmel kit, camping chair, wood blocks, tow straps, bungee chords, fuel siphon, etc.



Recovery Equip. & Spares: Fortunately, we did not have to use any of this equipment on this trip. I did manage to get stuck once, but a pair of fuel trucks justed happened by and they gave me cover plus a tug to get me out of that jam.



Cheers,
---TWOLOST---
 

kcowyo

ExPo Original
Welcome to ExPo - :beer:

I followed the latter half of your SMB build and the subsequent details on your website. A very thorough breakdown of the costs for options and the timeline from a van order to a delivered SMB. An excellent, excellent job.

Love the photos from your trip. I've also enjoyed the photography on your website as well. I bet you'll have much to offer the two wheel section of this forum also. Welcome again.

:campfire:
.
 

adventureduo

Dave Druck [KI6LBB]
Twolost.. like i said over on the SMB forum...... amazing write up and thank you for taking the time to make such a detailed report. This trip is inspiration for us to head up there in the next couple years. Thanks again for posting.
 

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