How wide can you go?

[McBride]

My new mechanic opened again after the holidays so I drove down today and handed over Rommel to him and the dirt bike trailer. Rommel is getting a full service including a new cam chain and new springs in all four corners. Like written earlier, the full extension forward of the luggage platform to cater for a bed will be completed.

The most likely scenario for the dirt bike trailer is taking the body off, buying a new Swiss two-axle off-road chassis and bolt the body onto it - simples! The new chassis will have bolt patterns for G in order to use my complete set of 16"x7,5 with MT 265/75 that I have lying around. The same wheel dimensions on Rommel and the trailer is a welcome benefit. The trailer will copy the track width of Rommel for easier trailing. Like I wrote in an earlier post, the awning, tent and boxes get transferred over from the roof rack to the trailer to turn it into a dirt bike/camper trailer - it will be terrific! The old chassis stays on Spanish plates and becomes a useful two-axle flatbed trailer. I'll bring it back to Spain where my Nissan Navara will put it to work.

The last picture with the heavy "Hilton Suite" on the roof, picture taken after a morning roe buck stalk. The wheels in the picture are the ones I will install on the trailer.

Capo,

What is awning you have on Rommell in the pic? Does it flop around while driving? Weight?

Would one of those simple ARB units be a good buy. They seem light.

I'll be getting one soon as the Southwest US summers can get pretty hot. I'll be living outside the camper during our pleasant months.

By the way, Rommell is awesome! Your culling of gear/weight after extensive experience is informative for an enthusiastic amateur like myself. I think I'll buy Tom Sheppards book so as to gain the knowledge of the logic.

William

 

[Capo]

Capo,

What is awning you have on Rommell in the pic? Does it flop around while driving? Weight?

Would one of those simple ARB units be a good buy. They seem light.

I'll be getting one soon as the Southwest US summers can get pretty hot. I'll be living outside the camper during our pleasant months.

By the way, Rommell is awesome! Your culling of gear/weight after extensive experience is informative for an enthusiastic amateur like myself. I think I'll buy Tom Sheppards book so as to gain the knowledge of the logic.

William

William!

What nice interior pictures! Your expedition G is so purposeful and just the right size to still go everywhere.

Please don't credit me with being experienced. I'm just a happy camper with a sound interest in technology and a modest knowledge of technology. I like adventure and I have been fortunate to travel a lot in Sub-Saharan Africa, mainly Zimbabwe and also a bit of Northern Africa, in Morocco. My G also goes every year to Lapland.

My awning is a Hannibal. It has the advantage of being free from corner poles. The disadvantage is a heavier frame design to make do without the corner poles. The Hannibal 2,4m awning weighs a heavy 15kg. Thanks to the frame, the canvas stays tight and quiet when folded out, even in strong winds. Folded up and driving, I think all awnings are quiet silent. Another advantage is that you can make an additional room by fastening Hannibal's canvas side walls to the frame and you have a perfect enclosure. An awning without a frame cannot have sidewalls properly attached to call it an enclosed room. If you just want shade or protection from a drizzle, any light weight awning should be fine. If you fancy the Hannibal awning with side walls, a solution would be to store it inside of the vehicle to keep the weight low. But I think you're fine, your rig seem to have been properly built. According to your numbers it has the main mass between the axles and a low centre of gravity, considering it is a full-on camper. If you put the spare wheels on the rear I wouldn't worry at all about a 15kg side awning. With a camper you naturally drive respecting the physics accordingly. You seem to have lots of floor space inside. Why not wrap the wheels in clean nylon covers and store them on the floor with tie-downs? When you camp you roll them out, stack them and use them as a seat?

You picked the right vehicle for a camper. I would only consider the LandCruiser "Africa model" as a runner-up which is also next to indestructible. During the past ten years I've done over 30.000 clicks in and around Zimbabwe in a Cruiser, way over 90% being off tarmac. I swear by the Cruiser but my heart is with the G. Even heavily loaded, the G will pull through under impressive circumstances. When mine was a heavy weight, it even climbed high dunes with the differentials locked up. I did Mhamid to Foum Zguid on high dunes and finishing the last part on fast rock trails weighing over 3.400kg. Taking into consideration that I took the longest possible passage through the dunescape in order to properly hone in the dune technique, I still made the crossing in less than sunup to sundown.

When I realised I had to add overlanding to my hobby list, I did two essential things. Firstly I attended a professional recovery and driving course in Scotland followed by a week of practice at another off-road site nearby. Secondly, I read Tom Sheppard's book several times, it is very informative. My instructor in Scotland, nicknamed "Rick - with a silent 'P' in front", recommended me the book and actually gave it to me after finishing the course. Tom's book is a must for a guy with such an ambitious rig like yours.

I'm new at this forum too. Please keep posting pictures and write-ups on your rig as I'm very interested in how you keep developing it!

 

[McBride]

William!

What nice interior pictures! Your expedition G is so purposeful and just the right size to still go everywhere.

Please don't credit me with being experienced. I'm just a happy camper with a sound interest in technology and a modest knowledge of technology. I like adventure and I have been fortunate to travel a lot in Sub-Saharan Africa, mainly Zimbabwe and also a bit of Northern Africa, in Morocco. My G also goes every year to Lapland.

My awning is a Hannibal. It has the advantage of being free from corner poles. The disadvantage is a heavier frame design to make do without the corner poles. The Hannibal 2,4m awning weighs a heavy 15kg. Thanks to the frame, the canvas stays tight and quiet when folded out, even in strong winds. Folded up and driving, I think all awnings are quiet silent. Another advantage is that you can make an additional room by fastening Hannibal's canvas side walls to the frame and you have a perfect enclosure. An awning without a frame cannot have sidewalls properly attached to call it an enclosed room. If you just want shade or protection from a drizzle, any light weight awning should be fine. If you fancy the Hannibal awning with side walls, a solution would be to store it inside of the vehicle to keep the weight low. But I think you're fine, your rig seem to have been properly built. According to your numbers it has the main mass between the axles and a low centre of gravity, considering it is a full-on camper. If you put the spare wheels on the rear I wouldn't worry at all about a 15kg side awning. With a camper you naturally drive respecting the physics accordingly. You seem to have lots of floor space inside. Why not wrap the wheels in clean nylon covers and store them on the floor with tie-downs? When you camp you roll them out, stack them and use them as a seat?

You picked the right vehicle for a camper. I would only consider the LandCruiser "Africa model" as a runner-up which is also next to indestructible. During the past ten years I've done over 30.000 clicks in and around Zimbabwe in a Cruiser, way over 90% being off tarmac. I swear by the Cruiser but my heart is with the G. Even heavily loaded, the G will pull through under impressive circumstances. When mine was a heavy weight, it even climbed high dunes with the differentials locked up. I did Mhamid to Foum Zguid on high dunes and finishing the last part on fast rock trails weighing over 3.400kg. Taking into consideration that I took the longest possible passage through the dunescape in order to properly hone in the dune technique, I still made the crossing in less than sunup to sundown.

When I realised I had to add overlanding to my hobby list, I did two essential things. Firstly I attended a professional recovery and driving course in Scotland followed by a week of practice at another off-road site nearby. Secondly, I read Tom Sheppard's book several times, it is very informative. My instructor in Scotland, nicknamed "Rick - with a silent 'P' in front", recommended me the book and actually gave it to me after finishing the course. Tom's book is a must for a guy with such an ambitious rig like yours.

I'm new at this forum too. Please keep posting pictures and write-ups on your rig as I'm very interested in how you keep developing it!

Capo,

Thanks for the awning info. I'll research and ponder my options for a while and then act sometime in March. So many things tie together on vehicle set-up and I'd like to have a relatively comprehensive and cohesive plan. I have many things to keep me busy for the time being.

Don't fool yourself, you obviously have knowledge and experience regarding overland travel and thanks for sharing. The thing I love about it is the journey of it all. All the planning, trying different things, going on adventures, making mistakes, evolving and adapting ... It is one of those things that maybe, before we die, we might get figured out.

I'll be attending the next Overland Expo at Mormon Lake and will take advantage of as many of the driving and technical classes as possible. I've been exploring the backcountry and adventuring my entire life, both in vehicles, boats and on foot. I have learned that no matter how much aptitude or experience one has, a good class can open up a whole new world of thought. Learning one simple thing that you did not know can make a significant difference. Learning a hundred; even better.

Do you have any pics from the dunes?

William

 

[mk216v]

My instructor in Scotland, nicknamed "Rick - with a silent 'P' in front", recommended me the book and actually gave it to me after finishing the course.

********!!!

 

[mk216v]

I'll be attending the next Overland Expo at Mormon Lake and will take advantage of as many of the driving and technical classes as possible. I've been exploring the backcountry and adventuring my entire life, both in vehicles, boats and on foot. I have learned that no matter how much aptitude or experience one has, a good class can open up a whole new world of thought. Learning one simple thing that you did not know can make a significant difference. Learning a hundred; even better.
William

I hope to see you there William.

You may know that ExPo/OJ's arm Overland Training offers/offered this; http://www.overlandtraining.com/
Also, Overland Experts (a G friend named Tommy took their course in between a Seals team and Berets and said it was amazing); http://www.overlandexperts.com/
Also, G-specific is Harald at 4x4abc in Baja Mexico(where I had my first training); http://www.4x4abc.com/4x4training/index.html

 

[Capo]

Capo,

Thanks for the awning info. I'll research and ponder my options for a while and then act sometime in March. So many things tie together on vehicle set-up and I'd like to have a relatively comprehensive and cohesive plan. I have many things to keep me busy for the time being.

Don't fool yourself, you obviously have knowledge and experience regarding overland travel and thanks for sharing. The thing I love about it is the journey of it all. All the planning, trying different things, going on adventures, making mistakes, evolving and adapting ... It is one of those things that maybe, before we die, we might get figured out.

I'll be attending the next Overland Expo at Mormon Lake and will take advantage of as many of the driving and technical classes as possible. I've been exploring the backcountry and adventuring my entire life, both in vehicles, boats and on foot. I have learned that no matter how much aptitude or experience one has, a good class can open up a whole new world of thought. Learning one simple thing that you did not know can make a significant difference. Learning a hundred; even better.

Do you have any pics from the dunes?

William

Take your time with sorting awnings and such. Like you say, which is so true, it is a journey by itself finding out what works best.

Your boat adventuring sounds interesting, please expand on that! I'm into classic and traditional wooden boats - big passion of mine. I have a gaff ketch and a small Viking boat which I enjoy very much every summer in Scandinavia.

With regards to pictures from the dunes, I had nice pictures in a computer which crashed. I need to send the hard disc to a recovery specialist since it is stone dead. It's a shame since I had many other nice pictures there, from sailing and from Zimbabwe. I've left the iPad and I'm now searching my other computer for pictures. I found one from Zim of the Cruiser; an errand to civilization delivering meat to the Communal Land. It's from some plains game I shot for them.

 

[Capo]

Do you have any pics from the dunes?

William

I found another funny picture I haven't looked at in years. Not of the G but of the Cruiser. We are loading up a 13' problem croc I shot in the Loundi River. It's a big sod, a goat killer and definitely a human killer.

 

[Capo]

I'm supposed to take the G55K and drive to Sweden right now but I cranked up my old spare computer to look for dune pictures for William and got carried away. I can't find the dunes and I hope I'm not boring you but here are two pictures from my visit in Nunavut, overlanding with the Inuits on quads. I would have preferred dog sleds but there wasn't enough snow at the time. We were speaking of top heaviness and overloading on William's thread on his great camper G; how's this for overloaded?! No wonder we were having breakdowns all the time and the quads had no winches! We had to tow ourselves out of the rivers. The rivers were frozen but at high tide we broke through the ice sitting in half a meter of water with a lumped up ice layer inhibiting forward motion. It was hard work clearing ice and towing and there were many rivers.

The big white lump below the loaded quad is my huge mitten briefly taken off for the picture.

 

[Capo]

Stuck again with full crew and half a Southern Cape Buffalo onboard - poor winch motor and needless to say; poor buffalo...

 

[Capo]

Explanation of the Buffalo

The buffalo had been snared by poachers and we stumbled into it since we were coming from the opposite direction, thus no tracks from the buff. The bush was thick as it normally is in wild Africa, not like the "wild" photo-safari areas where elephant have eaten all the forest and the game is secretly fed to provide good photos for the tourists, so we only noticed the buffalo at 17 yards.

A Southern Cape Buffalo (Lat. Syncheros Caffer), is an aggressive and very dangerous animal when wounded. Old bulls with cataracts can even develop unprovoked aggression. A snared buffalo is additionally dangerous because it is not severely wounded having still its full capacity to charge you and on top of that, extremely agitated from being stuck in the poacher snare - understandably. It's in a snare, abandoned by its herd in a lion area. This of course is quite bad news for anybody in such a situation. So as it spots you it will likely get an adrenalin burst strong enough to break the snare and come - and suddenly you have ******** in your life.

We immediately let the led fly and to our great relief we smoked the poor animal before it broke loose.

When you find a snare you must know that there are always more of them around in that same area. When the poachers return and see that one snare has been detected they are off like a wedding dress at midnight never to be seen again. So you must search and destroy every single snare in that area. You can be there the whole fr1gging day. It's a nuisance but it has to be done (that's partly why I'm there), otherwise buffalo will get snared without anybody coming to kill them. This will of course mean prolonged agony and death without a chance from lions or worse; hyena. Hyena are respectful of the buff's horns so they eat the anus out to bleed the buff to death.

This particular buffalo served us perfectly as we actually were hunting a man eating lion. So we cut the buff in half and made two lion baits out of it, increasing our chances on the lion.

That's the story of this poor buffalo cow and here's the photo of the snare with its hind leg caught in it. Normally they would get snared around the neck. I think that is why it didn't break loose immediately upon sighting us. It would have had traction on all four hoofs if it had been snared around its neck hence more force for braking loose which would have given us very little warning of the imminent charge.

 

[Capo]

Here's the poacher-snared buffalo cow turning into two lion baits. Getting to the ideal baiting spots that we had chosen involved some hardcore off-roading, fully loaded. Experience from occasions like this is one of the reasons I would only chose a G or a Cruiser for off-roading in tight bush. They are not annoyingly wide, big nor heavy yet very strong.

 

[Capo]

Overlanding vs Flying

Here's a reason why to go in a 4x4 through the bush rather than flying over it. Some friends emergency landed on our concession's air strip after hitting a vulture mid-air at full throttle. After the collision, the pilot turned the autopilot off and the plane immediately made a frightening hard right turn. The wind resistance from the deformed wing with the vulture stuck into it caused so much drag the plain violently wanted to steer to the right. A constant half rudder to port side was needed to maintain the aeroplane on course.

 

[chris505]

Thank you for taking the time to show us these photos, they bring back many fond and frightening memories of my own African travels.

Oh the eye watering smell of an anus-eating predator puncturing something's bowels.

 

[Capo]

Thank you for taking the time to show us these photos, they bring back many fond and frightening memories of my own African travels.

Oh the eye watering smell of an anus-eating predator puncturing something's bowels.

Thanks, Chris!

Are you also a big game hunter?

Africa is Africa and Africa is a drug which indeed puts the hook in you. If you go there once, chances are you will return - even if you have smelled the charming odeur of something's rotten bowels...

Oh, and the man eating lion? Well, to everybody's joy and relief we eventually smoked the lion too but that's another story worthy to be told in its own stand-alone dignity. Makuru Shumba!

As you can see; a very big bodied old male with massive fighting scars, torn mane, teeth soon to be giving up, alone and has likely lost its pride to a younger and fitter male - a classic man eating lion singing on its last beautiful verse of life. It so happened I had to shoot him square in the head and lights out. He rolled over without knowing he rolled over. I half-circled up running around to his back, keeping away from his biting end and gave him two more back up rounds into the boiler room, as is customary with dangerous game - and the lion was history.

It's no small feat to successfully hunt a cat like this one. It changes things inside of you forever and you definitely must take a loooong moment of silence and contemplation in respect of the magnificent dead titan before you. Eventually you must hurry with all the practicalities involved. The meat and a substantial amount of money normally belong to neighbouring tribes and they must get their fair fresh share. The hunting party typically get enough meat to carry on for a couple of days. I always ask for one of the inner filets mignons which we cook according to an old recipe from the late Hemingway himself.

To get an idea of the size of him; I don't have small hands, yet look at me grabbing the outer claw section of the paw and you will get an idea of the immense power from a full on hit with one of those paws latched on to a massive front leg like that. One hit will kill you instantly, let alone the biting capabilities...

 

[McBride]

Take your time with sorting awnings and such. Like you say, which is so true, it is a journey by itself finding out what works best.

Your boat adventuring sounds interesting, please expand on that! I'm into classic and traditional wooden boats - big passion of mine. I have a gaff ketch and a small Viking boat which I enjoy very much every summer in Scandinavia.

With regards to pictures from the dunes, I had nice pictures in a computer which crashed. I need to send the hard disc to a recovery specialist since it is stone dead. It's a shame since I had many other nice pictures there, from sailing and from Zimbabwe. I've left the iPad and I'm now searching my other computer for pictures. I found one from Zim of the Cruiser; an errand to civilization delivering meat to the Communal Land. It's from some plains game I shot for them.

Those butchers look like they are having some serious fun. I bet that fresh meat tastes great! I like goat meat a lot. We have pronghorn antelope in NM as well as Oryx. Some general brought the oryx over back in the 60's and put them on White Sands Missile Range. They did well and now you are allowed to hunt them. It is a raffle and is a once in a lifetime hunt. I've put in a couple of times but have never drawn a tag. I'll try again this year. My neighbor got one a few years back and I like the meat.