Overlander Interview - Olivier Lecourt

[dhackney]

Date: 29 July 2008
Location: Arequipa, Peru
Overlanders: Olivier Lecourt, his wife and two children, 10 and 11
Nationality: Belgium
Background: Olivier and family are on their annual two month expedition in South America. In 2004 they spent 8 months in Argentina, Chile and Bolivia. They have returned during the school summer holidays since then to explore South America. They also have experience overlanding in Africa.

Vehicle: 2002 Action Mobil / MAN
Mileage: 116,000 kilometers on chassis
Chassis: MAN LE220B 4x4
Weight: 12 metric tons
Length: 9 meters
Width: 2.5 meters
Height: 3.6 meters

Motorcycle: Honda 250

Comments:
- Considers this size the maximum practical chassis. Typical market road trucks are 4.5-4.8m wheelbase and ~9m long. Anything bigger than this and you start to become size restricted.
- They use their vehicle in a "base camp" manner. They find a place they are interested in and stay a while. If they want to explore they use the bike or rent a local guide, vehicle, horse, etc.
- Relates a phenomenom that we are familiar with in that their friends, family and former business associates cannot relate to this life. Others consider it a big vacation, while the experience is actually something very different.
- Considers the psychological steps, evolution, changes, etc. the greatest challenge to overlanding, not the cost; although most people only consider the cost and the technical aspects of specifying and acquiring the vehicle.

Roles/offerings:
Olivier is the global French speaking territory sales director for Action Mobil. He is also the managing director of a new company, Charterdreams, that specializes in introducing people to the overlanding experience via custom expeditions in Action Mobil products. www.charterdreams.com

[editor's comments: One of the most interesting aspects of our discussion was around the financial model of ownership of an Action Mobil level product. The total cost of ownership (TCO) is very similar to blue water cruising sailboats in the same price class. There is an initial 20-30% depreciation hit, then retail prices of the base/similar retail product increase by 4-7% per year. If you maintain the unit in good shape, you can have excellent residual value at the end of your utilization period. In some cases, your TCO can be very, very low compared to lower cost products that lack a comparable brand name and suffer much steeper depreciation curves.]

The bike lift is electric.

Detail of pivot bolt for three point pivot frame.

 

[dhackney]

There are dual tanks, one on each side. I could not get around to the driver's side to shoot that tank.

 

[dhackney]

Shot showing lifting arm for spare.

 

[articulate]

I like Olivier's perspective and insight. Thanks.

 

[VikingVince]

Very interesting comments from an experienced traveler....enjoyed the pics too!

All the dust on his motorcycle tarp reminded me of Baja dust. Doug, have you found that your storage areas and Bigfoot are well sealed against dust penetration?

 

[dhackney]

All the dust on his motorcycle tarp reminded me of Baja dust.

And until we got down here I thought there was no other dust like it...

Doug, have you found that your storage areas and Bigfoot are well sealed against dust penetration?

Garage has been fine, no real issues there. If it is super dusty on the road then a little penetrates. I think I've swept it out once in a year.

The storage boxes do very well.

I put a filtered box fan on the electrical systems box to pressurize it and that has worked very, very well. Just a very thin, light coating of dust after a year and many, many miles on silt, dust, dirt, gravel, etc.

We had to put some additional weatherstripping around the bottom of the screen door on the camper to seal out the dust there. Otherwise, minimal to zero dust penetration in the camper.

 

[MB309basket]

Thanks for the interview, Doug.

It must be a European thing, but how come their bottle opener is mounted sideways? Also, why do they need eight of them on one side for a family of four? That seems like overkill, even for overlanders.

Esmi

 

[whatcharterboat]

Thanks

Doug .

Thanks for the extra detailed pics of the Actionmobil (especially underneath - diffs, suspension, etc). The whole thing looks pretty "zombie-proof" too. Great interview. My brain hurts every time I look at a 3 point pivot setup though.

And stop collecting dust. Your rig's heavy enough already.
See ya.