February 22, 2024

Overlanding

What exactly is overlanding? Am I doing overlanding? Is camping overlanding?

Overlanding and my 4runner

My current (circa 2024) interest in overlanding has been generated by my acquisition of a new (2023) Toyota 4runner. I have done a few things to it (skid plates, roof rack, tires, mild lift) and find that I am sort of stumbling onto a path of making my 4runner an "overlanding vehicle". I never set out to do this per se, but apparently my goals are similar to those of the overlanding crowd. So it would seem to my advantage to learn from the current "overlanding craze" and see what tricks I can pick up. I am already doing some things I said I would never do (namely bigger tires), but the following are some things commonly done by the overlanding crowd that I have not yet done and at this point don't intend to do:

Roof top tent - no

This could be really cool, but I won't do it because it won't fit into my garage. And a 95 pound roof top tent is not something I want to figure out how to put on and take off of my vehicle. Not essential; we won't go there.

Lights - no

All the cool kids have serious lights mounted on their rack and other locations on their vehicle. My view: I will avoid driving offroad after dark. I already hear the mob howling, "you just wait, you will find youself in unexpected situations wishing you had lights". No doubt I will, however in the past 50 or so years I have only once that I can remember found myself wishing I had better lighting in order to drive. The answer then was to just make camp where I was and wait for daylight.

Winch - maybe

This also implies a new front bumper. Together, a lot of money for something I have done without on my 1973 Scout and my 2000 Tacoma. I can't even think of a situation where I might have wished I had a winch. Good judgement and a willingness to not push my limits will probably stand me in good stead. Note that a bumper and winch will be a minimum of $1000, probably more like $2000 if you do it right.
Have any comments? Questions? Drop me a line!

Tom's Auto repair pages / tom@mmto.org