Bittersweet wrote:Learning wisdom at last eh Brew! You might be advised to pick up a Chrissie pressie on the way home too, I know how you hate shopping at the best of times.
B
Is that some form of subtle hint?
How do you know I have not already got one????
Anyway back to gear. A trip like the one just undertaken does test all sorts of kit to the limit and you find out how useful bits of kit can be.
Compressors
Airing down can make driving a lot simpler but probably is getting them back up to pressure again. Staun tyre deflators are useful for airing down once you got them set right
The lack of a decent compressor means a lot of people don't air down at the appropriate moment and then wonder why they get stuck etc. To save space in the back I had an Aussie engine compressor fitted which fed into a 9 litre air tank. The air hose and gauge was readily accessible on the cargo barrier. It was great all four tyres from 18 psi to 40 psi in less then 8 minutes start to finish! Great bit of kit.
Unfortunately had a grease fire inside the compressor, so it was changed for a 6 pot oil lubricated one. As a back up I bought a middle of the road cheapish compressor as I did not want to be miles from nowhere without any means of reflating tyres. What a piece of junk. Do NOT buy cheap compressors, I should have know better! (Anyone wants to buy a cheap compressor???
)
The corrugations out here can kill anything given time! The on off switch and pressure relief valve is a pull up switch. Hit the corrugations and after a few days i was switching itself on. By time I realised (driving on corrugations is rather noisy) the relief valve was blowing off. Stopped switched it off. Happened again. Damm how do I prevent this and third time I pulled the switching wire off the terminal. What I did not realise at the time it had also blown one of the pipes.
So one of the jobs in England is to get a seperate rocker switch so that it can not happen again. Then it will be a great system
Bought an ARB compressor as a second back up. Cost more $, comes in a plastic tool box. Good compressor, not as fast as the engine one but is let down by having no gauge intragal with it.
Buy cheap pay twice over is moral of story and I should have known better
Water Storage
Travelling long distances in hot dry climates you need lots of water. I had a 70 litre stainless tank made by WVA Holdings which sits in the rear foot well. Since was mainly travelling solo this tank was not really used. Would have invaluable otherwise.
The Swiss army water bladders are very tough and useful, but they can not cope with a B double running over them. A good buy.
Store rigid water containers with the tap at the top unless you want a wet storage area. The collopasable water containers have a tendenancy to leak as well. We managed to lose one somewhere, not sure how but think drove off with it on the front wing.
Communications
Out here in Oz, mobile phones cover 95% of population but only 10% of the land area. So big black holes exist. 3g, phones are apparently better but still have black holes.
UHF radios are good for up to 20 miles and were good for local communications and getting info from passing drivers etc, but they are still short range communication.
Had a HF radio fitted which was good for communicating across Australia but no good for short range work, i.e. less then 100 miles. This was my insurance policy IF anything went seriously tits up when I was solo in the outback. At times went days without seeing another vehicle. Not cheap but was worthwhile as insurance.
Sat phones I hear different stories about how good they are and costs/plans etc. When prices come down they might become invaluable as means of emergency communications
Jon brought out a tracking device with him. Only draw back is that it needs a mobile phone signal to transmit data on. Signal needed is much less then for a phone but it still has black holes. Fitted with a satalite sim card it could be useful as an emergency tool.
Internet in the outback? Unless you have a satallite sim card net access is limited. The Aussie state governments funds telecentres in post office/libraries etc in the small outback towns. A great idea
Will probably witter on more about gear used later
Regards
Brendan