There was so much vehicle and gear bling to check out at Overland Expo East 2017. But just a few products really caught my eye.
I uncovered the following rigs and overland gear that stood out in an impressive field of vehicles. For a more topical article on this year’s Overland Expo East, read around all of the show’s vehicle’s here.
For the uninitiated, Overland Expo East is a bi-annual show for adventurous types who enjoy expeditions with four-wheel drive, cozy, mobile sleeping quarters, and conquering rough trails: a.k.a. overland vehicles.
Winnebago Revel
Winnebago entered the Overland world with a bang, as one of the title sponsors of Overland Expo East. The brand debuted its new 4×4 Sprinter-based RV, the Revel. This full-featured compact RV offers up a retractable bed/gear garage in the back and a full bathroom, which doubles as a storage closet. The Revel starts at about $130K.
GXV Adventure Truck
Global Expedition Vehicles (GXV) is among the few US manufacturers creating multiple models of large expedition camper vehicles on an industrial truck chassis. These massive machines are basically luxury yachts on wheels, designed to overland around the globe.
After years of interest in a smaller and more affordable option, they released the “Adventure Truck.” This Dodge 5500-based overland truck has a hard-shell composite camper on the back, with cab to camper pass through, and starts at $198,000. The brand will offer a cab-over option as well, providing more interior storage and living space.
Maltec Maltexplorer
Maltec is a 10-year-old German company that specializes in rally raid trucks and overland expedition vehicles. It brought two custom Toyota Land Cruiser-based overland vehicles to the show: a 70 series, pictured, and 200 series. Both turned a lot of heads. The brand had a joint booth with Sheelman Seats USA.
The turbo diesel 70 Series is a 1988-model truck. The brand fully rebuilt it with 2014 sheet metal. It has a full carbon fiber camper body grafted to the truck body. It is fully importable to the U.S., and you can have one built to your specs for about $145,000.
The 200 Series is just here on a temporary basis, as it is much newer than the 25 years that U.S. import laws require.
Alu-Cab Kahya Camper
Alu-Cab is well known for making impressive overland products, like pop-tops, rooftop tents, and ute canopies in Australia. In the past few years, it started to become popular in the U.S. market. The U.S. distributor OK4wd has done a good job of building show and customer vehicles that highlight Alu-Cab’s impressive products.
The company debuted the new aluminum Kahya (“hut”) Camper. The first version is designed to fit the Toyota Tacoma. The brand is also working on a model designed for the Chevy Colorado.
The camper weighs only 800 pounds dry, will be about $24,000 fully kitted, and offers a ton of living space and storage for such a small unit. The deployable outside shower room is one of the many unique features on this compact little slide-in.
Cascadia Vehicle Tents Three Sisters RTT
CVT offers a wide range of rooftop tents and now offers the largest rooftop tent in the world. The massive “Three Sisters” RTT is 10 feet long and eight feet wide when deployed, weighs 250 pounds, and comes with a full annex. It will set you back $3,995.
Bomber Products Vehicle Storage System
Bomber Products has been building small, high-quality, American-made accessories for the overland market for a few years now. It just partnered with Extendobed to offer a fully-custom aluminum vehicle storage system. It fits any vehicle. The brand designed the model pictured for the Tacoma. It has full-length, 500-pound bed slides, a very cool pantry drawer, and costs about $3,700.
Tembo Tusk Adventure Skottle
Tembo Tusk has taken the popular Skottle cook system and miniaturized it, mostly in order to work well with adventure motorcycles.
The new Adventure Skottle is designed to work with the MSR Dragonfly stove and costs $260 ($395 with stove and bottle). The fully outfitted dry weight is only around 4 pounds. The Skottle is a fun, social cook system that is super easy to clean up.
7P International Recovery Kit
Lots of companies offer off-road recovery kits, but I haven’t seen any as comprehensive and high-quality as the new 7P International Recovery Kit. The entire kit comes in a durable backpack and will set you back $995.
While expensive, off-road experts with credentials like the Camel Trophy under their belts designed it. Travel easy knowing it is complete and thoroughly tested.
Redarc BCDC1225D Battery Charger
Redarc is a highly-regarded Australian company specializing in vehicle power management products. It now enters the US market with a few products, the latest being the BCDC1225D In-Vehicle Battery Charger.
It is an all-in-one solution for dual-battery setups. The feature-rich unit works with modern smart alternators, has a built-in solar controller, and links and charges a variety of batteries. It costs $359.
UBCO Electric 2wd Bike
Earth Cruiser makes truly impressive FUSO-based overland vehicles and now serves as dealer for UBCO in North America. It offers an equally impressive runabout to carry on whatever vehicle you drive.
The UBCO 2×2 electric 2wd motorcycle has about a 60-mile range, utilizing two hub motors running off lithium battery packs in the aluminum frame. It weighs around 128 pounds. Top speed is 30 mph, and the disk brakes will bring it to a stop quickly. $6,000 will buy you one of these go-anywhere fun machines.
Reiken Tire Cover
Maybe you want to show off the bling tire and wheel on the back of your Jeep, or maybe you’d rather protect it from the elements with a stylish custom tire cover. Reiken is a new company that makes made-to-order, custom-fitted, waxed canvas and leather tire covers. Made in Auburn, Ala., they include a locking cable on the back to secure the $350 cover.
Equipt Alu-Box Cutting Board Topper
The Alu-Box is an expedition-proven, super durable, and lightweight aluminum case from South Africa that Equipt Expedition Outfitters has been importing into North America for several years. To make the cases even more versatile, they released a new cutting board topper for the 42-, 60-, and 73-L cases. The board fits on top of the case securely and is small enough to fit inside for transport. The new topper will set you back about $60.
Overland Expo East 2017
Sure there was lots of awesome new gear, but it’s really all about the amazing, adventurous people that come to these events. Sharing stories around a warm fire while enjoying an adult beverage was the order of business each evening.
What products/vehicles do you wish the overland industry would create?
