New shoes!
Today the truck got some shiny new black shoes. I ended up getting six new tyres and two spare wheel rims, upgrading the steel spare to the standard Ford alloy. After a bit of a chat with Scott at Richard’s Tyrepower in Osborne Park I’ve ended up going for new Mickey Thomson rubber. It’s the first time I’ve had Mickeys, however all the online chat says that they’re pretty good. Hopefully they’ll prove themselves on the road.
The tyres are a 285/70/R17 Baja ATZ P3.
I’m about to head off to the Kimberleys in far North WA. The rough itinerary is to drive from Perth to Karijini, Broome, then onto the Gibb River Road and Mitchell Falls, before heading back via the Bungle Bungles and Wolfe Creek Crater. All up its about 130 hours of driving covering 8000kms over a three week period, however this is likely to be a bit more as a lot of this is over 4WD tracks.
I’ve added some publicly available photos of where I’m going, hopefully I can add some more that will highlight just how beautiful this part of the world is.
Karijini National Park
Broome
Mitchell Falls
El Questro
Bungle Bungles
Wolfe Creek
Wolfe Creek is a meteorite crater site, however if you mention it to anyone in Australia you’re likely to get the reaction of “Are you serious?” This is because of a local horror movie based on a group of backpackers who break down in the outback. It’s worth a look if you like horror movies.
I have a variety of camera kit that I’ll be taking on my trip, ranging from action cams through to a couple of DSLRs. None of this kit is particularly new or exciting, but I thought I’d share the line up.
First up is the ubiquitous GoPro, and I have a couple some I’m hoping to get a couple of decent angles. I’ll be using one of these inside of the truck throughout the trip to the Kimberlys.
Next up is the Kogan action cam. These are a lower cost version of the GoPro and I’m ok if these get damaged or lost on the trip. One will be on the roof rack, and another on the bullbar.
After this is the iPhone/iPad/Samsung tablet for quick photos.
A new add on is the drone, a DJI Phantom 3 for aerial photography. This should be cool as I’ve only played with this once, and will hopefully let me get a different angle on the action.
Finally the Canon EOS 400D and 600D, for more detailed photography. This will include the longer exposure night time shots to bring in starlight photographs, and the more magazine-esque photos.
I’ve spent a lot of today in the picturesque Avon Valley in the better halfs Land Rover Discovery Sport. The day was run by Land Rover Australia and was a lot of fun, with the point of taking new Land Rover owners off the black top and into the bush.
The day kicked off with homemade scones at Moondyne Convention Centre, a brilliant spot that I hope to get back to soon. After a safety briefing it was onto the gravel and then into a field for our first challenge. Balancing the car on two wheels. There were a lot of nervous people who had just spent significant amounts of money looking at our instructors Ray and David as though they were nuts. Everyone had a go, and then the discussion was how easy it was. After a couple more run throughs, playing with the different modes on the car each time it was onto a gravel pit, then back to Moondyne and a fantastic lunch.
As it was a particularly cold day no one felt like getting back to the driving too soon, but eventually we got back into the cars and we wound our way to the valley floor past more kangaroos and trying our best to get some mud on the cars before the crossing point on the Avon river.
After the crossing it was back to Moondyne and a thank you to the instructors, some last minute tips and then time to head home.
I’ve just gotten my truck back from my mates at TJM Perth. They’ve had it for a couple of days to get some much needed clearance and protection added, and I had them mount my roof racks in the gutters rather than using the under door clips.
The bullbar is front end protection and before I leave to head up North this was my must have modification. The protection it offers is paramount against kangaroos and cows, especially if travelling at night.
A full set of underbody armour has been added to protect the soft underside of the truck against what I’ve been told can be lethally sharp rocks, hopefully it’s not needed but the peace of mind that it gives is worth it.
This has been complemented by a lift to the truck giving me a bit more space. I’ve bottomed out on the soft sand at Wedge Island a couple of times, with associated digging and snatching to get me out. Hopefully the lift and new tyres will get me to a point where this is less relevant.
The tyres are still to come, as are a whole bunch of other mods. Stay tuned for part 2.
Disclaimer: this is how I put this together, it is not intended as a guide, and is based on my limited personal experience. I am not an electrician, nor do I accept any personal liability for any accidents that may occur after reading this post. Always speak to a professional and be aware that electricity kills.
I’m a bit of a tinkerer, especially when it comes to electronics and electrical systems. A fair amount of my teens and early twenties was spent running cables through cars and mounting speakers in cars, and then swapping them out and doing them again after reading magazines on how to do this in a more professional way. It kept me out of trouble for the most part, and eventually I grew out of it.
Until now.
I had a couple of estimates for running a dual battery setup, and my inner Scot told me I was being seen over. Unlike fitting a bullbar, with the move of crash sensors and cruise control, this is something I could do myself. Cue late nights on YouTube and Google to see what had changed, and discussions with friends on what I should get.
After a lot of research I stumbled across this video which takes you through everything you need to know – http://www.australiandirect.com.au/shop/battery-systems-solar/dual-battery-kits/1107
After this I went window shopping online at the three letter acronym stores and decided to use my favourite, DIY. This also gave me an excuse to get a sausage-inna-bun. #magic
The goal was simple, create a portable battery kit that could be in the truck the majority of the time to power my fridge, but that could also come out in the future to the sites of BBQ’s.
The parts I ordered:
Once everything arrived from eBay, car auto stores, and a storage locker that I keep random bits of perfectly useful stuff in, I loaded it into the truck and headed to the hobby farm, where I intended to build the system. Unfortunately I ran out of time so I’ll be building this on the road.
The idea is simple enough, a second battery will power my fridge with electrical isolation from my cranking battery when the truck is off. This second battery needs to be charged from the vehicle when it is running, and from a solar panel or gen set when it isn’t. As my truck is fairly new it needs to have an electrical step up in voltage to charge the second battery, and control the solar panel flow. And from a space perspective this battery has to be in the tray of the ute.
Running the cable from the front to the rear of the vehicle is pretty straight forward. Getting it into the tub however is a bit more challenging.
The battery box has some of what I wanted on it, the rest I can add myself using a fuse block, a drill, and some off the shelf components. Adding the new USB and 12V cig socket holes to the battery box with some Anderson plugs should be straightforward enough as well. I’ll need some fuses to help protect everything as well.
I spent Saturday on a hobby farm with my head in my truck. It was productive as I’ve added lights, and in-vehicle storage.
The lights I’ve chosen are a compromise between cost and function. Leaning heavily towards cost. Lights in Australia can cost anywhere up to $2000, a princely sum that is not in the ballpark of what I’m willing to pay. So for $200 I bought some lights from an online store, with the associated wiring kit.
The vehicle storage that I’ve gone for are the ute drawers. The drawers are a kit, and offer a nicer way to storage all of the random bits that are needed on a trip like this in a managed way. Three weeks living out of plastic crates and a broom to pull them forward wasn’t overly appealing. This kit came with a fridge slide included, an essential bit of kit when you’re away as long as we are.
When I feel the need to disappear into the bush and get away from the city the areas I go to can vary from camp sites with designated camping areas, through to overnight on the beach, all the way through to sustained camping in the bush. A normal day trip of 400km round trip and camping of further than this means that the transportation of myself, my gear, and sharing the load across the group when relevant is key. I’ve camped with both a jeep and a ford ranger and wanted to share the pros and cons that I’ve seen so far.
The 2006 Jeep TJ Wrangler that I had went everywhere that I pointed it whilst laden down with all the gear mentioned, typically with additional bags of firewood and jerrycans of petrol as well. This was definitely the most capable 4wd I’ve owned, however ran out of space as soon as you looked at it hard.
Skip forward a couple of years after selling the TJ and I’ve bought a 2016 ford ranger. After starting my new job I’ve only had a couple of opportunities to take the new wheels off road and what I’ve seen so far has impressed me from a capability point of view. The storage inside of the canopy has been amazing, to the point where I can carry more gear from other people in the group as well.
I’m keen to make a couple of modifications to the ranger, starting with clearance, tyre size, and potentially adding a new rooftop tent and shade cloth. The rooftop tent and shade cloth would be handy for long range touring trips so this may wait a while.
Once out of the car and hiking the gear becomes simpler, specifically how to get there is via this pair of boots, with storage provided by an old and gold backpack.
I’m only 8 days away from my overland trip to the Kimberleys in North West WA. After almost two years of planning, and an extended period at work without a break I can’t wait to get going. Winter hit in force in Perth last night, cold, wet, and howling winds. Today is probably what P-town would consider the first real day of winter, although in comparison to Glasgow (my hometown) it’s a pretty nice summers day.
I can’t wait to get going and find some real winter sun though, and Broome seems to have it in spades. Only 8 days to go…
Coffee is one of my favourite things in the world and you can normally find me working in a coffee shop somewhere in Perth and Adelaide. This means that I tend to look for a coffee shop with great coffee, free wifi, power, and understanding staff. Normally i can find three of the four, power is still an issue.
Whilst I’m still looking for this Nirvana for the modern day road warrior I’ve also bought a Nespresso machine recently and been very impressed with it. On the days when I don’t have meetings in the city and for just general coffee fixes this is a superb way of getting coffee very quickly.
For off-road and camping adventures I’ve grabbed a second hand one and want to hook it up to the truck. Combine a small French Press with my hiking stove and I’m a happy bunny. Whilst these might seem like luxuries, starting the day right helps with my morale – especially relevant when it’s wet and hard to get motivated!
Kevin's Musings 