Thread: Journey to the Centre in 6 minutes

Originally Posted by Hokoman

Hi All,

Despite being an Aulro member for ages I'd never noticed this section and it contains some classics alright.
So my little video from mid 2017 doesn't seem to be quite in the style but I thought people who haven't done the Centre or Simpson might get a kick out of it.
I really made it for my family to laugh at but seems a waste not to show it to other Landy owners.
This is a 1996 130 with a HS 2.8 TGV motor that's now done about 60k klms. No dramas as yet, touch wood, although it does run fairly hot on long uphills.
The torque is very nice off-road, very easy to drive.
I'm usually heavily loaded with 150L of water and 140L fuel - putting it between 3.4 and 3.7 tonne I reckon, depending upon what I'm carrying that day.
The suspension is Tough Dog but I need to upgrade it soon - the rear is definitely bouncy. I'm now researching what might be the best options.



cheers
Chris

Thanks for that, Chris. Could you tell us a bit about the camper setup?

Originally Posted by johntins

Thanks for that, Chris. Could you tell us a bit about the camper setup?

yes, it's simply a Trayon camper on a tray. Here's a link to my website that will explain more about the car. I set it up for a trip through Africa and it proved excellent.
It was an expensive way to do it and I'd do it differently today in hindsight but isn't that always the way?
Besides, I was living in it for 2 years with my girlfriend so we needed something a little more comfy than your standard tent set-up.
I think the Trayon is an excellent piece of kit, very tough and practical and relatively light.
Of course everything's a compromise in the 4x4 adventuring world, nothing is perfect, but I think the Trayon comes pretty close.
Although the Landy is a bit underpowered and noisy for long distance stuff it proved very good off-road in Africa.
There's something very loveable about these old bangers.
all best,
Chris

The Car - Chris Hooke Oz Blog

Thanks. That was a great way to demonstrate the beauty of those locations.
can you provide some details of the cameras used?
was it all on an iPhone?

Originally Posted by jspyle

Thanks. That was a great way to demonstrate the beauty of those locations.
can you provide some details of the cameras used?
was it all on an iPhone?

All the movie stuff was with an iPhone 6, usually by the girlfriend. The stills were with a Canon 5Dsr body and the Canon 24-70 lens, a great combination.
Glad u liked it, was fun to put together! I just used my Apple Laptop and iMovie.

Originally Posted by Hokoman

yes, it's simply a Trayon camper on a tray. Here's a link to my website that will explain more about the car. I set it up for a trip through Africa and it proved excellent.
It was an expensive way to do it and I'd do it differently today in hindsight but isn't that always the way?
Besides, I was living in it for 2 years with my girlfriend so we needed something a little more comfy than your standard tent set-up.
I think the Trayon is an excellent piece of kit, very tough and practical and relatively light.
Of course everything's a compromise in the 4x4 adventuring world, nothing is perfect, but I think the Trayon comes pretty close.
Although the Landy is a bit underpowered and noisy for long distance stuff it proved very good off-road in Africa.
There's something very loveable about these old bangers.
all best,
Chris

The Car - Chris Hooke Oz Blog

Thanks again. I ask because I have a tentative plan to go and live in a car/camper for around 12 months, and am interested in how people go about it. One or two weeks is easy, three or four a little more involved, but I want something I can live in.

You say that you carry 150l of water. In the specs on your blog I see a 40l water tank. Where do you carry the rest of it?

You were lucky finding a big cab 130. I'll bet it made a huge difference.

Once again, thanks for posting the vid. Do you have any from Africa?

Originally Posted by johntins

You say that you carry 150l of water. In the specs on your blog I see a 40l water tank. Where do you carry the rest of it?

Never mind, I should have looked more closely at the Trayon.

Hi Chris,

Brilliant video - thanks for making it & sharing it.

Cheers,
GG.

Originally Posted by johntins

Thanks again. I ask because I have a tentative plan to go and live in a car/camper for around 12 months, and am interested in how people go about it. One or two weeks is easy, three or four a little more involved, but I want something I can live in.

You say that you carry 150l of water. In the specs on your blog I see a 40l water tank. Where do you carry the rest of it?

You were lucky finding a big cab 130. I'll bet it made a huge difference.

Once again, thanks for posting the vid. Do you have any from Africa?

hi John,

well, you're certainly on the right site for advice. But any advice is just based on our own personal tastes obviously, so BEWARE.
If you're new to 4x4 touring/adventuring and you want to use your rig as a 'home' for an extended period of time you need to firstly work out if you are going to be doing hard 4x4 trails or not.
Because hard off-roading costs a lot of money - to set up your car robustly enough and then to have a camper on it that will also cope is very, very expensive. I'd argue that travelling normal gravel roads and doing difficult and technical 4x4 trails are a world of difference and will cost the owner up to 3-4x more and sometimes make the vehicle more unsafe for normal use, unless they're prepared to greatly compromise their speed.

In terms of living comfort, if there's two of you, there's no doubt that a small off-road caravan or decent camper-trailer is best. They will provide the room you need. Trust me, being cramped is tiring.
The Trayon is JUST big enough in friendly climates. As soon as it's wet or cold it becomes a bit claustrophobic. If you're tall, getting in and out can become a bit boring over an extended period of time. With 2 people it's hard to move without bumping into each other or otherwise developing an intricate dance learned over time. Getting in and out of bed will almost always wake the other person up - and one will have to climb over the other to get out. If you're on your own no problem at all. The great advantage of the Trayon is relatively superb comfort at a low weight, enabling you not to bother with a trailer or bigger truck-like vehicle. The disadvantage of the single unit is when you set up camp your vehicle is 'stuck' until you pack up. Unless you demount the Trayon of course - which you can do quite easily in about 30 mins - it has legs.

Setting up a single vehicle to carry a camper can be as expensive as setting up a vehicle and buying a camper-trailer.
In the single entity everything has to be really well thought out and compact and that usually comes at a price. In the process you sort of destroy your vehicle for the one purpose of camping. Taking it back to original is often too hard.

If you go the camper-trailer route then you can have a 'normal' 4x4 vehicle which you haven't spent the earth on, and make your camper-trailer the focus of your attentions. And the advantage off that is when you pull up for the night it's often quicker and easier to set up camp and your vehicle is always free and ready to go off on safari or to fetch something from the shop that's probably 50 kilometres or more away by now! And good used camper-trailers are very easy to come by relatively cheaply.

Many times I've looked at others rigs where they have a decent camper-trailer or off-road caravan and I'm genuinely green with envy. Yes, there are compromises to be made where you can go but that's where it's impossible to advise others because everyone has a different comfort zone vs adventure zone level.
And at other times I'm just so happy to have the one vehicle/camper which means pretty well nothing stops me.
For example, my girlfriend HATES the idea of a camper-trailer or off-road caravan. She's totally happy with our set-up. It's me that would like more space and to be able to take more toys along but can't because of the weight issue. For example, I'd love to be able to take my 3.3M inflatable and 9hp motor everywhere. But generally it puts us well over the weight limit, especially in the far outback where you need to load up with plenty of water and fuel. And I'd love to have a couple of bicycles on board. But no room. If I had a camper-trailer I'd have no problem being able to take the inflatable/motor and a huge spare fridge/freezer and the bicycles etc etc.
While I think of it, take a look at the ULTIMATE camper-trailer. It's very similar to the Trayon but has a lot more room and much easier to climb in and out of. And it's light.
If you do decide on a single entity I think it's hard to beat the Trayon.

Nearly forgot - the Trayon has a 110L tank for water so that's where the 150L figure comes from. And I have a 120L main fuel tank and a 60L 2nd fuel tank. The Landy is good on fuel off-road. On road, fully loaded, it gets about 12.5L / 100k. Off-road in harsh conditions, like the Simpson Desert crossing, I got 14.5L / 100k which I think is quite remarkable. I've got a Nissan Patrol 3.0L which gets around 11.5 on road but as soon as u hit the rough stuff that can climb to 16-17 very quickly. Landrovers generally are pretty frugal and that can be a real blessing in the outback.

I do have a lot of videos from Africa but I've never bothered to edit them, just can't find the time. If you're interested in Southern Africa at all I've got a website that charts my trip and provides quite a lot of info about the various National Parks. It was a fab trip we did in 2013-2014, a retirement gift to ourselves ! Building the Landy was a big part of that too, expensive and arguably silly, but fun and interesting. And the Landrover bug is real enough. They're not really such a great vehicle to be honest, I think LR quality control is utterly shameful, but I've ended up with 3 on 3 continents !!

Anyway, if you're close to Sydney you're welcome to come and have a closer look at mine. I'm in France at the moment but will be back home by end January.
Oh yes, you really should get yourself along to a 4x4 show - there you can see all the permutations and talk endlessly with other people who will tell you exactly what you should do .... ha ha.
And if you've got a restricted budget you must try to find a rig that someone has already spent the money on. Because starting from scratch is surprisingly expensive, especially if your mechanical/electrical talents are in question, like mine.

Hope all that helps !