Useless piece of kit??

[Overland Tonka]

Another, Lets keep the Watering Hole alive, thread..

What is the most useless piece of kit you have bought for your overland vehicle.???

We have all seen those flashy "Must have" items at shows/shops and in magazines, but would you admit to being sucked into a purchase only to realise the money would have been better spent on something else?? I.E ..

[RussG]

A solar shower

It was only a few quid in my defence.

Oh and the 6hr roof rack. So called because that's how long it lasted before my wife drove under (or not actually) a height restrictor

[moggy 1968]

on the subject of roofracks, my upracks roofrack which broke a weld before I even put any weight on it, and they were completely uniterested in sorting it out

[Overland Tonka]

Originally Posted by moggy 1968

on the subject of roofracks, my upracks roofrack which broke a weld before I even put any weight on it, and they were completely uniterested in sorting it out

So...useless roofrack, useless company or useless Moggy for buying a load of rubbish??

[Overland Tonka]

I'm sure i will think of a few..the first is a shovel. One of those fold up army types.
It was only when i hit the "Buy it now" button that i realised it was made for people from Liliputt...ok if you want to make sand castles on the beach with the kids.

[zimcruza]

CampingGaz 2 plate stove with grill. Inefficient and ineffective. Still sitting in the garage - now replaced with a Coleman fold up number and a JetBoil (now that's an amazing bit of kit).

Then there's the Howling Moon tourer roof tent - now sold. I think I used the bottom add-on tent maybe 3 times in 4 years ...

Must be others - my garage is full

[Overland Tonka]

Oh dear...Yes, that just reminded me.

The zip/clip on room that attaches to our awning..looks great and works great.

Took it away with us on our shakedown trip..never used it at the time, so have not taken it with us on our RTW trip. Just left it at our parents.

Anyone want to admit they took a winch, but never used it???

[Griffdowg]

Originally Posted by Overland Tonka

Anyone want to admit they took a winch, but never used it???

Took a winch... used it twice

Took a ground anchor, never used it!

G

[RussG]

Originally Posted by moggy 1968

on the subject of roofracks, my upracks roofrack which broke a weld before I even put any weight on it, and they were completely uniterested in sorting it out

Of course others will have an opposing view but IMHO all roof racks are junk, I've got an almost phobic dislike of them. Comes from years of driving grossly overweight series 3 and defender's

I've now only got those inflatable things, great for strapping a Christmas tree to the roof or a kayak for no more than 1 mile.

[moggy 1968]

Originally Posted by Overland Tonka

I'm sure i will think of a few..the first is a shovel. One of those fold up army types.
It was only when i hit the "Buy it now" button that i realised it was made for people from Liliputt...ok if you want to make sand castles on the beach with the kids.

so, useless shovel, or useless Tonka for buying a toy shovel instead of a proper piece of kit

[Overland Tonka]

Originally Posted by moggy 1968

so, useless shovel, or useless Tonka for buying a toy shovel instead of a proper piece of kit

Defiantly useless me.... your turn Moggy..

[nickdisjunkt]

For me it has to be the gaslow propane bottle gauge. It fits onto the regulator (high pressure side) and is supposed to give you an indication of how much gas is remaining in the bottle.

It reads full until you have about 4 seconds of cooking time remaining, and then shoots across to empty, leaving you with lukewarm water for your tea and undercooked bacon in the frying pan.

[Overland Tonka]

Originally Posted by nickdisjunkt

For me it has to be the gaslow propane bottle gauge. It fits onto the regulator (high pressure side) and is supposed to give you an indication of how much gas is remaining in the bottle.

It reads full until you have about 4 seconds of cooking time remaining, and then shoots across to empty, leaving you with lukewarm water for your tea and undercooked bacon in the frying pan.

Thats saved me a purchase....

[reallybigtruck]

12-ton winch and a tri-gas alarm...

The one time we did get stuck the winch was useless unless I used the locals as groundanchor. And the tri-gas alarm was just silly...

[nickdisjunkt]

Originally Posted by reallybigtruck

12-ton winch and a tri-gas alarm...

The one time we did get stuck the winch was useless unless I used the locals as groundanchor. And the tri-gas alarm was just silly...

We installed a Nerius gas alarm which is sensitive to Butane/propane and also Carbon Monoxide.

I did like the ability to isolate the gas from inside the truck easily using the remote button for the solenoid valve, but the carbon monoxide sensor was far too sensitive. It used to go off whenever the inside of the truck got warm and traumatise the dog whilst we were out. I ended up taping over carbon monoxide sensor. The LPG sensor worked fine, although our only gas appliance has a flame-out device anyway.

Winches big enough to pull trucks like ours are extremely heavy, esopecially hydraulic ones, and everyone I've spoken to who has one says that they've only used to pull someone else out. We didn't fit one and never regretted the decision.