expedition gear "must have" next purchase

[mesha]

What stuff won't you leave home without? What stuff do want next?

fridge/freezer
shower
tools
welder


what else?

P.S. these ARE NOT REALLY MUST HAVE ITEMS JUST THINGS THAT MAKE THE TRIP MORE COMFORTABLE. I WAS NOT IMPLYING YOU COULDN'T CAMP WITHOUT THIS STUFF.

 

[LT.]

Pull pal. Especially helpful when you don't have another place to anchor to. Next purchase I would like to have is on board air. CO2 is nice but it runs out eventually.

LT.

 

[DAA]

My Pull Pal has really saved my bacon a few times. First recovery with it and it more than paid for itself. I never head out alone without it.

ARB fridge is going to be my next purchase. Next after that will be a 31 gallon gas tank for my LJ. Syphoning jerry cans every trip gets kind of old. As does carrying all that weight up high on my tire carrier. For long range off road travel in a TJ/LJ, I'd have to list adequate/additional fuel carrying capacity as a "must have" though, whether you get there by carrying jerry cans or larger/aux. tanks.

- DAA

 

[mesha]

sounds like pull pal is a must have.

On the fridge you will wonder why you didn't buy it sooner. I LOVE my fridge.

 

[NewFoundFreedom]

I love LOVE my fridge. I wont leave home without that even for day outings.

My next purchase is going to be some nice lightforce lights for the front end, then a snorkel. Then I should be pretty close to being done.

Not sure if you have a roof top tent but if not once you have been in one for a weekend you wont go back.

 

[Greg]

I'd like to add dual batteries and a National Luna controller next, so I can keep my fridge running after shutting the vehicle off. Having a feezer/fridge has to have been the best investment ever! Nothing like carrying perishables w/o ice on the trail and eating well for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

After that, a HAM radio would be great. I have a CB, but need to tune the antenna so my broadcasting is more powerful.

A Pull Pall would be very handy, I do plenty of solo trips and tend to push the limits and get myself into trouble. Being able to get out of trouble would be great!

I'm working on aftermarket F & R bumpers, rear tire carrier swingout and fuel can carrier swingout, etc. I have a Warn winch and HID lights that will go with the bumpers.

I would like to upgrade my RTT from a Mombasa to a ARB. The Mombasa has been good for us, so it's hard to commit to getting rid of it.

I recently added a snorkel, looking forward to trying it out soon!

 

[cuban b]

a solid front axle. probably yours .

after that, I need some kind of storage system in/on the bed and shell.

 

[Kiel]

winch for me, then some type of storage drawer system would be great

 

[mesha]

I love LOVE my fridge. I wont leave home without that even for day outings.

My next purchase is going to be some nice lightforce lights for the front end, then a snorkel. Then I should be pretty close to being done.

Not sure if you have a roof top tent but if not once you have been in one for a weekend you wont go back.

don't have a RTT yet, but am looking into one. Some lights would be cool.

I'd like to add dual batteries and a National Luna controller next, so I can keep my fridge running after shutting the vehicle off. Having a feezer/fridge has to have been the best investment ever! Nothing like carrying perishables w/o ice on the trail and eating well for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

After that, a HAM radio would be great. I have a CB, but need to tune the antenna so my broadcasting is more powerful.

A Pull Pall would be very handy, I do plenty of solo trips and tend to push the limits and get myself into trouble. Being able to get out of trouble would be great!

I'm working on aftermarket F & R bumpers, rear tire carrier swingout and fuel can carrier swingout, etc. I have a Warn winch and HID lights that will go with the bumpers.

I would like to upgrade my RTT from a Mombasa to a ARB. The Mombasa has been good for us, so it's hard to commit to getting rid of it.

I recently added a snorkel, looking forward to trying it out soon!

I really want some after market bumpers to make winch mounting easier. Another vote for the RTT huh, I need to get more serious about these. I checked out wyatts(solidfrontaxle) national luna and it looked sweet. Already have the dual battery set up(cummins), but wondering about the dual batteries being alright to run to much stuff from. Don't know how the set up works for the diesel stuff. looking at a third auxilary battery to run stuff from and leave the battery system alone.

a solid front axle. probably yours .

after that, I need some kind of storage system in/on the bed and shell.

Get that axle man. I know where you can get a sweet deal on some Thule stuff

winch for me, then some type of storage drawer system would be great

I need a place to put a winch, but a great idea none-the-less. I bought a ratpack a year ago, but haven't mounted it yet.

 

[mesha]

P.S. I have been searching bumpers for my truck and holy poop
2000 bucks geez!.

 

[MOODY]

Just throwing this out there, but don't let your not having all the 'stuff' keep you from getting out there. My most 'expedition-y' trip was with my brother in his 87 Crown Victoria for two weeks on the road with cans of corn, chili, and beer. We hiked our asses off, saw some great parts of the country, and met some amazingly cool people all with just gas money in hand and a sense of adventure.

 

[mesha]

^^^good call. Some of my favorite trips were like that.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Just throwing this out there, but don't let your not having all the 'stuff' keep you from getting out there. My most 'expedition-y' trip was with my brother in his 87 Crown Victoria for two weeks on the road with cans of corn, chili, and beer. We hiked our asses off, saw some great parts of the country, and met some amazingly cool people all with just gas money in hand and a sense of adventure.

x2

This whole 'expedition/overland' craze has basically taken good old fashioned car camping and made it appealing to gear junkies. You can cover 99% of Utah's back-country roads with a stock 4x4 and some patience. While these type of items make life more comfortable, they shouldn't stop anyone from getting out.

Just like I have tried to emphasize in my RTT and trailer articles... a fridge won't make you get out and camp more, nor will a Pull-Pal or a shower. They may make your existing efforts more comfortable or sane, but the mentality that they are "must haves" is polluting the whole scene. This coming from a guy that sells them

 

[Greg]

... the mentality that they are "must haves" is polluting the whole scene. This coming from a guy that sells them

Yeah, stop that.

I also agree with Moody, one of my most memorable trips was in my beater '89 Toyota Supra. I hiked all over North and South Canyonlands over a long weekend and drove that poor little sports car over quite a few miles of dirt roads to reach the trailheads.

It is hard, at least for me, to not get caught up in the 'build till you have everything' mentality. I really try to use what I have as it is and we get out quite often. Even then, the lure to add to the list is hard to resist. I do want a comfortable rig that I can take to Baja or the Copper Canyon and explore for weeks at a time, that is my end-goal. In the meantime, I'm going to use what I have as much and as often as I can.

The best purchase you can make is a few tanks of gas and heading out from home.

 

[MOODY]

The best purchase you can make is a few tanks of gas and heading out from home.

Ditto.

I just opted out of 'walking' for my graduate degree because I figured I could spend the 200 bucks on my trip to Escalante next weekend. (anyone going to be in Escalante next weekend?)

 

[DAA]

Heck... The first time I drove the PET from Faust to Ibapah, was in a '68 Chevelle. No camping gear at all. Slept in the back seat. Ate very little :grin:.

I've been wandering around off the beaten track my whole life. Only fairly recently have I started to get a bunch of "stuff" to take with me.

There's no denying though, that eating a good ribe eye steak, sipping good scotch and puffing a nice cigar, before retiring to my nice sleeping bag on my nice cot in my nice tent is a heckuva lot nicer than eating a Hostess fruit pie, drinking Black Label beer and smoking half a pack of Camels before crashing in the back seat of my car :grin:.

- DAA

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Ditto.

I just opted out of 'walking' for my graduate degree because I figured I could spend the 200 bucks on my trip to Escalante next weekend.

I spent my graduation weekend on Elephant Hill & Cruise Moab a few years back. While my school peers were walking I was hiking the Joint and Confluence. Good on ya!

...There's no denying though, that eating a good ribe eye steak, sipping good scotch and puffing a nice cigar, before retiring to my nice sleeping bag on my nice cot in my nice tent is a heckuva lot nicer than eating a Hostess fruit pie, drinking Black Label beer and smoking half a pack of Camels before crashing in the back seat of my car :grin:

 

[Cody]

must have expedition gear?

Good friends.

Otherwise my vote goes for an aluminum pie iron.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

...Otherwise my vote goes for an aluminum pie iron.

Which is synonymous with glamping I might add

You'll sleep well knowing the aluminum versus cast iron lived on this past weekend as Death Valley Darron battled out the deserts with me in his aluminum iron like pie cooking device. Lets just say he was glad it came with a whistle and a space blanket

 

[Cody]

well my pie iron doesn't require a dual battery setup, my tent doesn't require a special rack (and a special trip out of the vehicle at 3 a.m. to take down due to winds), and my jeep has an air freshener that overpowers my unshowered stank for a few days. My whistle and space blanket do come in handy, I mean, when you're watching a movie in your truck it's hard to get your attention.

All levity aside, I agree with Kurt and that is how I justify my buying decisions these days when I don't have superfluous funds. Sure, a fridge would be nice, but I've gotten by for my entire life with coolers and never felt like I was lacking. A RTT would be cool, but it wouldn't work on my rig anyway. A trailer would be fun, but I had one and decided it just added more hassle to the planning/packing process than it solved. All of the money that I would/could spend on those things would come directly from my wheeling budget, and I'd much rather go on a trip than buy a fridge at this point. I pack fairly simply but never feel like I'm under prepared pr in need of something. I can pack for 2 people for 5 days in less than an hour, and I can usually break camp in less than 10 minutes.

Besides, all of my friends have the fancy accessories so I can just mooch off of them.