Very interesting....
Few points....
On the Stauns vs Hutchinson. The group I wheel with has gone back and forth over the last few years. Both have there pluses and minuses. Stauns however SHOULD NOT be run at sub 5 psi. Once the tire starts to touch the liner on the Stauns you quickly degrade the liner integrity which leads to a tube failure. I would not advise using the Staun as a runflat unless it was life and death or you like buying new liners. The Hutchinson, while watered down for the public, lets you run any air pressure you want. The tire will eventually fail when pressed in the 0-2 psi range for extended speeds without proper cooling. If you watched your speed i almost venture to say you would get farther on the Hutchinson before the tire would totally fail unlike the Staun where the liner would fail, resulting in a loss of bead control, and the tire falling off the rim shortly after.
J8 vs G. I think the J8 is still slightly unproven to the public where as the G has been around forever. I have been looking VERY hard at the J8 for my next project....it has a LOT of promise and is available in the US. I think the G and J8 share about the same availability in the USA however....overseas I think the G has the advantage by far.
On this project....
-I think overall it was a very well thought out project. While not extreme I think the they are built well. I would have liked to see a more 'Sheppard' style buildup however. I think the rear end of the cars are going to be far too heavy for good off road performance. The weight needs to be concentrated more forward. While they tried to keep things light I think that they are still too heavy in the rear. I would be interested to see what the corner weights are when fully loaded. Again, I think this is a personal opinion, but I think that this is often overlooked in expedition buildups. I will be the first to admit that it is VERY hard to build a fully outfitted expedition vehicle with a front heavy or even weight distribution.
-I like the little things more than the big things. The recessed pocket for the water outlets, the spare tire gascan, Titanium shovel, etc.
-Winch? I would have thought at least one or two of the vehicles should have been equipped as a recovery car. Or have the ability to self recover on all the cars.
-Sand mats/ladders? Africa without any kind of sand ladder, bridging device, etc? While I am not a huge fan of the concept, I would have thought it would have been added to these cars.
-Tire size. How about something with a little more beef and flotation? I guess I am very biased, but it seems like expedition cars always have small tires
-I did like the full spare with second spare tire setup. That saves wieght. I would have liked to see some gear or storage that used the inside of the spare tire....
-The fuel transfer system sounds interesting even if I still can't figure out how the entire thing works....any more details?
-A short handled shovel is not a real shovel
I would suggest a real long handle model....ideal for getting under the car.
