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4 wheel Overland Travel NON-technical 4 wheel forum, for subjects specific to TRAVEL with 4 (or more!) wheeled vehicles. e.g. Driving Techniques, Shipping etc.
Photo by Marc Gibaud, Clouds on Tres Cerros and Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia

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Photo by Marc Gibaud,
Clouds on Tres Cerros and
Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia



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  #1  
Old 1 Sep 2008
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Quote:
Originally Posted by onlyMark View Post
I know the 7 p's thing, but does any one ever buy a bog standard vehicle and throw some camping kit in the back, maybe with a spare jerry can for water?
Yes... I ran parallel with a Dutch couple part of our journey. They had a standard 70 Series Landcruiser with 420 000km on the clock and two Thule boxes on the roof. No problems at all!!! We tend to overdo it in the UK, probably a hangover from the LR days where you needed a whole stack of spares....
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  #2  
Old 1 Sep 2008
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I think there does become a point where what you need bleeds over to what you think you might need to what you think you might need to be comfortable.
I'd also love to see what the differences would be if you asked a male and a female each to set up for an overland, giving them free rein.
I'd bet the male would always find room for the gadget that takes boy scouts out of horses hooves whereas the female would do the same for the extra special hair conditioner.
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  #3  
Old 2 Sep 2008
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Originally Posted by Graham Smith View Post
We tend to overdo it in the UK, probably a hangover from the LR days where you needed a whole stack of spares....
Er... if you have a LR you *do* need a whole stack of spares! :-)

Agree that most people overdo it, including myself. It's like that quotation about packing - take half as much stuff and twice as much money. Applies just as much to overlanding as a package holiday to Ibeefa.

Mike
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  #4  
Old 2 Sep 2008
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But when I've gone to Ibiza I've never had enough shoes or handbags.
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  #5  
Old 2 Sep 2008
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When asking our landrover dealer on what spares to take - his reply was
"your credit card and our telephone number" - and it worked!

Spares we did take included bulbs, fuses, pair fan belts, plus the usual travelling tool kit which came in handy for other things (like straightening tent poles bent by drunken Norweigians!) and the only spare part we needed to get from the UK was an alternator (it was actually simpler and cheaper and a damn site quicker getting it direct from the UK).

We probably did have a tool for getting a boy scout out of a horses hoof but we definitely did not have spare handbags, hairdryers or hair conditioner!
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  #6  
Old 6 Sep 2008
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The majority of African Overlanders are actually locals and these guys usually have little more than a bottle jack and a bit of ratty rope in terms of equipment!

I haven't done a RTW trip or been to North Africa yet but after living and working in Africa since 1991 I've found you can get by with remarkably little. All the gadgets just make any job easier and quicker. Spares (Esp. Jap spares and spares for older vehicles) are available in most big towns and all you really need in excess is time.

However I am a bit of a hoarder and so all the little cubby holes in my vehicle tend to get filled up with arb nuts & bolts, bits of wire and tools.
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  #7  
Old 6 Sep 2008
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But not spare radiators and head gaskets then?
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  #8  
Old 6 Sep 2008
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Don't be a clever b@stard - I bought your book remember!

Patching up radiators can usually be done locally (braising etc) - I've had it done in Bulawayo, Vic Falls and Nairobi - Jua Kali's etc. I've even had brake pipes, that chafed through, repaired under a Frangipangi tree.

I sourced a gasket set in Livingstone but had to get the vehicle back to Bulawayo or Lusaka for pressure testing and skimming. So what I am saying is that apart from catastrophic engine failure most things can be fixed or found given the time as long as you stay away from very modern engines with electronic fuel management etc.
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