What do we need in the Patrol

Some suggestions in no particular order;

Decent AT or MT tyres of light truck construction.
Spares, workshop manual, tools and a bit of know all to use the lot
2nd battery to run lights, fridge etc
Premium NRMA roadside assist

Sounds like a great trip.

Hi,

What you "need" will depend on a lot of factors such as where you are going ie remote or staying on bitumen, where you are staying - van parks or bush camping, and so on.

Some of the things to consider:
good communications, either satphone or HF radio
12v electricity for lights fridges etc
secure storage that allows you to store and find things easily
navigation aids, eg Oziexplorer plus paper maps and somewhere to store them
a comprehensive set of spares and vehicle repair manual
a good camera and laptop for downloading, email etc

and most usefully some 4wd training to help you get the most enjoyment out of your vehicle (by avoiding awkward situations)

We have spent a long time setting up our old Troopy and while our needs are different to yours you might get some ideas here

Setting up is part of the fun of the whole trip!

Cheers,

Val.

Besides the great tips that people will give you here, have a look at some of the write ups here on this site., Articles & Resources:
A wealth of Info.
Enjoy your adventure and safe travels.

I'd be looking at a snorkel & duel battery system with plenty of spare accessory plugs fitted throughout the vehicle.

Get some that are compatible with your fridge plugs and get some that are 2 or 3 pin plug compatible. Don't forget to change the power leads to suit the plugs.

Reason for changing is that I've found that the normal cigarette lighter type fittings can get very hot and don't always make the best connection.

If your budget allows a set of draws is always handy.

Greetings, we have a Patrol, appart from that which has also benn mentioned:
Large light on the rear whell carrier to illuminate hitch, also camp area when camping away from caravan\
-better jack
-Mac-racks to get out of bogs of medium type (we have not needed our winch, it is now removed) the orange plastic type ypu place under the tyre.
-separate small gas bottle and coo top for when you are away from caravan.
-water carrier for when you camp/trtavel away from caravan
-cycle carrier on roof rack. This acts as our recreation and emergency transport for a reasonable distance. Personal choice that.

All the usual recovery and repair gear, from the Exploroz article.
Hope this adds to your decisions, being able to leave our caravan and range further has been most usful.
Warwick

Thanks for the feedback it's great, forgot to mention that we do have a snorkel on the car currently and certainly agree with the driver training, we have completed this through our 4x4 club.

Has anyone had experience with roof racks and what are your thoughts? We are looking at putting on a full length one to carry the tent and additional spare wheels for the van and tug.

Thank you all for your help, it's always good to hear from people who are experienced the travellers and has certainly given us some good ideas of just what extras we need to be thinking about.

We will continue to prepare for our July departure and may see you out there on the road in the coming months/years

All these suggestions are worthwhile.

However everything weighs something and it all adds up.

You havent said if your Patrol is auto or manual 3.0 or 4.2.

You have to allow for the vans ball weight in your cars payload and this will be the main contributor to the weight.

It is very easy to overload and we had to leave about 190kg of stuff behind to be legal.
Didnt miss what we left behind so obviously wasnt needed.

We also found that we didnt fill the additional water cans in the car unless we were sightseeing without the van (saves weight)

Installed an HF and took a Satfone

Never used the HF and the Satfone only once Reasurring to have them but expensive so sold the HF enroute.

Installed a second spare wheel carrier and didnt get one puncture.

Guess its the luck of the draw.

Our round trip without QLD was 55,000k so you may be surprised how far it is including side trips.

Here's what we did

Essenital items

Enginesaver, EGT gauge, Oil pressure gauge, Cargo barrier, extra ciggy sockets, Set new BFG A/T tyres, spare fuses, oil and coolant, UHF and Satfone, set engine hoses and belts, tools to fit same.

Optional items

Rear view cameras, Auto trans temp gauge, second spare, , tools and spare wiring etc, Couple of jerry cans, Hydraulic jack, HF radio, spare wheel nuts and studs for car and van, Waeco fridge in car used as a freezer, washing machine (Invaluable)
Also fitted a chip and a 3" Mandrel exhaust ( entirely optional) but worth it for extra grunt.
Found that towing in 4th the car ran cooler than in O/D and NEVER ever towed in O/D again Fuel consunption didnt suffer and we usually travelled at no more than 90kph
Dont forget to allow for extra passengers when they are with you but maybe they will have own vehicle.
Cheers