An Off-Road RV You Can Actually Afford | Outside

( upbeat guitar, music, ), Hey, what's up everybody, My name is Jakob Schiller. I'M the online gear editor at Outside Magazine.. We are at Overland Expo West here in Flagstaff Arizona. Kinda late in the day.. We were walking around trying to check out some of the cool rigs and we come across this thing, which I have no idea what it is, but it's gigantic and it's cool, and I'm here with Tom Strada, the owner who's gon na tell us what the heck It is., So what is this thing? [ Camera Man ], Take it away. Yes. All right.. This started out as a troop carrier., An M923A2, and it did it's service in the military. In whatever fashion. I was not entirely sure., So -- How'd, you get it How'd. You find it, I was at an event similar to this. Different, you know event., But I saw something in similar to the way it looked, and I said my god. I need something like that in my life. I said: that's exactly what I've been thinking., Something of that nature.. I wanted to build an RV that had guts., So the sides are 14-gauge diamond plate from the bottom to here. And the reason why -- [ Jakob ] Steel. Steel yes. At the moment it weighs let's call it 30,000 pounds., Okay, and how big of an engine Is in there It's got an 8.3 Cummins 6-cylinder turbo diesel. Five speed, Allison automatic transmission. Was that stock that it came, --, Stock., Okay and then what's the --, It already had the gusto so., It was there. And it I wan na say. If I'm correct, it's got 250 horsepower and 795 toward 800 pounds of torque.. How many miles to the gallon does it get Well after my calculations over putting about 6,000 miles on it over the last year? It'S about seven., Cool. And you're, saying each tire: weights 450 pounds per tire About 450 pounds, because the rims are 150, the tires another. Three change: ( mumbles ), so it's not too far away from four four and a half.. Now I didn't know you were coming so I couldn't vacuum.. Okay, it's okay.. We won't scrutinize.. We are living in the dirt.. Yeah yeah. Walk us through all that you've done. Inside., Okay from inside, if you can imagine after I built the skeleton and I put the skin on now, I got to go inside and I got to insulate it.. So I did the walls, the insulation, the whole everything.. I did the plumbing it has got. It'S got a fifty gallon water tank, another fifty on the roof Wow.. You have got a hundred gallons on this thing, Yeah yeah., So you use that for your sink. You have a shower. I am guessing Full sized shower sink.. What size bed do you have? So I just got a cushion from a futon from IKEA. That was easy. Same thing up here. Why is there a drill on the wall? You never know.. Something goes wrong. You got to drill something., You have got your sunglasses collection and your sunscreen collection.. They are accumulating from people leaving them in here. Kitchen. I chose this little gem., Two barber sink yeah, so it works.. I am tearing up the place. And it goes away. Turns to this. I just got to slide out. Cop load cut her that way, because anything that you opened up would not front load would fall out anyway. Having driven like a you know., It is a little bit of a rough ride.. Let'S go upstairs., There is a third story or a second story., Okay. So what are you got solar panels? Yeah I got solar-. This is my latest addition., This powers, my interior lights. They go to a battery bank of four six volt battery bank uh, six bolt batteries AGM's. And then this is your putting green. Yeah yeah. Drive any golf balls off of that would be kind of neat. Okay, so we have seen it all.. It'S amazing. Tell us what you bought for this thing at the beginning. How much did you pay for this? Well in my efforts to find one, I found a gentlemen who had three on Craigslist.. Apparently his wife said three is too many. You got to get rid of one., So long story short, I paid ten grand for the truck. Base, truck. My total, I guess with the materials and components. Maybe I stuck another forty into it.. Fifty Forty-five Got it.. So we have to do dust shows. Maybe I got fifty fifty five grand into it. And I am out there again seeing some of the bigger higher sales tickets out there. Five hundred half a million dollars.. My hat is off to them. I mean, but my god. That'S I do not know if I could. It's a lot of money. Yeah. You have sweat equity in this one. And the value of sweat, equity, verses. Real cash is immeasurable. Exactly sure., So I'm still not walking right after building this truck., I fell off a couple of times almost lost an eye in some of the grinding and fabricating processes. But., Here you are. Here I am. With you guys.. I am blessed. Expo 2017