Preparing for a trip into the Simpson or any remote area can often be challenging. Not carrying appropriate amounts of food or water could be fatal. A simple breakdown could be lengthy if you don’t have some simple tools, or don’t know how to change a tyre. Well in advance you need to ensure your vehicle is ready for what ever is thrown at it. Deep corrugations, sand dunes, mud, mega pot holes the list could go on. It has taken several years to equip my vehicle with what I need and taking it on several trips over that time has allowed me to fine tune and build on what works for me.
Vehicle Setup
My vehicle is a Land Cruiser 200 Series GXL and in its simplest form will tackle all 4WD touring style obstacles. I’ve replaced the suspension with some OME BP-51’s and fitted some BFGoodRich All Terrain Tyres to ensure the desert trip will be a smoother ride.
Storage
For storage I added some rear drawers from Drifta, which included a slide in 30L water tank, slide out table and a half height cargo barrier. I also installed a 60L Combo Engel fridge on a MSA drop slide. To prevent objects falling behind the fridge I constructed some timber barriers, this allowed items to be stacked next to the fridge and they wouldn’t jam the fridge when I slid it out.
Up top I have a ARB roof basket, with a fox wing awning and mounted shovel and High Lift Jack.
The roof basket was able carry the lighter but bulkier items with ease. In all I carried. 2 swags with a ground sheet, camp chairs, spare tyre (no rim), max tracks, 2 20L jerry cans, 10L of water, camp oven, gas bottle, and a storage tub. The storage tub contained items that I wouldn’t need on a daily basis such as tyre plyers, syphon hoses, funnels, rope etc.
Extra’s
The front include the ARB Deluxe bar, with winch and ARB Intensity LED lights. Also have mounted HF and UHF/VHF Amateur Radio Antenna’s, UHF CB Antenna as well as the lug for the sand flag.
To aid in any recovery I removed my tow hitch and replaced it with a recovery hitch allowing for a shackle to be fitted. Always handy if you need to pull someone else out.
To power the fridge I have a 60 AH deep cycle battery under the hood connected via a BCDC charger. I can connect a solar panel to the charger if staying stationary for a period to ensure the fridge stays cool. A larger battery would be preferred but not enough space it seems without putting it elsewhere. For this trip I carried a solar blanket which folded up for easy transportation. I would setup the blanket if we arrived in camp whilst we still had sunlight, just to keep the battery topped up. It just gave me piece of mind really as for an overnight stop, I probably didn’t really need to connect it up.
Packing
I could have spent another week tweaking the vehicle but with an urge to get away on time, I had to agree that things were good enough for the trip. I had already spent several days re-wiring my CB and Amateur Radio gear in the car and running the antenna cables. I can now understand why an auto electrician charges so much.
To make more space within the car, I decided to remove the 2 center seats allowing for soft gear such and clothes and sleeping bags to be stored. I never like storing items in the main cab that could become a missile in an accident.
The rear drawers were filled with any items that I felt needed to be accessed either quickly or very often. This included most of my food, specifically items that I would eat when we pulled over for a lunch stop. Basic tools to tighten anything that may have come loose during the trip, sunscreen, cutting board , cutlery, bowl, plate, cup, torch etc. I also stored my recovery gear in one of the drawer wings allowing quick access if I needed it. Anything up on the roof I felt was only needed when we setup camp or in the event of a unfortunate breakdown.
I also has some storage tubs strapped down on top of the drawers allowing for some of the general camp gear to be stored along with access food. These containers were packed so they only needed to come out when setting up camp for the night.
