Overlanding Prep Thread

[sawtooth4x4]

So, I've been really looking at making my Range Rover more reliable and better for longer off-road trips. Hence the Diesel conversion and using a GM transmission and Dodge transfercase. Strong and reliable compared to the old stuff. I don't need all the stuff these other guys have. Lets face it, there are too many roads in the USA and not enough outback.

Anyway, I've been doing lot of Ronny Dahl video watching. I like to see how the Australians fix up their vehicles for long trips.

Some things I've noticed are a lot of them have solar panels, refrigerators, refrigerator slides, 2-3 batteries, 2 radios, 3 kinds of navigation units, diff breathers and transmission and axle breathers, and the list goes on and on.

I'm working on a practical list to start with:

I want to find the diff breathers most of these guys are using. I really like this set up. I've looked at the ARB ones, and I'm not too impressed with those.

I already have two batteries for starting and running my electronics. But lets face it, I don't see the need to have all the stuff the Aussies have. I'm good with my iPad and the GPS and maps it has. I also carry paper maps and books for my trips. Most of the time, I don't use either one, I just find my way.

Comms and radios. I'm good with my CB and someday maybe a HAM radio. What I'd really like is a better cellphone booster. Anyone have any information on those? or what are the best brands out there.

Sand Ladders: I see max tracks etc. I don't know if I really need them. I've never gotten buried enough to need them. I have a winch and a spare tire, may look at some other sell recovery methods. What do you suggest?

Refrigerator: I bought a huge one, it fits okay in the back. Its older and works great. But I can't open the lid when its in the back of my Range Rover. I need to find a good fridge slide. I really like the fridge. I shut it off at night with some frozen water in it, and it stays cool all night. And it doesn't seem to draw to much power. I do have a 144 amp alternator and two batteries to keep everything going. But since I don't have any electronics on the Range Rover anymore, just ABS and the ABS pump, I have a lot of extra power. I don't usually listen to the radio while I'm four wheeling anyway. Is there anyone selling fridge slides? Where is a good place to buy them?

Camping, Tents and Cooking Equipment: I'm stumped here. I don't like roof top tents much. They weigh too much and take up too much room. What's out there that will work. I want to be able to get it up quick and put it away fast. I also want to be able to stand up inside it to get dressed. Cooking equipment? What works and is lightweight?

Food: I suck in this area. I hate trying to cook and I don't know what to cook or how to do it in the wild. I can barely cook at home. Suggestions?

Fuel: I have two 5 gallon jerry cans. Diesel luckily isn't too heavy. Should I just built a tire carrier and swing out on the back to carry that stuff?

Water: I have a lot of space under the vehicle. But I'm not sure how to utilize it. Any good ideas on underside tanks and pumps?

I look forward to your suggestions. Please help, I'm overwhelmed.

I also don't want to carry a lot of crap, I want it all to be minimalist, but of decent quality, lightweight and long lasting. I don't have lots of room, and I don't want my truck to weigh 8000 lbs. I'm sitting at 5000 right now unloaded.

 

[Homefryy]

For food I usually keep it simple.
Dinner is typically some grilled brats (we get pre-cooked ones so we don't have to deal with raw meat handling) and mac and cheese (use the ones with the packets of liquid cheese so you don't need butter or milk).
For lunch we make sandwiches.
For breakfast we eat pre-made breakfast sandwiches. Just wrap them in aluminum foil and heat them up on the grill. Sometimes we make our own ahead of time and sometimes we buy the frozen ones.
Our trips are usually only 2 to 4 nights so eating the same thing a couple days in a row doesn't get too boring.
I also keep some of the freeze dried backpacking meals as extra food in case of emergency or we are too tired/lazy to cook. These are actually really good and I would probably eat a lot more of them if they didn't cost so much.

For cooking I use a small MSR white gas backpacking stove because I already owned it and a $30 char-broil portable grill.

 

[DAA]

Just a few brief comments...

I want to find the diff breathers most of these guys are using. I really like this set up. I've looked at the ARB ones, and I'm not too impressed with those.View attachment 114041

Fancy! You WANT that. You don't need it. At least, I can't imagine why you would need it. But it's cool, which is good enough.

Comms and radios. I'm good with my CB and someday maybe a HAM radio. What I'd really like is a better cellphone booster. Anyone have any information on those? or what are the best brands out there.

It's getting harder to escape cell phone coverage every year and it really sucks that they work in so many places now. But if you are doing all this other stuff, I think the point is to get to where there is no chance of your phone working. That's always one of my primary objectives. Pretty sucky how often it works anymore though. Phone booster... That's kooky talk.

Speaking of sucky... CB. Just get a ham and be done with it. One of the $25 Baofengs will absolutely SMOKE a peaked and tuned Cobra for range and clarity. I mean, that cheap little chicom special will just SMOKE a CB. Ain't even on the same planet. Unless you are doing group runs you really don't need any of it anyway though.

But what on earth would you want to make your phone work better for? Waking nightmare stuff...

Sand Ladders:

I've never owned them. Have seen tons of them being carried millions of miles. Have never seen them actually get used. That said... There have been a few times that I'd have been damn glad to have them. So if you can afford them and have space, I say truck 'em around for the rest of your life.

I tote a Pull Pal all winter in my Jeep. Have only needed to use it a few times, but it was so, so, sooooo awesome to have it when I have needed it. Saved me lots of long cold walking. No room for sand ladders in my Jeep. I'd still like some good ones for the very occasional offroad foray in my truck, but they are so expensive, I'll probably never get them.

Refrigerator: ...I shut it off at night with some frozen water in it, and it stays cool all night. .

Why are you shutting your fridge off at night? Especially if you are so covered up in battery power. Let it run. It's what they are designed to do. Mine has been running 24/7/365 since I got it about 8 years ago.

Every company that makes fridges makes slides too. Don't know how super make/model specific they really are though. I've looked at making one, not hard, but good heavy duty slides ain't cheap. So I've never got around to it. But if you can't find one that fits, making one is a simple option.

Camping, Tents and Cooking Equipment:
.

Purely personal preference. But my wish list matches yours pretty good. I use a Springbar and folding cot. Cook on a plain Coleman propane stove. The Springbar lasts forever. I go through the folding cots and propane stoves about one of each every three or four years. They're cheap though. I fit all my stuff in a Jeep Wrangler and it's all pretty fast to setup and take down.

Food: I suck in this area. I hate trying to cook and I don't know what to cook or how to do it in the wild. I can barely cook at home. Suggestions?

Learn to cook? If you suck at it at home, you'll suck at it everywhere else too. Keep it simple though. Steaks are pretty hard to mess up.

Fuel: I have two 5 gallon jerry cans. Diesel luckily isn't too heavy. Should I just built a tire carrier and swing out on the back to carry that stuff?.

That would work.

Water: I have a lot of space under the vehicle. But I'm not sure how to utilize it. Any good ideas on underside tanks and pumps?

Sounds like trying to make something simple, complicated instead. It would be really cool when it was all sanitized and actually worked though. I think the Australians have more of that kind of stuff going on and figured out than folks around here do. I have only seen a couple rig mounted pressurized fresh water setups in the wild (not counting trailers). Both really cool - when they worked. Neither was all that reliable though. More hassle than I'd ever be willing to deal with just to carry water. I use MSR Dromedary bags. They squeeze in between stuff and take up no space when empty.

I also don't want to carry a lot of crap, I want it all to be minimalist, but of decent quality, lightweight and long lasting. I don't have lots of room, and I don't want my truck to weigh 8000 lbs. I'm sitting at 5000 right now unloaded.

Sounds a lot like me.

My biggest best advice? Just go out and use what you have. Buy what you find you really need. Keep it simple. Don't overthink it. Mostly, just get out and see if you even like going and what things you wish you had when you are actually out there.

Since getting on these inter webs, I have seen quite a few folks spend a shit ton of time and money "getting ready to overland". Then they go out once, twice a year, maybe two, three times EVER. I'm not sure if it's really just all more about the getting ready for them, or what, but it seems pretty common for folks to think they HAVE to have just shit tons of crap, just to go camping.

Just go camping. See how it goes. Adjust accordingly. It's all small stuff. Don't sweat it. And turn your phone off, you'll never "get it" if you are worried about your phone.

- DAA

 

[boogie_4wheel]

I usually pack pre-made meals in the cooler; Beto's burritos, homemade sandwiches and sides, and sometimes those pre-made meals from the grocery store near the deli. I have a larger 2 burner Coleman that hogs space, I bring it only with the trailer but rarely when I'm sleeping in the truck bed.

I grew up in Page without fancy sand ladders, winches, balloons or whatever. Carried a shovel and a piece of wood to keep the jack from sinking in the sand. Carry a compressor; air down air up. I've threatened to make myself a pull-pal, but I'll probably never need it. My father in law will pack a boat anchor. They work great, heavy but at least the lay pretty flat. The mattrax are neat and a friend has some knockoffs that they used in the snow once. They worked

The CB isn't considered a necessity unless your are traveling in a group. Running solo you won't have the reach to get anyone to assist you. SPOT came out with a new model (X) that allows you to text, I don't know all the details or cost. I have the Gen3 for dirt biking and set up detailed messages for the 4 buttons. My family knows my approximate route and expected time; they can see where I'm located (update every 10min), and I can manually check in with a button. If I know I'm late/sidetracked/fixing a flat whatever I press button 2. If I'm broke come get me; button 3 (which I used once). Then of course the SOS. Each button sends an email and text message to whoever I want. I might upgrade to the X though for the 2 way communication.

 

[sawtooth4x4]

The only reason for the phone, is emergencies. Really and truly. I use it for pictures and that's it when I'm out wheeling.

Last year when I was down in the Swell, the sewer backed up into the house. My wife was freaked out, but handled it. When I got home I rented a tool from Home-depot and fixed it permanently.

Diff breathers, they look cool and I want them. That's all. I have a homemade snorkel and Donaldson air-filter set-up coming in the mail. So I figured I might as well fix the other weak links. I don't do a lot of water crossings, but I don't want water in the diffs, transmission or transfer case should the water be higher.

I've been looking at what the Aussie's call swags, They look cool. They are portable and quick to set-up, but come-on $1500 for one. That's nuts. I paid $4000 for my 40 foot fifth wheel camper. Its a freaking piece of canvas sewed together in some Chinese factory. And don't get me started on RTT's. Heavy, I have to climb down a ladder at night if I have to take a leak. Not my favorite thing.

Steaks and hot dogs I can cook. I'm hoping to learn a little dutch oven cooking. I know how to cook, but the wife does it, so why would I? LOL

Thanks, keep the ideas rolling

 

[sawtooth4x4]

I also need a good complete cheap tool set. Because I hate taking all my tools out of my tool box when I take a longer trip. Pain in the Arse. Then I have to put them all away when I get home. And if I'm really lucky I won't loose any when my friends truck breaks and we have to fix it. So that is also on the list. Luckily we both use land rovers and our tool list is pretty easy. Even with different engines, all the bolts are metric, except driveshaft bolts which use a 9/16's bolt head.

 

[Unimog]

Good point. I couldn't live without a separate set of tools in bags, not boxes, for traveling.

 

[Cody]

Don't forget the internet capable camera device so that you can hashtag your trips. Otherwise, you're just camping

 

[Kevin B.]

So. "Overlanding". It's just camping, man, don't overthink it. If fancy is what you're going for and what makes you happy, then by all means get fancy. But if you're really looking for simplicity, then KISS.

I agree with everything that Dave said. I would stress the ham radio. The only use my phone sees on trips now is music player. A little 4w Baofeng is 100% better than any CB out there in terms of comms, and with a 50w mobile and a good antenna you can reach halfway across the state if you have line of site. You will always have a repeater you can hit before you see a cell tower, and some of those repeaters have phone patches so you can make phone calls with them anyway. And if you want the home front to be able to reach you, look into APRS. You can send and receive texts, as well as transmit your GPS coords to a website for your wife to look at in real time. So stop stalling and get your ham tag already.

Sleeping arrangements you'll have to figure out for yourself. The ultimate in simplicity is a mattress or sleeping pad in the back of your rig. If that's not possible you'll have to find the right balance of comfy and simple. For some people, that's a pup tent or bivy sack and a backpacking pad. For some people, it's an RTT or offroad teardrop or wall tent, there's all kindsa ways to do it. My favorite right now is to throw a cot or hammock out under the stars, but that doesn't satisfy your "place to change clothes" requirement and is obviously not ideal in inclement weather. If you want a proper ground tent that sets up super quick, @Greg seems pretty impressed with his Turbo Tent.

Food is easy. There's no reason not to learn to cook, and it doesn't have to be gourmet chef style cooking. Cook on a single or double burner Coleman stove, cook over the fire, if you really want to get no-brainer with it cook freezedried backpacking crap on a Jetboil. Brats over a fire is easy of course, so is stew or chili heated up in a can. Cold pizza from home always goes over well. Pizza pockets and pop tarts heat up quick in a pan or over the fire. Kielbasa and sauerkraut is tasty and super easy in a skillet. Get a pie iron and discover the wondrousness that is a grilled cheese and bacon sandwich at midnight, then branch out and make a Pillsbury pizza dough calzone or cherry pie. I like to prep a lot of my meals at home, your wife can help with this part - burritos are easy, tin foil dinners are easy, leftovers are easy, whatever. If you've got a fridge to keep it cold and a pan to heat it up in, you can take literally whatever she cooks. Cast iron works and is easy to clean. Paper plates and tin foil are even easier to clean.

It ain't about who's got the fanciest setup, it's about whatever gets you out the most. You'll have to figure out exactly what that looks like for you, but the point is, it's just car camping. No need to complicate it.

 

[sawtooth4x4]

I have a lot of equipment that I've been using for a long time. Some of its great. Some of it I want to upgrade. I don't need lots of stuff, just to have stuff. I want better stuff to make the trips more enjoyable.

I'll look into HAM or maybe a spot device. They have some pretty cool stuff out now.

Sleeping is a big priority. A good meal at night is nice. I doubt I'll ever go for more than 3 days in my current situation. Work and business take up too much time right now. Along with all the kids crap they have to do.

I just want to spend more time in the West desert and southern Utah.

I think my Range Rover will be pretty much up to any task. I'm not building a rock crawler or anything to extreme. Unfortunately I can't carry loads of crap in it. I'll have to utilize the roof rack a little.

 

[mbryson]

1/2” bacon

 

[sawtooth4x4]

Thems would make some good bacon samiches

 

[I Lean]

I can't add too much to what's been said above...but for diff breathers, I just bought 25' of 1/4" fuel hose, and some 1/4" fuel filters intended for a Briggs and Stratton. Functionally the same as the pretty version in your picture, but the cheap DIY version.

 

[Homefryy]

I have a lot of equipment that I've been using for a long time. Some of its great. Some of it I want to upgrade. I don't need lots of stuff, just to have stuff. I want better stuff to make the trips more enjoyable.

I'll look into HAM or maybe a spot device. They have some pretty cool stuff out now.

Sleeping is a big priority. A good meal at night is nice. I doubt I'll ever go for more than 3 days in my current situation. Work and business take up too much time right now. Along with all the kids crap they have to do.

I just want to spend more time in the West desert and southern Utah.

I think my Range Rover will be pretty much up to any task. I'm not building a rock crawler or anything to extreme. Unfortunately I can't carry loads of crap in it. I'll have to utilize the roof rack a little.

Sounds like your situation is similar to mine. The majority of my trips are leave Friday afternoon and get home Sunday night. If I'm lucky we can pull a 3 day weekend and get an extra day. I have found that 1 important thing when trying to increase the frequency of making short weekend trips is making it easier to pack. The quicker you can pack up the easier it is to just get out there for a weekend without having to devote hours and hours to getting packed.

One things that has helped us is we getting some sort of container to hold all the camping items that can be left packed. We use a toolbox/workstation on wheels that holds all of our cooking utensils, toiletries, dry shelf stable food, sunscreen, bug spray, flashlights etc... That way when we have to pack we just have to get our clothes, sleeping bags, tents and cooler and are ready to go.

I really need to get a dedicated tool set. I think I am going to lose my mind because I can never get my tools and garage organized because I am always dumping a bunch of tools into a bag to take camping.

Sleeping is a hard one. Roof top tents are out of the question for me because $$ and an 85lb dog. We use a ground tent with inflatable sleeping pads. It definitely takes longer than I like to pack everything up in the morning. I love it when we are able to set up a camp for more than just 1 night. If it is just me or just me and the dog I sleep in the back of my XJ which makes life so much easier. I wish I could fit in there with my wife (maybe we could squeeze if I built a platform and got rid of the spare tire).

I would really like to build a sleeping platform and drawer system for the XJ but one of the things I love is showing other people how amazing Utah is so I need to have the back seat available for use at times.

 

[sawtooth4x4]

Sometimes you just want cool things. Like guns, knives, tires and diff breathers.

I have some homemade ones as well, I ran them into the old engines air filter, but now that I have a turbo, I'd have to redo everything anyway. ha ha.

 

[sawtooth4x4]

One thing I've done, is get an inflatable backpacking mattress, a cot, pillow and a good sleeping bag. They work great if your tent is large enough. I sleep really well with a gun under my pillow. But my tent is an old coleman tent I've used for years. Its worn out and I need something better.

I have a couple dedicated boxes that I try to hid my trail food in, so the kids don't eat it all and I have to buy new stuff everytime. But I move my recovery gear between my pickup and my Range Rover. That's a pain. I need a dedicated box or bag for that stuff.

 

[mbryson]

Sometimes you just want cool things. Like guns, knives, tires and....

Well hello Mr Obvious

 

[Cody]

All smart-assery aside, like homefryy mentioned, simplicity of packing/unpacking goes a long way. I have 3 bins and a fridge. 1 bin carries all of the tools and fluids I carry (including a wood saw, hatchet etc), 1 bin carries all of my cooking and camp necessities (stove, 1# propane tanks, pans, and 3 little bins for cutlery and other misc stuff), and my 3rd bin is just my camping stuff (tent, pad, sleeping bag, coat...all the high volume stuff that doesn't need to be inside). All I need when I go out is to throw the three bins in, throw my chairs on top, pack my food and clothes, and I'm out. Takes about 15 minutes plus food prep...so something like 16 minutes to an hour. When I get back, I just make a list of things that I used that need to be replaced (batteries, plates, olive oil, hippie repellant etc) and put them on my next grocery list.

If I'm alone, all I have to do is move one bin to the ground, stack one on top of the other, and blow up my sleeping mat and I can sleep in the bed of the truck. Otherwise, I'm a ground tent guy. I like good ground tents that can handle heavy wind and rain without making life miserable or getting torn up. I can usually get 5-7 years (maybe 200 nights?) out of a good tent, so I don't find spending $200-400 on one that packs up small and light and only take a couple minutes to set up.

Cooking is fun, and in groups we tend to each pick a meal so you only have to plan/pack/cook once or maybe twice and you can go all out. When that isn't the order of the trip, I've been getting more and more simple. A bag of frozen meatballs, jar of marinara, and some mozzeralla can make some great sandwiches in the pie iron or even just tin foil (or if you get drunk, just the meatballs in a pie iron and a fork will do). I've started carrying a few of those little aluminum serving trays, and you can throw in brats, onions, beer, and cover it with tin foil and set it on the coals for a bit. Cans of soup heated by the fire are easy too. I like to maximize the relax time and sometimes the setup and takedown of kitchen stuff gets annoying when you are packing up camp every day to move on.

Another good dinner options is the premade fajita mix at rancho market (or any of the mexican markets). It's usually only like 2 bucks a lb. Throw down on a couple lbs of that, freeze it, and just throw it in a pan until it's cooked through then wrap it in a GDT.

 

[sawtooth4x4]

Love it thanks. Getting lots of ideas.

 

[Noahfecks]

I really like my Springbar tent and cot with a sleeping pad. I think it qualifies as full blown glamping but I am old and fat and it makes it nice. it takes me 5-10 min by myself to set up or tear down, I am not in a race and it doesn't feel like a big project.

I was a river guide on the lower CO for years and the rule of thumb was; 1 gallon of water, per person, per day. Going by that I would think you could get away with a 5 gallon jug or some of the collapsible bladders. I have seen some decent water storage tanks built out of large diameter PVC pipe mounted to the side of a roof basket, if done correctly they can be pressurized using a bicycle hand pump. I would think it would get hot baking out there in the sun, could be an advantage depending on your intentions.

I could see you toting those Mattracks around for a 100,000 miles before you need them but I can also see how when you need them you need them. I have always been fortunate enough not to need them, maybe my luck is about to run out

I like to take those dehydrated camping meals for a good portion of my camp cooking, if you can boil water and dump it in a bag you end up with something hot, fast, and in most cases, decent tasting. I also substitute in things like those bear creek soup packages and easy mac like someone else mentioned. I am pretty handy with a dutch oven from my years as a river guide but its not quick or easy, your going to spend some time to cook anything of substance. I really feel like it more of a show to impress and I want to spend my time in other ways. A dutch oven is a great cooking utensil regardless of the method you use to heat it. I do use a set of cheap pots and pans from Wally world with metal lids and some cheap cooking utensils for most of my camp cooking.

I have never owned a refrigerator so I am not much help there but it seems like a drawer slide would be easy enough to make. I love me a gott marine cooler with some dry ice. With some planning when you pack it and some management of time you spend with the lid open you should be able to keep food as cold as a fridge for at least a week in 100* temps, we used to dump ice out of our coolers at the end of 15 day Grand Canyon trips, no fancy $500 Yeti's either.

I really agree with what others have said about compartmentalizing your gear so it can be easily moved between rigs and/or storage. I hate the first trip of the year when it takes 3 hours to hunt down all my crap and I always forget something. Also you can figure out what is and isn't in the box that should be, working on this myself right now. I plan to steal alot of ideas from this guy: https://www.drifta.com.au/#

I too struggle with what I really need vs. what is tacticool and/or overland kit