Opinion on mods and gear

[Erick Lihme]

Spoke to a couple out of Fernie, Canada at breakfast this morning. Regular unleaded is now at $1.20 cn, and exchange rate is currently 0.91Cn/$1.00.

Tons of food for thought from many perspectives, holy cow! Looks like we'd all like to go with...

Just one more comment: Go light, fast, efficient, and flexible. Back in the day, I was lucky enough to be able travel literally all of Europe with only a small backpack for about $7.00/day. Best year of my life!! What you didn't bring can be found on the trail.

Again, Have Fun!!!

 

[erod]

well put kc, and everyone else...while i have never spent more than a couple days away from civillization with my truck these are great tips for any kind of excursion. thanks all!

 

[mountainpete]

Spoke to a couple out of Fernie, Canada at breakfast this morning. Regular unleaded is now at $1.20 cn, and exchange rate is currently 0.91Cn/$1.00.

CAD is actually up to 92 cents USD as of today it's going up consistently. Regular unleaded is $1.10 - $1.19 in Calgary. Last week I paid $1.26 in the Okanagon. Further north, it's going to be over $1.30 a litre.

Pete

 

[mountainpete]

There is a great review linked here by pwc, of the Xantrex Powerpack.

I wish that I would have been able to find that one up here. Having an invertor built in is a huge plus. It just makes things easy. Like if you are sitting on a picnic table and you want to charge up a digi-cam battery or laptop. Ideal setup.

 

[Erick Lihme]

Pete,
Heard projections put it even, or 1 to 1 with the USD by Dec. It'll could be 10% cheaper for Canadians to buy up the rest of Eureka, if you-guys don't drive the prices around here yet higher, LOL.!

 

[bootzilla]

I wish that I would have been able to find that one up here. Having an invertor built in is a huge plus. It just makes things easy. Like if you are sitting on a picnic table and you want to charge up a digi-cam battery or laptop. Ideal setup.

Just got one of these from Amazon. Have only played with it a little bit - but it is pretty cool. I'll test it out with my laptop this weekend and see how it does.

Only strange thing with mine - I got a refurb, and for some reason the display shows the load just fine, but not % of battery charge left....guess I'll actually have to read the directions. Hopefully I won't have to exchange it - it is a heavy little guy to ship...

 

[erod]

mine does that too...yea they are heavy and awkward...mine also didn't have enough juice to jump a completely dead full size battery...don't forget jumper cables!

 

[bootzilla]

I had an opportunity to test the Xantrex this weekend when I realized I forgot to charge my camera battery - I just threw the Xantrex in the back, plugged in the charger - and the camera was ready to go by the time I got where I was going.

When I got back I plugged the laptop into it for a little over an hour, and transferred the pics I took - worked fine, and had about 70% charge after I was done.

Not too bad - it will get a real test this weekend, when I use it for two days straight to power the laptop and some sound equipment at a remote location.

Oh - and I figured out the %charge display - that only works when the unit is turned off and everything unplugged....makes no sense - I want to know how much charge is left while I am using the battery! Only downside, so far - and it is not that big of a deal...

 

[NDMORETIME]

I want to thank you guys all for the replies. I think I will be purchasing one of the power units from Amazon shortly. That should eliminate my issue with charging the cell phone and laptop.

As for maintenance on my rig. I will be installing a brand new optima yellow top battery before leaving. It will have all new fluids from the motor to the rear dif. I will be replacing one of the front tie rods which has a small grease leak. I will take it with just in case I need to replace another one on the trip. I will most likely not take a ton of other fluids other than a few spare quarts of oil in case I puncture the oil pan. I will have one full sized used spare under my rig and am trying to locate a second spare just in case. I am just not sure if I want to place it on the roof in a rack as I am top heavy to begin with. If I am missing anything please let me know?

For recovery I only currently have a high lift jack. I will also be taking along a shovel. I am thinking of getting a hi-lift accessory kit and at least one 30 foot recovery strap. I was thinking of getting a come-a-long as well but am not sure. Ideas on recovery equipment would be greatly appreciated.

I have decided to remove my front passenger seat in order to gain more storage space. I am thinking that I will use this extra space for the sleeping platform and underneath storage. This should hopefully allow more space for the dog and storage in the back. He can barely jump into the rear of the vehicle now.

I am decided to not go with a rear rack due to issues like departure angles and possibility of theft and dirt. I will most likely use a roof top carrier for things like gas and other stuff I don't particularly want inside the cab.

I would like some ideas on issues such as personal hygiene (washing ones body, using the restroom, etc.) from those more experienced than me. If any one also has ideas on food selection for someone doing a trip like this I would greatly appreciate it.