Overland Basics - Must Have Items
In the world of Overlanding/Off-roading - It's very easy to go down long financial rabbit holes that cost a ton of money and have you buying products you will never need or use. Before you buy, you should also be very honest with yourself about how hard the trails are you want to take. Your gear that you buy should be within budget but also be able to tackle anything you are planning to come up against. Here are a few things we think are the absolute basic MUST HAVES!
A Way to Air Up/Air Down: Even on the easiest of dirt roads, running less pressure will help prevent punctures to your tires, improve grip, and smooth out the ride to make the trip more enjoyable. We could go in to long details about how much air to run but for this blog - let's just stick to the tools.
Least Expensive: ARB EZ Deflator is a simple and very effective way to Air Down. Practice using it before you go out with it though as making sure you have it connected to the valve stem core takes some feel. Airing up can be done with almost any 12V compressor. We always take a DeWalt one as a backup to our other systems but it works great. Total Price: $54.95* + Your choice of portable inflator.
Middle Budget: We'd still stick with the ARB EZ Deflator even in this scenario but if you really want to be lazy, look at a 4-tire hose system like the MoRRFlate Quad. It's one of those items you'll always wish you had before. For Airing up you can combine it with the TenSix PSI Pro 12V Compressor also from MoRRFlate. This is still the same system used in the "FurRunner" to this day. Total Price: $530.00*.
Most Costly: Remember - Comfort comes with a price but it is nice to have. Our Favorite Air Up/Down Combo is a vehicle mounted compressor combined with a 4 tire hose combo and a digital inflation monitor. The On-Board ARB Twin Motor Onboard Compressor Kit like the one for the Ford Bronco make inflation quick and without the headache of unpacking a bunch of gear and setting it all up. Add in that same MoRRFlate Quad hose kit and then, while we are at it, have the MoRRFLate AirHub Digital Air Controller make sure each tire is perfect. Total Price: $1512.75*
Recovery Gear: Even basic recovery gear needs to be able to do the job. Yes, Harbor Freight equipment may do the job but this is one area we don't recommend skimping on. Good recovery gear is safer to use and designed to be used in even the hardest conditions.
Must Haves: We strongly recommend a winch/winch capable bumper for some of your first mods but there are many trails that are completely do-able without it and so much of it will come down to what you want. When looking at winches though make sure you get one strong enough to pull you and your loaded vehicle out. A good resource on this is to take your GVWR listed on the door panel and multiply that number times 1.5. For this though, let's assume you want no winch. Bare minimum for us is at least two shackles, a rope, and a first aid kit. We prefer soft shackles for safety like the Factor55 Extreme Duty Soft Shackle. Add in a Factor55 Tow Rope or Factor55 Kinetic Rope and complete the package. If you only have the budget for 1 rope, go with the Kinetic Style but remember that both rope types serve a specific type of use. For medical emergencies the MyMedic MyFak Mini has served us well. Unfortunately we've had to use it a few times but it's always had everything we've needed when we needed it. Total Price: $636.20*
Sleeping/Eating Needs: This is probably the one area the rabbit holes really begin. Ultimately, you need to be able to sleep and eat while on the trail. Most of the gear is this category is designed to make these two things just more and more comfortable.
Least Expensive: The least expensive route here is simply sleeping in your car. You could go really low budget and bring a pillow and a Wobbie Blanket, pop the seat back, and sleep away. Get some pre-made food, put it in a cooler, and you're all set for a good day trip or maybe an overnighter. Total Cost: $49.99 + Cooler/Food. *
Middle Budget: A lot of Overlanders love to ground tent camp. We've gone through a ton of tents and the ones we always land on in the end is our Gazelles. The Gazelle tents have a wide variety of options but the new Gazelle EXP is really the cream of the crop. For food - time to start looking at maybe a portable fridge unit. The Dometic CFX3-35 is still small enough to not take up a ton of space but large enough to hold a few days(2-4 days) worth of food and drinks for 2 people. You may be doing some cooking here unless you bring a bunch of pre-made foods. If that's the case, a camp grill or skottle will also need to be planned for. The Tembo Tuck Ultimate Skottle Grill Kit comes with everything but the little green propane tank. Total Cost: $2,374.98*
Most Costly: The ultimate in comfort is a roof top tent(RTT) setup. RTTs though will absolutely take you down the financial rabbit hole. You'll need a way to mount it and that may change depending on if you want to add an awning. Some brackets don't work with other awnings, etc. We've even run in to some brands where the RTT won't work with their own awnings if you use the factory tent brackets. There are a million options here but the one we run on the "FurRunner" is the Taruca USA Dark Rogue tent. We've added the Dometic Quick Disconnect Mounts to bring it up a couple of inches. This simplifies the install as well as give us enough clearance to run the Taruca Rogue 180 Awning with their awning brackets. All this is mounted on a Southern Style Off-Road Roof Rack. For food we run the Ignik Skullet Deluxe Heater Stove combined with the Gas Growler 5.0 Deluxe. Keeping the food cool is the Iceco APL55 Dual Zone 12V Fridge.Total Cost: $6,385.99*
* All Prices are pre-tax and shipping.
We hope this list helps. Also - before you use any of this gear make sure you know how to use it and don't be afraid to test it out at home BEFORE you hit the trail. Nothing worse than not knowing how to use it and needing to know how. You'll also want to make sure there aren't some other required things depending on where you are headed. Example: Lots of Northwest sites require bear boxes/containers. For some tips and tricks follow Off Road Know How on Instagram.