Glad to see that Bill is aware of the power issues. I suspect that someone who has not given it much thought might follow his lead without considering how and why he came to that conclusion. In the midwest, running north and south, there are darned few real pulls. The only one I can think of is Monteagle, in Tn. In addition, Bill is going to a lighter and smaller configuration. He can get away with a motor I would not have in a yard spotter. :-)
In the farther reaches of the east and west, however, there are a lot more hills that require serious power. When I drove to FLETC (Brunswick GA, for those not in the know) this summer, I of course took I90, but dropped down I25 through Colorado, then across the south. On the way back, I took I70 all the way to Utah, then cut across to I15, as I had never been west of Denver on I70. Jeepers. Stout up and down grades.
I would not do that in a truck conversion without big power, and big braking; it makes the C15 with both the Jake and hydraulic retarder appealing. I also want lots of gears; the 10 AutoShift is the bare minimum. (I hate auto trannies, but the co-pilot issue precludes a real transmission, although I would not have a true auto due to the lack of a clutch.) In a set-up like Bill's, even if I was where he is, I would spec the 10 AutoShift, which I am pretty sure is an option, simply to have the ability to overcome the lack of power.
In addition, I would be looking at the conversion as my primary residence, or at least a heavily used 2nd residence, so I would want a lot more water and electrical capacity (solar panels and a lot of storage batteries, among other things); household appliances; a real shower; probably a king size bed (I'm big, and have 3 dogs of 85, 106, and 70 pounds each, all of whom are bed hogs, with future dogs to likely be of rare breed Mastiff type), etc.
It would of course be a tandem, and probably right at maximum legal length, but I'm used to big vehicles and unlikely to hit small campgrounds.
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