The Adventure Rig
Mike Nash is known throughout the greater Seattle area and Northwest as a fabricator, paddle machinery designer, creator, kayaker, honey badger, and overall good guy. When he and his wife Irene dreamed up a summer of fun, they needed the adventure rig to support their paddling missions. They weren’t interested in spending $65K for a base sprinter with AWD, so he took this project into his own hands.
Mike found an affordable Chevy AWD van that needed a new transmission, so he installed it and got to customization. He found some old Transit Van composite bump outs and fitted them on, and also cut off the metal top of an old sprinter. He then took that sprinter top, cut it down to fit his Chevy and welded it back on. His vision created a van in which he can sleep two sideways in the back.
The other stroke of genius and fabrication prowess came with the rear rack. If you have ever taken a tall van on a tour, getting up there and tying boats down on the roof sucks. His solution is to hang boats by the cockpit rim on the back of the van, with custom created racks.
We asked Mike a few questions about the van.
PL: How many miles does this bad ass van have on it?
MN: “The van has got 300,000 miles on it and the motor is still running like a Swiss watch.”
PL: Tell us about the conversion from bed to set of seats for paddling trips with more than two? Care to elaborate on its utilitarian nature?
MN: “When I put the row of three seats in the back I don’t remove the bed. So it can seat five, in seats with seat belts and still have the bed. Obviously you can cram more in for shuttles easily. I went up to BC with it in the fall and we had six boats and people for a shuttle and it was sweet, only two boats on the racks up top so you could definitely get a few more on. Irene and I (and the dogs) did two trips to Idaho in the summer. The van wasn’t painted then so it looked pretty crusty so didn’t get any comments obviously. After I painted it I did get one guy come up to me in the car park at Lowe’s and tell me it was the best looking van he’d ever seen.
Take a full tour of the shower, diesel heater, racks, plus interior and swivel seats in this seven-minute video shot by his wife Irene. Don’t be fooled by the Accent shirt, Mike Nash is the builder and owner of Hard Core Paddles.
www.hardcorepaddles.com