Introducing Hydra

Why did we buy a truck?

Trucks are stupid: Pickup trucks are far too popular in America for how impractical they are. Trucks get poor gas mileage and are inefficient at hauling passengers and everyday loads like groceries. It’s even worse when we consider that most of the trucks on the road have no bed cover. Like, where do you keep your stuff locked up? Or maybe have a traditional topper with a short bed. Where do you sleep? Oh wait, you don’t do any of that? So, why do you have a truck? Moving stuff? Why do you have so much stuff to move? Do you ever drive anywhere beyond gravel? Have you considered a minivan? Okay, sorry, rant over.

Conversely, more versatile trucks with accessories (especially Tacomas) are the symbol of the American “overlanding” scene, a hobby that I find pretty unpalatable. I’m a proponent of a less extremist version of the popular Ed Abbey quote: “You can’t see anything from a car. You’ve got to get out of the goddamn contraption and walk, better yet crawl…”. But really, car-centric recreation bothers me because it limits where you can go, degrades the environment, and prevents participants from experiencing nature holistically. I am a backcountry sports enthusiast first, and will continue to be. The vehicles we use to get around are a secondary concern to me. But when I really think about it, they are still pretty important. Even Abbey has at least a couple chapters about driving a car, and even a truck. I think there is some good logic that led to this decision.

We wanted a younger car: Our Rav4 (Douglas) and Prius (Cinder) were getting higher in mileage (185k and 213k respectively). These are great cars that could continue to last a long time if maintained properly. But Joelle and I value having very reliable cars that we don’t have to hesitate before taking on long trips. She in particular was starting to feel uneasy about them, so replacing them with younger alternatives was on our radar. We really enjoy the big car/small car system that we have and aim to continue it. That being said, the opportunity to trade Cinder for Hydra (plus some extra $ obvi) arose and we decided to take it. Ultimately the goal is for the truck to replace Douglas, so eventually we will have to replace Douglas with a newer Prius.

Why not just a new Rav4:

Douglas is a 2006 Rav4 that I purchased in 2017 with 67k miles for a great price (with the help of my parents, check your privilege). It has been an absolutely amazing car for our needs and is super versatile. The highlights are definitely the ability to sleep in the back, the excellent AWD, and the super fast V6. For what it is, it’s an incredibly capable vehicle. The first problem that we ran into was that, quite frankly, they just don’t make Rav4s like they used to! Most modern crossovers get amazing gas mileage, but can’t haul as much and aren’t good for sleeping. Plus, there were some characteristics we were looking to upgrade. Namely:

• Ruggedness: With it’s maneuverable short wheelbase and AWD, Douglas has rarely been a barrier to getting where we want to go. We took it on some gnarly roads, mostly around Grand Canyon but also in other states. However, there have been countless times where it would’ve been nicer to have a more rugged car so we don’t feel like we’re about to break it, and so I don’t have to drive so aggressively in order to make it to the destination. I consider myself a pretty skilled dirt road driver and it often took every trick I had to avoid dragging the undercarriage over rocks or getting stuck. Higher clearance, locking differentials, and low range 4wd are the main things I wanted, but also just burlier suspension and tires that could better withstand abuse.

• Load capacity: Not something we objectively struggled with in Douglas, but we were pushing the limits very regularly with four+ people, a trunk packed full of gear, and a rooftop box. Thanks to the V6 we were able to exceed the official payload and not really notice… until we hit a bump. Ground clearance also affects this in regard to our four-bike tray rack. That rack sat so low to the ground in Douglas’ hitch and so far exceeded the capacity of the suspension that we routinely scraped it on rocks and curbs.

• Liveability: We have a simple system for sleeping in Douglas that has been really effective, and honestly it’s amazing that a crossover is even capable of fitting me comfortably at 6’2”. But sleeping in the car always resulted in a big sacrifice in how much stuff we would have to move around, and we were limited to using our backpacking mattresses. Ultimately we were looking to have a vehicle where storing gear wouldn’t interfere with our ability to sleep, and we were excited about the idea of having a place to stand up inside. Basically, I wanted to ensure that living out of our car never degraded to the point of being so stressful that we would prefer not to.

Other vehicles we considered:

• Outback or Highlander: from everything I’ve seen these are the best modern replacements for Douglas. Really not an upgrade in any of the above categories, but for many years now they’ve been the best crossovers for sleeping in, especially as a tall person. This would be a more compelling option if we were more worried about fuel economy, but because we will have a small car we were looking to niche the big one out a bit further.

• Lifted AWD minivan: Pretty neat because it basically becomes analogous to an Outback with more interior volume. My friend Keegan has a Sienna like this and it is sweet, but it is not actually super rugged and still forces the conflicting interests of sleep and storage to compete for space.

• 4Runner: A large upgrade in ruggedness, a moderate upgrade in load capacity. Major downgrade in liveability since the back seats don’t lay flat.

• Extra Large SUV: These are long and wide enough to provide big sleeping space and still maintain some room for storage. The Sequoia is a decent example but extended Expeditions are even longer. But these are pretty hefty vehicles with poor fuel economy, comparable to that of full-size trucks. And for us they would offer minimal advantage over the next option.

• Truck with traditional camper shell (i.e. Leer): More liveable than a 4Runner, more rugged than an Outback. But the classic bed platform/drawers system seemed troubling from a capacity perspective. Where do you put large items? On your mattress? In the backseats? Tacoma beds only come 6’ long. Can I sleep comfortably in that? Or would we need a Tundra with a 6.5’ bed?

Van: Modern campervans are obviously amazing from a liveability perspective, being basically a minimalist motorhome. But they are the least rugged and least maneuverable of all these options, even if you spend big money on a lift and tire upgrade. Also, what do you do if you want to bring more than two people? We do that all the time, and it is super important to us! All-in-all, the inability of a campervan to perform as a normal car ruled it out for us. Non-camper built vans are probably an option, but seemed similar to the truck-with-topper option and more difficult to figure out. Also, vans are really expensive and the brands that make them aren’t known for being very reliable.

About the truck

Hydra is a blue 2009 Toyota Tacoma. We really didn’t seriously consider trucks from any other brand. After having a horrible experience with my 2001 Wrangler and an amazing experience with Douglas (two extremes, I know) we understand the importance of reliability. I am no car expert but from all of the information I’ve thoughtfully taken in over my limited years it seems like Toyota is just the best. I seriously considered a Tundra, mostly because I love the idea of having an optional sixth front seat. But that was really the only compelling reason, we really don’t haul a lot of heavy stuff and so the decrease in fuel economy and maneuverability didn’t seem worth the extra space. 

Hydra came with an amazingly low 93k miles. I am partial to buying vehicles that are old in years but young at heart because I feel that they are a good value. It means that they are cheaper, have less extraneous modern features, and that the important parts are going to last a long time. It probably means that some less important parts like plastic will fail. This strategy worked awesomely with Douglas.

Hydra is a double cab 5’ bed which means it has four full doors and three full back seats.The short bed is the primary downfall of this truck but we are not too concerned about it. Basically, a 6’ bed would offer a bit more liveability and capacity but not enough to make a meaningful difference. For example: it is still not really long enough for me to sleep with a standard topper, it is not long enough to fit my skis, and it is not long enough to fit one-piece paddles. Given that we would have to find other solutions for those anyway, we were fine with the short bed. It is slightly more maneuverable than a double cab long bed. It is very difficult to find double cab long bed Tacomas and they are very expensive, and going with less than full backseats wasn’t an option.

Hydra is the TRD Off-road edition which means it has selectable four-high, four-low, an electronic rear differential lock, and a limited-slip front differential. This is the highest performance package Toyota has made while still being practical (TRD Pro has some excessive parts, and the good parts are surpassed by the modifications below). Locking differentials in addition to true 4wd are an absolute weapon for getting unstuck.

Hydra has a few modifications, all of which I am fond of. This made the purchase feel really right because there are a lot of mods that I find distasteful and unnecessary. Bad mods include:

• Huge lifts, because they make entry and exit harder and are excessive for our life, and they decrease highway mpg

• Huge tires, because the spare can’t fit in the normal spot and has to go somewhere very inconvenient, and they decrease mpg, are noisy, etc

• Side steps, which go along with huge lifts but reduce clearance

• Ladders, because you can stand on the tire or tailgate

• Fancy/specialty racks for things like gas tanks, traction plates, etc.

• Snorkels, for obvious reasons

Instead, Hydra came with:

• A 2” lift, which results in an appropriate amount of ground clearance (and hitch bike rack clearance)

• Upgraded shocks, which improve ride quality while carrying weight

• The biggest all-terrain tires that can still fit in the normal spare tire holder under the bed. More than enough traction for our needs but I have found them a bit noisy.

• Front and rear high-angle steel bumpers, which I don’t think are inherently necessary but increase durability, clearance, and provide a place for the:

• Integrated front and rear LED lights. I love extra visibility for driving at night on lonely highways with deer and on rough and convoluted networks of dirt roads. Rear LEDs are awesome for reversing in technical or wooded areas. I installed one of these in my old Wrangler and loved it.

• Front Warn winch, probably won’t get used much but nice peace of mind for sand, mud, and snow, especially for helping others.

Probably none of these upgrades would have been worth it for me to install, at least not right away. I would've been happy with  a stock Tacoma. But I'm at least a little bit excited about all of them.

About the camper

We bought an Oru Tenfold, which is a camper shell with a pop-up wedge tent. This is a very barebones camper and is nearly the cheapest professionally built pop-up camper that you can buy. We chose a wedge shaped camper over one with vertical walls (like the Oru Bruin) mostly because it was cheaper, but also because it is better in wind/snow and can support more cargo weight on the roof.  It has no extraneous features (windows, overpriced electronic and storage systems) and I like it that way.

We only added three upgrades to the Tenfold. The first is the mattress, which didn’t even feel like a choice because it is custom sized to collapse with the sleeping platform. The second is the two roof rack crossbars, which will be essential for storing long items like skis and paddles, sometimes using our Thule cargo box. The third was the driver’s side access hatch. Oru charges $800 per side for these hatches while other brands include them by default, so we initially decided we could do without any. Traditional camper shells have no side access, after all, so we figured we could just pack strategically. Then I thought about how our bike rack will have to be lowered every time we want to open the tailgate and/or rear hatch, which is an extra step that has proven annoying enough on Douglas. So we added one side hatch to make using the bike rack more painless.

We also considered a much cheaper used DIY wedge camper that I found someone selling, but it was super janky. The Tenfold is cheaper than the popular Go Fast Campers, but is a more liveable design in my opinion because it has pass-through space (standing room) even with the sleeping platform fully deployed, and has a much more comfortable mattress. The best alternative that we considered is definitely the Lone Peak camper, which is a similar price but includes more features and may be an even better design (side hatches come standard, wider pass-through space). We were conveniently able to stop by the Lone Peak factory and tour one. Really, the main reason we didn’t go with Lone Peak is the lead time was extremely long and the factory is in Wenatchee, so it would’ve required waiting a full year until we drove north again next summer. Oru had a 6-week lead time and is in San Diego, so Joelle was able to pick it up while visiting her family. If we were on a less tight budget the natural choice would be OVRLND because they are local to Flagstaff and have been around a while longer. I almost feel guilty about not supporting them because I know someone who works there and the owner seems like a cool guy. Oh well.

About the name

Joelle has always been into naming important objects and the tradition has definitely rubbed off on me. I’ve enjoyed the name Douglas and our first instinct for what to name the replacement was to look for a tree name. The obvious choice was Spruce. Spruce trees are known for their bluish color resulting from a waxy white film on their needles (although firs can exhibit the same trait) - and the truck is blue. Spruce is a nice one-syllable name. But it felt unoriginal and we weren’t sold.

Joelle and I independently came up with two more good name ideas. I am really fond of place-based names and since we were headed to Washington I was compelled to think of something PNW-themed. After all, Tacoma is a city in WA, which is a misspelling of Tahoma, which is the native name for Mt. Rainier. I scrolled through associated options in my head and couldn’t think of a better option than Dako, which would be short for Dakobed. Dakobed is what indigenous people call Glacier Peak - a lesser known, more secluded, but still ultra prominent volcano to the north of Tahoma. Dako the Taco sounded pretty cool. I was getting pretty excited about this idea but Joelle managed to tell me hers first.

Based on the beautiful blue color, Joelle was naturally searching for something water themed. Her best idea that actually sounded cool was Hydra, which would be short for… hydration? I guess? I told her I wasn’t sure the name would immediately make people think of water. After all, wasn’’t Hydra some kind of monster? I counter offered with Dako but said we didn’t have to commit yet.

Later, I came to remember that Hydra was a monster from Greek mythology with multiple heads, making it very difficult to kill. The prospect of a truck that was difficult to kill sounded appealing, so the name was growing on me. Also, I think Hydra sounds the coolest of our three options. As much as I like the symbolism of Dako, I have always been bothered by names that are short for another, longer name, in such a way that the full name never actually gets used. Also, I like to let Joelle have her way as often as I can, and I wanted her to feel like the truck was hers as much as it is mine. The title is in her name, after all. And she’s great at naming stuff!

So we decided to go with Hydra.

What's next for Hydra

I don't love working on DIY home improvement or vehicle maintenance projects, and I'm not very good at them either. So like the townhouse we bought in March, having something that was mostly done, ready for use, and low maintenance was a priority with Hydra. So, what's next is mostly just using the truck to support our normal life. But, I can still get excited about a few upgrades.

Wind deflector: Our Oru camper has a pretty significant effect on aerodynamics compared to some other pop-up toppers like GFC. To mitigate this, I plan to install a simple slanted fairing to reduce wind noise and improve fuel economy.

“Furniture”: Keeping the truck bed almost completely empty is a priority with Hydra. I'm really turned off by complex cabinet systems, drawer systems, and water systems. We want to maintain versatility by keeping space available, either for lots of liveability or hauling lots of gear for trips with friends! 

At first I was thinking we might need a table, but I've realized that the bed platform halfway deployed with the mattress folded out of the way can serve as a nice table. The only structure I plan to build is a bench made up of a series of crates, each with a lid made of plywood and topped with foam. These crates will be fully removable, but serve as organized storage that can be accessed easily through the side hatch. At one end of the bench, a single crate’s place will be taken by the fridge.

Electric & Fridge: I've gone back and forth as to if we even need a fridge, but it has begun to make sense. The tipping point was deciding that even if we don't get a fridge, we need some sort of electrical system. All we have ever done while living in Douglas is charge our phones and other devices off of the console 12v outlet, which I modified to be always on. We've never had an issue with the life of the car battery by doing this. But one downside of a truck is that only the cab has power, not the bed. We could simply use a battery bank that we bring into the cab to charge, but that can be inefficient. So ultimately, we want some kind of self-sustaining solar battery system that lives in the camper so we can use it for charging devices. May as well just make it big enough to run a fridge.

12v fridges have come a long way and are now very common. Compared to a traditional cooler, these electric coolers mean not having to worry about maintaining ice, saving money that would be spent on ice, and most importantly - not having ice take up space and get food wet. These factors have all been major deterrents for Joelle and I to use our cooler, even if we have it in the car! So, we are excited about the prospect of being able to enjoy more fresh food and cold drinks, even when we get back to the truck from a backcountry trip!

My vision is to assemble a basic diy solar battery system with a 100w panel on the roof, plug-in charge controller, and a 100ah battery. The battery will live in a box next to the fridge with the fridge directly connected to it. I'll also connect an inverter to the battery to provide power outlets for charging.

Heating: Most of our time living in the truck will be in above-freezing conditions where we can stay plenty warm with clothing and bedding. As such, we don't plan to add any wall insulation to the camper. But I definitely do dream of using the truck as a basecamp for ski trips, and the best way to add liveability in sub-freezing conditions is with a diesel heater. Aside from cold, condensation is a huge problem without heat and propane heaters only make it worse.

I don't plan to prioritize installing a heater in time for the upcoming winter, but I hope to at least take the truck on a few winter trips to see how we like it. Then I may make plans to install a diesel heater before the end of 2025.