roamingaz
Explorer
Anyone that owns a Jeep Wrangler knows that space is very limited and there is not a lot of room for excess so careful planning and packing is needed. This loadout is based on a extended weekend trip for 3 people. I originaly had a Tentrax offroad trailer and though very cool it proved to be more work then I wanted for camping trips and since it attracted a lot of attention I didnt want to unhook and leave it at camp unattended for long periods so I listed it for a crazy high price and someone bought it. I do have some sellers remorse but needed to move on and find a new way to carry my gear.
I went from this:
To this:
I did buy a small utility trailer and it works ok but bounces a lot and ended up wearing holes in most of the bags I brought along. Packing it had to be done just right and once tied down it was difficult to get into the ice chest or getting anything out for a quick lunch on the trail.
The one benifit is the ability to use as a cooking platform.
But after driving the back road into Crown King, Arizona
we decided that a trailer just wasn't practical for the trips we wanted to do and needed to regroup our gear and find a way to fit everything inside. I didn't want a roof rack because I am working on a rack to hold a kayak or a canoe.
So we had to slim down our gear and it has been a trial and error process but finaly have it down to what we need to be comfortable. Here is our entire loadout and will work well for 2/3 day trips.
Contents from left to right
Rifle case for whatever long gun I bring
2-10lt MSR water bags
black bag on top left is a soft sided cooler
long blue bag is my wifes REI chair, she doesn't like the smaller chairs like my Alite Monarch in the light blue bag.
Kifaru Tipi
recovery strap and above it is the Kifaru stove and my daughters chair next to it.
top row, Kifaru Xray pack, 2-50lt Sealine bags hold our sleeping bags, pads, pillows and extra clothes towels etc.
PETT porta toilet
Northface Base camp medium bag holds all our food and cooking supplies.
Tools
The first thing we slimmed down was our tent, we started with a Kodiak Canvas that was pretty awesome in all regards except the poles were 5' and the entire setup weighed 73 pounds!
We tried a couple different smaller tents but they were crowded. We finaly got a used Kifaru 4 man tipi and stove and it works very well so far but only set it up in our yard for a overnight.
Next thing to work on was kitchen gear, my wife and I both felt that cooking, eating and clean up was consuming more time then we wanted and after all what fun is camping if you have all the luxeries of home. We both tried the freeze dried meals and some really sucked but Mountain House have some really tasty meals but couldn't convince our 5 year old it really was yummy so we bring some canned chef boyr'dee and she's happy. The best part is cleanup is really nothing more then utensils and mugs and cooking consist of boiling water.
Here is a picture of everything loaded and actually have some room to spare for other stuff if needed and our food bag isn't loaded near full.
The next issue was to find a way to bring along my oversized surf rods, I mostly fish from shore for catfish and have a lot of money invested in my poles and do not want them dameged so my wife came up with the idea of a travel tube and lashing it to the inside roll bar. It works well and lucky she is a borderline midget so it doesn't bother here getting in or out of the Jeep.
In the summer we bring a huge Yeti ice chest but haven't found a way to make it fit so tried out a smaller cooler and looks like it will work well strapped down so going to find a smaller Yeti, maybe I will put a cooler rack on over the tire but nice to know it fits if needed.
The final piece needed was a way to carry firewood because here in the low desert there are not many trees and some parts of the national forest outlawed cutting trees for firewood. A quick solution came from Dave @ Trasheroo http://www.trasharoo.com/TRASHAROO /Welcome.html, this bag is huge and work perfect for firewood on the trip in and garbage on the trip out.
So there you have it, all our gear for several days easily loaded in a Jeep with plenty of room to spare and easy to pack and unpack so more time to enjoy our trips and less time setting up.
.
I went from this:
To this:
I did buy a small utility trailer and it works ok but bounces a lot and ended up wearing holes in most of the bags I brought along. Packing it had to be done just right and once tied down it was difficult to get into the ice chest or getting anything out for a quick lunch on the trail.
The one benifit is the ability to use as a cooking platform.
But after driving the back road into Crown King, Arizona
we decided that a trailer just wasn't practical for the trips we wanted to do and needed to regroup our gear and find a way to fit everything inside. I didn't want a roof rack because I am working on a rack to hold a kayak or a canoe.
So we had to slim down our gear and it has been a trial and error process but finaly have it down to what we need to be comfortable. Here is our entire loadout and will work well for 2/3 day trips.
Contents from left to right
Rifle case for whatever long gun I bring
2-10lt MSR water bags
black bag on top left is a soft sided cooler
long blue bag is my wifes REI chair, she doesn't like the smaller chairs like my Alite Monarch in the light blue bag.
Kifaru Tipi
recovery strap and above it is the Kifaru stove and my daughters chair next to it.
top row, Kifaru Xray pack, 2-50lt Sealine bags hold our sleeping bags, pads, pillows and extra clothes towels etc.
PETT porta toilet
Northface Base camp medium bag holds all our food and cooking supplies.
Tools
The first thing we slimmed down was our tent, we started with a Kodiak Canvas that was pretty awesome in all regards except the poles were 5' and the entire setup weighed 73 pounds!
We tried a couple different smaller tents but they were crowded. We finaly got a used Kifaru 4 man tipi and stove and it works very well so far but only set it up in our yard for a overnight.
Next thing to work on was kitchen gear, my wife and I both felt that cooking, eating and clean up was consuming more time then we wanted and after all what fun is camping if you have all the luxeries of home. We both tried the freeze dried meals and some really sucked but Mountain House have some really tasty meals but couldn't convince our 5 year old it really was yummy so we bring some canned chef boyr'dee and she's happy. The best part is cleanup is really nothing more then utensils and mugs and cooking consist of boiling water.
Here is a picture of everything loaded and actually have some room to spare for other stuff if needed and our food bag isn't loaded near full.
The next issue was to find a way to bring along my oversized surf rods, I mostly fish from shore for catfish and have a lot of money invested in my poles and do not want them dameged so my wife came up with the idea of a travel tube and lashing it to the inside roll bar. It works well and lucky she is a borderline midget so it doesn't bother here getting in or out of the Jeep.
In the summer we bring a huge Yeti ice chest but haven't found a way to make it fit so tried out a smaller cooler and looks like it will work well strapped down so going to find a smaller Yeti, maybe I will put a cooler rack on over the tire but nice to know it fits if needed.
The final piece needed was a way to carry firewood because here in the low desert there are not many trees and some parts of the national forest outlawed cutting trees for firewood. A quick solution came from Dave @ Trasheroo http://www.trasharoo.com/TRASHAROO /Welcome.html, this bag is huge and work perfect for firewood on the trip in and garbage on the trip out.
So there you have it, all our gear for several days easily loaded in a Jeep with plenty of room to spare and easy to pack and unpack so more time to enjoy our trips and less time setting up.
.
