Principles of Overlanding: Storage Solutions

Overland Journal Podcast Episode #24

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Welcome to the journey of overlanding, where the art of packing becomes just as crucial as the journey itself. In this guide, derived from our recent discussion at the OVERLAND Journal Podcast with hosts Scott Brady and Matt Scott, we delve into the essential principles for organizing and maximizing storage in your overland vehicle. Whether you’re a novice camper or a seasoned traveler, these insights will help you navigate the best strategies for packing efficiently and thoughtfully for your adventures.

The Importance of Keeping It Light

One of the fundamental principles of overlanding is the idea that less is more. One of the most critical factors in maintaining your vehicle’s performance is managing its weight. For instance, track enthusiasts measure every ounce; a principle that hasn’t fully permeated the overlanding community until now. Overloading can affect handling, fuel efficiency, and safety. Therefore, focus on essentials and learn to travel light. It’s not just about removing excess weight—it’s about removing distractions, both physical and mental.

Smart Storage Solutions: From Roof Racks to Drawers

Whether you’re using roof racks, soft bags, or hard cases, the goal is to maximize utility and minimize frustrations. Roof racks are excellent for overflow but be cautious about overloading them. Use them for firewood, extra caseloads, or even a reserve if you need to shift gears with another vehicle in your convoy. The secret lies in creatively utilizing available space without encumbering access or overloading the top, which can shift your center of gravity.

The Red Dot Technique and Reassessment

Matt Scott suggests using the metaphorical “red dot” technique to weigh and assess what you truly need. As you pack, mark items that you use often and reconsider the value of those that sit idle. Over time, this practice brings clarity to what’s vital, helping you shed unnecessary baggage and streamline your equipment. Constant evaluation ensures that your setup suits your purposes and that you aren’t burdened by unused items.

The Role of Hard and Soft Storage

In determining whether to use hard or soft storage, consider the nature of your journey. Hard cases like AluBoxes or Pelican cases are sturdier and safer for more fragile equipment, but they add weight. Soft bags, particularly those that are waterproof, are ideal for lightweight use and easier packing flexibility when traveling internationally. Soft bags are perfect for non-essential gear that doesn’t need the rigidity of hard storage.

Strategic Organization: Front, Rear, and in Between

Organizing isn’t only about what to bring but also about where to place everything. Scott and Matt emphasize keeping your most-used items accessible—store emergency equipment like first aid kits where you can grab them swiftly, and pack heavier items lower and closer to the vehicle’s center. Keeping a balanced load is essential for driving safely and efficiently.

Water and Fuel Management

Effective water and fuel storage could make or break an overlanding trip. Opt for storing fuel in secure extended tanks rather than roof-loaded jerry cans to avoid spills and risks, especially in a rollover. Similarly, MSR Dromedary bags or vehicle-mounted water tanks are space-efficient and accessible solutions that maintain vehicle balance.

Adaptability and Knowing Your Vehicle

Each overlander’s setup will differ based on their vehicle, travel plans, and personal preference. The key lies in customizing your system to your needs and ensuring your vehicle remains adaptable. Removable and stackable storage facilitates switching between travel and daily driving needs—think Wolf Boxes or AluBoxes for easy stacking and removal.

Host Bios

Scott Brady

Scott Brady is an adventurer, author, and publisher, and the first person in history to cross all seven continents. Brady is executive publisher of the Overland Collective, home to Overland Journal, the Overland Journal Podcast, and expeditionportal.com—the world’s largest vehicle-dependent adventure community. Scott wrote Overlanding 101 (Simon & Schuster) and is currently riding around the world on his BMW GS. He also led Expeditions 7, the first expedition to drive the same vehicle on all seven continents. Brady’s polar crossings include Antarctica and a south–north crossing of the Greenland ice sheet. Scott is a fellow of the Explorers Club and lives in Prescott, Arizona.

Matt Scott

Matt is a leading expert in automotive adventure. He has extensively explored the world’s most remote places by 4WD and is considered an industry authority on overland travel. He is the only American to ever become an editor of a major Australian 4WD publication and has over 15 years of competitive auto racing experience. @mattexplore

Transcript

Principles_of_Overlanding_Storage_Solutions

Scott Brady: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the OVERLAND Journal Podcast. I am your host, Scott Brady, and I’m here with my co-host Matt Scott. What’s going on, Matt?

Matt Scott: I’m drinking a White Claw- … for the first time, and I feel wonderfully trashy. Yeah. I, I don’t really know how to describe how I’m feeling. I

Scott Brady: feel refreshed. I

Matt Scott: feel re- Like, we’ve both had a long day working.

We’re recording this after work, and- I don’t know, a white claw just sounded refreshing. It’s, it’s, it’s hot as, I don’t know. It’s hot. Is Mars hot or is Mars cold or is Mars- It depends … wildly fluctuate between the two?

Scott Brady: Wildly fluctuating.

Matt Scott: But okay, so in all seriousness, we’re talking about storage solutions.

So that’s everything from roof racks to soft cases to hard cases. I guess they’re not really a soft case. They’d be a soft bag. Drawer,

Scott Brady: drawer systems.

Matt Scott: Drawer systems. Yeah. All that kind of stuff, and I think why this is important, even though it’s not necessarily super technical, um, [00:01:00] is people bring too much crap with them, and I think it’s important, you know, to start off with some fundamentals on keeping it simple.

I like cars. I like driving, and the number one thing that’s gonna make your car drive poorly, um, is weight. Overloaded. That’s the thing that you can really affect, so, um-

Scott Brady: And that’s interesting that it, it… That that has, as a concept, has never, like, really permeated the space. Yeah. Right? If you, I mean, if you think about someone who is a track day guy with his 911, he’s paying attention to, like- Ounces

everything. Everything. Like, how many keys does he have on his keychain is what he’s paying attention to. Yeah. And, and I think it’s interesting that that idea has never really permeated the overland space. Even in the adventure motorcycling space, the amount of weight that people c- typically have on their motorcycles, no wonder they suck off-road – Yeah

is because they’re so heavy. You end up a, at 1,000 pounds plus with the rider [00:02:00] on the bike. That’s a lot. Right. And I, and I would say that for me, it, it was certainly a consideration towards handling and performance and safety to a, you know, to a degree. You know, having been a fireman and encounter a lot of rollovers in my life, it’s definitely a safety consideration.

But what I think really changed it for me was it was such a distraction to have so much stuff.

Matt Scott: Oh, yeah.

Scott Brady: That if, you know, every night when you’re trying to set up camp, you’ve gotta remove 10 boxes and three bags to get to your coffee pot or whatever. That, it becomes super frustrating. And, and I, and of course I did that.

I had too much stuff, and it was- Yep … and it was super frustrating, and I had, I had too many electronic devices on the dash, and even l- I had a laptop mount at one point in time. I have no idea why that was even a good idea. Uh, but it’s so much easier when we distill it all down to the stuff that really works, and then we just stick with that, and, and that reduces [00:03:00] weight.

It means that we have less stuff to store. It means we have less boxes to buy, less bags to buy. There’s more room for, for, uh, groceries at the, at the little Mexican tienda that you just went to- Yeah … in Baja or whatever. Or maybe you fi- you finally found that piece of art that you always wanted to bring home, and you can actually carry it in the vehicle.

Matt Scott: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think- Simplicity is just so important. As I always tell people, you know, get those little red dot stickers and start, start sticking them on stuff. And, and it makes you kinda notice, like, oh, I haven’t used that- Yeah … in a long time. Like w- our, the thing that we’re cutting from, from our Gladiator is we had this kinda three-in-one barbecue, butane stove, grill, whatever thing, and it was probably 40 pounds.

And, you know, we’re like, “Oh, this is great. We’re really gonna use it.” We’re replacing it with just, like, a single butane burner because-

Scott Brady: Right …

Matt Scott: you know, the only place we could fit it was, like, behind the fridge all the way in the back, and you end up just not [00:04:00] even using it. Um, and then you had to have the case for it, and you had to have everything for it.

And, um, yeah, just, just constantly reevaluate, no matter how experienced of a traveler you are, no matter how much you do this, no matter how long you’ve been camping or overlanding or car camping or whatever you wanna call it. Just constantly, you know, be a little bit critical, I think, of what’s going into your car.

Um, you know, you don’t need the 501- Mm … you know, piece Craftsman automotive tool set. Like, the amount of people I know that drive Jeeps that are bringing, you know… I guess new Jeeps are metrics, but, you know.

Scott Brady: Yeah, figure out what your vehicle is, yeah.

Matt Scott: Like- Is it metric or standard? … do you need both SAE or do, do you need metric, or what, what do you need, you know?

Right. Um, figure those things out. Your vehicle may already have a tool kit. Um- But yeah.

Scott Brady: And how do– describe that process to the listener of, uh, putting the red dot stickers on there. When… Do you take everything out of the vehicle and then d- you weigh it, put a sticker on it, and put it back in? Or how does that work for you?

Matt Scott: I, I don’t get that complicated [00:05:00] with it, and honestly, the, the, the red dot for me is a metaphor. I don’t really do the red dot. I just try and be really, really cognizant of what is in my car. But I’m, but I’m actually thinking about this. The reason I recommend the red dot, and it’s simple, yeah, take everything out or as you’re putting something new in, you know, put that little red dot on there.

And it’s just a visual reminder that when you do use it, and if it’s something you’re using, take the red dot off.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: Right? You know, those little stickers are cheap. They’re simple. They don’t really leave anything. Um, you know, for example, that little barbecue stove thing, if we would’ve put a red dot on it, 30 days in Baja over Christmas, and I think we used it once.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: You know? And we used it as a butane stove.

Scott Brady: And especially, like, in… I mean, I think about in, when I’m in Baja, the only thing I really use a stove for is to make coffee, ’cause it’s the one thing- Yeah … it’s the one thing that typically sucks in Mexico- … is co- is coffee. ‘Cause the food, I, I can’t imagine the desire.

Anything that… There’s nothing that I could prepare food-wise that would be better than [00:06:00] what I could get, um, at the, at the little local- We, we- … taco shop, so …

Matt Scott: we love interacting with people. Totally. We love food. We love culture. Like, I like to go really, really remote.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: Um, that, that’s, that’s a huge thrill for me.

But I’m not the kind of person that likes to go really, really remote and then stay there for a week. Right. You know, I kinda wanna, okay, have my beer, watch the sunset, go on to the next thing. Um, maybe some people think that that’s bad. You know, traveling’s a personal thing. It can be whatever you want.

Scott Brady: Yeah, it should be whatever you want, right?

Matt Scott: Yeah, but I always think, you know, as we th- as we talk with the fundamentals of storage, I would always argue that less is more. So true. I don’t know. I mean, we’re both fans of roof racks, but we don’t really put that much stuff on them.

Scott Brady: Mm-mm.

Matt Scott: Because that’s where my firewood goes.

That’s where, you know, the tire that is underneath my car that I blow out and I have to replace, eh, I throw it up there or, or, or, or whatever. It’s kinda reserve capacity.

Scott Brady: It has to be reserve capacity I think in most cases, especially if you’re traveling with other vehicles. If you have… If you’re in a two-party [00:07:00] convoy and you have a vehicle breakdown, you’ve gotta put all of their stuff or maybe even part of your stuff on the roof in order to make room for other people, right?

Yeah. So you can drive to the next town and get help. So I do, I do like the roof rack for just like you said, putting firewood on top. I like sleeping on a roof rack. Mm. When it’s warm out, it’s a great place to sleep under the stars. It gives you that, you know, like if you did find that, you know, that piece of, piece of furniture you always wanted to buy-

in Mexico, you have a place to put it. Um, so I, I do like the idea of, of keeping roof racks, um, for reserve capacity. We’ve talked about that in the past, and we really need to know as travelers what is our vehicle roof load rating, ’cause that dictates how much we can actually put on the, on the roof rack.

But if we do put a roof rack up there, um, we wanna make it relatively light, and then when we think about the stuff we’re gonna store on the roof, if we do start to put things on the roof, [00:08:00] we really wanna avoid the Camel Trophy approach, which-

Matt Scott: Yeah, that actually wasn’t that smart.

Scott Brady: Yeah. Well, and it, it came from the fact that there was four full-size adults in every single Discovery.

Yeah. So you had this compact vehicle, 100-inch wheelbase. Uh, Discoveries, if you’ve, if, you know, those of you who are listening that have been inside one and, and been around one, they’re actually very small cars. So imagine four full-size adults with all the gear that you need to cross Kalimantan.

Matt Scott: Yeah. Like, the rear passenger in a Discovery is sitting on the rear axle.

Scott Brady: That’s right. They’re r- yeah, they’re, yeah, they were sitting on the wheel well of the rear axle. So, um, that’s why those vehicles ended up with so much roof load. So you really wanna be careful with putting too much stuff up top. Also, it’s really difficult to access. Mm. It’s easy for it to get stolen. If you’re parked in a hotel and you got all the gear on the roof, it’s really easy for people to go up there and grab it.

Um, it’s easy for it to get damaged by trees, and, and, and sun damaged- Yeah … and all that other stuff. So roof load is kind of the last [00:09:00] resort, but there are things that make sense around that. I mean, um, there are… EZ-On makes these cool Alu Box mounts. You know, Pelican cases can be used on the roof, especially the new Pelican Air, which is a lot lighter.

But have that stuff bolted down and secured so it isn’t easy for it to get stolen.

Matt Scott: Yeah. It, it’s, it’s a complicated thing, you know? Um, and, and especially like when we’re talking roof load ratings, you know, the more your vehicle’s lifted, if it has a larger diameter tire, like that all affects your center of gravity.

I mean, all, all your roof load rating is, is how much weight can, can, can be up there at stock center of gravity. So, you know, as you raise that vehicle, that roof load is going down, and that’s something definitely, you know To consider

Scott Brady: Yeah, and I, it would be interesting to know, and maybe there’s a, a listener that’s an engineer that could maybe help us with a calculation, but with every additional inch of height of the vehicle, [00:10:00] whether it be some s- from suspension or from tires, what’s the percentage you should reduce the roof load rating by?

That would be a- Yeah … a really interesting thing to come up with and at least have a general rule of thumb around that. In fact, Matt and I will work on that. We’ll see if we can add that to the, to the show notes. But, um, I think that would be an interesting exercise to look at. So, you know, when you think about putting gear in your vehicle, and this is kinda like an advanced technique, and it’s something that I’ve employed in my own vehicles ’cause it’s had great results, but where is your, your weight distribution front and rear?

So go to a local scale, weigh the front two tires on the scale, then weigh the rear two tires on the scale, and figure out what your, what your vehicle load distribution is. Matt was talking about this earlier today. He’s like, he’s like, “My Gladiator is getting so dialed in, but I really wanna know where’s the weight now.”

Yeah. And what, what motivated you to wanna look into that [00:11:00] further? Is it because of your racing days, or what, what was the goal?

Matt Scott: You know, I, I think I’m trying to build this jack of all trades. I, I like driving fast when I’m in the desert. Um, and knowing that, where that weight balance is, like I have a camper on mine.

I have an AT Summit on mine. I have drawers and a fridge and a drop slide and, and some things. Um, so it’s not, it’s not excessive, um, but I guess, you know, I, I can kinda feel it. Yeah. You know, I can feel that the back end of that vehicle really kinda be a little bit heavier. You know, you kinda tend to get that pendulum feeling from a heavy- Yeah,

Scott Brady: the porpoising

Matt Scott: heavy, yeah, a heavy rear vehicle. And, um, yeah, that, that, that’s where it came from for me is I’m really trying to just improve the performance of the vehicle, the drivability of the vehicle. You know, one of the things I pride myself on for the vehicles I build is they’re still usable on a day-to-day basis.

You know? Right. I mean, um, you know, talking about roof racks, I, I will never build an overland vehicle that is over eight feet tall because you can generally [00:12:00] find, always find a modern parking garage that is eight feet tall. Um, you know, so there’s just a lot of considerations that I maybe, I maybe think of because, you know, yeah, if I’m driving by some cool town, I wanna be able to go to it.

Um, if I’m driving by San Francisco, I wanna be able to park my car.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: Um, you know, so roof racks are interesting, and then, you know, just figuring out that weight balance really affects everything. Um-

Scott Brady: How are you gonna address that in your Gladiator? What are some of the things that you’re looking at?

To change that’ll improve that weight balance.

Matt Scott: Well, you know, right now we keep our jerry cans of water, um, in the back of the vehicle next to the fridge. Um, and you know, that’s a, that’s a real easy one. I’m gonna, I’m gonna design some kind of custom tank that goes in the front of my drawers that will actually put that weight in front of the rear axle.

So we’re gonna do that. You know, we just switched to a lithium battery, so that took out… You know, we added huge amounts of capacity, and then we took a lot of weight out of the vehicle, and that… The only place I could put [00:13:00] that battery was, was, was pretty far back. Um, and then also small things like how I pack my drawers.

Like I really, really like, um, I like having drawers. And I think where I differ from drawers is I see a lot of people that have these immaculate, you know, “Oh, here’s where my AR-15 goes. Here’s where my little ax goes. You know, here’s where my recovery kit goes.” These, those are the things you’re never using when you’re traveling.

Scott Brady: Rarely use,

Matt Scott: yeah. Like, like so I stash those things as far forward as possible. Like I move my tools into my Goose Gear Seat Delete underneath the vehicle ’cause that’s as center as I can get. Sure. And you think of density, a tool roll is pretty dense. There’s a lot of metal in there. There’s a lot of supplies- Sure

and things like that. Um, so we’re moving that stuff, that stuff forward. Um, and then also how we pack the drawers. We put the least used things all the way at the f- what would be the front of the drawer ’cause that puts the weight all the way, you know, uh, on my drawers four feet further forward, [00:14:00] um, than having it at the back.

So we use the rear for groceries, and we use the rear of the drawers closest to you for clothes because those are the lightest things that you can do. Oh, that’s smart. So there’s a, there’s a lot of things that- I’ve

Scott Brady: never seen people who put clothes in the drawers.

Matt Scott: Yeah. Well, I don’t wanna live- That’s smart

out of a duffle bag. I, I don’t need these to be display pieces. I need them to be functional, you know, equipment, and that’s free is, is, is just packing them appropriately. If you are gonna put your tools in your drawers, put them at the back because… Or the front. Sorry, I’m flip-flopping. Yeah. Put them as far forward in the vehicle- Right

between the two axles as you can. If you have something heavy, try and get it b- you know, in front of the rear axle or behind the front axle.

Scott Brady: And how do you access your clothes when you’re inside the camper? Or you just grab it ahead of time?

Matt Scott: Yeah. I mean, you’re… There’s always gonna be compromises-

Scott Brady: Yeah

Matt Scott: you know, to everything. But you know, we, we never really have a problem with that. We do everything in packing cubes. [00:15:00] So like we have a, we have a little Dakine packing cube thing for all of our toiletries that we need. You know, that then hangs on the side when we, when we set up for camp. We have, you know, all of our undergarments, underwear, all that kind of stuff, we have those in separate things.

I mean, I, I never like, I don’t think that far into it, but you know, just, just having some flexibility

Scott Brady: Well, I think it’s a really smart, it’s a really smart idea. Uh, in the, in the G-Wagon, I’ve always put the, the tools as far forward in the drawers that I can, and then in the back is the, like, the lighter weight cooking kits.

Yeah. So like the, the Snow Peak titanium bowls and things that are really lightweight that I have towards the back. But I definitely could use reorganizing the G-Wagon drawers a little bit. The In a lot of my vehicles I have avoided drawers ’cause of the weight that just come- Yeah … the, the weight that just comes from the drawer [00:16:00] itself, the expense that comes with the drawer itself.

But I do really like it in, in vehicles that are set up primarily for travel, like your, like your Gladiator is, and like my G-Wagon is, where that’s really what I use the car for.

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: Um, and, and I like the drawers because, um, it allows a great place to put the fridge, um, on a slide that can come out, and then it also allows you to, to…

Since you’re stacking systems, in order for me to get to the stuff in the drawer system, I don’t have to remove everything else to get to it, and that really saves a lot of time. And I, and I’ve found that when you’re camping a lot, or especially like a lot of North American travelers do, we move every day, that extra time savings really reduce- Oh, yeah

reduces frustration.

Matt Scott: You know, one of the things we found is we use Alu boxes, which are, uh, an aluminum expedition case that are… I, I like them because they, they have these little feet that kinda nest together. So I only need like [00:17:00] one lashing strap to carry two cases because-

Scott Brady: Oh, that makes sense It- It’s, it doesn’t, they don’t shift

Matt Scott: around They don’t really move around.

Yeah. You know, so we decided to keep… You know, a lot of people seem to keep like food in boxes. Well, food is something you’re accessing three times a day. You know, the way I travel, um, I wanna eat tacos for lunch. Yeah. I, you know, I wanna … You know, w- we’ll try and stay at campgrounds or hostels or whatever and, you know, usually we’ll eat somewhere for dinner every other night.

So for me, my cooking stuff that a lot of people put in the drawers, I put that in a, in an Alu box, and the reason for that is we cook on a table. We keep the table underneath the overhang on the Summit, and that’s something that we actually don’t access that much. But we wanna keep the food safe in a drawer, um, because the drawers are actually lit and it’s easy, and then we keep the clothes in the other drawer.

And all of the cooking stuff, you know, we keep in these cases because you’re not cooking inside of the vehicle. You’re always cooking outside of the vehicle for [00:18:00] our setup. So- Yeah … you know, you take those things, you set them on a tailgate, you set them on the ground, they can stay outside. If you’re cooking at night, let’s say you cook dinner, what are you gonna have to do that morning?

You’re gonna have to cook breakfast. So why put them in, you know, in the drawer when you can just have this case- They’re already

Scott Brady: out anyways.

Matt Scott: Sure … and they can… And since those Alu boxes are waterproof, it doesn’t matter. You know, you stick it under the truck or you leave it where it’s at, you just, everything has its home and, and, and, and you go back there.

I, I really like the flexibility of hard cases. Um, but I also… I, I tend to not travel with soft bags really anymore because I have drawers and, and things like that, and we, we prioritize our clothes and our food to be in those drawers.

Scott Brady: Yeah, the real advantage of the hard cases is they can be lashed down securely ’cause they don’t compress.

They do a really good job of protecting the contents- Yeah … because, again, they don’t compress or get smashed ’cause they have some structure in and of [00:19:00] themselves. So what I, what I’ve done, like on, on the G-Wagon is drawer system at the f- as the first layer, then Wolf boxes or Alu boxes as the second layer, and then the third layer is soft luggage for me because I do put all of my clothes in a soft bag.

Yeah. ‘Cause I typically, you know, I’ll throw it up in, throw it up in the roof tent, or I’ll throw it into a ground tent, or I’ll take it into a, to a little hacienda that I’m staying in- Yeah … or something like that.

Matt Scott: Well, I mean, and I, and I, I guess, you know, we’re talking about two different vehicles. I have a five-foot bed available.

Scott Brady: You have a lot more room.

Matt Scott: And my MSA drawers are what? I mean, I think all but the front six inches are, you know, 100% extension.

Scott Brady: Yeah, that’s impressive.

Matt Scott: Um, so it just, it gives me- A different way to maybe look at things. Yeah. Because even something that is at the back wall of that drawer is 100% accessible to me.

Scott Brady: And one thing you

Matt Scott: said- That actually sounded a little advertorial. Yeah. Full disclosure, I do sell those things. Um, that wasn’t my intention with that. Yeah. I w- I just always try [00:20:00] and keep that separate.

Scott Brady: You know, one of the things you mentioned one of the last times we were talking about the Gladiator is that you kind of built it as this super capable, international-ready RV.

It’s like your version of an RV.

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: Um, and I think that that’s probably the distinction, right? Is that, um, the G-Wagon for me or, uh, how I typically travel in a wagon is kind of like a bigger version of a motorcycle. Yeah. My travel tempo and stuff doesn’t really change much. I, I like to stay in small towns.

I like to, to experience the local culture, so I tend to, to camp out much less often, unless I’m in North America. If I’m in North America, I tend to camp. If I’m in Baja, I tend to camp. But if I’m somewhere remote in Russia, I tend to not camp. Yeah. So…

Matt Scott: I think the thing to, to recognize is that everybody is gonna have a different, a different setup.

You know, for somebody that’s staying in the United States, you know, heck yeah, put that [00:21:00] AR-15 in your drawers, you know? Sure. And I’m not saying my PS90 conveniently fits in my drawers. Yeah. Um, you know, not that I would know, but I, I don’t need that when I’m, when I’m going overseas. So I think it’s just important, find the things that are important to you and just prioritize the use of them.

Scott Brady: Sure.

Matt Scott: Don’t go for show and the pretty Instagram photo of your drawers. Use the st- put the stuff in there that you’re actually gonna use, that you actually wanna keep safe, that’s gonna actually improve your quality of life on the road.

Scott Brady: Yeah, and convenience, access, all that stuff is so important. Another little consideration is how many people do you have in the vehicle?

If you’ve only, if you’re only traveling with two people, consider removing the rear seats. By removing the rear seats or even the third row seats, you gain a bunch of payload back, and you gain tons of space.

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: Tons of room. Now, you did that on your Gladiator. You, you re- Yeah.

Matt Scott: I, I did the, the Goose Gear, I’m gonna call it the three-quarter seat delete.

I don’t know what the actual percentage is. It took out two seats. There’s one seat left, so I guess [00:22:00] that’s 66.6% delete. Yeah, it’s

Scott Brady: probably a 60, 60/40.

Matt Scott: Yeah. Yeah, or whatever they’re calling it. And, and, you know, we travel. It’s, it’s Laura and myself and our Greyhound. Please adopt one. They’re great. But, you know, we actually were able to fit an entire square Costco Kirkland massive bed, he’s a pretty big dog, in the back, and it also gives us a place to store his food that he can’t really get to.

Um, we decided to keep- One seat. Um, the Gladiator’s pretty convenient. Like, the seat just, like, folds up and there’s no mech- there’s no structure beneath it. Um, so it’s really not that big of a, of a, of a trade-off. And-

Scott Brady: And sometimes you just need to haul somebody to

Matt Scott: the next town. Yeah. A, a guide. Oh, sure. Uh, somebody that’s taking you there.

Um, you know, to a

Scott Brady: national park or- Or a local, a local that needs some help or whatever.

Matt Scott: Yeah. A friend you met at the bar and you wanna give them a ride back to campsite or whatever that is. I, I always like to have at least one more seat. Um, you know, some countries that you travel through, you’re gonna have to have a guide, especially as an American in a [00:23:00] lot of places.

So, um, you know, do consider that before you rip out all of your seats.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: Um,

Scott Brady: but- I typically remove the s- the 60 of the 60/40, and it- it’s worked really well- Yeah … in my uses. So.

Matt Scott: And, and even, you know, some vehicles you don’t have to have a, a seat delete. Like, we didn’t really need a seat delete, but it, it benefited us.

Um, G-Wagon, you don’t need a seat delete because- No, it’s super flat … it’s fl- flat floor. Um, you know, but you’re taking out 50, 60, 70, 100 pounds from that vehicle.

Scott Brady: A lot.

Matt Scott: Um, you know, and you can reinvest that weight someplace else.

Scott Brady: And then also another thing to consider around storage, and this is just a, a point that is a little bit of a counterpoint to things like drawers and permanent storage installations is, the more of the equipment that you can remove, uh, the lighter you can make the vehicle for certain scenarios.

So, um, I think back to a story I was told years ago [00:24:00] about a Defender 110 that got stuck down in, they call them a witch’s, a witch’s eye in the sand dunes. It’s this natural wind formation that’s extremely difficult for a vehicle to get out of. And they ended up removing everything, all of the doors, all of the equipment.

Um, they even removed the front seat, and he was… I think he was sitting on a box or something like that to get the vehicle basically like the weight of a dune buggy to eventually get the Defender out of the, out of the dunes. So there are definitely times when, uh, you want to be able to remove all of the equipment quickly.

Um, you know, imagine, you know, the vehicle’s stuck on the beach, and you’re, you need to remove all of your critical gear. If everything is in drawer systems and things like that, it’s a lot more difficult to remove that stuff.

Matt Scott: Yeah, that’s the biggest downside to the drawers in my opinion. Um, it’s just the weight associated with them.

Yep. You can’t really… It’s not something you’re taking out. I mean, that’s- No … something that’s pretty much gonna stay in the vehicle- Yep … for as long as you own it. [00:25:00] Um-

Scott Brady: But they have tons of convenience advantages. It’s just, think about how you use the vehicle. If you, if you also use it to go to Costco, and you use it, you know, as the family daily go-getter, then, um, maybe consider not putting in a drawer system and going with stackable boxes like AluBoxes because…

Zarges is another brand. But, uh, those can be a great way, or Pelicans. You can, you can take everything out, put it back into family mode, and go to, go to the grocery store and load it up full of stuff. Yeah. Um, so I do like drawers. Originally, I was a little bit adverse to them, but the vehicles that I have now all have the payload capacity to accommodate it, so.

I,

Matt Scott: I’ll tell you, drawers never clicked for me, um, until You know, we did our big trip around Australia in our Troop Carrier, and, you know, when we left for that vehicle, I had all my tools in the drawers, and I had, you know, all of my recovery gear in there and everything. And then for me, the big, the big aha moment for [00:26:00] drawers was, well, actually I can…

This could be my dresser.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: This could be my pantry. Yeah. Those are the things that I was actually using every day. All

Scott Brady: the time.

Matt Scott: Um, you know, I’m not saying that you’re not actively using your recovery equipment, um, but I don’t know, I generally… I eat more on trips than I recover myself.

Scott Brady: Then you get stuck, yeah.

Matt Scott: Um, but, you know, soft luggage, I think, um, there’s some really, really good stuff out. I’m a huge fan of soft bags when I travel, especially if I’m, I’m flying somewhere and I’m renting a vehicle. Like Scott and I were just in Namibia, um, both soft luggage for that. Yep. It was really easy to throw in the back of the Defenders.

You don’t have to worry about them moving around. Like, I have a, I have a- You know, carry-on, uh, hard case that I travel with, and I would never wanna travel with that off-road because it just, it’s just gonna roll around everywhere. It’d

Scott Brady: slide everywhere.

Matt Scott: Yeah. And, and that’s the nice thing with the, the soft luggage, um, especially particularly if it’s waterproof.

You [00:27:00] know, I’ve had this North Face duffle for- Yeah, those

Scott Brady: Expedition duffles are classic …

Matt Scott: I’ve had it since I was, like, 14 years old. Sure. And, and I just, I can’t kill it. I- it probably has a million air miles on it.

Scott Brady: Sure.

Matt Scott: And then I have… Well, the thing I really like are these Watershed duffles. Um, they’re actually made for…

I wanna say they’re made for, like, kayaking or something. Sure. But they’re a full roll top. And the cool thing with those is you can actually kinda maintain some air pressure inside of them. So when other bags are getting thrown on them, th- they’ll, they’ll hold air. Yeah. Um, they’re completely waterproof and, and, and, you know, pretty cool, especially if

Scott Brady: you’re- And a, a lot of those nicer, uh, pieces of soft luggage, they have heavy-duty, uh, buckles, and they have heavy-duty strapping points.

And even the shoulder straps, I’ve used shoulder straps many times to help secure luggage- Yeah … in the back of a vehicle. Uh, one of the, the soft luggage that I’ve used for many years, used it for Expedition 7, et cetera, is Red Oxx because [00:28:00] I like the fact that they’re made in the USA. Yeah, really nice gear.

I do, I do like that. Um, they’re, they’re designed to last a lifetime. Um, and then they’ve als- the, uh, one of the main reasons why I use it is that they have these super heavy-duty metal buckles on them. Yeah. So I can use a metal buckle to really strap the gear down tightly. Um, the only thing that I have found that I don’t care for about them is that they’re not waterproof enough for use on a roof rack.

Yeah. Like, if you needed to throw the bag up top and it was raining, uh, because the zippers allow for some seepage and stuff, that they’re not as waterproof as like a roll top.

Matt Scott: The, the best roof rack bag that I’ve ever seen and I’ve used is actually, I wanna say it’s the Front Runner Monsoon bag. Don’t quote me on it being called a Monsoon bag, but it actually has kinda like a molded base in the bottom of the bag, so it has some structure to it.

Oh,

Scott Brady: smart.

Matt Scott: So things aren’t, you know, things aren’t falling in between the slats on the roof rack or, or something if it gets pressed down. And then it has, like, this [00:29:00] aluminum handle built into the, the, the carry I, I don’t know how to… Y- you, you gotta see one because- Yeah,

Scott Brady: we’ll, we’ll put it in the show

Matt Scott: notes

yeah, ple- plenty of places to strap it down. It’s meant to go on a roof rack, and it’s really cool. Um, I, I actually really, really like those. They’re just… They’re easy to get stuff in. They’re the perfect thing for, for a roof rack. Um, so if you are looking for that-

Scott Brady: Nice …

Matt Scott: um, that’s something that I’ve had a good experience with.

Scott Brady: And then, uh, we’re seeing even more of these kind of hybrids where it’s a, like, a nylon case that’ll take, like, two Wolf Boxes in it or something- Yeah … like that, which that’s an interesting idea. Probably makes it easy to move around and things like that. But for the most part, I do like, if, if I go with a hard case, to be careful with weight.

Um, Pelicans are absolutely the bomber choice. Yeah, they’re great. If you… Yeah, if you’ve got your camera gear in it- It’s got a good … go with a Pelican case, right? Yeah. I mean- But if you’re putting, if you’re putting, like, your socks and underwear in it, [00:30:00] probably don’t need a Pelican case ’cause they’re, they’re, they’re heavy.

Yes. And they’re expe- they’re really expensive, too.

Matt Scott: I, I, I don’t know. When I, when I first got into overlanding, I thought everything must be in a Pelican case. Right. I have to have my socks in a Pelican case. I have to have my beef jerky in a Pelican case. I have to have my camp stove in a Pelican case.

And then I realized I had 200 pounds of Pelican cases.

Scott Brady: Right.

Matt Scott: They’re-

Scott Brady: Really heavy …

Matt Scott: I mean, if you, if you if you wanna make sure that whatever you’re putting in a case doesn’t get broken and that case doesn’t break, buy a Pelican case. Totally. They’re, they’re great. Um, but they’re so overkill.

Scott Brady: And they don’t really nest quite as well.

Matt Scott: Yeah, they slide around quite a bit

Scott Brady: and- Yeah, like the Wolf Boxes nest really well. The AluBoxes nest really well. The Zarges cases nest really well. So- I, I really

Matt Scott: like those, those, like, a few people make them. I think Front Runner calls them the Cub Packs and the Wolf Packs. Yeah. Yep, the Wolf Packs.

They’re probably the most prolific manufacturer of them, but they’re just a South African army ammunition case.

Scott Brady: That, that’s what I use for all my camping-

Matt Scott: Yeah …

Scott Brady: all my kitchen [00:31:00] kit is in that, so.

Matt Scott: They weigh, like, a pound.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: You know, they kinda have these little latches, four latches. You can take the roof o- or the, you know, the lid off.

I actually use those to organize within my drawers.

Scott Brady: Oh, nice.

Matt Scott: Um, because if I need to move something around or if I need to, you know, put some more groceries in, you know, I basically have four of these things, I wanna say, three or four- Oh, the

Scott Brady: Cub, Cub box …

Matt Scott: the Cub ones in each drawer, and they

Scott Brady: just- Oh,

Matt Scott: those are clever

so happen to fit perfectly, and I can just take stuff out as I need it. If I wanna take You know, reuse the groceries that I had from camping, put them in the house. I just take the whole box, and it’s really easy, and it doesn’t really cost me much weight.

Scott Brady: And that’s why I tend to use the Wolf Boxes is because, I mean, right here we’re h- we’re at Overland Journal offices right now and, and outside in our, in our bay where we keep all of our equipment, got these shelves and I can easily have all of my stuff labeled.

You know, this is the kitchen box, this is the tools [00:32:00] box, this is the… And it’s really easy. Like, if I have a test vehicle- Yeah … or if I, if I’m borrowing a vehicle, I can easily just transition that stuff into another, another car, which is… I, so I do like, I do like the Wolf Boxes. They’re, they’re much lighter, um, and they’re only about 45 bucks, I think.

50 bucks maybe?

Matt Scott: I… Maybe cheaper.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: Um-

Scott Brady: So they’re really affordable.

Matt Scott: And, and that’s what I like about them. I mean, you know, you can have the Gucci stuff, but if you’re gonna have the Gucci stuff, you better make sure you still have the money to travel, you know? Yeah. So if you’re looking for something that is just a rock solid proven option, I think that those are really great.

Scott Brady: They are. And Alubox is really nice. Um, I like the light weight of aluminum boxes. They, they do a good job of sealing, so that’s one of the downsides of the Wolfpacks- Yeah … is they don’t seal well. Not

Matt Scott: waterproof.

Scott Brady: Um, a Pelican is sealed to submersion. A, an Alubox is sealed f- against the weather, and a Wolfpack you gotta be a little bit careful with dust and, and [00:33:00] water ingress, uh, with those.

They do okay, but they, they definitely are not, uh, waterproof or weatherproof. But I do, I do like the Aluboxes, um, because of, of how well they nest. In fact, when we were crossing Greenland we had a trailer that we had a whole row of Aluboxes in, and it was shocking to me with only one strap holding those things down, it basically became like a superstructure.

Yeah. It was incredible how well they would stay together.

Matt Scott: Yeah. And, and, and there’s, there’s a bunch of other things. I mean, you know, for storing stuff you have, like, your MOLLE stuff, and those are pretty ubiquitous these days. You can find specifically for, like, American vehicles, you know, 4Runners and Jeeps and whatever.

If you… If, if there is a square inch of that space, you can cover it in some kind of MOLLE panel, guaranteed. Um-

Scott Brady: And those do have their place. Uh, I, uh, for international travel I’m a little less of a fan of that because if someone’s doing a vehicle inspection at a border it’s gonna look very military.

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: [00:34:00] And I’m really careful with any MOLLE, et cetera, around international travel. But- Yes … if you’re primarily traveling in the US and Canada and even Mexico, it’s fine. But-

Matt Scott: Yeah, Mexico’s an interesting one. You know, digital camo- Yeah … is, civilians cannot have that in Mexico. Yeah. I actually… I, I have, in the MaxTrax unit I have one of the only sets of MultiCam MaxTrax that we sold to the SOCOM guys.

And I’ve actually gotten nabbed for that in Baja before.

Scott Brady: Interesting.

Matt Scott: You know, you’re, you’re not supposed to have them, and they were just… They’re, they’re very predominant and large, and it’s a… looks like a military piece of equipment, and they’re like, “You can’t have that.” So when I had a set of orange ones that I threw on the other side, but they will say stuff about that, um, at the checkpoints in Baja.

Scott Brady: Yeah, we wanna respect their r- their rules, right? Yeah. So, uh, but m- the advantage, the upside to MOLLE is that a lot of this, these smaller bags and, and like when you need to access your headlamp, it’s in the 4Runner maybe it’s super quick to get to or it’s on [00:35:00] the back of the front seat. And those are the advantages of that quick grab stuff.

Because again, at the end of the day, we’re trying to get things as well organized as possible without, without being pedantic, without being OCD. We want it to be organized where when it’s dark in the middle of the night and you’re stuck and you need to access your headlamp, you know where it’s at- Exactly

and it’s easy to get to. And

Matt Scott: I love the seat back systems for that. I, I have ’em in, um, my Land Cruiser, and I have ’em in my Gladiator.

Scott Brady: And what do you have on the back of the seat for you?

Matt Scott: I keep practical things. I, I keep sunblock. I keep bug spray. Yeah. I keep headlamps. I keep snacks because I get hangry.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: You know, I, I keep m- Dog treats … I keep maps. No, no, no, ’cause the back seat’s his. Um, you know, I, I just keep things, you know, I, I think of it as like the locker room for each person. Laura has one. I have one in the back of our seats, and that’s just where all of our quick sa- quick access stuff goes.

Scott Brady: Personal effects.

Matt Scott: You know, they don’t have to be completely full. Yeah. That’s the thing I always tell people is you- just [00:36:00] because there’s a space for something doesn’t mean it has to be occupied by it. You know, so we, we just keep the, the quick things in there, cellphone chargers, headphones, you know, that kind of stuff.

Scott Brady: Yeah, for those that are listening, um, pull up on Google when you get a chance Parkinson’s theory and Parkinson’s law, and it’s basically this idea that if we have space or if there… or if a bureaucracy has, um, budget, you know, it’ll always expand to the available space, right? Yeah. So, um, it is, it is human nature to if we have some ditty bag, we’re gonna fill it full of something.

Yeah. If we’ve got a drawer system, we’re gonna find a bunch of stuff to put inside it. So, um, maybe starting off with fewer places to put things might help limit the amount of gear that we bring, bring along.

Matt Scott: I, I always say, like, the things I keep on the seat back systems, I drive a Jeep, so I don’t have a huge center console.

Like, it’s not an F-250 where I can fit- A person inside of it

Scott Brady: Sure

Matt Scott: Um, you [00:37:00] know. So that’s the s- that’s the replacement for me, I guess. Um, and I just like that it’s quick access.

Scott Brady: What do you normally put in your center console? Is that where you put your camera?

Matt Scott: I, I do put my camera in there. Yeah, that’s right Like, the, the Jeep Gladiator and JL is actually interesting.

I c- I can fit a 5D Canon and a 24 to 105 lens with a lens cap on perfectly in there. So it’s really, really easy to access.

Scott Brady: Nice, and it’s relatively safe against

Matt Scott: theft and- And then I don’t have to have a Pelican case filled with camera gear.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: So that’s something that I’m constantly accessing. Sure.

Um, ’cause I am, you know, creating content for, you know, business and for magazines and things like that. So I … That’s what I keep in there. Um, and

Scott Brady: then

Matt Scott: it’s

Scott Brady: also not cluttered. The on- the only thing, the only thing that I have on my seat back is one of those quip- quick grab medical kits where it’s got, you know, gloves, um, you know, tourniquet-

Matt Scott: Yeah

Scott Brady: you know, just in case I come across an accident on the road.

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: Or that I have a, an accident in [00:38:00] camp that I’ve gotta-

Matt Scott: Yeah, that’s actually something that I, that I could do better. I mean, we keep our … We keep a more comprehensive medical kit for us in the back. But if it is anything to where our priorities lie, we have a dog first aid kit within reach.

Yeah. Um, you know. But yeah, that, that’s a, that’s another great thing for that.

Scott Brady: And that was something we made a note on to talk about today, is anything that is emergency related should be easily accessible. I … And I … This is, again, from me learning it the hard way. Maybe 15 years ago, I was pulling a trailer in Sonora, Mexico, and I went to get back onto the road, and because there’s no shoulders and, and, like, the asphalt is two feet- Oh, yeah

two feet high that you gotta hop over, the … I rolled the trailer on the middle of, in the middle of Mex 2 in Mexico. So the trailer’s rol- I can’t get to my flares. I can’t get to my emergency triangle. I have it all in the vehicle. But I couldn’t, I couldn’t remember exactly where I had it, and it was buried deep.

And if I [00:39:00] remember, even some of it was in the trailer. So, um, having your jack accessible. Like, when you put in all of these drawer systems and stuff, make sure that the drawer system isn’t covering- That’s where,

Matt Scott: that’s where the MOLLE stuff is so great. Yeah, for sure. I actually just bought some MOLLE panels that go behind the rear door on the Gladiator, and that’s where I’m gonna put a fire extinguisher that’s really easy to get to.

I know that, you know, people put them in the- you know, foot well or something, and that’s more accessible. But I don’t know. For me, that’s fine. It’s-

Scott Brady: Yeah, just make sure that stuff is accessible. When y- when you start to prioritize space, it’s easy to say, “When am I ever gonna need a fire extinguisher?” But when you do need it, you need it immediately.

A-

Matt Scott: arguably, overland vehicles need a fire extinguisher more than anything else- … out there on the road. Like, I’ve- There’s a

Scott Brady: lot of them that have burned down recently …

Matt Scott: I- I’ve seen more burnt down Jeeps and- Yeah … four-wheel drives and overland trucks than I have or old ones ever. [00:40:00]

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: Um, it, and it’s because of the electrical wiring.

For sure. You know, you get, you get jabronis that kinda just go in there, and they’re like, “Oh, sweet, I got some new LED lights,” and then repeat that by 12 sets of LED lights and wires crossing each other. Totally. You know, that’s why, that’s what I love on these new vehicles, like the integrated switch panels or aftermarket switch pros and S-Pods, and I think ARB LINX- Yeah

has a system. Like, those things-

Scott Brady: Super

Matt Scott: tightly integrated … prevent you from needing that fire extinguisher- Right … to an extent.

Scott Brady: But h- make sure that all of that emergency stuff is accessible. Make sure your first aid kit is accessible, fire extinguisher, um, you know, the things, y- your bug out kit, the stuff your, you know, your sat phone.

Make sure the sat phone isn’t at the back of the drawer system.

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: So now when the wa- when the vehicle’s underwater ’cause you failed an exit of a river, that you can actually get to help. Yeah. So, um, that was one note that we had is just to make sure that emergency eq- equipment takes [00:41:00] priority in where it’s placed in the vehicle.

And then be very thoughtful around organization so that it reduces time. I think along the lines of Matt’s suggestion with the red dot is make note of the things that you use all the time and move them into the more and more accessible- Yeah … locations. Just because you spend a bunch of time in your driveway organizing all your kit, you don’t have to stick with that.

You can start to change your plan to make it more convenient. And then of course there are other things that we need to store. Um, we talked about firewood. That can easily go on the rack. But we also need to carry lots of water and lots of fuel.

Matt Scott: Huge amounts of water.

Scott Brady: Yeah. So if, especially if you, if you really wanna rock up and enjoy that two weeks on the beach in Baja, you’re gonna bring a lot of water with you.

So putting the water down low, um, and as far forward in the vehicle as possible is key. Um, there are really good water tank systems, but where I start to get concerned is when I see [00:42:00] the eight-foot long, six-inch diameter PVC pipe on the rack filled with water.

Matt Scott: It’s the w- it’s the worst place you can put weight.

Yeah. I mean-

Scott Brady: It

Matt Scott: is … like, we’re not saying don’t do roof racks, but- Roof racks are in the worst place on a vehicle. I mean, weight that is high up is worse than weight that is down low.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: You know, I always, I always question when people put fuel and water on their roof rack. It looks cool though. It looks cool-

but now your water is… You know, I guess for showers, I think that’s the whole point of those, of those systems. But, you know, then you do get the solar gain from it and whatnot. But, you know, I see people put, you know, water pack things on their roof and, well, now your water’s like 800 degrees and tastes like, you know, cheap-

Scott Brady: Like plastic.

Exactly.

Matt Scott: Yeah. And the same with fuel. Like, what happens when you roll your vehicle?

Scott Brady: Right.

Matt Scott: You’re, you’re literally covering- Every square inch of your vehicle in gasoline-

Scott Brady: Right …

Matt Scott: [00:43:00] that’s, you know, ’cause it’s, it’s gonna leak. I mean, that’s gonna, it, it’s, it’s, it’s- Most likely, yeah … you roll, there’s a really good chance of that.

Um, you know, I’m a big fan of, you know, extended range fuel tanks for that reason. Um, I know that they’re pricey and whatnot, but I think that that’s something that I use a lot.

Scott Brady: And it gets the weight down very low in the vehicle, and it typically is frame-mounted, so it’s a very secure place to store the fuel.

Um, I’ve also done that, used extended range tanks, and that really makes a difference. But if I do, um, use fuel cans, like for example, um, when I was crossing the Altar Desert years ago in a Land Rover, I removed part of the rear seat, put it as far forward and as low down as possible- Yeah … and then you use high, high-quality- I remember

Matt Scott: how you did that.

They were, like, stacked up behind- That’s right … the rear seats, um, and you used, you know, NATO jerry cans or something, I wanna say.

Scott Brady: Which have really good seals, and they don’t tend to off-gas or leak. I, I didn’t have any leaks or experience any leaks during that trip. So you wanna make sure you’ve got [00:44:00] fresh seals in those and you’re paying attention to not, um, not damaging how they align for a good seal.

Um, and then water I tend to use… I like to use MSR- Dromedary bags … dromedary, dromedary bags. Yeah. I picked

Matt Scott: that up from you, for sure.

Scott Brady: And I just put ’em in the wheel well, or not in the wheel- in the foot well of the rear seats. ‘Cause even if you’ve got kids, which I don’t have kids, but even if somebody has kids, you can still…

Your kids are sitting in the seat and their legs are kinda dangling down. Yeah. You can still have it filled with, with water. Um, you know, uh, Front Runner makes a- Oh, yeah … a really- The little- … really clever one … it

Matt Scott: even has a cutout for a transmission tunnel.

Scott Brady: Yeah, really clever, um,

Matt Scott: water storage tank. They make seat back ones, too.

I actually just- They do … bought one of those. Um- Those are clever. Yeah. I, you know, this isn’t a paid ad for Front Runner, this actually happened. I just really like their stuff. They just make really cool stuff. I mean, like, South Africans do this every weekend.

Scott Brady: They do.

Matt Scott: And they have for 30 years. Um, water bladders and fuel bladders aren’t really [00:45:00] super popular, but I, I do really like those.

I, I often question why, why more people don’t use those instead of bags. Um, you know, if they’re… You know, for example- Oh, instead

Scott Brady: of tanks.

Matt Scott: Yeah … yeah, if a, if a private jet needs to fly to Australia or something, oftentimes a lot of these Learjets, they use, you know- I, uh, auxiliary tank fuel bladders that go in place of passengers or whatever.

Right. So if it’s, if it’s good enough for a, you know, an aerospace environment, I assure you it’s fine for your Tacoma.

Scott Brady: Yeah. And there’s a couple, I mean, Giant Loop sells- Yeah, the Giant Loop has

Matt Scott: them …

Scott Brady: sells some really good quality, um, collapsible fuel bladders that … And the cool thing about those is when you’re done with them or when you’re f- when the fuel’s been taken out of them, you can just roll them up.

Matt Scott: And you don’t have that space. That’s right. And, and you make … Those decisions that you make like that, they compound, right? Um, because that water jug that you have that’s now empty still has to be stored.

Scott Brady: That’s [00:46:00] right.

Matt Scott: That f- Still

Scott Brady: the same volume …

Matt Scott: yeah, that fuel can that you have to buy the bumper for that adds weight to the rear of the vehicle, that makes it handle like crap, that makes it worse off-road, you know- You don’t have to, you don’t have to store it.

And, and, and you start to think like that when it comes to storage, and all of a sudden, you know, your vehicle is just more flexible. It’s more lightweight. It’s nicer to drive. You’re not, you’re not going down the road and you don’t have f- Things rattling … different things rattling. Like, you know, the interior of my Jeep looks pretty much stock.

The back of my Jeep, Jeep, like when it’s loaded, you can’t tell that it’s loaded or empty because everything kinda has its home.

Scott Brady: Its place, yeah.

Matt Scott: Um, and I think, I don’t know, I mean, maybe that’s a good, a, a good thing is just to make sure everything has a home. Um-

Scott Brady: Everything in its place, right? And, and I think that when it comes to storage is think in, think in layers.

Have the stuff that you use most often most accessible. To Matt’s point, the [00:47:00] stuff that you don’t use, maybe leave it at home next time so that you’re carrying less weight and less complexity, and there’s less risk of loss because you’ve, you’ve not brought as many expensive things along. Um, and, and I think that when it comes to hard versus soft, um, make sure that everything at the end of the day is latched down properly.

It really doesn’t matter. If you, if you really like soft- They’re

Matt Scott: all missiles when you- Yeah … hit a brick wall- Yeah … or, you know, people tend to think-

Scott Brady: Or roll or whatever.

Matt Scott: Yeah … yeah, people tend to think that you’re going to get hit. It’s always going to be someone else’s fault.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: Well, what happens when you’re just going down a trail and you go around a blind turn and it’s just completely washed out- Right

and your vehicle nosedives into a wash.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: Um, or there’s a tree that’s fallen and, and things that are just out of your control. Um, you know, that … I mean, it, it’s all a projectile.

Scott Brady: Anything, anything can happen with that, and, and having it all latched down is really, really critical. [00:48:00] So I, I think when it comes to storage, keep it simple, right?

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: And, and reduce the amount of stuff you have. Lash it down properly, and then leave the stuff at home that you, you aren’t using. Anything else you got, Matt? Any other

Matt Scott: ideas? I, I think just think, think in terms of efficiency. Like, I know I, I’ll use the example of, like, those Action Packer things that you can get at Walmart.

Yeah. Like, a lot of people use those. The way they’re reinforced and the way the lid is, like, the, the walls aren’t even at a 90-degree angle. Yeah, they’re

Scott Brady: really space inefficient.

Matt Scott: Yeah, yeah. So, you know, you can have, uh, something smaller that is actually larger if you just do the research. Figure out what works for you and, and try and be minimal.

I’m not saying don’t bring the things with you that increase your comfort that you actually use. Just don’t bring the stuff with you that you don’t use.

Scott Brady: Totally. Keep it simple. So, and on that note- Yeah … we, we will, uh, talk to you all about more principles of overlanding.

Matt Scott: And we’ll finish our White Claws now.

Scott Brady: Oh, geez. Yeah. I mean, uh, like I’m … I kind of feel [00:49:00] guilty admitting that it was quite refreshing.

Matt Scott: Yeah. We were trying to be hip. This is us trying to be hip- Yeah … with overlanding. Take care, guys. Um-

Scott Brady: And we will talk to you next time

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