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Welcome to our monthly Rigs We Dig series! Each month in 2025, we'll be celebrating the ingenuity of a featured DIY build—showcasing their smart design, practical functionality, and adventurous spirit.
photo by GonDirtin
Meet MAK & Owen, two full-time road dwellers, filmmakers, and adventurers who have spent the last 9.5 years living life off the grid. Their rig, affectionately named Jolene, is a masterfully built 2023 Toyota Tundra double cab paired with a Four Wheel Camper Hawk Flatbed. With smart upgrades like a Norweld flatbed, Redarc power system, and a HEST Dually Queen Mattress, Jolene isn’t just a truck—it’s a self-sufficient home, office, and launchpad to some of the most remote places in North America. In this edition of Rigs We Dig, MAK & Owen take us through the story behind their build, the challenges they faced, and why comfort and capability are everything when home is always on the move.
Your Name: MAK & Owen
Location: Nowhere
Rig Nickname: Jolene
Make & Model: Toyota Tundra with Four Wheel Camper
Year: 2023
HEST products: Dually Queen & Camp Pillows
What made you choose your vehicle make & model as your base?
Can you give us a top highlight overview of your buildout and its key features?
What were your main goals or priorities when designing and building your rig?
Our rig needs to serve a lot of purposes. We live on the road full time and have been for the last 9.5 years, so it's our home. The truck is also our office because we work from the road as filmmakers and photographers. We needed a space that would be functional for our lives and our work. But on top of all of that, the things that we love to do are usually down rough roads so the rig also needed to be capable, durable, and self sufficient because we try to stay in remote areas for weeks at a time. Long story short, we needed a swiss army knife rig ;)
photo by GonDirtin
What were some of the biggest challenges you faced during the build process?
At the time we started the build process it was post COVID and during the phase when trucks and parts were hard to get ahold of. That made sourcing almost every single part a challenge. The truck we selected (specs and configuration) was one of only 3 made that year. We had to fly across the country to secure it. So the nature of the world at the time we built made the process hard, and is partially why it took so long to build.
How many dollar signs on a scale of 1 to 5 is your build (5 being the highest)?
$$$$$ - but in the end, it’s our house and is cheaper than an actual house.
What products, brands, or upgrades are you most excited about in your rig?
photo by GonDirtin
How much time and effort did the entire process take, and was it worth it?
photo by GonDirtin
What’s one feature in your rig that you’ve learned you cannot live without?
Two things that we can’t live without, the first is our HEST mattress. A comfortable bed and a good night's sleep is what makes our home on wheels and our life in it not feel temporary. Also, when you are sleeping well, everything you do during the day is a richer experience. The other thing that we can’t live without is our Redarc power management system. We produce all of our work from the road. Without that robust and reliable power system, we’d never be able to run our business and thus our life on the road wouldn’t be sustainable.
Are there any features or upgrades you wish you had added (or done differently)?
Jolene is the second Tundra/Four Wheel Camper build that we’ve put together in our time on the road. This version was built in an effort to correct and update a few things. Because of that, I can’t think of anything that we’d do differently because this truck solved all of those things for us. We truly have the best possible thing for us, our life on the road and our style of travel! It feels really good to be able to say that!
photo by GonDirtin
Where is the coolest place you have taken your rig?
The coolest place we’ve taken Jolene to since her completion would have to be a tie between the entire length of Baja and the Canadian Rockies!
Do you have any advice for someone just starting their overland rig build?
Don’t feel like the finished product is the goal. There is no need to race towards a finished vehicle. We’re currently in the middle of a new build, one that we don’t live out of. It’s a 1998 Toyota Hilux, and because we don’t live out of it, we’re getting the opportunity to build it at a slower pace and it's kind of a revelation! We’ve been adding one thing at a time, then pausing to get a feel for it before we make our next decision on it. That process is making us really consider what we do and don’t need and it’s made us feel like we’re making all of our decisions with the confidence that it's the right move for us and how we use the vehicle!
The adage, “It’s not the destination, it's the journey” can very well be applied to the process of building a vehicle! Enjoy the process, savor it!
