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Bliss Mobile unit
Quote from: Muhammad  - 
That's an idea. Never sold anything on ebay or Craigslist will be a good experience.

Dave,
As for France or Europe I can easily do it in Eurorail. For the price of expedition vehicle I can stay for nice places for rest of my life. Issue is going to Africa, mongolia, afganistan etc. I took six month round the world cruise and stayed in tourist bubble took years of group tours in all over the world but difference I saw with independent expedition I experienced since I have LD is a different tier. This is the reasoning of your original msg of holding on to LD till have expedition vehicle in my hand.
There are overlanding expedition tours lasting months in every part of the world but I am too old to sit on the truck for 14 hours and am spoiled to be not able to make a turn when I see an interesting oppertunity. We do not need expensive expedition vehicle, a reliable truck (I will suggest Toyota tundra list at 45K but making it expedition ready will be close to 65K) and put 65K four wheel or similar camper. With roof down you can put it in a container and not sure you are aware tundra have same base as legendary land Cruiser..... of course my wife will not like this setup :-)
i was researching expedition vehicle even before motorhome and Blissmobile and UNICAT tick all the boxes for us (we do have some stringent conditions from cultural and religous prospective) and after spending years looking at lot of other domestic and international options I came back to Bliss Mobile (I cannot afford UNICAT). I wanted to go much shorter and popup style would be more nimble .. oh well there are two partners here and need to create win-win .... so Bliss Mobile is it ...  sent them deposit on their 16 ft standard floor model. this will give bring us close to LD in comfort and floor layout. On the truck side, Chicken tax eliminate lot of nice heavy duty trucks for US cutomers for global expeidtion point of view. I also do not like third party making major design changes, this also eliminate Isuzu FTR Tulsa 4x4 conversion. This leave only military refurbish truck and International truck. Miilitary truck is very capabale and company I looked at does a  very good job of regurbishing, but truck is too big, and will be difficult for me to get used to it. I also drove the International HV serires truck and though it also intimidate me, but I think I should be able to handle it (I still think I would be better off with F350 gas). Beside Internation HV, I could not find any other truck made in USA which is 4x4 come with supper single and have differential lockers done by factory and has enough carrying capacity for Bliss Mobile 16ft box.
I consider this forum my family and hope folks will not mind me coming here for advice. I also start reading expedition portal and I migh start posting there in few months as I have lot of question about shipping, temporary vehicle import permits, vehicle passport, internation dump stations, etc etc but LD experience and knowledge I gained and practical experience I gained in last four years has given me lot of confidence for next level.
Be well ....
Re: Bliss Mobile unit
Reply #1 –
Are you planning to take the Bliss Mobil Factory Bliss Mobil Experience Days tour and spend the night in your chosen model?
A Bliss Mobil is expensive, it would be good to see if it meets your expectations. The Netherlands is a wonderful country to visit.

Larry
Larry
2003 23.5' Front Lounge, since new.  Previously 1983 22' Front Lounge.
Tow vehicles  2020 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, 2001 Jeep Cherokee
Photo Collection: Lazy Daze
 
Re: Bliss Mobile unit
Reply #2 –
Quote from: Larry W  - 
Are you planning to take the Bliss Mobil Factory Bliss Mobil Experience Days tour and spend the night in your chosen model?
A Bliss Mobil is expensive, it would be good to see if it meets your expectations. The Netherlands is a wonderful country to visit.

Larry
Lenghty response and main purpose is education based on my very long research. not trying to show off in any way shape or form and if message come across that way, please do accept my appology. that is not my intention at all and now i need to reread and decide if i want to press send button.
Larry,
I sent full price of LD in advance without having a single night of camping experience or without seeing Lazy Daze in person or even seeing any camper or motorhome. It worked very well for us. I think I mentioned earlier that my wife was very reluctant partner and deal was if she do not enjoy first 15 days, she will fly back and I will sell LD and will follow her (I knew she love me enoug to give me enough chance, other alternative was to come back home and I get stuck on the bed again). I really wanted to experience camping experience and it did help me physically and mentally and I am 1000 times better since we discovered freedom travelling. Meeting generous folks here in the forum and in the campgrounds and having the prevelege to travel with polished gentleman like Dave is a bonus and life long memory. I told Dave both in Alaska and in Newfoundland that when I hug him he remind me of my brother; selfless pure  love.

As for Bliss Mobile being expensive, it is as expensive as any other expedition vehicle gets; they have different business models but when you see them closely most of them come close to 600K. Biss Mobile is much less expensive then UNICAT and LSRV and of course EarthRoamer(it is too flashy for us) but I have not find anything else domestic or international more competively priced then Bliss Mobile. Bliss Mobile standard features has most of the features a normal couple will be satisfied with but then they kill you with torsion free subfram (we do need it, 20K) and few other things which you have to have for box to work. Then there are other things which also bothersome; line item for 2 or 3K for project management/training another 20.5K item hydraulic lift just for spare tire (it can be used for carrying kayak or bicyles etc but somebody has their head checked to keep anything outside the box when they go in Africa or Asia with things hanging outside). I bypass the sales person and start talking to owner and they get rid of project management line and instead of 20.5K hydraulic lift they gave me a non advretised feature which use winch system to lower the tire (still 8.5K feature just to put spare tire). Other example is outside kitchen which is pretty nice and at 6.5K is bit expensive but is useful but to have it you have to pay 3K to fabricate a box for the kitchen and for symetry you need another box on the other side so outside kitchen endup being 12.5K. Yes it is expensive but as I said I am researching even before getting LD, it is priced competitive. SLRV (Australian company) charge 1.5 times for similar box (no black tank and no perminent bed). In case of Bliss mobile I have perminent bed and avoid few points of mechanical/electrical faiure and two perminent living quaters. Apart from all the discussion, with our cultural and religious need we do need to have black tank and for some reason expedition vehicles do not have black tanks except for Bliss Mobile and UNICAT. No matter what other features or price points are if i have to take my wife with me my choice is very limitted. If it is on me I will simply take OEV Summit Summit Hard Side Chassis Mount Camper - Overland Explorer Vehicles take ford F550 gas regular cab and done with it but happy wife is happy life. I do not want heavy duty International truck with a big box in the back outside of US/Canada roads. I am been to most of the countries and I know at least in the initial phase I will be very uncomfortable in driving and parking and I am ready not be able to go about 20% of the places I want to go due to size or weight constraint.

As for driving in Netherlands, we will start with Netherland but need to get out of the 27 country block within 3 months block in 90 days for visa issues and to avoid paying VAT. We can go to warmer countries in south for three months and go back to these 27 countries again for 90 days and keep doing it as long as we want. We can park the tuck in between outside the 27 country block (UK/Ireland are baltic countries are out of this block but unfortunate Iceland is part of this zone). Once done with Europe, we can dip into South towards Africa (which require bit more paper work and I am hearing horrible sotries with bribe nuicense, I will not bribe and it will create more headache) or we can take easy route and start going towards east and spend as much time we want in Turkey followed by Stans ...... sky is the limit. Lot of learning and I am reading few old timers travel log. Folks are very generous with time and sharing their experience but geo political situation is changing rapidly.

As for price, I did not get any lottery nor did get any inheritance (what small we get from both side did go straight to charity). We understood Einstine eigth wounder of the world and followed from the first pay check. Better half has PhD in engineering but did not work while kids were at school and needed full time Mom. Wife joined the work force when we saw two kids college fees hitting us at the same time (we do not beleive on loan, it is against the religion and also give peace of mind). All of our investmets are in sp500 and if anybody is in this field is here will attest that it look like magic in last three years; valuation is unrealistic. I promised I will never time the market, we will take the money when we need it. Though I was dreaming about expedition vehicle but without last three years market rally it would not be possible. We are not selling our home but realistic about our age and average age and expected mobile life is left. If not now, then when .... If we are lucky, we have 7-10 years and if are very lucky perhaps 12 years before we retire on cruise ship. Goal is for the last check to bounce. Kids do not need our help, so I do not understand if we do not spend money now on life long dream then why we saved or work?

I have not been to Bliss Mobile inside but after selecting 16 ft standard model, I saw sales person introducing his vehicle on youtube. It looked very similar to what I selected and on enquiry he told me that his box is 15 ft model. Only difference is 16 is bit wider and bit taller (bigger windows and more solar and more water). Not wide enough for me to worry about driving issue. I showed clip to my wife (we actually saw it few time and paused it at few places to get more details) and initially my wife had some reservations with bedroom narrow entrace based on 3d model on the web side but detail youtube clip showed that her concern was not valid. I dont think we have to take the CDL if we are using the Internation truck for personal camper use but for training I will go through the process. Only obstacle I might face is morphine pump implant under my skin. Hydromorphone does not go in the blood stream but I need to double check with pain doctor when I see him in December. I think my wife need the training more than I do and she will definately take the training. It is offered through community college and training compared to private school is very affordable.

So Larry, there are lot of open ends. I do not have all the answers. I know that NJ will waive the sales tax on the tcommercial ruck I need. I do not know if I need to register camper to NJ DOT. I do not know where i wll be storing the camper when we will be comng to US for medical appointment every 7-8 months. I do have rough idea on how I want to circumvent the globe but have no clue how to execute the plan and how long will it take. I know truck has Cumimns L9, I know Cummins will have global service but if anything else break, I have no idea how I will get the service in Khatmandu for International truck. I am also 100% sure there are many more question which I do not even know which will arise ..... but I am in better shape compared to when I bought LD. I got the key on busy downtown of Las Vegas and only experience I had was small convertable driving. I have LD owners family with me forever and I am sure you are not going to abondon me ....

I think I gave the answer about Experience Day .... first of all, it is not specific to the model you are buying. Second what is the value for the experienced motorhome user? What one day will teach us .... oh, part of the deal is they will train us as long as we want and if we find anything not working within a month we have the right to return the vehicle. Second warrenty is 2 years bumper to bumper ... I am sure there will be lot of fine prints but much better than we see in US. At least company has confidence on their product. I can easily put the contract here for educational purpose, there are three files but will I break any rule ..... if anybody is interested, send me a private msg and see what I can do without creating any leagal issue.

I think this is better, no name on it. This is 16 ft standard model, you can goto their web site and see the floor plan there. they also have done a good job of 3d model. You are seeing $500 option for t connection, I think LD put it fee or charge 25 or 50 dollars for it.

Bliss Mobile 16 ft standard model    $350,000.00
Bedroom Cabin    $2,200.00
Washing Mashing    $3,500.00
torsion subframe    $20,000.00
front door magnetic mosquito    $1,200.00
stair handrail    $500.00
12 to 24 volt conversion    $2,000.00
spare tire  mount winch operated    $8,500.00
outdoor kitchen large    $6,500.00
stoorage box left    $3,000.00
T connection for bidet    $500.00
storage box right    $3,000.00
Total Bliss Mobile    $400,900.00

these are the standard options, format did not come properly, three columns. third column I just change the unit for me to understand everytime I see it.
16 ft Bliss Mofile Specifications      
dry wt   3400kg   7496 lb
length   5000mm   16.4 ft
Width   2438mm   8ft
Height   2285 mm   7.5 ft
Solar   1.3KW   54 amp at 24 v max
Battery   800ah   
Fresh Water   565 liter   149.2 gal
Grey Water   240 l   63.4 gal
Black W   120 l   31.7 gal
freezer   55 liters   14.5 gal
fridge   75 l   19.8 gal
Windows   4xL,1xM   
garage   2300x1101-835x900   7.54'x3.61', 2.74'x2.95'
Bed   2000x1600   6.56'x5.25'
kitchen ct   1100x622   3.6'x2.1'
stoves   2   2
dry sho/toil   800x680x1950   2.62'x2.23x6.39
heater   1.5-4kw diesel   
a/c   8200 btu   
floorheating   .5kw   
frost protect   .3kw