RAM mounts are sooooo worth every penny.

Sent from the hand of the RSB himself!!!

 

Not sure where I'm going yet. I'm new to the expedition idea. We have always traveled, camped and RV camped, but I want to get into single vehicle expeditions. I don't have everything I need for my jeep yet but I'm getting there. Biggest dilemma I have is figuring out the sleeping arrangements. Plain tent, expedition trailer ( $ ), expedition teardrop ( $$$ ) or to just get a popup or something which limits where I can take it.

 

I will anxiously await your review. I've read those same things too.

 

I bought mine for insurance. I don't plan on doing deep water crossings or anything like that... and while I have found myself in a few puddles that were deeper than I expected, I do try and avoid them. End of the day, it was $400 worth of insurance or extra protection against the thousands it would cost to rebuild my engine if I got water in there.

Most of our trails up here (unless we go above the tree line) are heavily treed. I've smacked mine lots and it's still going strong.

 

The AEV is very heavy plastic. It can take some pretty good banging around. Mine certainly has. As for building an expedition rig for your neck of the woods: I encourage folks to build for the trips they hope to take, not just for their neighborhood.

 

That makes sense. Building for what we hope to do, mine is good for my area already without the snorkel as long as I'm careful, but I haven't always been careful and worry about hydro locking. I've had the entire hood under water/mud before and got lucky. It's tough building and getting everything you need put all together into one vehicle, we hope to take a short trip or something this summer to see how it all works out. I don't have a ton more money to put into it, I've put a lot into it already this year. It's a slow process.

 

Absolutely. Mine has been in work for seven years, and I still have much to do.

 

Oh good, then I don't feel so far behind, been working on mine truly for a year. I'm looking for an overland trailer of some sort so I can modify it for all the electrical, solar, sleeping, etc. I would like to do minimal more to my jeep, roof rack, trunk organization, iPad mounts, etc. I'm having a hard time finding an affordable option for an expedition trailer that meets what I need/want. We get 70mph winds here so a tent is sometimes a poor choice. The one I really like is a Moby 1 XTR, I priced one out with most of what I want and it was $27K, little much especially considering it didn't have everything I wanted.

I see from your profile that you have a lot of experience, and your rig looks/sounds great.

 

Think also about getting all your breathers raised. That will also help and isn't a particularly expensive job.

 

Yea I looked into that too, I plan on doing that when I get the snorkel, which I probably should get. I saw that it isn't hard to extend them.

Here is one small stream crossing I did the other day while we were out with a group, no need for a snorkel in it but it's just an example.

http://youtu.be/Yt18PRm4org