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Principles of Overlanding: Storage Solutions · The Overland Journal Podcast

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Overline Journal podcast. I am
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: your host, Scott Brady, and I'm here with my co
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: host Matt Scott.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: What's going on?
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: Man, I'm drinking a white cloth for the first time,
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: and I feel wonderfully trashy. I don't really know how
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: to describe how I'm feeling. I feel refreshed, like we
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: both had a long day working. We're recording this after work,
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: and I don't know, white claud just sounded refreshing. It's
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: it's it's hot as I don't know it's hot. Is
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: Mars hot or is Mars cold? Or is Mars wildly
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: fluctuate between the two, wildly fluctuating. But okay, So in
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: all seriousness, we're talking about storage solutions. So that's everything
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: from roof racks to soft cases to hard cases. I
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: guess they're not really a soft case. It'd be a
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: systems all that kind of stuff. And I think why
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: this is important, even though it's not necessarily super technical,
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: people bring too much crap with them, and I think
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: it's important, you know, to start off with some fundamentals
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: on keeping it simple.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: I like cars.
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: I like driving, and the number one thing that's going
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: to make your car drive poorly? Is weight overloaded thing
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: that you can really affect. So and that's interesting that
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: it that that has as a concept has never like
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: really permeated the space, right if you I mean, if
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: you think about someone who is a track day guy
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: with his nine to eleven, he's paying attention to like
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: everything like how many keys does he have on his keychain?
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: Is what he's paying attention to.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: And and I think it's interesting that that idea has
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: never really permeated the overland space. Even in the adventure
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: motorcycling space. The amount of weight that people typically have
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: on their motorcycles, no wonder they suck off road, yeah,
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: is because they're so heavy. You end up at one
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: thousand pounds plus with the rider on the bike. That's
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: a lot. And I would say that for me, it
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: was certainly a consideration towards handling and performance and safety
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: to you know, to a degree, having been a fireman
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: and encountered a lot of rollovers in my life, it's
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: definitely a safety consideration. But what I think really changed
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: it for me was it was such a distraction to
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: have so much stuff that if you know, every night
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: when you're trying to set up camp, you've got to
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: remove ten boxes and three bags to get to your
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: coffee pot or whatever. That it becomes super frustrating. And
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: and of course I did that. I had too much
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: stuff and it was and it was super frustrating, and
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: I had had too many electronic devices on the dash
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: and even I had a laptop mount at one point
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: in time. I have no idea why that was even
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: a good idea. But it's so much easier when we
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: distill it all down to the stuff that really works,
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: and then we just stick with that and that reduces way.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: It means that we have less stuff to store. It
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: means we have less boxes to buy, less bags to buy.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: There's more room for groceries at the at the little
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: Mexican tienda that you just went to in Baja or whatever,
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: or maybe you find you finally found that piece of
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: art that you always wanted to bring home and you
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: can actually carry it in the vehicle.
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I mean, I think simplicity is as so
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: important as I always tell people, you know, get those
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: little red dot stickers and start start sticking them on stuff,
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: and it makes you kind of notice, like, oh, I
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: haven't used that in a long time. Like the thing
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: that we're cutting from our gladiator is we had this
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: kind of three and one barbecue buttane stove, grill, whateverything,
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: and it was probably forty pounds, and you know, we're like, oh,
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: this is great, We're really going to use it. We're
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: replacing it with this like a single butane burner because
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: you know, the only place we could fit it was
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: like behind the fridge, all the way in the back.
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: And you end up just not even and using it.
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: And then you had to have the case forwarding that
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: had to have everything for it. And you just just
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: constantly re evaluate, no matter how experienced of a traveler
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: you are, no matter how much you do this, no
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: matter how long you've been camping or overlanding or car
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: camping or whatever you want to call it, just constantly,
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: you know, be a little bit critical. I think of
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: what's going into your car. You know, you don't need
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: the five hundred and one you know piece Craftsman Automotive
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: tool set. Like the amount of people I know that
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: drive jeeps that are bringing you know, I guess new
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: jeeps are metrics, but you know.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: Figure out what your vehicle is.
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah, both SAE or do you need metric or what
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: do you need? You know, figure those things out. Your
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: vehicle may already have a toolkit.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: But yeah, and how to describe that process to the
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: listener of putting the red dot stickers on there? Do
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: you take everything out of the vehicle and then you
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: weigh it, put a sticker on it and put it
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: back in or how does that work for you?
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: I don't get that complicated with it.
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: And honestly, the red dot for me as a metaphor,
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: I don't really do the red dot. I just try
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: and be really really cognizant of what is in my car.
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: But I'm actually thinking about this the reason I recommend
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: the red dot, and it's simple, Yeah, take everything out
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: or as you're putting something new in, you know, put
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: that little red dot on there. And it's just a
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: visual reminder that when you do use it, and if
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: it's something you're using, take the red dot off.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah right.
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: You know, those little stickers are cheap, they're simple, they
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: don't really leave anything. You know, for example, that little
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: barbecue stove thing, if we would have put a red
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: dot on it thirty days in Baja over Christmas and
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: I think we used it once.
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, and we use it as a buttane stove.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: Especially like in I mean, I think about in when
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: I'm in Baja. The only thing I really use a
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: stove for is to make coffee, because it's the one thing.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: It's the one thing that typically sucks in Mexico is
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: coffee because the food. I can't imagine the desire anything
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: that there's nothing that I could prepare food wise that
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: would be better than what I could get at the
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: at the little local taco shops.
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: We love interacting with people, we love food, we love culture.
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: Like I like to go really really remote. That's that's
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: a huge thrill for me. But I'm not the kind
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: of person likes to go really really remote and then
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: stay there for a week, right, you know, I kind
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: of want to go, Okay, have my beer, watch the sunset,
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: go on to the next thing. Maybe some people think
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: that that's bad. You know, traveling is a personal thing.
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: It could be whatever you want. Yeah, it should be
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: whatever you want. Yeah, But I always think, you know,
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: as we as we talk with the fundamentals of storage,
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: I would always argue that less is.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: More so true.
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: I don't know, I mean, we're both fans of roof racks,
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: but we don't really put that much stuff on them
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: because that's where my firewood goes. That's where you know
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: the tire that is underneath my car that I blow
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: out and I have to replace, and I throw it
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: up there or whatever.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: It's kind of reserve capacity. It has to be reserve capacity.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: I think in most cases, especially if you're traveling with
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: other vehicles, if you have if you're in a two
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: party and you have a vehicle breakdown, you've got to
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: put all of their stuff or maybe even part of
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: your stuff on the roof in order to make room
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: for other people, right, so you can drive to the
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: next town and get help.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: So I do.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: I do like the roof rack for just like you said,
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: putting firewood on top. I like sleeping on a roof
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: rack when it's warm out. It's a great place to
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: sleep under the stars. It gives you that, you know,
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: like if you did find that, you know, that piece
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: of piece of furniture you always wanted to buy it
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: in Mexico, you have a place to put it. So
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: I do like the idea of keeping roof racks for
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: reserve capacity. We've talked about that in the past, and
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: we really need to know as travelers what is our
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: vehicle roofload rating, because that dictates how much we can
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: actually put on the on the roof rack. But if
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: we do put a roof rack up there, we want
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: to make it relatively light. And then when we think
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: about the stuff we're going to store on the roof,
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: if we do start to put things on the roof,
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: we really want to avoid the camel trophy approach, which, yeah,
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: that actually wasn't that smart. Yeah, well, and it came
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: from the fact that there was four full size adults
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: in every single Discovery. So you had this compact vehicle
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: one hundred inch wheelbase. Discoveries you've if you know those
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: of you who are listening that have been inside one
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: and been around one, they're actually very small cars. So
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: imagine four full size adults with all the gear that
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: you need to cross Calamantan.
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, like the rear.
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: Passenger and a Discovery is sitting on the rear axle,
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: that's right. Yeah, Yeah, they were sitting on the wheel
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: well of the rear axle. So that's why those vehicles
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: ended up with so much roof load. So you really
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: want to be careful with putting too much stuff up top. Also,
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: it's really difficult to access. It's easy for it to
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: get stolen. If you're parked in a hotel and you
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: got all the gear on the roof, it's really easy
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: for people to go up there and grab it. It's
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: easy for it to get damaged by trees and sun
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: damaged and all that other stuff. So roofload is kind
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: of the last But there are things that make sense
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: around that. I mean, there are easy on makes, these
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: cool alu box mounts. You know, Pelican cases can be
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: used on the roof, especially the new Pelican error which
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: is a lot lighter, but have that stuff bolted down
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: and secured so it isn't easy for it to get stolen. Yeah,
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: it's a complicated thing, you know, and especially like when
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: we're talking roofload ratings. You know, the more your vehicle's lifted,
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: if it has a larger diameter tire like that all
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: affects your center of gravity. I mean, all your roofload
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: rating is is how much weight can be up there
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: at stock center of gravity. So you know, as you
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: raise that vehicle, that roofload is going down, and that's
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: something definitely you know, to consider.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and it would be interesting to know, and maybe
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: there's a listener that's an engineer that could.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: Maybe help us with a calculation.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: But with every additional inch of height of the vehicle
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: with be from suspension or from tires, what's the percentage
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: you should reduce the roofload rating by. That would be
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: a really interesting thing to come up with and at
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: least have a general rule of thumb around that. In fact,
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: Matt and I will work on that. We'll see if
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: we can add that to the to the show notes.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: But I think that would be an interesting exercise to
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: look at. So you know, when you think about putting
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: gear in your vehicle, this is kind of like an
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: advanced technique and it's something that I've employed in my
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: own vehicles because it's had great results. But where is
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: your your weight distribution front and rear? So go to
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: a local scale, weigh the front two tires on the scale,
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: then weigh the rear two tires on the scale, and
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: figure out what your vehicle load distribution is. Matt was
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: talking about this earlier today. He's like, he's like, my
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: gladiator is getting so dialed in, but I really want
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: to know where's the weight now and what what motivated
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: you to want to look into that further. Is it
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: because of your racing days or what? What was the goal?
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: You know?
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: I I think I'm trying to build this jack of
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: all trades. I I like driving fast when I'm in
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: the desert and knowing that where that weight balance is.
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: Like I have a camper on mine, I have an
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: at summit on mine. I have drawers and a fridge
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: and a drop slide and some things. So it's not
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: it's not excessive, but I guess, you know, I can
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: kind of feel it, you know, I can feel that
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: the back end of that vehicle really kind of be
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: a little bit heavier. You know, you kind of tend
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: to get that pendulum feeling from a heavy, heavy, yeah,
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: heavy rear vehicle. And yeah, that's where it came from
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: for me. Is I'm really trying to just improve the
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: performance of the vehicle, the driveability of the vehicle. You know,
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: one of the things I pride myself on for the
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: vehicles I build is you're still usable on a day
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: to day basis, you know, I mean, you know, talking
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: about roof racks. I will never build an overland vehicle
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: that is over eight feet tall, because you can generally
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: find always finding modern parking garage that is eight feet tall.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: So there's just a lot of considerations that I maybe
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: I maybe think of because you know, yeah, if I'm
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: driving by some cool town, I want to be able
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: to go to it. If I'm driving by San Francisco,
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: I want to be able to park my car.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, so rooffracs are interesting.
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: And then you know, just figuring out that weight balance
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: really affects everything.
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: How are you going to address that in your gladiator?
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: What are some of the things that you're looking at
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: to change that will improve that weight balance?
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: Well, you know, right now, we keep our Jerry cans
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: of water in the back of the vehicle next to
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: the fridge, and you know, that's a that's a real
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: easy one. I'm gonna I'm going to design some kind
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: of custom tank that goes in the front of my
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: drawers that will actually put that weight in front of
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: the rear axle.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: So we're going to do that.
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: You know, we just switched to a lithium battery, so
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: that took out you know, we added huge amounts of
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: capacity and then we took a lot of weight out
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: of the vehicle, and that the only place I could
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: put that battery was was was pretty far back. And
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: then also small things like how I pack my drawers,
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: Like I really really like I like having drawers, and
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: I think where I differ from drawers is I see
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: a lot of people that have these immaculate you know, Oh,
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: here's where my ear fifteen goes. Here's where my little
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: axe goes. You know, here's where my recovery kit goes.
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: Those are the things you're never using when you're traveling us, Like,
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: so I stash those things as far forward as possible,
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: Like I move my tools into my goose gear seat
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: delete underneath the vehicle because that's as center as I
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: can get. And you think of density, A tool roll
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: is pretty dense. There's a lot of metal in there,
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: there's a lot of supplies and things like that. So
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: we're moving that stuff, that stuff forward. And then also
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: how we pack the drawers. We put the least used
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: things all the way at the what would be the
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: front of the drawer, because that puts the weight all
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: the way, you know, on my drawers four feet further
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: forward than having at the back. So we use the
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: rear for groceries, and we use the rear of the
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: drawers closest to you for close because those are the
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: lightest things that you can do.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: There's a lot of things I've never seen people You
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: put clothes in the drawers. Yeah, well, I don't want
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: to live out of a duffel bag. I don't need
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: these to be display pieces. I need them to be functional,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: you know, equipment, And that's free is just packing them appropriately.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: If you are going to put your tools in your drawers,
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: put them at the back because or the front.
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: Sorry I'm flip flopping. Put them as far forward in
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: the vehicle between the two axles as you can. If
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: you have something heavy, try and get it, you know,
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: in front of the rear axle or behind the front axle.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: And how do you access your clothes when you're inside
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: the camper or you just grab it ahead of time?
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean you're there's always going to be compromises,
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: you know, to everything.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: But you know, we we never really have.
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: A problem with that. We do everything in packing cubes.
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: So like we have a we have a little daycine
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: hacking cube thing for all of our toiletries.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: That we need.
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: You know that then hangs on the side when we
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: when we set up for camp, we have, you know,
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: all of our undergarments, underwear, all that kind of stuff.
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: We have those in separate things. I mean, I never, like,
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: I don't think that far into it, but it's just
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: really smart flexibility.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: It's a really smart idea in the in the g Wagon,
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: I've always put the tools as far forward in the
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: drawers that I can, and then in the back it's
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: like the lighter weight cooking kits. Yeah, like the snow
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: peaked titanium bowls and things that are really lightweight that
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: I have towards the back. But I definitely could use
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: reorganizing the G wagon drawers a little bit that in
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: a lot of my vehicles, I have avoided drawers because
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: of the weight that just the weight that just comes
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: from the drawer, itslf the expense that comes with the
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: drawer itself. But I do really like it in vehicles
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: that are set up primarily for travel, like your like
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: your Gladiator is, and like my gew Wagon is, where
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: that's really what I use the car for. And I
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: like the drawers because it allows a great place to
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: put the fridge on a slide that can come out
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: and then it also allows you to sense your stacking systems.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: In order for me to get to this stuff in
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: the drawer system, I don't have to remove everything else
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: to get to it. And that really saves a lot
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: of time. And I found that when you're camping a lot,
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: especially like a lot of North American travelers do we
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: move every day, that extra time savings really reduces frustration.
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: You know. One of the things we found is we
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: use alue boxes, which are an aluminum expedition case that
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: are I like them because they have these little feet
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: that kind of nests together, so I only need like
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: one and lashing strap to carry two cases.
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: Because that makes sense. It's it doesn't They don't shift.
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: Really move around, you know, so we decided to keep
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: you know a lot of people seem to keep like
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: food in boxes. Well, food is something you're accessing three
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: times a day.
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: The way I travel, I want to eat tacos for lunch,
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: you know, I want to you know, we'll try and
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: stay at campgrounds or hostels or whatever, and you know,
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: usually we'll eat somewhere for dinner every other night. So
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: for me, my cooking stuff that a lot of people
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: put in the drawers. I put that in a in
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: an alley box. And the reason for that is we
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: cook on a table. We keep the table underneath the
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: overhang on the summit, and that's something that we actually
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: don't access that much. But we want to keep the
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: food safe in a drawer because the drawers are actually
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: lit and it's easy, and we keep the clothes and
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: the other drawer and all of the cooking stuff, you know,
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: we keep in these cases because you're not cooking inside
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: of the vehicle. You're always cooking outside of the vehicle
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: for our set up, So you take those things, you
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: set them on the tailgate, you set them on the ground.
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: They can stay outside. If you're cooking at night. Let's
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: say you cook dinner, what are you going to have
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: to do that morning? You're gonna have to cook breakfast.
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: So why put them in, you know, in the drawer
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: when you can just have their and they can and
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: since those allue boxes are waterproof, it doesn't matter. You know,
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: you stick it under the truck or you leave it
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: where it's at. You just everything has its home and
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: you go back there. I really like the flexibility of
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: hard cases, but I also I tend to not travel
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: with soft bags really anymore because I have drawers and
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: things like that, and we we prioritize our clothes and
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: our food to be in those drawers.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the real advantage of the hard cases is they
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: can be lashed down securely because they don't compress. They
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: do a really good job of protecting the contents because
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: again they don't compress or get smashed because they have
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: some structure in and of themselves. So what I what
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: I've done, like on on the G wagon is drawer
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: system at the as the first layer, then wolf boxes
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: or alue boxes as a second layer, and then the
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: third layer is soft luggage for me because I do
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: put all of my clothes in a soft bag because
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: I typically, you know, I'll throw it up and throw
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: it up in the roof tent, or I'll throw it
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: into a ground tent, or I'll take it into a
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: to a little hasty enda that I'm staying in or
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: something like that.
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: Well, and I I guess, you know, we're talking about
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: two different vehicles. I have a five foot bed veil.
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: You have a lot more room.
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: And my MSA drawers are what I mean, I think
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: all but the front six inches are you know, one
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: hundred percent extension.
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's impressive.
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: So it just it gives me a different way to
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: maybe look at things, because even something that is at
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: the back wall of that drawer is.
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: One accessful to me.
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: And one thing you said actually sounded a little averatarial
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: full disclosure, I do sell those things.
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: That wasn't my intention with that. I just always trying
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: keep that separate. You know.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: One of the things you mentioned one of the last
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: times we were talking about the Gladiator is that you
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: kind of built it as this super capable, international ready RV.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: It's like your version of an RV.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think that that's probably the distinction, right,
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: is that the g wagon for me, or how I
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: typically travel in a wagon is kind of like a
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: bigger version of a motorcycle. Yeah, my travel tempo and
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: stuff doesn't really change much. I like to stay in
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: small towns. I like to to experience the local culture,
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: so I tend to camp out much less often unless
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: I'm in North America. If I'm in North America, I
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: tend to camp. If I'm in Baja, I tend to camp.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: But if I'm somewhere remote in Russia, I tend to
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: not camp. So I think the thing to recognize is
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: that everybody is going to have a different a different setup,
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: you know, for somebody that's staying in the United States,
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: you know, heck, yeah, I put that Air fifteen in
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: your drawers.
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: You know. Sure, I'm not saying my PS ninety conveniently
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: fits in my drawers, you know, not that I would know,
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: But I don't need that when I'm.
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: When I'm going overseats.
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: So I think it's this important find the things that
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: are important to you and just prioritize the use of them. Sure,
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: don't go for show and the pretty Instagram photo of
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: your drawers. Use the stuff. Put the stuff in there
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: that you're actually going to use, that you actually want
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: to keep safe. That's going to actually improve your quality
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: of life on the road.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and convenience access all that stuff is so important.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: Another little consideration is how many people you have in
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: the vehicle. If you've only if you're only traveling with
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: two people, consider removing the rear seats. By removing the
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: rear seats or even the third row seats, you gain
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: a bunch of payload back and you gain tons of space. Yeah,
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: tons of room. Now you did that on your gladiator. Yeah,
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: I did the goose gear. I'm going to call it
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: a three quarter seat delete. I don't know what the
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: actual percentage is. It took out two seats. There's one
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: seat left. I guessaid that's sixty six point.
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: Six probably a sixty sixty forty yeah, or whatever they're
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: calling it. And you know, we travel it's it's Laura
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: and myself and our greyhound.
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: Please adopt one. They're great.
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: But you know, we actually were able to fit an
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: entire square Costco Kirkland massive bed. He's a pretty big
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: dog in the back, and it also gives us a
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: place to store his food that he can't really get to.
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: We decided to keep one seat. The gladiator is pretty convenient.
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: Like the seat just like folds up and there's no mech,
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: there's no structure beneath it. So it's really not that
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: big of a of a of a trade off.
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: And sometimes you just need to haul somebody, yeah.
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: A guide of somebody that's taking you there, you.
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: Know, or a local, a local that needs some help,
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: or whatever friend you met at the bar and you
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: want to give him ride back to campsite or whatever
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: that is. I always like to have at least one
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: more seat. You know, some countries that you travel through,
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: you're going to have to have a guide, especially as
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: an American, and all lot of places, so you know,
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: do consider that before you rip out all of your seats.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but I typically remove the sixty of the sixty
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: forty and it's worked really well in my uses.
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: And even you know, some vehicles you don't have to
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: have a seat to lete, Like we didn't really need
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: a seat to lead, but it benefited us.
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: G Wagon.
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: You don't need a seat to lead because it's super
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: fly flat floor, you know. But you're taking out fifty
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: sixty seventy one hundred pounds from that vehicle, you know,
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: and you can reinvest that weight someplace else.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: And then also another thing to consider around storage, and
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: this is just a point that is a little bit
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: of a counterpoint to things like drawers and permanent storage installations,
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: is the more of the equipment that you can remove,
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: the lighter you can make the vehicle for certain scenarios.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: So I think back to a story I was told
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: years ago about to defender one ten that got stuck
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: down and they call them a which is a witch's
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: eye in the sand dunes. It's this natural wind formation
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: that's extremely difficult for a vehicle to get out of.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: And they ended up removing everything, all of the doors,
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: all of the equipment. They even removed the front seat
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: and he was I think he was sitting on a
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: box or something like that to get the vehicle basically
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: like the weight of a dune buggy, to eventually get
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: the defender out of the out of the dunes. So
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: there are definitely times when you want to be able
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: to remove all of the equipment quickly. You know, imagine,
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: you know, the vehicle stuck on the beach and you're
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: you need to remove.
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: All of your critical gear.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: If everything is in drawer systems and things like that,
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: it's a lot more difficult to remove that stuff.
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's the biggest downside to the drawers in my opinion.
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: It's just the weight associated with him. You can't really
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: it's not something you're taking out. I mean, that's something
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: that's pretty much going to stay in the vehicle as
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: long as you own it.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: But they have tons of convenience advantages. It's just think
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: about how you use the vehicle. If you if you
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: also use it to go to costco and you use it,
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: you know, as the family daily go get her. Then
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: maybe consider not putting in a drawer system and going
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: with stackable boxes like Alu boxes, because Zargis is another brand,
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: but those can be a great way of Pelicans. You
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: can you can take everything out, put it back into
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: family mode and go to go to the grocery store
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: and load it up full of stuff.
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: So I do like drawers.
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: Originally I was a little bit adverse to them, but
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: the vehicles that I have now all have the payload
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: capacity to accommodate it.
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: So I'll tell you, drawers never clicked for me until
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: you know, we did our big trip around Australia and
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: our troop carrier, and you know, when we left for
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: that vehicle, I had all my tools and the drawers
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: and I had, you know, all my recovery gear in
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: there and everything. And then for me, the big, the
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: big aha moment for drawers was well, actually I can
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: this could be my dresser, Yeah, this could be my pantry.
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: Those are the things that I was actually using every
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: all the time. You know, I'm not saying that you're
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: not actively using your recovery equipment, but I don't know.
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: I generally I eat more on trips than I recover
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: myself and you get stuck. Yeah, but you know, soft luggage,
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: I think there's some really really good stuff out. I'm
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: a huge fan of soft bags when I travel, especially
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: if I'm I'm flying somewhere and I'm renting a vehicle
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: like Scott and I were just in Namibia. Both soft
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: luggage for that it was really easy to throw in
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: the back.
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: Of the defenders.
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: You don't have to worry about them moving around like
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: I have a I have a you know, carry on
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: hard case that I travel with, and I would never
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: want to travel with that off road because it's just
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: it's just going to roll around every slide everywhere. Yeah,
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: and that's a nice thing with the soft luggage, especially
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: particularly if it's waterproof.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: You know. I've had this north Face Duffel for Yeah.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: Those Expedition Duffels are classic.
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: I've had since I was like fourteen years old, and
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: I just I can't kill it. It probably has a
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: million air miles on it.
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: Sure.
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: And then I have the thing I really like are
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: these Watershed Duffels. They're actually made almost say, they made
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: for like kayaking or stuff. Sure, they're a full rolltop.
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: And the cool thing with those is you can actually
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: kind of maintain some air pressure inside of them, so
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: when other bags are getting thrown on them, they'll hold air. Yeah,
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: they're completely waterproof and and you know, pretty cool. Espicial
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: a lot of those nicer pieces of soft luggage. They
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: have heavy duty buckles, and they have heavy duty strapping
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: points and even the shoulder straps. I've used shoulder straps
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: many times to help secure luggage in the back of
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: a vehicle. One of the soft luggage that I've used
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: for many years, used it for Expedition seven, et cetera
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: as red Ox, because I like the fact that they're
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: made in the USA. I do like that they're they're
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: designed to last a lifetime, and then they've also one
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: of the main reasons why I use it is that
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: they have these super heavy duty metal buckles on them,
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: so I can use a metal buckle to really strap
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: the gear down tightly. The only thing that I have
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: found that I don't care for about them is that
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: they're not waterproof enough for use on a roof rack,
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: like if you needed to throw the bag up top
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: and it was raining. Because the zippers allow for some
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: seepage and stuff that they're not as waterproof as like
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: a rolltop. Best roof rack bag that I've ever seen
• 28:39
  Speaker 3: and I've used is actually, I want to say it's
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: the front runner Monsoon bag. Don't quote me on it
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: being called I'm on Soon bag. But it actually has
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: kind of like a molded base in the bottom of
• 28:50
  Speaker 3: the bag, so it has some structure too. I'm smart,
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: so things aren't you know, things aren't falling in between
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: the slats on the roof rack or something if it
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: gets pressed down. And then it has like this aluminum
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: handle built into the carry. I don't know how to
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: you got to see one, We'll put it in the show. Yeah,
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: plenty of places to strap it down. It's meant to
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: go on a roofrack, and it's really cool. I actually
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: really really like those. They're just they're easy to get
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: stuff in. They're the perfect thing for a roofrack. So
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: if you are looking for that nice that's something that
• 29:23
  Speaker 3: I've had a good experience with.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: And then we're seeing even more of these kind of
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: hybrids where it's a like a nylon case that'll take
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: like two wolf boxes in it or something like that,
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: which that's an interesting idea probably makes it easy to
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: move around and things like that. But for the most part,
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: I do like if I go with a hard case
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: to be careful with weight. Pelicans are absolutely the bomber choice.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: If you yeah, if you've got your camera gear in it,
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: it's gonna go with a Pelican case, right, Yeah, I mean,
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: but if you're putting, if you're putting like your socks
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: and underwear in it, probably don't need a Pelican case
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: because they're heavy, and they're they're really expensive too.
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: I I don't know when I when I first got
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: into Overlin and I thought everything must be in a
• 30:10
  Speaker 3: Pelican case. I have to have my socks in a
• 30:12
  Speaker 3: Pelican case. I have to have my beef jerky in
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: a Pelican case. I have to have my camp stove
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: in a Pelican case. And then I realized I had
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: two hundred punds of Pelican cases.
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: Heavy.
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: I mean, if you if you want to make sure
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: that whatever you're putting in a case doesn't get broken
• 30:25
  Speaker 3: and that case doesn't break, by a Pelican case totally.
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: They're great, but they're so overkilled and they don't really
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: nest quite. They slide around quite a bit.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Like the Wolf boxes nest really well. The Alue
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: boxes nest really well. The Zargis cases nest really well.
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: I like those.
• 30:45
  Speaker 3: Those Like a few people make them. I think front
• 30:48
  Speaker 3: Runner calls and the cub packs and the w F packs.
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: They're probably the most prolific manufacturer of them. But they're
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: just a South African Army ammunition case. That's what I
• 30:57
  Speaker 3: use for all my camping and all my kitchen case is.
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: And they weigh like a pound, you know.
• 31:02
  Speaker 3: They kind of have these little latches, four latches you
• 31:05
  Speaker 3: can take the roof or the you know, the lid off.
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: I actually use those to organize within my drawers. Oh nice,
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: because if I need to move something around, or if
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: I need to, you know, put some more groceries in.
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 31:18
  Speaker 3: I basically have four of these things, I want to say,
• 31:21
  Speaker 3: three or four cub cub ones and each drawer, and
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: those are clever so happen to fit perfectly, and I
• 31:28
  Speaker 3: can just take stuff out as I need it. If
• 31:29
  Speaker 3: I want to take, you know, reuse the groceries that
• 31:33
  Speaker 3: I had from camping, put them in the house. I
• 31:35
  Speaker 3: just take the whole box and it's really easy and
• 31:37
  Speaker 3: it doesn't really cost me much weight.
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: And that's why I tend to use the Wolf boxes
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: is because I mean, right here we're at Overland Journal
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: offices right now, and and outside in our in our
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: bay where we keep all of our equipment, got these shelves,
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: and I can easily have all of my stuff labeled.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: You know, this is the kitchen box, this is the
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: tools box, this is the and it's really easy, Like
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: if I have a test vehicle or if I'm borrowing
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: a vehicle, I can easily just transition that stuff into
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: another another car. Which is so I do like, I
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: do like the Wolf boxes. They're they're much lighter, and
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: they're only about forty five bucks.
• 32:17
  Speaker 3: I think fifty bucks. Maybe I may be cheaper. Yeah,
• 32:22
  Speaker 3: so they're really affordable and.
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: That's what I like.
• 32:24
  Speaker 3: But I mean, you know, you can have the Gucci stuff,
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: but if you're going to have the Gucci stuff, you
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: better make sure you stow the money to travel, you know.
• 32:32
  Speaker 3: So if you're looking for something that is just a
• 32:34
  Speaker 3: rock solid, proven option, I think that those are really great.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: They are, and Aluback boxes are really nice. I like
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: the lightweight of aluminum boxes. They do a good job
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: of sealing, so that's one of the downsides of the
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: wolf packs is they don't seal well. A pelican is
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: sealed to submersion, an ALU box is sealed against the weather,
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: and a wolf pack you got to be a little
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: bit careful with dust and walk ingress with those. They
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: do okay, but they definitely are not waterproof or weatherproof.
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: But I do I do like the value boxes because
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: of how well they nest. In fact, when we were
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: crossing Greenland, we had a trailer that we had a
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: whole row of value boxes in and it was shocking
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: to me. With only one strap holding those things down,
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: it basically became like a superstructure. It was incredible how
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: well they would stay together. Yeah, and there's a bunch
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: of other things.
• 33:30
  Speaker 3: I mean, you know, for story and stuff, you have
• 33:32
  Speaker 3: like your Molly stuff, and those are pretty ubiquitous these days.
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: You can find specifically for like American vehicles, you know,
• 33:39
  Speaker 3: Forerunners and jeeps and whatever. If there is a square
• 33:43
  Speaker 3: inch of that space, you can cover it in some
• 33:45
  Speaker 3: kind of Molly panel guaranteed.
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: And those do have their place for international travel. I'm
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: a little less of a fan of that because if
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: someone's doing a vehicle inspection at a border, it's going
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: to look very military. And I'm really careful with any
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: malli et cetera around international travel. But if you're primarily
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: traveling in the US and Canada and even Mexico, it's fine.
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: But yeah, Mexico is an interesting one.
• 34:11
  Speaker 3: You know, digital camo is civilians cannot have that in Mexico.
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: I actually I have in the Max tracks. Yet I
• 34:20
  Speaker 3: have one of the only sets of multiicam Max tracks
• 34:23
  Speaker 3: that we sell to the Silcom guys. And I've actually
• 34:26
  Speaker 3: gotten nabbed for that in Baja before. Interesting, you know,
• 34:29
  Speaker 3: you're you're not supposed to have me. They were just
• 34:31
  Speaker 3: they're they're very predominant and large, and it's looks like
• 34:35
  Speaker 3: a military piece of equipment and are like, you can't
• 34:37
  Speaker 3: have that. So, I mean, I had a set of
• 34:39
  Speaker 3: orange ones that I threw on the other side. But
• 34:41
  Speaker 3: they will say stuff about that at the checkpoints in Baja.
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we want to respect their their rules, right, But
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: the advantage of the upside to Mali is that a
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: lot of this these smaller bags and and like you
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: and you need to access your head lamp.
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: It's in the forerunner.
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: Maybe it's super quick to get to or it's on
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: the back of the front seat, And those are the
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: advantages of that quick grab stuff because again, at the
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: end of the day, we're trying to get things as
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: well organized as possible without without being pedantic, without being OCD.
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: We want it to be organized where when it's dark
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: in the middle of the night and you're stuck and
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: you need to access your headlamp, you know where it's
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: at and it's easy to get.
• 35:22
  Speaker 3: And I love the seatback systems for that. I have
• 35:25
  Speaker 3: them and my land Cruiser, and I have them in
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: my Gladiator. And what do you have on the back
• 35:29
  Speaker 3: of the seat for you? I keep practical things. I
• 35:32
  Speaker 3: keep sunblock, I keep bug spray, I keep headlamps. I
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: keep snacks because I get angry, you know. I keep
• 35:40
  Speaker 3: dog tees, I keep maps. No, no, no, because the back
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: seats is you know, I just keep things, you know.
• 35:45
  Speaker 3: I think of it as like the locker room for
• 35:47
  Speaker 3: each person. Laura has one. I have one on the
• 35:50
  Speaker 3: back of our seats, and that's just where all of
• 35:52
  Speaker 3: our quick access stuff goes personal effects.
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: You know, they don't have to be completely full.
• 35:57
  Speaker 3: That's the thing I always tell people, just because there's
• 36:00
  Speaker 3: a space for something doesn't mean it has to be
• 36:02
  Speaker 3: occupied by it, you know, So we just keep the
• 36:05
  Speaker 3: quick things in their cell phone chargers, headphones, you know
• 36:09
  Speaker 3: that kind of stuff.
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, for those that are listening, pull up on Google
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: when you get a chance. Parkinson's theory in Parkinson's law,
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: and it's basically this idea that if we have space
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: or there, or if a bureaucracy has budget, you know,
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: it'll always expand to the available space, right, So it
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: is it is human nature too. If we have some
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: diddy bag, we're going to fill it full of something. Yeah,
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: if we've got a drawer system, we're going to find
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: a bunch of stuff to put inside it. So maybe
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: starting off with fewer places to put things might help
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: limit the amount of gear that we bring along.
• 36:47
  Speaker 3: I always say, like the things I keep on the
• 36:49
  Speaker 3: seedback systems. I drive a Jeep, so I don't have
• 36:52
  Speaker 3: a huge center console, Like it's not an F two
• 36:55
  Speaker 3: fifty where I can fit a person inside of it. Sure,
• 36:59
  Speaker 3: you know, so that's that's the replacement for me, I guess,
• 37:03
  Speaker 3: And I just like that as quick. What do you
• 37:05
  Speaker 3: normally put in your center consoles that we be your camera?
• 37:08
  Speaker 3: I do put my camera in there, like the jeep
• 37:11
  Speaker 3: Gladiator in jail is actually interesting. I can fit a
• 37:14
  Speaker 3: five D cannon and a twenty four to one oh
• 37:17
  Speaker 3: five lens with a lens cap on perfectly in there.
• 37:21
  Speaker 3: So it's really really easy to access nice and relatively
• 37:24
  Speaker 3: safe again, and then I don't have to have a
• 37:26
  Speaker 3: pelican case filled with camera gear.
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 37:28
  Speaker 3: So that's something that I'm constantly accessing, sure, because I
• 37:32
  Speaker 3: am you know, creating content for you know, business and
• 37:35
  Speaker 3: for magazines and things like that.
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: So I that's what I keep in there, and then
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: it's also not cluttered.
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: The only thing that I have on my seat back
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: is one of those quick, quick grab medical kits where
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: it's got you know, gloves, you know, turn a kit. Yeah,
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: just in case I come across an accident on the road. Yeah,
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: or that I have an accident and can out that
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: I've got. Yeah, that's actually.
• 38:01
  Speaker 3: Something that I that I could do better, and we
• 38:03
  Speaker 3: keep our we keep a more comprehensive medical kit for
• 38:06
  Speaker 3: us in the back.
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: But if it is anything to wear our.
• 38:09
  Speaker 3: Priorities, lie, we have a dog first aid kit within
• 38:12
  Speaker 3: reaching the yeah, you know, but yeah, that that's a
• 38:15
  Speaker 3: that's another great thing for that.
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: And that was something we made a note on to
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: talk about today. Is anything that is emergency related should
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: be easily accessible. And this is again from me learning
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: it the hard way. Maybe fifteen years ago. I was
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: pulling a trailer in Sonora, Mexico, and I went to
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: get back onto the road and because there's no shoulders
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: and like the asphalt is two feet to eat high
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: that you got to hop over that, I rolled the
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: trailer on the middle of in the middle of mex
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: two in Mexico. So the trailers, I can't get to
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: my flares. I can't get to my emergency triangle. I
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: have it all in the vehicle, but I couldn't. I
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: couldn't remember exactly where I had it, and it was
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: very deep and if I remember even some of it
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: was in the trailer. So having your jack accessible, like
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: when you put in all of these drawer systems and stuff,
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: make sure that the drawer system is it's covering.
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: That's where the molly stuff is so great. Yeh.
• 39:13
  Speaker 3: Sure bought some Mollie panels that go behind the rear
• 39:17
  Speaker 3: door on the gladiator and that's where I'm going to
• 39:19
  Speaker 3: put a fire extinguisher. It's really easy to get to.
• 39:23
  Speaker 3: I know that you know, people put them in the
• 39:26
  Speaker 3: you know, foot well or something and that's more accessible.
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: But I don't know. For me, that's fine.
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, just make sure that stuff is accessible when when
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: you start to prioritize space. It's easy to say when
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: am I ever going to need a fire extinguisher, But
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: when you do need it, you need it immediately.
• 39:45
  Speaker 3: Arguably, overland vehicles need a fire extinguisher more than anything
• 39:49
  Speaker 3: else out there on the road, like.
• 39:51
  Speaker 2: A lot of them that have burned down.
• 39:52
  Speaker 3: I've seen more burnt down jeeps and fumhel drives and
• 39:56
  Speaker 3: overland trucks than I have or old ones ever. Yeah,
• 40:00
  Speaker 3: and it's because of the electrical wiring.
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: Now you get you get.
• 40:03
  Speaker 3: Jabroni's that kind of just go in there and they're like,
• 40:06
  Speaker 3: oh sweet, I got some new LED lights and then
• 40:09
  Speaker 3: repeat that by twelve sets of LED lights and wires
• 40:13
  Speaker 3: crossing each other totally. That's why it's so I love
• 40:16
  Speaker 3: on these new vehicles like the integrated switch panels or
• 40:19
  Speaker 3: aftermarket switch pros and s pods, and I think airb
• 40:23
  Speaker 3: links as a system, like those things super tightly are
• 40:27
  Speaker 3: from needing that fire extinguisher to an extent.
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: But make sure that all of that emergency stuff is accessible.
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: Make sure your first aid kit is accessible, fire extinguisher,
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: you know the things, your bug out kit, the stuff
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: your you know, your SAT phone. Make sure that sat
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: phone isn't at the back of the drawer system. So
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: now when the water, when the vehicles underwater because you
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: failed an exit of a river, that you can actually
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: get to help. So that was one note that we
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: had is just to make sure that emergency equipment takes
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: price already in where it's placed in the vehicle, and
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: then be very thoughtful around organization so that it reduces time.
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: I think along the lines of Matt's suggestion with the
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: red dot is make note of the things that you
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: use all the time and move them into the more
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: and more accessible locations. Just because you spend a bunch
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: of time in your driveway organizing all your kit, you
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: don't have to stick with that. You can start to
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: change your plan to make it more convenient. And then
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: of course there are other things that we need to store.
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: We talked about firewood that can easily go on the rack,
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: but we also need to carry lots of water and
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: with lots of fuel. Huge amounts of water. Yeah, So
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: especially if you really want to rock up and enjoy
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: that two weeks on the beach in Baja, you're going
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: to bring a lot of water with you. So putting
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: the water down low and as far forward in the
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: vehicle as possible is key. There are really good water
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: tank systems. But where I start to get concerned is
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: when I see the eight foot long, six inch diameter
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: PBC pipe on the rack filled with water.
• 42:06
  Speaker 3: It's the It's the worst place you can put weight.
• 42:09
  Speaker 3: I mean, like we're not saying don't do roofracs, but
• 42:14
  Speaker 3: roof fracks are in the worst place on a vehicle.
• 42:16
  Speaker 3: I mean, weight that is high up is worse than
• 42:19
  Speaker 3: weight that is down low. You know, I always I
• 42:22
  Speaker 3: always question and people put fuel and water on their roofrack.
• 42:25
  Speaker 3: It looks cool, it looks cool, but now your water
• 42:28
  Speaker 3: is you know, I guess for showers, I think that's
• 42:31
  Speaker 3: the whole point of those of those systems. But you know,
• 42:35
  Speaker 3: then you do get this solar gain from it and whatnot.
• 42:38
  Speaker 3: But you know, I see people put you know, water
• 42:40
  Speaker 3: pack things on the roof and well, now your water's
• 42:45
  Speaker 3: like eight hundred degrees and tastes like you know, like
• 42:48
  Speaker 3: plastic exactly. Yeah, and the same with fuel. Like what
• 42:51
  Speaker 3: happens when you roll your vehicle right, You're you're literally
• 42:54
  Speaker 3: covering every square inch of your vehicle in gasoline.
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 42:59
  Speaker 3: That's you know, cause it's gonna leak. I mean, that's
• 43:01
  Speaker 3: gonna it's it's it's most likely. Yeah, there's a really
• 43:04
  Speaker 3: good chance of that.
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 43:05
  Speaker 3: I'm a big fan of, you know, extended range fuel
• 43:08
  Speaker 3: tanks for that reason. I know that they're pricey and whatnot,
• 43:12
  Speaker 3: but I think that that's something that I use a.
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: Lot, and it gets the weight down very low in
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: the vehicle, and it typically is frame mounted, so it's
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: a very secure place to store the fuel. I've also
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: done that used extended range tanks, and that really makes
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: a difference. But if I do use fuel cans, like
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: for example, when I was crossing the Altar Desert years
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: ago in a land Rover, I removed part of the
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: rear seat, put it as far forward and as low
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: down as possible, and then you use hike.
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: I remember how you did that.
• 43:44
  Speaker 3: They were like stacked up on the right rear seats
• 43:48
  Speaker 3: and you used you know, NATO Jerry cans or.
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: Something, which have really good seals and they don't tend
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: to off gas or leak. I didn't have any leaks
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: or experience any leaks during that trip, So you want
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: to make sure you've got fresh seals and those and
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: you're paying attention to not not damaging how they align
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: for a good seal. And then water I tend to use.
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: I like to use MSR Dramedary dromedary bags.
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: Up from you for sure.
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: And I just put them in the wheel well or
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: not in the will in the footwell of the rear seats.
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: Because even if you've got kids, which I don't have kids,
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: but even if somebody has kids, you could still your
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: kids are sitting in the seat and their legs are
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: kind of dangling, you can still have it filled with
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: with water.
• 44:33
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: Front Runner makes of a really really clever one cut
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: out for a transmission tunnel.
• 44:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, really clever ones too. I actually just do want
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: one of those. Those are clever. Yeah.
• 44:46
  Speaker 3: I you know this isn't a paid ad for front Runner,
• 44:49
  Speaker 3: that this actually happened. Cool stuff. I mean, like South
• 44:52
  Speaker 3: Africans do this every weekend. They do and they have
• 44:55
  Speaker 3: for thirty years. Water bladders and fuel bladders aren't really
• 45:00
  Speaker 3: super popular, but I do really like those. I often
• 45:03
  Speaker 3: question why why more people don't use those instead of bags,
• 45:08
  Speaker 3: you know, if they're you know.
• 45:09
  Speaker 2: For example, instead of tanks.
• 45:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, if a private jet needs to fly to Australia
• 45:14
  Speaker 3: or something, oftentimes a lot of these leer jets they
• 45:17
  Speaker 3: use you know, auxiliary tank fuel bladders that go in
• 45:22
  Speaker 3: place of passengers or whatever. If it's good enough for
• 45:25
  Speaker 3: a you know, an aerospace environment, I assure you it's
• 45:29
  Speaker 3: fine for your tacoma.
• 45:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: And there's a couple, I mean, Giant Loops them sells
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: some really good quality collapsible fuel bladders that And the
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: cool thing about those is when you're done with them,
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: when you're when the fuel has been taken out of them,
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: you can just roll them.
• 45:48
  Speaker 3: Up and you don't have that space and you make
• 45:50
  Speaker 3: those decisions that you make like that. They compound, right,
• 45:55
  Speaker 3: because that water jug that you have that's now empty,
• 45:58
  Speaker 3: still has to be.
• 45:59
  Speaker 2: Stored still the same volume.
• 46:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that fuel can that you have to buy the
• 46:03
  Speaker 3: bumper for. That adds weight to the rear of the vehicle,
• 46:06
  Speaker 3: that makes it handle like crap, That makes it worse
• 46:08
  Speaker 3: off road. You know, you don't have to you don't
• 46:12
  Speaker 3: have to store it, and and you start to think
• 46:14
  Speaker 3: like that when it comes to storage, and all of
• 46:16
  Speaker 3: a sudden, you know, your vehicle is just more flexible,
• 46:20
  Speaker 3: it's more lightweight.
• 46:21
  Speaker 2: It's nicer to drive.
• 46:22
  Speaker 3: You're not you're not going down the road, and you
• 46:24
  Speaker 3: don't have things rattling, things rattling, like you know, the
• 46:29
  Speaker 3: interior of my jeep looks pretty much stuck the back
• 46:31
  Speaker 3: of my jeep jeep, like when it's loaded, you can't
• 46:34
  Speaker 3: tell that it's loaded or empty, because everything kind of
• 46:38
  Speaker 3: has its home, its place. And I think, I don't know.
• 46:42
  Speaker 3: I mean, maybe that's a good A good thing is
• 46:44
  Speaker 3: just to make sure everything has a home.
• 46:47
  Speaker 2: Everything in its place right.
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: And I think that when it comes to storage is
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: thinking thinking layers have the stuff that you use most often,
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: most successible. To Matt's point, stuff that you don't use,
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: Maybe leave it at home next time, so that you're
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: carrying less weight and less complexity and there's less risk
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: of loss because you've you've not brought as many expensive
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: things along. And I think that when it comes to
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: hard versus soft, make sure that everything at the end
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: of the day is lashed down properly. It really doesn't
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: matter if you if you really like.
• 47:24
  Speaker 3: All missiles, when you hit a brick wall or you know,
• 47:27
  Speaker 3: people tend to think a roll or whatever. Yeah, people
• 47:30
  Speaker 3: tend to think that you're going to get hit. It's
• 47:32
  Speaker 3: always going to be someone else's fault. Yeah, Well what
• 47:36
  Speaker 3: happens when you're just going down a trail and you
• 47:38
  Speaker 3: go around a blind turn and it's just completely washed
• 47:40
  Speaker 3: out and your vehicle nose dives into a wash or
• 47:44
  Speaker 3: there's a tree that's fallen, and things that are just
• 47:47
  Speaker 3: out of your control, you know that.
• 47:50
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's all a projectile.
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: Anything, anything can happen with that, and having it all
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: lash down is really really critical. So I think when
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: it comes to storage, keep it simple, right yeah, and
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: reduce the amount of stuff you have, lash it down properly,
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: and then leave the stuff at home that you aren't
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: using anything else you got, Matt.
• 48:12
  Speaker 3: I think, just think think in terms of efficiency, Like
• 48:15
  Speaker 3: I know, I'll use the example of like those action
• 48:18
  Speaker 3: packer things that you can get at Walmart, like a
• 48:20
  Speaker 3: lot of people use. Though the way they're reinforced and
• 48:22
  Speaker 3: the way that lid is like the walls aren't even
• 48:25
  Speaker 3: out a ninety.
• 48:26
  Speaker 2: Degree really space inefficient. Yeah.
• 48:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so you know you can have something smaller that
• 48:31
  Speaker 3: is actually larger if you just do the research, figure
• 48:35
  Speaker 3: out what works for you, and try and be minimal.
• 48:39
  Speaker 3: I'm not saying don't bring the things with you that
• 48:41
  Speaker 3: increase your comfort that you actually use, just don't bring
• 48:44
  Speaker 3: the stuff with you that you don't use.
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: Totally keep it simple. And on that note, ye, we
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: will talk to you all about more principles of it
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: and we'll finish our white clause.
• 48:56
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: Oh jeez, yeah, I mean, like I kind of feel
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: guilty admitting that it was quite refreshing.
• 49:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we were trying to be hip. This is us
• 49:06
  Speaker 3: trying to be hip with overlanding. Take care, guys, and
• 49:09
  Speaker 3: we will talk to you next time.