Has overlanding become elitist ?

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

I don't think of much of this stuff is elitist, but more fashion. My truck is built for how I use it. If I don't need to upgrade something I leave it alone. My rear bumper is stock, it doesn't need for it to match the front. My lights are top of the line Baja Designs, not for the name but what they do. The overhead rack was built to carry kayaks, surfboards, and fuels. If It doesn't have a real use I don't add it.
I go to a meetup and see these rigs that are well built, but when I look at the shocks they are pristine. If the hood is up the motor is spotless. My rig goes through a full pressure wash focusing on the undercarriage after every trip. I can't get it looking as nice as theirs. I wonder why? My cook box is 20 years old and doesn't have a drawer. It all works for me. God bless those Overland Fashionistas, but I chose function over fashion.

I had to replace my bumpers because they were fiberglass and broken. An after market steel bumper was half the price of a factory replacement. Both new bumpers will give me 75% more egress. I may never need it but I have it if I need it. Otherwise I'm modifying for my anticipated use and as I feel the need.

 

[Magic Mike]

@Magic Mike
@AnInterestingLifeOverland

Just so you know, John the OP has not been on for more than seven months. He said back in July of last year he thanked everyone for their responses and was trying to close the thread.

Not saying you should not be adding responses here, though he may not be getting any notifications and may not reply to any posts directed towards him.

.

No worries, and thanks for the info...

 

[Magic Mike]

Well said, Mike. In fact, I think John (the O.P.) may have missed a critical point; getting more people into it made it cheaper, not more expensive. For those of us who started out poor as a church mouse, that avenue is still there. You can still use a jigsaw to open up the fenders. You can gas axe the bumpers down to a narrower profile. Heck, you can lockers dead cheap. My son did it to an old Blazer and it cost him a six pack, some gear oil, a new diff gasket, and about 15 minutes time on the machine making a custom Lincoln Locker. And those have been around since Noah was a sailor. And for those without the fab skills and access to a good shop you can now get decent bumpers, racks, and all kinds of other gear, for dirt cheap now that it's mostly made in China. Far cheaper than when I was trying to kit out my first Willys back in the '70's. Is there a lot more super expensive kit out there? Sure! And those who can afford it will buy it and drive that end of the industry. But with the economy of scale, the basic stuff has never been cheaper.

And far more important, for every one guy out there in a 100K kitted out rig, there are 100 guys out there in 10K budget rigs kitted out with Ozark Trail gear from Walmart. And they are having just as good a time, if not more so!

Thank you, your absolutely correct.... I remember the 70's when I was trying to kit out my truck on my paper route and gas station pay checks, but always made it work...

 

[Buckaroo]

Now the elite are those with a large enough back yard to go camping without having to violate their "stay-at-home" orders.

The high dollar rigs are all dressed up and nowhere to go.

except that I'm camping on my small back garden in my small rig ...and so is everyone else that I know...
#GreatBritishCampOut

 

[HeliSniper]

OK, you know that feeling when you look at that electric fence and think, I wonder if that will really hurt or just tingle a bit. Moments later you are a much smarter person...
Well, at the risk of grabbing a proverbial "electric fence" I'll interject my thoughts on this topic....
I don't know what the OP's experience that brought him to the conclusion of the possibility that Overlanding could be or might be elitist. Could be that it parallels one of my thoughts that Overlanding is just a fancy or glorified name for Camping. Maybe Overlanding is a new term for an old activity, or maybe Willis Overland just couldn't get the term to gain momentum til now, I don't know. What I do know that is that I have been doing "it" for more years than I care to remember. And by whatever measure you judge it, it's all been a pursuit of a love for adventure and exploring. As far as the cost and or the elite-ness of the activity, my observation is this; I seen many people start overlanding in the rattiest vehicles that I would have not trusted to make it to the corner store much less take into the back country but they do and somehow make it back no worse for the ware. But with a renewed love/respect for wild places. I have also seen guys buy brand new Excursions, double the cost kitting them out, practically double the cost again with accessories only to be the guy that had to be helped back home and the one leaving trash and beer cans for the rest of us to admire. All this to say, whatever you call it when it comes right down to it maybe it's just what you make of it, maybe it's just your way of exploring or an adventure where you are your guide and you just go where the next turn takes you. If you compare it to fashion there is some things I would not be caught dead wearing and then some folks might think what I wear is shabby, it's just like my camping/overlanding gear, what makes me feel comfortable. And maybe I'm just a Redneck Elitist, I don't really know....

 

[zcostilla]

Let me start off by saying, being on disability I may be biased, but still no need to rip me a new one. I watch many, many overlanding videos from all kinds of overlanding Youtube channels, and I have yet to see one, except "iamjake" that doesn't have $10,000 or close to it (usually more) worth of gear on their rigs. Now I'm not talking about people that live in their rigs full time, but rather those that go for a few days at a time or less. Now I know it's very difficult to not pay a premium to get out there. I mean even good tires can be $1,000 or more a set. Just seems to me that overlanding has gone the same way SUV's, Harleys, trucks, and other things have gone. They got popular by people with pretty good size budgets, then parts costs skyrocket because a lot of people can afford it, and the little guys like me get left out. Now I can and do go out there as far as I can for now but I'll bet my gear costs less than $300. You work hard I know, I don't begrudge you that, you earned it GREAT. Just sucks to not see people more like me out there too.

I’m with you here. I did all my early overlanding in HMMWVs and 5-tons in the service, and like you, I’m on disability. Getting back into the outdoors after being “retired”, well really, too disabled to work and having half my organs removed to save my life (but that’s another story for another time; besides, I still have all the life-essential ones and I’m upright, so I might as well try to be active again). Bought my son’s ‘97 4Runner when he upgraded from it to a newer car, and starting with a bunch of my gear I acquired while active duty, plus a tent, a hammock for nice weather, and some tarps and my tools. Using 20” 2x10s for dunnage instead of buying maxxtrax, and I’m good to go. The 4Runner is plenty capable (so far), with an e-locker and 30” tires from the factory, but will go up in size when these wear out and need replaced. I did removed the running boards and relocated the spare to the cargo area for accessibility (laying on the pavement or gravel is hard with a spine injury). KISS principle is going to be my motto for this rig and for my adventure planning.

 

[CTDRC]

I know OP is gone and this thread is trying to die, but just wanted to mention something really quickly that I didn't see skimming the past 25 pages. What OP and everyone has pointed out as potential "elitism" literally exists in every hobby that I know of in existence.

For normal camping, there's the person with a $2000 tent and all the gadgets while you can have a $30 Coleman. For fishing, there's the person with $200000 in rods and boats while you can walk to the local pond. For football players, there's the kid that goes to Peyton Manning's Passing Camp for $2000 over the summer while you throw to a tire in the back yard between chores.

The cool part about having those people is a point of envy, because we see what they have and we can replicate it at home - sometimes making businesses out of it. They drive the business making gear have competition and thus increasing quality while lowering prices.

This is not even close to being exclusive to overlanding nor is it a "problem" IMO.

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

I know OP is gone and this thread is trying to die, but just wanted to mention something really quickly that I didn't see skimming the past 25 pages. What OP and everyone has pointed out as potential "elitism" literally exists in every hobby that I know of in existence.

For normal camping, there's the person with a $2000 tent and all the gadgets while you can have a $30 Coleman. For fishing, there's the person with $200000 in rods and boats while you can walk to the local pond. For football players, there's the kid that goes to Peyton Manning's Passing Camp for $2000 over the summer while you throw to a tire in the back yard between chores.

The cool part about having those people is a point of envy, because we see what they have and we can replicate it at home - sometimes making businesses out of it. They drive the business making gear have competition and thus increasing quality while lowering prices.

This is not even close to being exclusive to overlanding nor is it a "problem" IMO.

Too each his own according to his ability. It's that simple !

 

[grubworm]

I know OP is gone and this thread is trying to die

this thread can't die, its pretty much Michael Myers....and we're all Jamie Lee Curtis...

 

[Lonniestockade]

this thread is pretty funny at the moment because whether a person has a $500,000 unimog or a $200 toyota corolla they travel in...BOTH are pretty useless at the moment. we are all pretty much equals now, quarantined at home contemplating our mortality....

yep...right now the only thing that really matters is who has the coolest and best face mask!


View attachment 147895

only useless if you're going along with the scandemic, ditch the face diaper and live they way you want.....

 

[Boostpowered]

I don't know about elitist but overlanding has definitely grown too big too quick. If by elitist you mean someone with a car claiming they can go anywhere then yeah its full of that, if by elitist you mean so many people are getting into it that they don't even bother to read instructions Because they think someone will hold their hand and walk then through it then yeah. For those of us whove done this type of thing for many years camping is no longer the same especially from a vehicle.

 

[Boppa's Travels]

this thread is pretty funny at the moment because whether a person has a $500,000 unimog or a $200 toyota corolla they travel in...BOTH are pretty useless at the moment. we are all pretty much equals now, quarantined at home contemplating our mortality....

yep...right now the only thing that really matters is who has the coolest and best face mask!


View attachment 147895

only useless if you're going along with the scandemic, ditch the face diaper and live they way you want.....

I've been out here for 3 week traveling running trails enjoying my life

 

[Maverick9110E]

It's only as elitist as you want it to be. People have been trying to "keep up with the jones'" for over a century. When you stop caring about what other people think and just do what works for you, it's only as elitist as you let it be.

 

[Traxx]

I think you guys got trolled.

 

[grubworm]

I think you guys got trolled.

ha! true! don't feed stray cats or trolls...no good can come from it

 

[Lonniestockade]

obviously there are a lot of people spending a lot of money, one thing that I think about beyond the societal issues ($$$) is how the money effects the TECHNOLOGY, because we have capitalism the $$ actually pushes the tech, some good some bad, forward, it pushes the capabilities forward.....there was a time when the only 4x4's available had hooves.....

 

[Lonniestockade]

Nice rig

If you're worried about money my sound advice is not to start building a 1996 T100......

 

[Lonniestockade]

it

What goes around comes around. Nothing ever dies except people.

may be impossible in the future if the self driving vehicle idiots get thier way....

 

[Cpol]

I feel that word elitist in overlanding is just a way to say Iam a minimalist and I envy your truck. If your not capable of making your family or guest comfortable so that they can enjoy the experience and repeat it.... that’s up to you. I have been enjoying nature all my life and I am going to give my daughter the same opportunity. Vehicle and RV have changed. Technology has made thing easier but it doesn’t mean that the experience is not there. People argue that you spending too much money on a fridge. I say people spend more money on waisted water on ice. Especially if your not recycling with your soggy sandwiches. People say why spend money on a solar kit. I believe that less carbon monoxide in the air the better. My wife wanted an RV with all the goodie, I argued that it’s more of an experience in getting a more versatile vehicle and modding it up.. to each it’s own. Buy what you can afford and enjoy your experience. We learn from other people mistakes and achievements. Be happy that we have the technology to view those who have experience nature in there own way. It’s about the adventure not what your neighbor is driving..

 

[madcratebuilder]

The one thing I don't get is all the money people spend to hang there equipment on the outside of the rig. Just asking some meth head to help him self.