When is enough gear too much

Hi BP:
I am probably the worst one to respond to this because, being ex Army I travel light in case I need to end up carrying it all on my back. Different scenario when my wife travels with me ... kitchen sink comes along as well.

The follwoing scenario covers me for when I am travelling solo. On a few trips where I have travelled with a group, we have been able to rationalise some of the stuff. Having said that, I still don't leave much behind.

1. Recovery Gear. I don't compromise on any recovery gear whatsoever. It all goes. If I am stuck I want to get out. If I am hungry I can wait a while.

2. Water - heaps .. couple of jerry cans, plus two wine cask type bladders that I have frozen and in the Engel fridge and/or Evakool cooler. Never use it for showers. If there is not water available for showers (rivers or whatever) I have a quick "damp over" with about a cupful of water to clean/freshen up.

3. Fuel - I have used Jerrycans, but am entertaining one of those "TurtePac" fuel bladders. They can sit low on the roof rack, and I can fold them up when not in use. Jerrys occupy the same space empty or full, unfortunately. You can check these out at TrtlePac Link. Click here and hope it works. I don't work for them.

4. Tyres - two on a trip that I expect to be a bit rough. Did one trip and had another spare tyre (no rim) secured to the front of the bull bar. I had no punctures that trip, my mate had 4 within one spell of driving. Just lucky I guess. He ended up using one of my spares to get through until we could get his repaired.

5. Tools - I am not a mechanic but I have the essentials (sockets, open ended,ring), full set of screwdrivers, circlip pliers, normal pliers, tin cutters, fencing wire, and my Workshop manuals.

6. Food - I take what I can (much of it cyrovac'd), but have a fair bit of dried stuff which becomes an "Emergency" ration set. Hardly use it. (I had better go check the "Use By Dates" on it now that I have thought of it).

I have an 80 series Land Cruiser with one of those "Red Desert" drawer systems and I don't have a lot of difficulty getting it all in. Very often the rear seats will come out, however. As there is usually 2 of us travelling, it works fine.

I have used a roof rack, but have a touring tent now that is smaller and I may be able to get by without it for some trips. I would need it however if I am carrying two spares or more as I don't have (nor want) a rear tyre carrier.

Just my thoughts.

Jack

Hello Brian,

I have all the gear that you mention. Recently I did a repack and the bullbag is now lying in the shed. On the Canning trip I carried the cordless drill and had to take the generator as well to charge the thing. AND I needed it !! The battery tore out of its moorings and I had to manufacture and fit a special bracket by drilling holes into the bodypanels. Murphy's Law was thwarted there. Yeah, I have the extra spare on the bonnet and wonder about its viability. The bonnet is a dog to lift !
Extras which I did not carry before now include the 2nd battery, inverter, two extra jerries, UHF radio, laptop, GPS and attachments and more. And I fit all of this into a MWB. It is a tight fit. The inside of my truck as well as the engine bay looks like an electricians nightmare. Had to get rid of the ouside rollbars and roofrack to lessen the weight factor.

Remember the add about the blokes loading the beer on the back of the ute. Then they put two bottle of Port on top and the springs collapse.

Well,when the springs collapse on your truck then you have enough gear............:-)

Cheers, Willem
Never a dull moment

Hi
Have you heard the one about the Landy driver that took a complete axle assembly with him each long trip.....
he needed it each trip due to overloading.

Whats wrong with NRMA Plus and a Sat phone for those breakdowns?
Of course a toolkit and recovery gear is a good idea, and an even better idea is a outback firstaid kit and water.
Andrewwheredayathinkwer mike?

Hi Brian,
I laugh and I laugh some more...!! You've probably just described most peoples travelling kit, no wonder it takes months/weeks of planning/packing.
Theres the old fashioned way, take half a dozen camels instead! Bet they were thinking the same as well....
Cheers

Brian,
I was at a TJM information night with Bob Duncan a couple of months ago and this topic came up.
In short:
1) Load your truck with everything you think you'll need
2) Unload it again and dump half of it
3) Load the remainder back into your truck
3) Repeat step 2 and you are just about right
There is an alternative however:
1) Load your truck up with everything you think you'll need
2) With your tailgate/doors open, reverse quickly and stop suddenly
3) You take whatever stays in the car
Cheers
Oskar

BP I think many people take far too much but I guess a lot depends on the condition of your vehicle. Old or high km vehicles will almost certainly need maintenance on the track, while new vehicles rarely break down. An earlier reply mentioned the NRMA. Before crossing the Simpson Desert I checked with the RACV and they assured me I was covered so I basically took a Sat phone, a second spare, a snatch strap and a compressor. I have large tanks (Prado) so didn't need jerries. I've done a lot of outback travel and haven't had a flat tyre in over 15 years and over 500,000km. I put that down to not being overloaded and the Prado has relatively large tyres (same as Cruiser) for a mid sized 4wd. I also reduce tyre pressure off road. My theory on this relates to a fully inflated balloon being much easier to burst than a partly deflated one. I think I'll leave the second spare at home next trip!

Yeah - well Im ex -army too but also a mechanic so I have all sorts of identity crisis problems when I go away for a while - travel Light - or take it all???

To the centre I take a full workshop and spares and a third spare tyre if the vehicle is really heavy.

I have rigged the cordless drills with an insert that runs off the vehicle batteries on a good lead.

The extra recovery gear I take that nobody else has mentioned is a couple of Joeys
(device that allows me to - run dual wheels on any axle or -offset the extra wheel to lift the vehicle outta bogs or even winch off the extension on the axle)
They are brilliant compact and givers of much confidence when solo.

However The best recovery gear we sometimes have is ......................................tada .................................................the extra vehicle.

kes

G'day BP. My problem was becoming not so much as to leave behind but how was the ol girl going to keep on carrying it (truck, that is) Of course some things are absolutes, like extra spare wheels, tools first aid, fuel,water etc. but we also work in the bush 1300km. from home so it helps if you take those "other things" with you first time (its a long way home when you expect to be away for 5 months!)
So my solution was simple: Poly air bellows on the back, Monroe air adjust shocks on the front (HJ75 L/C) Now am looking for more gear to put in it, and the B thing handles better to boot, loaded and unloaded. But seriously, a lot of those things you do take but never use give you peace of mind for having them and there may be the other less fortunate broken down that you can get going again. I carry a welder/generator and a stranded traveller we encountered with a broken trailer A frame couldnt believe when I said "no probs. mate, a bit of fizzy stik willfix that"
cheers & happy packing haze

Jack, the gear we carry would probably be complete overkill for most travellers. My welder is a Lincoln "weldanpower 150" -75 to 150 amp. stepless welding control, 5kva. cont 240v power. Quite compact, sits neatly behind the Trailblazer fr. (in fact are about identical in size) Dont know much about welding via vehicle batteries, I always believed if you are welding something TO the vehicle it is necessary to disconnect batt. and alt. (I do anyway!) So perhaps if doing in reverse the same thing is done? That prevents keeping the batts. up with the motor running- as is done when winching. If you have a 240v. gen. 2.5 kva. (or bigger) you can buy invertor welder, very light, compact would have been my choice but my old genset had the gong so needed the full treatment.
Hope this some help cheers haze

Jack
We used the two bats in series utilising the jumper leads to make 24 volts.{tried to do it with one bat no go}Did a good weld job on the trailer and had no trouble starting the car after.Try it at home for something to do,you'l be pleasantly surprised.It works a treat.
Cheers
BP

I tend to concentrate on the cooloing system and the tyres.

Better still, always travel with another vehicle. Should a serious malfunction arise the only tool you need is the cigarette lighter and a petrol soaked rag (make sure you are on speaking terms with the owner of the other vehicle as the ride home may be long and cramped).Bob