Land Rover Ideas for Grenadiers

[toddz69]

Been there, done that (In the Jeep, not yet in the Grenadier)bb. Imogene Pass

From an article about a U.S. Land Rover club adventure in Colorado... Tomboy Road leaves the east side of Telluride, ascends to the ghost town of Tomboy and after a 4,350 foot elevation gain arrives at the 13,114 foot summit of Imogene Pass. On the way up, check out the height of the snow against the orange Disco at the back:

At the summit:

Also at the summit:

On the way out of Telluride, part of the way up to the Imogene summit is Social Tunnel:

And in Yankee Boy Basin on the other side of the Imogene summit towards Ouray is this "half tunnel" carved out of the mountain to allow the shelf road to continue, this photo is from the magazine:

And this one isn't from the magazine:

A little history...

This map shows the reason for the pass route... by road, it's about 50 miles from Ouray to Telluride. Overland, it's maybe 10 miles. At the speeds you'd be traveling on the trail today it's easily an hour or more, but back in the days when horsepower was provided by actual horses, the long way around would have taken far longer than the pass route.

In 1891 the Rio Grande Southern Railroad reached Telluride via roughly the same route the road takes today, but before then it was animal power either the long way around or over the pass to Ouray.

Map by Dell a. McCoy, 1990 - The RGS Story, Vol. 1-12, 1990, Sundance Publications, Ltd., Denver, Colorado., <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0" title="Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=92958899">Link</a>

I had planned a Colorado off-road trip in the Grenadier this August but had to cancel due to treatment for a foot injury. I have to do it next year, it's too late in the season now.

Did Imogene and Black Bear along with numerous other routes a month ago again - it certainly recharges my soul to be in the San Juans.

Todd Z.

 

[jscherb]

Did Imogene and Black Bear along with numerous other routes a month ago again - it certainly recharges my soul to be in the San Juans.

Todd Z.

How did the very large turning radius of the Grenadier do on the switchbacks at Black Bear?

 

[toddz69]

How did the very large turning radius of the Grenadier do on the switchbacks at Black Bear?

I'm not sure how they would do. I drive an early Bronco, which did great!

Todd Z.

 

[jscherb]

I'm not sure how they would do. I drive an early Bronco, which did great!

Todd Z.

My Jeeps can turn inside the turning radius of my Grenadier, even though I've adjusted the steering stops as far as possible. I have no reservations about taking the Jeeps on the tightest switchbacks but doing them in the Grenadier makes me a little nervous.

 

[jscherb]

Do you think a charcoal or wood stove is practical for overlanding? I can see how the wood version might be useful if you're camping somewhere there's readily available firewood, but carrying charcoal seems like it might be more trouble than carrying propane for the stoves many of us use?

Sam Watson's opinion of using something other than propane stoves:

Of course you'd need a nice way to carry the charcoal...

Or maybe a slow cooker?

or how about this solar cooker from the Spring issue of LRO?

What do you think of these non-propane options?

 

[jscherb]

Slow cooker?

In the post above a slow cooker is mentioned. A few years ago I got my wife one for Christmas.



To make it more useful, I sewed an insulated bag for it and stocked the bag with utensils and some food storage containers.







One drawback most of those slow cookers that aren't intended for travel use have is that the top isn't secured in any way, which makes it a bit risky to use while in motion. I made a lid restraint for hers out of bungee cord and a few bits of leather.

 

[jscherb]

Since I'm on the subject of stoves...

I have a 2-burner Coleman stove but most often I use a single burner butane stove. It's very compact and the fuel comes in cans the size of a typical spray paint rattle can. My stove as it came out of the box:



One problem I had with it in the wild is that wind would disrupt the flame and slow down cooking, so I made a wind guard out of stainless steel. It works great, no more wind problems:



Also made a bag for it out of Arctic Vinyl (it's called Arctic because it keeps its flexibility in the cold):



Another stove... one of the options I designed and prototyped as I was designing the Trail Kitchen for MORryde was a stove...



It worked great, clipped onto the side of the Trail Kitchen and had a collapsible wind guard but we decided since there were so many stove options on the market already that could easily sit on the Trail Kitchen's countertop, it didn't make sense to compete with those so it never went into production.

 

[jscherb]

An issue of Land Rover Owner had an ad from ARB featuring mounting accessories for their their Base Rack. This image was in that ad:

This image is on the ARB web site:

The ARB web site has an animation showing some of the mounting accessories and a list of them all: https://arbusa.com/roof-racks/arb-base-rack/roof-rack-accessories/

I don't see too many people using their roof racks for lots of smaller individual items, maybe more in the Land Rover world than the Grenadier or Jeep worlds, but many of the ARB straps/brackets for particular accessories seem like they might be useful and many would be easy to DIY if they were needed.

Making custom straps isn't difficult, here's an example. Last year I made a mount for a propane tank for my kitchen. It consists of a tray bolted to what are basically shelf brackets which bolt to the tailgate hinges. I made up a strap to secure the propane tank to the tray, it's very similar to the strap on the propane tank in the ARB photos above:

The tray can also be secured to the roof rack:

I made the strap by modifying an inexpensive ratchet strap. I sewed new hooks on the end because the large round hooks that came on the original strap were much too large for the slots in the tray I made for the tank, and I sewed an extra length of webbing in the center to go around the tank's valve.

Depending on what you're securing and where you are securing it to, the big round hooks that come on the ends of most inexpensive ratchet straps may work fine, but other types of hooks, including the ones I used, are available on eBay and from various sewing/strap sources.

How the double section of strap goes around the valve:

Most sewing machines are capable of sewing through several layers of webbing and the stitching isn't difficult, custom straps like these make an easy first sewing project. It's best to use an outdoor-rated polyester thread for these, Joann fabrics sells polyester outdoor thread in a range of colors.

A sewing machine can be one of the most useful power tools to have when outfitting a vehicle for an expedition.

 

[jscherb]

More about propane... I mounted a grid panel recycled from one of my Jeep projects on the ladder using simple mounting clamps I found on eBay. For my Jeep I had designed and built a propane tank carrier that mounts to the tailgate hinges, so I tested that mounted to the grid. For the Grenadier I'd make a few small mods to the mount but seems like mounting the tank on the ladder is not a bad idea.

 

[jscherb]

And after this post I'll get off the propane subject...

This was in Land Rover Owner, it's from Camp Cover:

And I saw this one at a SEMA Show, this one's from Overland Vehicle Systems:

I'm wondering exactly how much benefit these covers provide. The second one above looks like it would allow rain to run down inside the canvas, which might lead to rust on the tank. The first one has a zipper top which would probably prevent most water entry.

Enough about propane.

Here's another product from Camp Cover (https://www.campcover.co.za/), I found it in Land Rover Owner. Looks like a useful product, maybe I'll sew one to add to my overlanding kit.

 

[jscherb]

They call this an "awning mount" and I suppose it's that but it's more than that - it's a tent that has an awning that mounts to the roof of the vehicle. Where the "awning mount" comes in is that it's removable, so the tent awning can be disconnected from the vehicle and left with the tent when the vehicle drives away. Seems like a nice idea for a base camp setup.

An ad for it in the same issue:

 

[jscherb]

This article was entitled "My World-Wide Web" but a more accurate title might be "My Headache Web" - the idea behind this net is to keep cargo from hitting the driver or passenger if it moves around. The author says the net is "in the event of carrying too much speed and lurching over a desert dune or even being involved in an accident, I don't want to be clobbered on the back of the head by a missile in the shape of an airborne box of spares or a Hi-Lift jack that has broken free." He also said a key design criteria was that "the net should be easily removable with quick release lock 'n' load fasteners that click into securing rails." A few photos from the article:

The cargo rails that the net secures to make the net adjustable for different loads, which is a nice feature, and as he said, it's quick and easy to remove the net.

He says he bought the net for 185 pounds (about $260), but web nets like that are easy to make, all you need is a stapler and a sewing machine and only very basic sewing skills.

1. Figure out how much webbing you need and acquire it. There are lots of sources on eBay for webbing of various widths and colors. I recommend polyester for the best combination of strength and UV resistance. Polypropylene is less expensive but much less UV resistant; nylon is stronger but also less UV resistant.

2. Lay out the net on the floor and use an ordinary office stapler to join the webbing at all places where it crosses.

3. Sew all the cross points and when the sewing is done, remove the staples. Any sewing machine should be able to handle sewing through two thicknesses of ordinary polyester webbing, and you don't have to be an expert at sewing - use a heavy black polyester thread and it will blend in with the webbing so your stitching doesn't have to be pretty.

 

[jscherb]

A UK company offers this tent. Can't tell if the tent can be closed off once you pull the vehicle away but it might be a good tent for people who want to take the Jeep away from a base camp during the day.

There's something similar offered in the U.S.:

Rightline Gear Jeep Wrangler SUV Tent 110907

FREE SHIPPING! Features. The Rightline Gear SUV Tent is large enough to provide ample shelter for the family while taking an off-roading vacation. It effortless

www.extremeterrain.com

The both seem like a good idea but if you have a kitchen in the back of the Jeep wouldn't you have to pull the Jeep away from the tent to use the stove?

 

[jscherb]

A special edition Discovery was offered some years a ago in Italy and it included a picnic basket:

If Ineos wants to include a picnic bag with some special edition Wrangler, I've got one for them, I designed and sewed this one a while back. It hangs on the back of the seat:

It has a compartment for cutlery, plates, napkins and condiments, and a separate cold compartment:

For parking the Grenadier along the trail and doing a short hike to a great overlook for lunch, it has backpack straps and shoulder straps:

I don't expect Ineos to be calling me anytime soon about my picnic bag design so I'll just use this one for my own adventures

 

[jscherb]

This isn't strictly a Land Rover idea because Quickfists are a U.S. product, but they have been featured in the Land Rover magazines a few times:

In use holding a hatchet on a Defender rear door:

I use a pair to secure a small shovel to the overhead/swing-down Molle panel in my JKU:

Quickfists can be used anywhere they can be mounted. In this next photo a pair of Quickfists is attached to a small accessory panel on the tailgate and they're holding a shovel (two photos at right). The shovel might a bit too tall for this location, but lots of other things could be held here in Quickfists - a flashlight, for example.

Different sizes of Quickfitsts and lots of example uses can be found on the Quickfist web site: https://quickfist.com/