Indeed there is a difference between touring and off roading. I intend to do both, just to make things interesting... For example, I am sure the winch is not needed on the csr but if youtube IS any reliable there are plenty of beautiful spots around oz (and other parts of the world) that require just that extra bit more real off roading to get to. So, yeah, the winch might be debatable. Perhaps just a high lift jack which can do both things, winching and jacking.
Any transit route such as Tanami, Simpson, CSR et al, under normal circumstances will be navigable sans winch or extreme recovery gear.
The only time you may need serious recovery kit would be on side trips that you would have with you, keen forum members to guide and assist.
Regarding a standard looking car: My vehicle will look fairly standard. It will have an ARB front bar and some standard run of the mill rear bar with wheel carrier. I did upgrade my tyre size but went from 29" to 31" so nothing that will scream pumped up car. Also, on tarmac I will choose the highway setting on the air suspension so you can't really see any lift either. I did mount fender flares (from a disco 2, modified) to keep the wheels inside so really, nothing spectacular. It is road legal down here
Being a ham radio operator I will have some antenna's on the front bar and/or roofrack but that's about it. no 45" mud chonkers!
But, let me again reiterate: I intend to NOT go over GVM, with the lone exception on setting of on tracks like the csr where I need to drive 1000k's before I can refuel. 500 of those I would be pushing my luck to carry the extra fuel. So, of that distance, only the tarmac part is probably where I need to worry since that's where they can set up the weighing gear, not once I go bush I reckon. On 95% of my travels (or more?) I should be fine. Still, I would prefer not to go over GVM but buying a new truck just for a few kg's of extra GVM or different fuel type and spending the same amount of money on all that I have done to the current vehicle to get the new one up to snuff would cost something like a years extra worth of traveling in oz and around 3 in africa.
I have focused on reliability mainly, that's why I did all I did to the vehicle. The tougher axles (and cv's for that matter), rebuilt engine, all new suspension, rebuild ABS/TCS system, etc. is all part of that. I am even considering replacing part of the BECM stuff with something I can repair more easily. A roo bar is pretty much a must as I understand it in some parts of oz, and the world for that matter, and an ali one might not cut it I have been told? The rear drawer (and more) system will be made out of the lightest stuff I can find and handle. ali is probably not going to be possible but a very light type of wood with some ali angles and strips here and there will. I plan on drawing those things up and calculating the strength/weight of the system before I build it.
As far as the choice of petrol vs diesel. I have been through that very thoroughly. I agree that diesel is less flammable and that is a BIG plus, but if I look at fuel consumption of some of those (overloaded) 70 series and other big rigs I am not sure my "tiny" petrol uses that much more. Also, diesel trucks are getting more rare (the older ones) and the premium you pay for a diesel truck can pay for a looooooot of petrol. Also, my stove works on petrol
The only real concern I have with my current choice of vehicle is GVM and it being an auto so no pull/push start. I NEED to bring a starter motor as spare (weight), possibly an alternator?
Maintenance, yes, I have been building this truck up for the past 5 years, dented it, put it up and down hills that I would not do again probably, and got to know it really well, including it's weak spots. Most of the work I have done myself and I have been a car enthusiast for many decades, building mainly honda's admittedly from utter scratch up to (near) perfection. I do need to go over my "must bring" spares list though, because, again, weight.
Yes, I have seen the video's of andrew st piere white, ronny dahl, 4wd traction control (or whatever they call themselves these days), sam eyles, grizzlynbear, kombilife, the road chose me (got his books too), etc. etc. and read tons of forums, blogs, etc. The age old "the more I know, the more I know I know nothing" comes to mind... In any case, both paul marsh and dan grec have already made the point that petrol is "fine" and range in most parts of the world is not the primary concern. Andrew and ronny on the other hand maintain that 1000k's range is a must. With the extra fuel tank I can manage that during the times I absolutely need to.
I realize I am pushing things a bit and I certainly realize that if I were to only do oz. with my car I would probably ditch quite a bit, hell I might even swag it in stead of the rtt and I probably wouldn't bother with drawer system as I am currently setting it up (I am designing it so I can sleep on top, inside when needed) since I wouldn't need most of it. As it now stands though, the car is going to be a compromise to be able to handle west africa, alaska, south america, oz, etc. I am by far not rich enough to buy a car per continent and shipping stuff around to the parts of the world where do or don't need things is not going to be easy.
The reason I fitted 31" tyres to begin with is that I choose the most commonly available tyre size around the world that I could figure; 235/85r16. (or 7.5x16 roughly)
In other, good news, my mate just got in touch: the weigh bridge was more out of whack then I remembered so I probably have close to 480kg of carrying capacity left. That put a smile on my face for the day
Cheers,
-P
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