Thread: D2a Overlanding ideas/inspiration

Originally Posted by AK83

Everyone has a different idea of 'overlanding' due to their specific needs. ie. some overland with two kids in the back, others are just one up .. both have different needs.

eg. keeping stuff compact and lightweight helps with fuel economy, and easy to do when solo. But so much harder if you have family to haul around too, just add a roof rack and there goes about 100klm of range out of the std tank. Add stuff to the roof rack and you now lose about 200klms from that same tank.
A well setup TD5 D2 should give you about 1000klms from the std tank if you drive it sensibly. Do you think you need more? More weight, so it becomes a self defeating exercise at some point.



We did this for the brother when he had the D2 full time. He wanted the ability to go solo camping for a week. I built up a ply box that unfolded and unfolded till it made up a single bed base. D2 isn't the longest cargo area in the business, but when you slide drivers seat forward then fold seats forward, you can unfold a box that accommodates a single blow up mattress using the 2/3rds side of the rear seat. So he keeps the 1/3 side in the seated posi, and this is used to get into bed, and for example take you boots off. There's plenty of height for waist/head room due to the raised rear roof, and bro had his 10" tablet set up at the rear too, to watch a movie before sleeping(as an example).
Next to the bed in the rear was his 60L fridge, just a smidge higher than bed base, but similar to the mattress level, so made it easy whilst lying down to grab a drink or whatever out the fridge, and also acted as a platform, like a bedside table.
Under the bed base was a deep enough 'drawer' cavity where he had cooking stuff, and tools and spares stuff. As this was all a testing/ideas endeavour, his drawer system consisted of just a couple of $2 rectangular tubs.

All worked brilliantly, even for a partially disabled lump like myself, where getting in and out of a setup like this can be awkward.

Only 2 dowsides, . like jwb said, plywood is heavy. If I were to keep this setup id personally use welded mesh on square tubing, even trying to get it incorporated as a cargo barrier if needed too(as long as the math lines up for it). That is, the cargo barrier would transform into the bed base.
The other downside is his use of the cheapo kings awning. Had he had an easier to setup batwing style awning(which is really needed in such a compact setup for solo travel) would have made the experience a lot more pleasant.
I really hate those flop/roll out awnings for setup and packup.

In terms of car stuff, everything has already been said, and you may have been advised too to have a nanocom. And for any, even slightly remote travel... this is your primary priority. If you do happen to have some mishap/misfortune and something leads to a failure to proceed, you need to know what caused it.
And it goes without saying, that pre trip preparation is going to be vital. if in doubt, just fix some things to be sure that they won't come unstuck on you in no-mans-land.

I had this happen to me with the D2. The good ol notorious auto cooler lines. Read lot of advise to just redo them. they looked fine, but just to be sure, I bought the pair so that if they did fail at the least I had them handy in the shed.
I regularly checked them and they looked fine. Till one day suddenly the passenger side failed. It happens in an instant, you just lose all trans fluid and no drive. This could be catastrophic say on the highway at speed, because it'll kill the trans over the short distance it loses the fluid, compared to the much longer distance that you have to travel to stop at highway speeds. I was just lucky I was in traffic at close to zero speed, and as soon as I felt slipped drive, I just stopped in the middle of the road, and switched motor off immediately.
Idiot me! should have fitted the lines when I got them. PITA to do so, and very lucky to get away without multi $K trans rebuild.

There are other instances of "fix it before it destroys you" type situations. Front double cardan drive shaft. If you don't know it's history, just get it rebuilt or a replacement. Just because an expert says it's tight, doesn't mean it will stay tight on an overlanding trip.
Battery condition. Super vital in a D2. If it starts to fail slightly and drops to a low level, it will trigger the immobiliser and you're stuck. The previously mentioned important nanocom will be your friend here. You can both set an easier to use unlock sequence to disable immobiliser, or (better) disable immobiliser for a trip. You don't want to be stuck remotely in this situation.

etc, etc.

Really good suggestions thanks. I am prepared to put a bit of money in to make sure it's up to standard. Do you think they are capable for two people to do some big trips, such as cape York or various zig zags through or around aus?
I imagine a lot should be done to ensure its up to that standard, I imagine a full rebuild on some cases?

Are there any shorter trips you think that might be good to test the waters a bit and find out what might need doing before something like a head gasket happens?

Thanks

Originally Posted by d2dave

Not necessarily. I have 150 litre long range tank. I recently crossed the Simpson desert towing a Tvan.

I had a total of 250 litres and I did not have much left when I got to Birdsville.

FWIW,we have done Mt Dare to Birdsville twice in a D2,and back.Probably not fully loaded,just camping gear,etc,for two.
Needed one jerry can each way.In fact in the later 5 seat D2a we had it may have done it on a tank,but i put the jerry in to be sure.

Conditions make a difference,one of the trips it rained,and the other it had recently rained,so the going was pretty easy.

The D4 needed two jerrys,but has a much smaller tank than the D2.