#ProjectMule - Off Road HQ Build
2023 Cranbrook, British Columbia. - Photo by Kyle Mainville
Build break down of everything on #ProjectMule
2021 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD LTZ Z71 Midnight Edition Duramax
2023 Scout Campers Kenai
WHAT IS IT?
This truck build is a culmination of many ideas for many purposes. To explain why we built it i’ll briefly begin with what we do. In our professional lives we do photography, videography and marketing in the off-road space. This involves a significant amount of travel and on site multi-day shoots. We also tend to be active in those same off-road events with our own machines. So it’s not hard to imagine this set up as a great way to bring a living space as well as the ATV’s, UTV’s or snowmobiles we may want. It also allows for a place to get out of the weather or to look over our work on site which opens a variety of new options to the table in regards to getting work done and of course it also doubles as a leisure vehicle for the same or similar purposes if not to just get out of the house.
Full tour of the set up can be viewed here.
2023 Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. - Photo by Kyle Mainville
WHAT IS THE TRUCK?
The truck itself was purchased brand new in 2021 from a local dealer in Saskatoon. It is a mouth full; 2021 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD LTZ Z71 Midnight Edition Duramax. It’s essentially a fully loaded non-high country trim which between that package and the midnight edition allows for a blackout look. The LTZ is trim level (we added packages afterwards as well), the Z71 is the offroad package and the Midnight Edition is again the black out package offered at the time. We did opt in the for Duramax diesel platform which does lower payload but makes towing a dream.
For more details on the truck, watch our Youtube video here.
2023 Yakima, Washington, USA. - Photo by Kyle Mainville
WHAT IS THAT CUSTOM BOX?
The custom work you see on the back of the truck replacing the OEM box is exactly that, a one off custom build. I have seen similar setups on other vehicles and approached a semi-local fabrication shop and pitched the idea. Months later this is the result. It is 100% purpose built for truck box campers, specifically the 2023 Scout Kenai you see which we will touch on in a moment. It allows us to take advantage of wasted space by creating storage in what would normal be unusable voids. On the driver side we have tool storage, gear storage (waders, snowsuits, helmets etc), fluids (DEF, Oils etc) as well as a bin dedicated to minor recovery gear for the truck. ON the passenger side we have a outdoor cooking area as well as camping gear storage and misc items. Majority of our storage needs are solved without ever needed to waste space in the already small camper leaving everything in its own place out of the way.
The box itself has a few extra features. It is actually lighter than the stock box due to it being all aluminum and not having a tail gate. The swing gate on the rear maintains the rear view camera. It allowed us to legally extend the 6.5 foot box out to 7 feet. As well as converting all of our existing lighting to LED and even a few new additions. It also houses a Bluetooth air compressor to control and maintain the rear axle airbags as well as a custom power supply for LED controls you can see here.
2023 Cranbrook, British Columbia. - Photo by Kyle Mainville
WHAT IS THE CAMPER?
Finally, the truck box camper itself. This is the 2023 Scout Kenai. Its made by Adventure Manufacturing in Yakima, Washington, USA. Once we had our truck fully prepped we drove the 32 hour round trip from Saskatchewan to pick it up from the factory. We were met by their team to go over the unit and help load it into our truck. We really enjoyed meeting the team behind the product and were fantastic to work with.
The 2023 Scout Kenai is one of four available units and is the largest of them all. Everything down to a shower and toilet is built in. The idea of the unit is to be self sustaining, modular and simple and I believe it does a fantastic job of it. It has solar and a Goal Zero 1500x on board allowing you to power the basics off grid, a life saver water jerry allowing you to get clean water anywhere and a simple clean and durable shell to last a long time. The layout inside allows you to use your own already purchased components (like say your own 12v fridge) or purchase theirs for example.
As far as other notable features it also allows for 4 - 5 people with its roof top tent, dinette bed conversion and camper queen above the cab. The window design is very unique as well, with black out blinds, screen and multiple position locking outer window. 270 degree awning and of course the diesel heater. There’s so much to unpack with this unit I suggest looking at our full tour video here.
Needless to say it was a no brainer when deciding what camper would work best for our needs. To the point we built everything months prior to even getting our unit. We were committed!
2023 Northern Idaho, USA. - Photo by Kyle Mainville
Our most common asked question is a list of modifications on our builds. So we put together a list to answer just that. This is everything currently on the machine as of this post. For details on specific items, check our YouTube playlists.
- Auxbeam 8 Gang Bluetooth RGB Controller
- Auxbeam Rocklights
- Auxbeam Rear LED Programmable Pods
- Airlift Bluetooth Air Compressor
- Firestone Rear Axle Air Bags
- Custom Rear Flat Deck/Service Body
- GEN-Y Torsion-Flex Hitch
- Rock Tamer Rear Mud Flaps
…I think that’s it? (This list will be kept up to date)
