The Status of Overlanding Today
- Thread starter JCliftonB
- Start date
Well, something that seems to be common in the thread is everyone agrees it is a consumer driven market.
While that benefits a lot of us, 95% of the consumers are fighting over the ‘dispersed’ camping anyone can get to in a Corolla or a rav 4.
There have only been a handful of trips on here since I joined where anyone did anything more challenging then van life.
I will document my trip this fall in my jeep. While it won’t be as challenging as Dan grec (who is) it will be more difficult then 90% of the builds here could (or key word WOULD) do. My challenge will be living out of a jeep (inside) in the fall/winter months doing jeep trails that few on this site will ever see.
If you can’t take your vehicle on a jeep trail you are just camping. I see some of these folks with their off-road trailers on their Jeep’s getting after it and damn, those look pretty impressive.
I can see the value in that. Waving at all the ‘expedition’ vehicles and the 1 tons with their 10’ tall and 9’ wide campers as they go further and pick the perfect spot with 90% of the same luxuries.
Seriously, way too many people on here are obsessing over how many watts there ac, big screen tv, microwave will take so they can add a 30k solar system to their 200-300k ‘exepedtion’ build that they will sell before it goes 100 yards off of a graded gravel road. God bless the dude traveling with his full size rig and pulling a small jeep. He has a lot right. He goes farther with that rig then most and then takes the jeep as far as that will go.
While that benefits a lot of us, 95% of the consumers are fighting over the ‘dispersed’ camping anyone can get to in a Corolla or a rav 4.
There have only been a handful of trips on here since I joined where anyone did anything more challenging then van life.
I will document my trip this fall in my jeep. While it won’t be as challenging as Dan grec (who is) it will be more difficult then 90% of the builds here could (or key word WOULD) do. My challenge will be living out of a jeep (inside) in the fall/winter months doing jeep trails that few on this site will ever see.
If you can’t take your vehicle on a jeep trail you are just camping. I see some of these folks with their off-road trailers on their Jeep’s getting after it and damn, those look pretty impressive.
I can see the value in that. Waving at all the ‘expedition’ vehicles and the 1 tons with their 10’ tall and 9’ wide campers as they go further and pick the perfect spot with 90% of the same luxuries.
Seriously, way too many people on here are obsessing over how many watts there ac, big screen tv, microwave will take so they can add a 30k solar system to their 200-300k ‘exepedtion’ build that they will sell before it goes 100 yards off of a graded gravel road. God bless the dude traveling with his full size rig and pulling a small jeep. He has a lot right. He goes farther with that rig then most and then takes the jeep as far as that will go.
vintageracer
To Infinity and Beyond!
The "Overlanding" FAD will fade just like all the other FAD'S that are so important to so many in the current moment.
The regulars will stay engaged and the "Poser's" will move on to the next FAD.
Remember it's "All About Me" and heaven forbid that "I" would be so out of the moment with something so yesterday as "Overlanding"!
Just give it a little Mo Time!
The regulars will stay engaged and the "Poser's" will move on to the next FAD.
Remember it's "All About Me" and heaven forbid that "I" would be so out of the moment with something so yesterday as "Overlanding"!
Just give it a little Mo Time!
Todd n Natalie
OverCamper
UglyViking
Well-known member
I feel this quote so deeply. The sears toy book, and later the full catalog with all the things (including what seemed like the full craftsman line), then later came the cabelas catalog. Oh I spent many hours flipping through hunting clothing that was far too expensive, and boots I deemed to over the top, but I'd build out my dream hunting setup, only to realize it was well into "comma territory" for a single late season outfit.
The biggest issue I've got with the ******** to online, is that it's not built at all for "browsing", and partially because there is no limit to the number of items that can be displayed. The need for curating products has gone out the window. Just today I was trying to get some of those new cellular trail cams. Just on Cabelas website alone there are 75 different models. Like, how on earth am I going to trim that down to a good few options?
Honestly, the curation is probably one of the reasons that harbor freight, of all places, is so successful. They have stuck with their whole "good, better, best" and it's made picking items that much easier for a lot of folks. I no longer have to decide on one of 5 brands in the mid tier level, I just pick the tier I want and I'm done. I think there is obviously a happy medium, but in the age of the internet we have become so flooded with choices that we have decision paralysis, or at least I do.
P.S. I went with the Tactacam Reveal X 2.0 in case anyone was wondering.
billiebob
Well-known member
PS... I just bought this last month, it was in the Sears Craftsman Catalogue 40 years ago and I wanted it then too.... I found it locally on facebook. But I wanted it long before the internet.
The Craftsman Radial Arm Drill Press... I've only used it a few times but it is becoming my favourite tool.
AbleGuy
Officious Intermeddler
The J. C. Whitney catalog was another one of my favorites…remember them?
Stormhammer
Member
DAJIBAN!
Nonimouse
Cynical old bastard
I've been going off on vehicle dependant ravel for years. Since 1986. First on my Daytona (Europe, Greece, Yugoslavia, Turkey), then in a Series LWB (Tamanrasset, then Wset Coast of Africa down to Cameroon) then in a raft of vehicles - mainly Land Rovers, powered by 200Tdi engines, but Nissan 720, Hi-lux, Auverland, throughout Africa, the former USSR, Asia, Scandinavia, Australia and South America. Never North America - not sure why, but it's on my bucket list.
When I first started, there was no specialist kit for sale. You never used military kit, unless you could hide it's origin. The dollar was the door opener everywhere. England was still respected.
You were invited in to homes and fed. In Siberia, i was invited into a home where they were too poor to have anything, bar black bread and Vodka. I shared my food. One of the best few days of my life. That time I was driving an Averland A3. So I looked like I was as poor as them. No spot lights, No fridge. Only one battery!
Advancing old age and having childred late in life have somewhat curtailed my travels in recent years. I still go to Europe, although a return to Morocco in a couple of years is on the cards.
I wouldn't dream of tarting up my vehicle with shiny stuff that showed off my wealth, or used up all that travel money - that's just a slap in the face for folk poorer than some.
On the other hand, I've noticed that very few of the really shiny motors ever travel very far.....maybe they have run out of money?
As for the market milking every shekel from the masses, what do you expect? There are always people who will pay
When I first started, there was no specialist kit for sale. You never used military kit, unless you could hide it's origin. The dollar was the door opener everywhere. England was still respected.
You were invited in to homes and fed. In Siberia, i was invited into a home where they were too poor to have anything, bar black bread and Vodka. I shared my food. One of the best few days of my life. That time I was driving an Averland A3. So I looked like I was as poor as them. No spot lights, No fridge. Only one battery!
Advancing old age and having childred late in life have somewhat curtailed my travels in recent years. I still go to Europe, although a return to Morocco in a couple of years is on the cards.
I wouldn't dream of tarting up my vehicle with shiny stuff that showed off my wealth, or used up all that travel money - that's just a slap in the face for folk poorer than some.
On the other hand, I've noticed that very few of the really shiny motors ever travel very far.....maybe they have run out of money?
As for the market milking every shekel from the masses, what do you expect? There are always people who will pay
irish44j
Well-known member
meh, it's all relative. People will assume what they want to assume. Some think you're an overlander. Some think you're a poser, who cares.
Like, for me...my Sequoia has a big rack, upsized KO2s, shitloads of roof lights, 8' awning, 7-gallon water tank, under-floor gear platform, antennas, etc..........
But I'm no overlander. In fact, I rarely camp anyplace that isn't a racetrack parking lot. For all its looks, my rig is a tow and support vehicle for my rally racing. I do sleep inside it sometimes (7' flat storage floor = no need for RTT).....the awning is for working on the rally car out in the hot sun. The water tank is to wash everything off after rally racing all day. The roof rack more often carries tires for the car than any other gear. The antennas are for comms with the race car out on stage. The lights are for fixing broken rally car parts and/or loading up in dark grassy fields at night, or for trudging down fire roads with a 16' trailer going to rescue a broken rally car where there's no lights.
Sure, I live in the $$ DC suburbs.....can't throw a stone without hitting a Jeep or 4Runner or Taco or Land Cruiser without a RTT and ARB bumper.....most of which never ever see any dirt at all. But whatever, maybe they do and I don't know because they wash it good the day they get home from the forests. Or maybe they just like the build (I love the build). So I try not to judge too much.
my "overlanding" lol....
of course, my rally car probably off-roads more than 95% of the 4x4s in this area lol. Maybe it's an "overlander"
Like, for me...my Sequoia has a big rack, upsized KO2s, shitloads of roof lights, 8' awning, 7-gallon water tank, under-floor gear platform, antennas, etc..........
But I'm no overlander. In fact, I rarely camp anyplace that isn't a racetrack parking lot. For all its looks, my rig is a tow and support vehicle for my rally racing. I do sleep inside it sometimes (7' flat storage floor = no need for RTT).....the awning is for working on the rally car out in the hot sun. The water tank is to wash everything off after rally racing all day. The roof rack more often carries tires for the car than any other gear. The antennas are for comms with the race car out on stage. The lights are for fixing broken rally car parts and/or loading up in dark grassy fields at night, or for trudging down fire roads with a 16' trailer going to rescue a broken rally car where there's no lights.
Sure, I live in the $$ DC suburbs.....can't throw a stone without hitting a Jeep or 4Runner or Taco or Land Cruiser without a RTT and ARB bumper.....most of which never ever see any dirt at all. But whatever, maybe they do and I don't know because they wash it good the day they get home from the forests. Or maybe they just like the build (I love the build). So I try not to judge too much.
my "overlanding" lol....
of course, my rally car probably off-roads more than 95% of the 4x4s in this area lol. Maybe it's an "overlander"
Todd n Natalie
OverCamper
Man, that rally car looks like loads of fun!meh, it's all relative. People will assume what they want to assume. Some think you're an overlander. Some think you're a poser, who cares.
Like, for me...my Sequoia has a big rack, upsized KO2s, shitloads of roof lights, 8' awning, 7-gallon water tank, under-floor gear platform, antennas, etc..........
But I'm no overlander. In fact, I rarely camp anyplace that isn't a racetrack parking lot. For all its looks, my rig is a tow and support vehicle for my rally racing. I do sleep inside it sometimes (7' flat storage floor = no need for RTT).....the awning is for working on the rally car out in the hot sun. The water tank is to wash everything off after rally racing all day. The roof rack more often carries tires for the car than any other gear. The antennas are for comms with the race car out on stage. The lights are for fixing broken rally car parts and/or loading up in dark grassy fields at night, or for trudging down fire roads with a 16' trailer going to rescue a broken rally car where there's no lights.
Sure, I live in the $$ DC suburbs.....can't throw a stone without hitting a Jeep or 4Runner or Taco or Land Cruiser without a RTT and ARB bumper.....most of which never ever see any dirt at all. But whatever, maybe they do and I don't know because they wash it good the day they get home from the forests. Or maybe they just like the build (I love the build). So I try not to judge too much.
my "overlanding" lol....
of course, my rally car probably off-roads more than 95% of the 4x4s in this area lol. Maybe it's an "overlander"
irish44j
Well-known member
poopypants
New member
My dentist used something like that on me once
irish44j
Well-known member
I happened to be out picking up some lumber today and stopped at 7-11. As I'm inside, guy comes in and says "is that your 4Runner out there and do you overland it??".....First I corrected him that it's a Sequoia (lol), then noted that no, not an "overlander" but use it for rally support and some camping stuff. Then he goes on for several minutes about overlanding and all these spots I should hit out west (I am on the east coast).
Sometimes I think it would be easier (and probably make the other guy happier) just answer "yeah, I overland the ******** out of this thing!"
Sometimes I think it would be easier (and probably make the other guy happier) just answer "yeah, I overland the ******** out of this thing!"