Building Dwti, a Timeline

September 2022. One of us had a mad idea – why not sell our beloved and perfectly good motorhome and build an Overlander?

It took us five months of searching, watching every Youtube video, reading lots of blogs, and trawling social media – we identified the best candidate vehicle. We considered Unimogs, HX’s, Mercedes, and eventually decided on a MAN TGM. To get a build slot, we even placed an order to build our habitation box before we identified our lorry.
February 2023. Finding a suitable TGM was like looking for a rocking horse manure, they are that rare. We managed to find two identical MAN TGM 4x4s in our price range but they were both hard-worked construction vehicles born in 2009. We decided on one of the vehicles and we found out recently that the other became Bob’s (of @one.life.truck.it fame) and is now converted and on the way to Australia!

A deposit was paid and the battered MAN TGM 4×4 (minus the snap on box pictured) was ours – we christened her Dwti Draig, and you can find out why here!
First snapshot of Dwti Draig:
March 2023. Naked Dwti Draig comes home to South Wales. When you buy a commercial vehicle, there are no warranties or service history – it’s bought as seen. On the M4 home, Dwti revealed lots of warning lights and messages. She was taken into WG Davies near Swansea for a full health check and service. In the picture below, Dwti weighed 6 tonne.
April 2023. We drove Dwti for five hours at 50 mph to Motorcraft in Doncaster, 250 miles in total, and a lot of diesel. Motorcraft were tasked with building a habitation box – or Hab – and refreshing the chassis and cab.
May 2023. Tense negotiations begin about what colour Dwti was going to be. There was a stalemate between a bold choice and two relatively conservative colours – eventually, we just said f- it. We’re Welsh, we’re proud, and Dwti Draig (cute little dragon) had to be red.
December 2023. On the last Friday before Christmas, we picked up Dwti in her new livery from Motorcraft and she came home. Now came the hard work – outfitting the hab from scratch. Luckily, Lyn had his trusty co-pilot on hand to help remind him to ‘paws’ and enjoy the finer things in life!
January 2024. With an empty hab, we needed to add in a bathroom, kitchen, sitting area, sleeping area, and all the key services such as water, plumbing, heating and electricity. We decided on a Victron solution for our electric platform which includes solar, batteries, charging systems and inverters – but best of all, the Victron control system. Bluefix are Victron experts and the obvious choice to commission and install our blue boxes.
February 2024. In order to get some of the big structural components fabricated and installed we were recommended a local coach builder, Rose and Cadno. They installed our kitchen and overhead lockers, the framing for the bed, and the two 500l water tanks and a custom fridge cupboard.
February 2024. We brought Dwti home and now the real challenge begins. Lyn is tackling much of the rest of the build on his own – you can follow our Instagram for up to date information about the trials and tribulations of outfitting the interior hab of an overlander!

Find us on Instagram at @Dwti_Draig