Reefry's Prerunner Hawk Build

[Reefry]

Sup guys, first time poster here. I’m just a guy who could’nt make up his mind on whether I wanted a long traveled prerunner that eats desert terrain for breakfast or if I wanted an overland adventure rig... so I ended up choosing both.

Heres the beginning of my mashup. A Y2K Toyota Tundra with the 4.7L V8

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I bought this truck straight out of high school and ever since then I've been modifying it here and there. Fast forward about 3 years and two camper shells later I made some serious changes. Bumpers, wheels, tires, fiberglass fenders, and a whole adventure build out with solar panels, a fridge, and a storage platform in the shell.








Outfitted for adventure I saved up a good junk of cash, quit both of my dead end jobs, and set out on the road. At the time I was at the ripe useless age of 20. I was so close to being of legal drinking age that I really didn't want to wait so I decided to drive to Canada where I had surpassed the drinking age by one year.

 

[Reefry]

Driving from Los Angeles it took me a 6 weeks to get up to Canada. I took my sweet sweet time lol

 

[Reefry]

I unfortunately lost all my pictures spanning from Washington to Vancouver in a computer malfunction but I did get that beer! After that I spent another 6 weeks making my way back down to LA through Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, then finally back home.

 

[Reefry]

 

[Reefry]

 

[Reefry]

Imogene Pass in Colorado is terrifyingly beautiful

 

[Reefry]

Almost immediately upon returning home my dad and I decided to hop on our motorcycles and travel to Colorado and back. But that's another trip report for another time





Please forgive my lack of a single post. I'm only allowed 2 pictures per post due to file size.

 

[Reefry]

Anyways back to the truck. If there was one thing I learned from the road trip and from living in the camper shell full time after the trip it was definitely the fact that I needed more space. I saw so many FWC's on my roadtrip but never really thought anything of them until... well believe it or not, I had a dream that I had one on my Tundra. I woke up obsessed. The ability to pop the top and get dressed standing up! Or be able to cook indoors. Build a more accessible storage option. It all seemed like my answers and prayers were solved with one single camper.

I made it my goal for years to find one. I sold my camper shell setup, moved into a house and started renting a room. I saved as much as I could and scoured every possible thread, website, and craigslist ad for my future camper. It took what seemed like forever but my patience paid off and I finally found one through the WTW used camper alert thread. By the way, thank all of you who contribute to that thread you're all amazing.

It was such a good deal and a perfect match that I drove all the way to Salt Lake City for it.





It felt like destiny.

 

[Reefry]

This was my second night in the camper on my way back to LA. Utah has the most spectacular view of the night sky with its almost complete lack of light pollution.

 

[So Cal Adventurer]

This is awesome!

Welcome to the cult, errr.... I mean family

Love the outlook on life, I'm in my 40s and look at life the same, wish I did when I was in my 20s!

Are you on IG? If so, mine is: instagram.com/fullsizeadventurewagon

Im in San Diego and always exploring and enjoying beers at camp!

Cheers

 

[Reefry]

This is awesome!

Welcome to the cult, errr.... I mean family

Love the outlook on life, I'm in my 40s and look at life the same, wish I did when I was in my 20s!

Are you on IG? If so, mine is: instagram.com/fullsizeadventurewagon

Im in San Diego and always exploring and enjoying beers at camp!

Cheers

Yep I’m on IG too my @ is Reefry. Just gave you a follow! Looks like you’ve been on some pretty sweet adventures [emoji1308]

 

[Mighty Dodge Ram]

In 1975 the restaurant company I was working for sent me up to Calgary to help straighten out a failing store. Loaded up my ‘69 VW Westfalia and left Ventura for the time of my life. Had to leave the country 6 months later (Canadian work permit expired) and return to the beach but man ‘o man, what memories. I traveled all over in that van and had a blast. Don’t know how old you are but I’m 64 and when I think back it feels like yesterday. Good “on ya” for hittin’ the road.

 

[Reefry]

In 1975 the restaurant company I was working for sent me up to Calgary to help straighten out a failing store. Loaded up my ‘69 VW Westfalia and left Ventura for the time of my life. Had to leave the country 6 months later (Canadian work permit expired) and return to the beach but man ‘o man, what memories. I traveled all over in that van and had a blast. Don’t know how old you are but I’m 64 and when I think back it feels like yesterday. Good “on ya” for hittin’ the road.

I’m only 23 so I got tons more roadtrips in me. Especially now that I got the camper. But now that sounds like a classic roadtrip in the VW! I get sent out on trips for work but never anything like that.

 

[Reefry]

I knew I wanted to get a shell model so I could build it just the way I wanted. So while looking for the camper I had plenty of time to think through all my renovation plans. I ended up getting a non-shell model which meant I didn’t need to worry about a kitchen sink, stove, or any of the cushions. That helped tremendously! Super stoked on getting a furnace along with it as well.

Here is the camper just before I tore it down.

 

[Reefry]

You’ve seen one you’ve seen em all. This one most definitely showed its age.

 

[Reefry]

The tear down took much longer than I expected but with FWC’s design it made it surprisingly easy.

 

[Vic Harder]

When I had my wall paneling and insulation off, I took pics of all the studs with a tape measure laying along them, so I could later find those studs if needed. Just sayin'.

How are you planning on re-doing the roof lining? I thought that was pinched between the roof cover and frame, so thought the roof would need to come apart to redo that bit?

 

[Reefry]

When I had my wall paneling and insulation off, I took pics of all the studs with a tape measure laying along them, so I could later find those studs if needed. Just sayin'.

How are you planning on re-doing the roof lining? I thought that was pinched between the roof cover and frame, so thought the roof would need to come apart to redo that bit?

I only needed to drill into the studs for one thing only and I had the wall easily off and on for that. I got as many pictures as I could for future reference but I think I should be good.

The ceiling was actually converted to a 3 piece fiberglass cover by one of the previous owners. Super easy to work with. I really had it easy with this build lol

 

[Reefry]

I re-used the same solar panels from my camper shell and I got a smoking deal on two used Maxx Air fans for the roof. Also got a nifty little solar cable entry plate to keep water out

I'm not very experienced with cutting tools but luckily my first time cutting a hole in a roof turned out perfect and the fan fit nice and snug

 

[Reefry]

After that I began on insulation. Again very easy to work with and fun to learn, but also incredibly messy lol.