Desert driving equipment

[onlymark]

As a result of one or two questions from the Day Out thread I thought, or rather hoped, it might be useful to see what your intrepid desert explorer would normally carry with him (or her).
This is what I'd carry with me as a minimum for the day. Obviously it'll be the same for more than that but what I've not included is things like the extra water (and compass 'cos I can't for the life of me remember where it is).

Most of the stuff is kept in a recess in the rear floor of the car designed to house the extra seats. I keep it there all the time.
If I don't need the 6th and 7th seat I just take them out completely.
The stuff in the first picture I either sling in the back or put on the roof rack depending on circumstances.

So - extra diesel tank which fits in a rack on the outside of the rear door, tarpaulin in a bag, electric cooler for chocolate and sweets (Ok, I suppose I put sandwiches in there and water as well sometimes), metal heavy duty sand mats for recovery, high lift jack (the red long thing) for if I really, really get stuck.




Inside the back door are two fire extinguishers, good first aid kit, small camping light, various tie down straps and bungees, odd bits and bobs.




Two pictures of what I normally have under where the fold down seat fits in the rear floor.

Too much to mention really but - folding shovel, normal shovel (actually that goes on the roof), sod off big compressor for pumping up my tyres (in soft sand let them down), spare small compressor, foot pump (belt and braces approach, why have one of something when you can fit three in), spare fan belts, tools and more tools, warning triangle for when on the road, smaller first aid kit, towing cable x 2, the orange square thing is the stand for the high lift jack, two hydraulic jacks and the normal manufactures jack which isn't very good (three again!), glue and bits and bobs, GPS, map, tyre pressure gauge (normally those are in the front of the car), a couple of torches, and, err, can't remember, just other small stuff that I seem to accumulate.





Anything I missed?

[Deleted]

This will be good for Spindrift and Deyana to know when they drive a Smart from London to Madras.

[onlymark]

They'll need to tow another one behind them to carry all this stuff, then a third for their clothes.

[Deleted]

hey! I live in jeans and hiking boots, if you don't mind.

All that stuff looks useful, but only if you know how to use it. I guess you could always flag down someone who might know what's it's all for.

[bixaorellana]

Is that a marlin spike over there on the right hand side?

Mark, you don't keep extra water in there as well, for the radiator as well as if you get really stranded? How about a liter or two of motor oil? Another question, because of the high heat where you live and where you take the car, how often do you have to review/replace the contents of your Desert Explorer Kit?

[Deleted]

I didn't see any fishing poles.

[bixaorellana]

They're on the roof, next to the skis.

[Deleted]

Anyway, Mark mentioned that the water was not pictured at the beginning of the thread. I'm thinking that there just isn't any room for it and he's hoping for rain.

[onlymark]

Mar 26, 2010 18:28:17 GMT deyana said:

hey! I live in jeans and hiking boots, if you don't mind.

Topless then.

[onlymark]

Mar 26, 2010 18:33:55 GMT bixaorellana said:

Is that a marlin spike over there on the right hand side?

Mark, you don't keep extra water in there as well, for the radiator as well as if you get really stranded? How about a liter or two of motor oil? Another question, because of the high heat where you live and where you take the car, how often do you have to review/replace the contents of your Desert Explorer Kit?

Marlin spike? Where? Joke?

Oils - don't bother usually. The engine doesn't use any so far and once you start carrying engine oil I start thinking about gearbox and transmission oil, and then brake and clutch fluids etc. It'd be never ending.
I do though carry spare fuel filters and oil filters.

As said, water I put in as needs be depending on the length of time I'm going for and how many are with me. I usually just buy bottles as then if there is a leak due to rough ground or whatever I then only lose a litre at a time.

I use the kit quite regularly, at least re-arrange it, so I can see if anything needs replacing.
Not mentioned was spare tyres, I only carry one, but as my unknown rule of three seems to be in most things, I carry then the spare, a puncture repair kit and also canisters of stuff that you connect to the tyre and it blows it back up and seals the puncture at the same time. In the photo they are hidden under the tool kit.

[onlymark]

Bear in mind also that the car is not quite standard that you'd get from any garage. When I imported it from new I specified various extras.
They were heavy duty front and rear suspension, steel wheels instead of the alloy ones, dual battery system and a limited slip rear differential with differential lock. Doesn't mean a lot of you're not mechanical minded, but it does to me.

[Deleted]

Do you use this car every day in Rehab or is it your special vehicle for getting away from the city?

[onlymark]

It's my every day car. I go into the city every morning to drop her off for work and come out again.
Other than that it's used for all the normal things like shopping, taking kids around etc.
I'm sure as an old Egypt hand you appreciate the advantage of having a fairly high sitting and robust car in these streets.

I've just watched the Grand Prix and nipped out to one of my favourite camping spots not far out of the city whilst the cleaner was here to take some photos. I wanted to try this 'panorama' stitching thing later and see what it turns out like.
I also wanted to take some photos of some petrified wood that is all around there.

[onlymark]

And I know you just couldn't resist the 'Rehab' pun, but I'm ignoring it.

[BigIain]

Do you have a winch on the front of Satan's wotsit or is that not a gizmo that is of any use in the desert? I will know when I have made it in life when I have a vehicle with a winch on it.

[Deleted]

Real men have big winches.

[onlymark]

Winches are for puffs.

There is no winch and I wouldn't really want one for the price they are, plus the extra weight over the front end. Also, there's not many trees in the desert to lash on to.
You can get round the lack of trees by using what's called a ground anchor. But by the time you've buried it properly you might as well have dug yourself out.

[spindrift]

Do you carry a roll of toilet paper?

[Deleted]

With all of that convenient sand around?

[onlymark]

Always Spindrift.
I'm so full of shit I need plenty.

[spindrift]

Just like the rest of us then

[BigIain]

Do you have any pics of the roof tent when it is fully deployed? I have never seen one and find them an interesting concept.

[onlymark]

I don't have one Iain. Apart from them being so expensive it's not really practical when there are 5 of us, and sometimes more when friends come (bear in mind it's a 7 seater car). They only really sleep two unless you get a really really big one, or more than one.
So what I do is just use the cheap dome tents from somewhere like the supermarket, twenty quid each jobs. The weather isn't so bad at any time that I need something better.

You mean something like this -




Well what I do is this -







If there was just two of us then I'd consider one, but at the moment there's no need.

[BigIain]

Ta.

[gertie]

That camping looks fabulous! Now you are tempting me to go to Egypt.

[hwinpp]

Apr 1, 2010 10:27:39 GMT BigIain said:

Do you have a winch on the front of Satan's wotsit or is that not a gizmo that is of any use in the desert? I will know when I have made it in life when I have a vehicle with a winch on it.

Yep, that was my first thought as well... and I've seen the answer ;D

I suppose if you're in the desert there's nothing you can use to 'winch' out the car.

[onlymark]

Just come back to this, not been ignoring you, just to say comments noted.