Overland/emergency prep...

[tyleromyah]

Hey all, as I have been getting involved in the overland community the last few years, a few things have crossed my mind about why I feel connected in this lifestyle.

Growing up, I camped quite a bit with my family and with my scout troop. Camping has always been something I have enjoyed. The camping aspect of overlanding fits well, I would say.

Over the last four years, as my wife and I have added children to our lives, it has become more of a necessity for us to be well prepared in case of an emergency. I find that overlanding and being equipped correctly in and outside your vehicle can help keep us prepared.

And then, actual overlanding is such a great way to get off grid and enjoy quality time with my family, enjoy nature, and disconnect from the garbage of society.

Do any of you find the overland lifestyle as a cross with emergency preparedness? If so, share your thoughts and maybe some the emergency gear you carry.

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[feetforbrains]

Hey all, as I have been getting involved in the overland community the last few years, a few things have crossed my mind about why I feel connected in this lifestyle.

Growing up, I camped quite a bit with my family and with my scout troop. Camping has always been something I have enjoyed. The camping aspect of overlanding fits well, I would say.

Over the last four years, as my wife and I have added children to our lives, it has become more of a necessity for us to be well prepared in case of an emergency. I find that overlanding and being equipped correctly in and outside your vehicle can help keep us prepared.

And then, actual overlanding is such a great way to get off grid and enjoy quality time with my family, enjoy nature, and disconnect from the garbage of society.

Do any of you find the overland lifestyle as a cross with emergency preparedness? If so, share your thoughts and maybe some the emergency gear you carry. View attachment 51856

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Car ownership tend to work well for this IMO.

We live on a little island in the Sound which sees routine wind storms fall, winter and spring. Power loss is a real possibility here. Instead of buying a dedicated generator to keep things going when the lights go dark I use my van and an inverter.

Add a bunch of gear designed to make life on the road more comfortable and a tiny bit of creativity and you'll sail through earthquakes and mudslides.

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[tyleromyah]

Car ownership tend to work well for this IMO.

We live on a little island in the Sound which sees routine wind storms fall, winter and spring. Power loss is a real possibility here. Instead of buying a dedicated generator to keep things going when the lights go dark I use my van and an inverter.

Add a bunch of gear designed to make life on the road more comfortable and a tiny bit of creativity and you'll sail through earthquakes and mudslides.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

Yeah, we live in Idaho and have a lot of high wind and snow storms, so power outages are common for us too.

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[Flipper]

This never hit home until last summer. Living in Florida , hurricanes are a part of life. I consider myself” Mr. Prepared” emergency food, water, generator, fuel, adapters to use fuel in the boat for generator, you name it I have it. One of the worst things about a hurricane is the uncertainty of where it is going to hit. All the prep can mean nothing by just a couple of miles then you to deal with putting everything away, and having gas for your vehicles for the next 2 months. I have the prep plan but never considered an evacuation plan under the assumption that we would always ride it out.
When I first moved to Central Florida 20 years ago everyone considered Orlando pretty safe being far from the coast, you would always hear nothing ever happens to Orlando. My first year we got hit by 1 tornado, a massive forest fire and 3 hurricanes, 2 were direct hits. So much for being safe.
This last summer everything changed with Irma. I went in emergency mode about a week before , boarding windows, fuel, water..... the whole 9 yards. Some of the storms I have been through were real ass kickers, cat 3 and 4s. You know there is going to be damage so you prep for it. But with Irma the way it came in it looked like it would be a cat 5 with a direct hit, that means TOTAL devastation, its going to level everything including your house. Now the option to ride it out was not going to be a choice.
The truth bomb hit, we are bugging out! I was completely at a loss..... What to take, communications,amount of food and water to take, money, medicine,important papers, shutting down the house,destination, fuel to get to destination assuming gas stations along the way would run out, traffic gridlock, weapons, plan with relatives that would also have to go, who is going with who and the list went on.
Reality hit, I looked at her and said we are not going to be able to leave, if we do we are going to wind up stranded in traffic gridlock so we are going have to ride it out and hope for the best. We lucked out the storm changed direction and dropped down to a cat 3 and missed us by about 50 miles to the west.
Lesson learned... We now have a written plan of evacuation for the next time.

 

[Ripley1046]

Never leave home without at least a get home bag. Most of the essentials are on my person everyday. I’m never more than 30 miles from my bug out bag. I think the two hobbies (if yo can call being prepared a hobby) go hand in hand really. Most principles and skills apply.

 

[tyleromyah]

This never hit home until last summer. Living in Florida , hurricanes are a part of life. I consider myself” Mr. Prepared” emergency food, water, generator, fuel, adapters to use fuel in the boat for generator, you name it I have it. One of the worst things about a hurricane is the uncertainty of where it is going to hit. All the prep can mean nothing by just a couple of miles then you to deal with putting everything away, and having gas for your vehicles for the next 2 months. I have the prep plan but never considered an evacuation plan under the assumption that we would always ride it out.
When I first moved to Central Florida 20 years ago everyone considered Orlando pretty safe being far from the coast, you would always hear nothing ever happens to Orlando. My first year we got hit by 1 tornado, a massive forest fire and 3 hurricanes, 2 were direct hits. So much for being safe.
This last summer everything changed with Irma. I went in emergency mode about a week before , boarding windows, fuel, water..... the whole 9 yards. Some of the storms I have been through were real ass kickers, cat 3 and 4s. You know there is going to be damage so you prep for it. But with Irma the way it came in it looked like it would be a cat 5 with a direct hit, that means TOTAL devastation, its going to level everything including your house. Now the option to ride it out was not going to be a choice.
The truth bomb hit, we are bugging out! I was completely at a loss..... What to take, communications,amount of food and water to take, money, medicine,important papers, shutting down the house,destination, fuel to get to destination assuming gas stations along the way would run out, traffic gridlock, weapons, plan with relatives that would also have to go, who is going with who and the list went on.
Reality hit, I looked at her and said we are not going to be able to leave, if we do we are going to wind up stranded in traffic gridlock so we are going have to ride it out and hope for the best. We lucked out the storm changed direction and dropped down to a cat 3 and missed us by about 50 miles to the west.
Lesson learned... We now have a written plan of evacuation for the next time.

That's insane! I can't imagine living in that kind of climate. You can think that you are prepared for anything, until that disaster hits, and teaches you all you forgot to prepare for. I still have lots to add to our bugout bags, but we could probably survive for a bit of time if fight wasn't an option and flight was.

I recently purchased a roof top tent, mainly for it's intended purpose of camping in, but also for the fact that it could help shelter us in an emergecy situation.

We also built a kitchen for the back of the forester. Just need to add a fridge and have access to a generator. We could probably last a few weeks if we had to.

Depending on the type of disaster, i also contemplate which vehicle i would take. 4wd pickup, 9 inch lift, 35s, and 8mpg. OR Awd subaru, 2 inch lift, 215s, and 19 mpg.

Thanks for sharing! I appreciate it!

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[Overland A Far]

You are dead right when connecting overlanding to being somewhat of a prepper! Our personal rigs allow us to get out of Dodge in less than 1/2 and hour. And like several others that commented we too are seeing more reasons to prep. Up here in Alberta we have had severe floods in 2005 and 2013 and the snow pack this year may bring another. Wild fires are more common with the Ft. McMurray fire (80,000 evacuated) and the late summer fires in the south which burned up Wateton National Park and a lot of private ranch land and farms. We have an issue of high fuel loading and a lack of fuel breaks in our forests and with windy dry weather the fire potential gets real high. Personally I have been on fires that ran 20 km in less than 12 hours. Some areas were totally vaporized.
While our emergency response systems are good they are not perfect and immediate evacuations are more common. All the more reasons to prep. Winter has it's own unique hazards. For winter I have about 250 liters of gasoline on hand in case we have power failure, I can run gen sets to keep my furnace and fridge/freezers going and some fuel for the vehicles. Plus full tanks of diesel and 80 liters spare. Propane and electric heaters, water and a pantry of food.
I kit up when I get home, after cleaning the units and a re-organize just to make ready for the next run. Just add fresh water, fill the fridge and food box and go. Go where? - that is the next thing to have planned! Routes, alternate routes, communications, and go to sites. We would make sure our parents are looked after and luckily we do have places to go - high ground, low fire risk, lakeside or river side sites, secure sites.

 

[tyleromyah]

You are dead right when connecting overlanding to being somewhat of a prepper! Our personal rigs allow us to get out of Dodge in less than 1/2 and hour. And like several others that commented we too are seeing more reasons to prep. Up here in Alberta we have had severe floods in 2005 and 2013 and the snow pack this year may bring another. Wild fires are more common with the Ft. McMurray fire (80,000 evacuated) and the late summer fires in the south which burned up Wateton National Park and a lot of private ranch land and farms. We have an issue of high fuel loading and a lack of fuel breaks in our forests and with windy dry weather the fire potential gets real high. Personally I have been on fires that ran 20 km in less than 12 hours. Some areas were totally vaporized.
While our emergency response systems are good they are not perfect and immediate evacuations are more common. All the more reasons to prep. Winter has it's own unique hazards. For winter I have about 250 liters of gasoline on hand in case we have power failure, I can run gen sets to keep my furnace and fridge/freezers going and some fuel for the vehicles. Plus full tanks of diesel and 80 liters spare. Propane and electric heaters, water and a pantry of food.
I kit up when I get home, after cleaning the units and a re-organize just to make ready for the next run. Just add fresh water, fill the fridge and food box and go. Go where? - that is the next thing to have planned! Routes, alternate routes, communications, and go to sites. We would make sure our parents are looked after and luckily we do have places to go - high ground, low fire risk, lakeside or river side sites, secure sites.

Thanks for your input! We all have different things we have to plan for and i think far too few of us actually prepare. I'm the type that would want to help as many people as possible, but if it came down to it, it's my family of 4 that has to survive! Lol we have family in many states here in the US, so i think in a local emergency we would be fine. We could head to a "safer" place for the time being. However, in a national crisis, i don't think we have a plan quite yet. Our plan this year is to get our passports and i will get a ham license!

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[Lindenwood]

I have long been a "prepper." When I was maybe 4 or 5 years old and going on my first plane ride, I created and packed a "survival kit" in an altoids can for the event the plane went dkwn. Probably about 50% was useful, but I remember having fishing line and hooks and a lighter, so I had some of the basics! My mom had to explain to me that much of the kit probably wouldnt be allowed on the plane, so we had to empty most of it out and fill it with candy :P .

Fast forward, and I have been thtough all the "survivalist" phases, but I tend to focus more on the ability to "bug out" rather than "stay in." And, I think. overlanding as a hobby is a perfect outlet for that affinity for independence and self-sustainment. Funny enough, though, I actually wholeheartedly advocate for the staying home during emergencies, for many of the reasons already stated. Yeah, we can outfit our kick-ass rigs to survive the worst. But when you think about it, unless our houses are completely flooded or on fire, we can almost certainly survive longer, more comfortably, or more safely at home without even trying than on the road, especially once you factor in a million evacuees and probably a few thousand of them with the same idea of "bugging out into the woods."

When I got stationed in Florida, my original thought was that I still always wanted to have enough spare fuel to get us home to Oklahoma. This was both because we knew it was far enough to get out of most any regional disaster, and because we have lots of family there to guarantee a place to stay. When we drove 35+ MPG Hondas, 20 gallons of fuel in the garage plus our half-tank minimum pretty much enabled that trip with no fuel stops. Now that we both drive 4Runners, that number jumps to about double, and carrying 40 extra gallons of fuel (or perhaps 30 if we are able to fuel up first) becomes a little less realistic, especially considering we no longer have separate trunk spaces to both hide the fuel and carry it without fuming ourselves out.

Thus, except in extreme cases--like, "our house wont exist in the morning" or "the zombie swarm will be here in a few hours"--I don't really consider bugging out as a sound option. I am super hesitant to leave not knowing I have a place to sleep that isnt inside one of our vehicles. And, like I said, without even trying I know I have the ability to feed, house, and protect my family and dogs for at least a few weeks without breaking a sweat,

All that said, of course, with a 4WD vehicle, emergency supplies, recovery gear, a sleeping platform, and room for the whole family, I do think I have a better chance than most to get my family at least a few hundred miles away from impending doom, and still surviving the night afterward!

 

[tyleromyah]

I have long been a "prepper." When I was maybe 4 or 5 years old and going on my first plane ride, I created and packed a "survival kit" in an altoids can for the event the plane went dkwn. Probably about 50% was useful, but I remember having fishing line and hooks and a lighter, so I had some of the basics! My mom had to explain to me that much of the kit probably wouldnt be allowed on the plane, so we had to empty most of it out and fill it with candy [emoji14] .

Fast forward, and I have been thtough all the "survivalist" phases, but I tend to focus more on the ability to "bug out" rather than "stay in." And, I think. overlanding as a hobby is a perfect outlet for that affinity for independence and self-sustainment. Funny enough, though, I actually wholeheartedly advocate for the staying home during emergencies, for many of the reasons already stated. Yeah, we can outfit our kick-ass rigs to survive the worst. But when you think about it, unless our houses are completely flooded or on fire, we can almost certainly survive longer, more comfortably, or more safely at home without even trying than on the road, especially once you factor in a million evacuees and probably a few thousand of them with the same idea of "bugging out into the woods."

When I got stationed in Florida, my original thought was that I still always wanted to have enough spare fuel to get us home to Oklahoma. This was both because we knew it was far enough to get out of most any regional disaster, and because we have lots of family there to guarantee a place to stay. When we drove 35+ MPG Hondas, 20 gallons of fuel in the garage plus our half-tank minimum pretty much enabled that trip with no fuel stops. Now that we both drive 4Runners, that number jumps to about double, and carrying 40 extra gallons of fuel (or perhaps 30 if we are able to fuel up first) becomes a little less realistic, especially considering we no longer have separate trunk spaces to both hide the fuel and carry it without fuming ourselves out.

Thus, except in extreme cases--like, "our house wont exist in the morning" or "the zombie swarm will be here in a few hours"--I don't really consider bugging out as a sound option. I am super hesitant to leave not knowing I have a place to sleep that isnt inside one of our vehicles. And, like I said, without even trying I know I have the ability to feed, house, and protect my family and dogs for at least a few weeks without breaking a sweat,

All that said, of course, with a 4WD vehicle, emergency supplies, recovery gear, a sleeping platform, and room for the whole family, I do think I have a better chance than most to get my family at least a few hundred miles away from impending doom, and still surviving the night afterward!

Grear solid points! It is definitely ideal to stay in our homes if we can make that happen. But, it is definitely nice knowing that we could self sustain longer than our neighbors with their prius haha. Unless of course that prius is well equipped, right!? (It doesn't matter what you drive!).

And i would assume any OB member would give another member a place to stay if it came down to it. It's a great community and the richness of knowledge is amazing!

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[Road]

Over the last four years, as my wife and I have added children to our lives, it has become more of a necessity for us to be well prepared in case of an emergency. I find that overlanding and being equipped correctly in and outside your vehicle can help keep us prepared.

Do any of you find the overland lifestyle as a cross with emergency preparedness? If so, share your thoughts and maybe some the emergency gear you carry.

Absolutely. Being prepared for having to leave in case of hurricane, flood, other natural disaster, or even man-made disaster is always in the back of my mind when outfitting my van and trailer. I don't keep a house or regular place of my own 'cause I'm on the road so much, but I want to know that if need be, I can go get my kid and her kid and head out if we need to (flood, house damaged by storm, have to evacuate because of whatever) and that we will all be okay as far as shelter, power, and place to cook.

OR that I can provide power and tools if the grid is down for awhile due to natural or man-made disaster. A large part of the way I set up my travel and camping gear is for off-grid camping, with an eye towards being able to be completely off-grid for months at a time or being able to help others build permanent off-grid dwellings while providing my own power and comfort.

So, I'm pretty well set up with solar power, batteries, 12v gear, electric bike, full shelter capability in a variety of ways, cooking, shower, etc. I can keep ahead of all my power needs quite easily now, completely off-grid. Hell, I can even filter and process over 5,000 gals of water with my Lifesaver JerryCan (you can read more about them and their history here; it's an amazing product, really) when I need to.

I'm by no means a "prepper" in the sense most think of hoarding freeze-dried meals and caches in the woods or building an underground shelter, but I enjoy living a lifestyle where I know I can much more easily fend for myself and loved ones in the case of an emergency or disaster or economic downturn.

I now have sidewalls for the awning in the image below, so I can close in my camp living area and be able to work in there on a number of things.

 

[Lindenwood]

I'm by no means a "prepper"

Friend, everything you described in your post = prepper ;) . Don't get too caught up with a single, narrow, exaggerated use of the phrase that you overlook a pretty vast (if not naturally disjointed) communuty of folks who, like you, happen to find peace in taking a few extra steps to increase their odds in the face of the future's inevitable challenges :) .

Of course, overall, great info!

 

[Road]

Friend, everything you described in your post = prepper ;) . Don't get too caught up with a single, narrow, exaggerated use of the phrase that you overlook a pretty vast (if not naturally disjointed) communuty of folks who, like you, happen to find peace in taking a few extra steps to increase their odds in the face of the future's inevitable challenges :) .

Of course, overall, great info!

Thank you.

I stand by what I wrote, that "in the sense most think of hoarding freeze-dried meals and caches in the woods or building an underground shelter" I am not a 'prepper.' By other definitions, perhaps, sure. By the one I wrote though, no. Because I don't consider myself that sense of prepper, it certainly does not mean I'm overlooking what others do in precaution. One does not mean the other.

Sorry if you took offense personally to what I wrote. I am merely saying I am not what most people think of as prepper. If you have other comments, I suggest you do them via DM.

Let's get back to the OP's reason for this thread:

Do any of you find the overland lifestyle as a cross with emergency preparedness? If so, share your thoughts and maybe some the emergency gear you carry.


.

 

[Lindenwood]

The wink meant tongue in cheek, with only a barely-serious caution about adopting exaggerated external definitions as our own. But, indeed, irony does not often translate over the internet :) .

*edit*

To be fair, though, I don't quite understand how a discussion about a certain "lifestyle" cannot include discussion on how to define that lifestyle in the first place...

*edit*

But, see PM.

 

[OdinOutdoors]

so are you using both an invertor and a charge controller? i havent bought mine yet but am about to. Thanks

 

[Road]

so are you using both an invertor and a charge controller? i havent bought mine yet but am about to. Thanks

Hey @OdinOutdoors - not sure who your question is directed to, but since I have and use both, I'll attempt an answer. If this is stuff you already know, cool, but I'll leave it here for others who might be wondering.

Solar charge controllers and inverters do very different things. You can have one, the other, or both. Neither one depends on having the other one in your system.

A solar charge controller controls the output from the panel(s) and sends it to the battery, usually a deep cycle battery (or batteries) set up to power items not powered by your cranking battery when the engine is not running. When you have an auxiliary battery for that purpose, it is often called the 'house' or 'coach' battery, as opposed to the cranking/starting battery.

Deep cycle house batteries are hooked up to your cranking battery system and vehicle alternator, but are separated from your cranking battery by an isolator. There are many different types of product that act as isolators.

The isolator lets the deep cycle house battery charge while you're driving, but then isolates it from your cranking battery when the engine and alternator are not running. That way only the deep cycle battery gets drained when the engine is off. Deep cycle batteries are meant to withstand that kind of regular discharge/charge cycle, whereas if you did that to your cranking battery too often, it would kill it.

An inverter is hooked up to a battery (usually the deep cycle house battery) to convert 12v (in the US; 24v in many other countries) to 110 so you have an outlet or two for plugging in products that need regular household current. You don't have to have solar panels to use an inverter. They just help keep the batteries charged up when the sun is shining.

If you don't have solar panels, you don't need a solar charge controller.

You can still use an inverter, but if you use it a lot for power-hungry stuff, it will suck a lot of power from your deep cycle battery. A lot of people think "Oh, cool, I have an outlet now, I can plug in a microwave!" or toaster, or coffee maker, or blender, etc. Not always true.

Another way to look at it is "just because you have a checkbook it doesn't mean there's money in the bank!" You'll have to size your deep cycle battery or battery bank according to what you're going to want to use regularly, both 12v and 110 via the inverter.

If you don't have solar panels helping to keep your house battery charged up, you'll depend on driving time to charge your battery and may need a larger battery or battery bank. Or depend on driving, and "shore power" for when the engine is off, which is hooking up to a 110 outlet with an extension cord feeding a battery tender like NOCO offers. Battery tenders take 110 and control how it is fed to your battery system so they equalize while charging, then when they are charged go to a 'float' to keep them topped off. Pretty much the same thing a solar charge controller does with solar panel output.

Hopefully that helps decide what you might do with your vehicle.

.

 

[OdinOutdoors]

Hi Road, i appreciate the info. I have just started the exploration of doing a solar set-up on my Suburban. I have other 4x4's but i bought the Suburban because we needed the room for the family. I want to install a solar panel to charge a secondary battery for off grid use. I am also going to design a slide out kitchen, fridge/freezer, water filtration and pump system, on board air etc. so i know i will need the rechargeable power. I do want to piece it together myself though because I have seen a lot of the "kits" from name brand outfits but they are mostly way over priced.

 

[Sheepdog831]

In just having my rig built for adventuring, I've come across some crazy things ranging from vehicle rollovers, vehicle fire with a lady sitting in the driver seat, mudslide with tree on power lines, several trees across the road, traffic jam for over 12 hours on the mountain where I was able to offer water for a mother who needed to make a bottle for her baby, and a medical emergency where I restrained a psych patient on the side of the road for 45 minutes waiting for deputies to arrive, used the lighting on my rack and flashlights with strobe feature for traffic control used buy other good samaritans so we wouldn't get ran over (4:30 AM, two lane mountain road with a barefoot girl on a turn where there was a cliff and heavy commuter traffic, no exageration). I realize these things are not the norm and I am not a "ricky rescue" or "scanner Junkie", these are all things I"ve encountered on my commute over the mountains and into the inner city. Having my rig well built has allowed me to a blessing to my community and fellow man. I stop because of my training and ability to size up a scene and contribute to the scene rather than be a hindrance to responders, but just by having the basics, you can use wisdom and assist as needed and as safety permits. This also keeps my skills sharp and keep a solid working inventory and inspection of onboard equipment, no different from what I do at work in the firehouse. I hope that has helped with perspective and is an encouragement to you.

 

[Ripley1046]

It’s amazing the uses you find for things if you have them. It’s also why I have so much crap clipped on my belt! People give me crap, until they need something.

 

[Sheepdog831]

It’s amazing the uses you find for things if you have them. It’s also why I have so much crap clipped on my belt! People give me crap, until they need something.

It’s amazing the uses you find for things if you have them. It’s also why I have so much crap clipped on my belt! People give me crap, until they need something.

That’s right Ripley! It almost seems like, if you know how to use and remember to bring it along, there’s a good chance it’s gonna be needed. Usually by someone other than you! Haha

Cool name by the way! You an “Aliens” fan? Im a big time fan over here.