We are Meg and Andrew, two Canadian millennials on a journey to convert and adventure in a 4500 Kodiak ambulance. Subscribe and follow along as we turn this former ambulance into an off-roading, self-sufficient adventure rig and then head out onto the open road!
Wow, crazy costs. Very nice truck for the project though. . Should have just bought a cube van. Even more cargo for way cheaper, lighter and already registered in Canada.
Where did yall find the different bouldering spots? Is there a bouldering app too see different spots on? Lol or did yall just look and find random places?
What if the American was in Canada already, would you need to bring it back across or can you just do the paperwork from this side? I am thinking of buying a car but having the owner drive it over here for me?
Thanks for your effort and for the heads up, if I ever even think of importing, I would certainly find a one stop company to combine as many steps as possible if it's possible.
hmmm step one Find and buy seems to be jumping into a possible costly problem IE what if after buying it you are told it does not qualify for multiple reasons..... in your case the reason to buy in the US was because you could not find the equivalent (internal height of vehicle ) in Canada but if you want to buy in the US because it is 'Cheaper' and later you find that after paying all the fees and taxes it cost the same or more than buying in Canada, there again finding out what all those fees first make more sense than just buying and hope for the best. I guess it comes down to this IF you had known all you now know (after figuring it all out) would you have bought still?
Bought one like this and California said can’t register diesels older than 10 years old. So we had to sell it for less than half the price we bought it for. Paid $18,000 in Texas. Sold for $6,500. What a joke with these emissions rules.
You looked like Carol Meryl....conciliation price show when revealing the total.😅 Still cheaper than a brand new RV and you are custumizing. Hey...you guys make a great team.
Could i ask whom did you use for insurance? I'm also in Ontario and getting a bit of a run around too from most personal vehicle insurance companies. Any tricks or details while registering that helped getting it registered as a personal vehicle or is it registered to a business etc, if you could provide as much details as possible would be very helpfull!
Don't you have the ability to get a transit permit to move the vehicle around for things like inspections etc? We can get those in Alberta for a period of 4 days...
Incredible electrical wiring work, very impressive! Are you an electrical engineer? Electrician? What skill set do you have to do this work so confidently? This is very useful to watch and a lot of fun to see your progress. Thank you!! Please - NO MUSIC!
What a great job you did on the wiring, my man!! Knowing your system for separation, grouping into discard, reuse, leave as is, was very educational. This was a lot of hard work on top of your daily work day. Bravo! I'm really enjoying this series. You are one skilled dude. Thank you! fyi - the music is so annoying. Please don't add music to any van conversion videos or for that matter any video. We pick content but the music is not selected by viewer, it is thrust on us. Not everyone likes music. For me, it is a sensory overload that short circuits my brain and creates intense irritation. I cannot sit back and relax. I have to keep my finger on the volume button so I can click it back when you speak. Silence is Zen. Natural sounds are soothing. Music is a huge irritant.
The wiring was very interesting to see. Stripping down is even more educational than a build up. So your series is great to watch. I admire your guts and tenacity in tackling this huge project. It is my dream to do this too. But I am not young and female and have no help, so its daunting. Still, I will do it at some point. How you tackle the electrical grid is the heart of an RV project. Take some cues from Humble Road if you can. He's a commercial custom van builder and one of the best. He shares a lot of his tips, tools, suppliers, and materials. Subscribed. Young lady, cover up when you do demolition work. Bare skin can get injuries, so keep your torso covered up, tuck hair in, nothing flapping or jewelry. Sooner or later, it will catch on something. Also don't have open coffee mugs in a demo place. God knows what germs reside in an ambo, and what dust, dirt, harmful particles. Walmart sells a Thermos stainless flask for $21 that keeps liquids hot or cold for over 12 hrs. Nice big one too. All sealed up - no dust. You are a very cute couple and this is a really hard work. Nice to see such great team work. I admire his skills, wish I had more knowledge of electrical wiring and circuitry and amperage. Wishing you both all the luck and looking forward to more videos on this gorgeous ambulance. Question: Is the Kodiak ambulance the tallest one for interior height? fyi: The music was super irritating. From the viewer point of view, we have to keep turning sound ON OFF ON OFF ON OFF to hear your voice but block the obnoxious music. Why? This is very annoying and makes viewer irritated and angry. Just turn off this extra noise. Natural sounds are soothing and peaceful. I like to hear you work with the tools too, which is educational. Your voice is music enough. NEVER ADD MUSIC TO ANY DEMO, DIY, TOUR, COOKING, OR ANIMAL VIDEOS. Silence is Zen.
Your photography is excellent. I've never been to Joshua Tree Nat Monument though I live in Cali. About time I did. That climbing looks very hard, yikes. It looks like you need some old fashioned hand warmers on your chilly mornings. I bought the Zippo gas handwarmers. You light them up first thing in the morning, and they stay lit for 12 hrs. Fill with Zippo hand warmer fuel. The battery ones are not good.
Please turn off all music if you are doing a tour, demo, DIY, cooking show, or wildlife video. It only irritates and hurts the ears with too much sound. A table that is 'swively and moves around' is called a Lagun table. It has glides in two directions, and a turntable too. Now you know.☺ I would buy the mechanism and use a nice piece of wood cut to my needs. I would not replace that lovely mirrored window. I'd add a couple more. Those are fine windows! Andrew seems to have impressive skills. I'd love to see how this turned out. This is a fine, spacious ambulance, and I love the layout. This was a very good buy. The height is so nice, not cramped.
Could you not get a 10 day permit for it and drive it home because it was a commercial vehicle? All you need for 10 day is proof of insurance, some states will even issue their own trip permit so you can get it home. I've never heard of someone trucking the imported vehicle and damn it was expensive for you.
Thanks for that wonderful video! I have also imported my Toyota Rav4 from US to Canada and am going through the same issue where I am not able to find any insurance company who would give me insurance as they are not able to find my VIN number. Could you please let me know which insurance you bought? Thanks
We went through a broker but she found us insurance at a company called Royal Facility. I understand they insure higher risk/ unusual stuff. They might be worth a try!!
Solid very well presented👌 its all things you can find out online and through the experience of doing this but the little bits of saving some money and being prepared are super useful. 👌👌👌
@@RogueRoamers dont remember if i saw it in the video but if you buy a vehicle in another country they will of course need a translation of ownership and sales agreement. I had it happen the other day where service ontario wanted an ontario certified translator to do the translation😂 apparently what the federal gov and customs agent accept, service ontario wont. So to anyone reading this message get an in province translation done. 👍
I bought a truck new in Canada back in 2012. I drove it to the USA for my daughter in 2021. Now she has given it back to me and I need to know how to get it into Canada. As I have the original bill of sale, do I need to go through all the steps?
Ummmm I'm not too sure!! It would be great if you didn't have to!! I called Transport Canada a couple times to get information on the process while we were getting ready to import, might be worth it to give them a call! They could probably let you know :)
Hi! Border Buddy just helped us with the export forms and making sure that they were processed in time for the transport driver to get across. They may offer more extensive services but we felt like we could handle the other stuff so we did! Might be worth asking them if they will do more such as coordinating the transport and stuff. We were trying to keep costs down (obviously not very successfully LOL), so we tried to do as much as we could ourselves.
Amazing info!!! I hope when the car is a gift from my mother in law in US, the cost and money will be way less expensive 😅. Just to be clear, did you guys pay export fees to US gov? Or Was that fee only for BorderBuddy service? Is it mandatory to hire an agency as BorderBuddy? Thanks in advance. And reeaaaaalllyyyy thank you guys for this video. Hope you already are enjoying your new caravan!!!
Hi! Sorry for the slow response! As I recall, we did pay some admin type/ form fees for the export (not nearly as much as the duty for the import!) but those were included by Border Buddy in the fee we paid to them for their services on the export :) I think Border Buddy would be able to give you a quote for the export and their services. You don't need to hire someone like Border Buddy, but we were not going to be with the ambulance when it came across the border and we had never done it before, so we wanted some assistance to make sure it went smoothly. They basically just helped with the export forms (which saved me some research into which ones to use) and coordinated with the driver of the transport to make sure everything was ready at the border so the transport could get across (as the forms have some specific processing time, etc.). Good luck and let us know if you end up importing something!!
Thanks for letting me daydream about my next trip to Joshua Tree. Also, as someone from San Diego I feel like climbers who travel to southern California deserve an apology for the grading system. The climbing community was ego driven for a long time here. I hope someday the community will come around to changing the accepted grades so that people talk more about is the great climbing and less about bad numbers. Thanks again for the escape!
Aw thanks so much!!! The grades and climbing style were a huge ego check 😆😆 Such a beautiful place though - so different from what we have in Canada. We super appreciate you watching!
Just getting back into climbing after 25 years. It's great watching this video... I'm going to try these same boulders my next trip to Joshua Tree in two weeks. Thanks!
Cool video. Yeah, Jtree is one of the original old school grade system places next to Taquitz and Hueco Tanks. Only been a few times and psyched to suck at Jtree. 😆 Serious fun with easy walk ups.
Thanks! Yes, the walking around between boulders is pretty flat 😄 So much fun, definitely good to go there with low expectations about what you might be able to climb 😆😆
I know your pain. i started my last November, stopped and now i am restarting again, the forever electrical system. My goal is to have the entire project finished by Oct. 2022. Stay a prayer for me.
Electrical is so hard!!! We have had to take a break since the start of the winter, but hoping to make some more progress soon (but finishing probably isn't in the cards until spring 2023). Finishing by October would be so rad!!! Let us know how it's going!!!
Great Video. Helped me to plan for my upcoming car transfer from USA to Canada. Jus a query, how about selling back an imported vehicle in Canada. Of course too early to think for you guys, but I did read in some place that it’s not possible/ difficult to sell an imported car from US in Canada. I highly appreciate Your thoughts. !
Thanks so much for the comment and for watching! We are glad it was helpful :) In terms of selling, I don't know for sure but I would think it wouldn't be an issue as we have it fully registered as an Ontario vehicle now! But I can't say for sure, there could be road blocks we aren't aware of.
