Maiden voyage + SUV vs pick-up truck?

[Phil]

On the question of the Nissan chassis. Nissan are announcing nothing as yet, it's only going to get looked at on a complaint basis. If you were to buy from a Nissan main stealer I would imagine all the inspection work would be done.
I'd hold off for now if you're thinking a Navara.

[Paul B]

Paul better go stand on the naughty step, how dare he question the trusty Nav

Compared to most 4x4 pick ups the load height on the nav is probably the lowest, just have a look at the hilux and the new ranger. Jesus I would need steps to get in the back of them but he is right it can be a bit difficult loading the engine into the back of them, however I don't have a hard top on mine, so it's quite easy to load up,

[Phil]

Interesting to hear more options Andy. Thank you. As irrational as it sounds, I kind of want some sort of chunky 4x4, ideally a pick-up. I think they appeal to the inner child in me as they're like a giant tonka toy [emoji38].

Useful to know the FRIB doesn't fit on its end with a hard top on a Navara Martin. That probably rules out the benefit of having a hard top vs a roller deck for me. Good that it just about gets in there flat in the tub with the outboard. If things are tight, it sounds like there's no chance I'd get the outboard in there on a motor toter trolley, but I could put an outboard in separately and unfold the trolley to push the outboard up and down pebble beaches rather than bicep curling it as I did last weekend [emoji31].

On the load height, I guess I need to try lifting up the packed FRIB next time I'm on the south coast (hopefully next weekend) and see how easy it is getting it up and down a height of 1 meter by myself and with the help of another. Whilst I hear it's harder than a van, I'm hoping it still may be significantly easy than my current setup of trying to juggle it into a small estate boot on an angle!

The sort of age of Navara I'm thinking will be way beyond what the dealers are selling. I'm thinking c8-10+ years old with 80-100k on the clock. It looks like you can pick them up for £5-7k, so perhaps that end of the market rules out benefiting from what Nissan are rolling out in regards to additional chassis support [emoji53]?


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[chris moody]

Small to medium sized van is my preferred vehicle, easy to load a sib / f-rib into the back or side doors with minimal lifting. And with a sib 4wd is not a requirement

[James]

My engine is 2 stroke, so is a breeze to lift in :-). Just like any old slut, she doesn't care what position I put her in :-)

I find lifting the F-Rib to the truck is harder than lifting it up in to it. Taking it out is harder because you have to slide it down without dropping it.

But Paul is right, a lower van would be a hell of a lot easier. Trucks are generally cooler than vans :-)

[rogerblack]

My Vectra Estate is clearly really uncool but I can get my 15HP Mercury + 12l tank + spare 5 litre + folding outboard trolley; Honwave + oars, seat, transom wheels etc plus lifejackets, waders and all the other boating and fishing gear in the loadspace without even having the rear seat down and with the roller cover in place so it's all out of sight and no rear vision obscured. Plus it has low access so no high lifting.

The motorhome is another matter! This trip I have the Honwave on the bike rack but needed a folding stool to help me lift it up so high; the outboard is reclining on a tarp on one of the bench seat/beds and all the other stuff is packed in below it, apart from the rods etc which are in the overcab bed. Doesn't leave any room for Mrs B or her kit, but hey, you gotta get your priorities right.

[Phil]

Trucks are generally cooler than vans :-)

Yeah, as vain as it sounds, that's kind of where my head's at too James. As long as I can make a pickup truck work and it's easier than my current setup. It would also be nice to have something that can go off road for bombing round the country roads around where I live, especially in the winter.

Other than the load height, the other question that's going round my head is whether there's going to be enough room for a roller deck to close over a 360 FRIB lying flat in the tub. Looking at the Navara's measurements the height of the tub is 45.7cm, which doesn't leave much room to fit the depth of the 360 at 45cm. I guess it will depend on wether the roller deck slides into a bracket fixed on the walls on top of the truck bed, or a groove inside of it.

Has anyone got a pic on their hard drive they wouldn't mind sharing of an FRIB and OB squeezed into a pickup truck so I could get an idea of what I'd be dealing with?


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[Phil]

Doesn't leave any room for Mrs B or her kit, but hey, you gotta get your priorities right.

[emoji23].

The SIB I had before fitted in my estate fine. The FRIB on the other hand won't go in vertically, just on its side with he seats down and on an angle so it's propped up against one of the wheel arches!


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[warder54]

Hi Phil, I have the new style Navara and I love it. My folded F-Rib 360 goes in 1st laying crossways, slide it to the front then the bow canopy and seats in the bag go on top plus any light and squishy stuff. then to save space I lift the rear of the boat until it touches the roof of the hard top. Fuel tanks and any hard stuff like tackle boxes fill that space and prop the boat up - you'd be amazed how much space that frees up
Outboard goes in cross ways and any other stuff fills in any gaps. On the Etive trip in May I had: Boat, 2 outboards, 3 fuel tanks (30, 12, 22ltr) anchor bucket, 2 lots of tackle and chest waders, lifejackets etc. and still managed an average of 45.2 Mpg from Montrose to Taynuilt.
I say again - I love my Navara!!

[warder54]

BTW way - I have the double cab version