Top 5 mistakes when building an OVERLAND vehicle

I list the top 5 mistakes I see people make when designing and building their overland vehicle. From trying to make the 'Ultimate' to engine swaps and focusing on the wrong things, these are very common mistakes, and I hope you can learn from my experience.

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999 Days Around Africa: The Road Chose Me

The Road Chose Me Volume 1: Two years and 40,000 miles from Alaska to Argentina

Overland Travel Essentials: West Africa: Myths, Misconceptions and Misnomers

Work Less to Live Your Dreams: A practical guide to saving money and living your dreams

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[Furniture]

Experience based advice, the best kind of advice you can get. After watching the video about the diesel conversion, I can completely understand why you are against engine swapping.

[leightonoc]

Love this video! I’ve done thousands and thousands of miles overlanding across North America in my Jeep. I amazed at the comments I get from people telling me I could build my Jeep better. LOL

[walterchelate]

I’m just starting to get into overlanding, this is probably the best video I’ve come across so far. It has been a little discouraging to see so many expensive builds when I’m on a tight budget. So it’s nice to see that most of that is the flash and materialism that much of society is consumed with.

[senitacustomwoodworks]

AWESOME VIDEO!!! The information you give is priceless. As an American who has been camping my entire life; I'm relatively new to overlanding (5 years). My rig is a 2005 Ford Expedition 4X4 (because it's what I owned when I started). The ONLY mods to the drivetrain/suspension is a 2.5 inch lift and a rear E-Locker. Oh, well I did swap the factory 17"X7" rims for (factory) 18"X10" rims and running 33.5X18X12" all terrain tires. I'm more than happy with my rig build, and I even (stupidly) got stuck in the Arizona desert for 2 days before help came along . . . I had everything I needed to comfortably survive, and after getting a little tug I was on my way again! I built my rig with everything I need, but nothing I don't!

[djo]

Love the straight ahead “common sense” advice that’s not so common. Experience is everything. You’ve served me tons of money just by highlighting what I don’t need… in particular it was your internet and coms video… a sat phone is cool to have to talk to friends and family but in an emergency, who are you going to call… the person outside your window at any given moment is your best option for help, no tech required.

You’re doing great work here, keep it up!!

[frankmorris]

Very clear and accurate. I did the Simpson Desert and 200, 000km (125, 000 miles) in 7 years through remote Australia, with a stock Navara, except for All Terrain tyres, 50 usable amp hours of battery, 3 Gerry cans and a fridge. The vehicle I am now planning for the Australia to UK and back trip will have a roof top tent, small 2 burner cooking stove, water heater, AT tyres 150usable amp hours of battery, fridge and 100lt water tank, for 2 people.

[zulul]

I've just finished buying a JLU and this vid alone has changed my mindset on what I thought an overlander is. Thank you for your willingness to share this info.

[tonymiller]

Perfect summary. I would add 4th item - safety. Gotta be able to pump a tyre back, gotta be able to un-bog yourself, gotta be able to deal with injuries and the most important thing - water. So my safety list would be: decent air compressor (150 psi, around 150 liters per minute for 20 minutes between stops), recovery kit, med kit, snake bite kit, jump starter and emergency water supply of 4l/1 gallon per person per day.

[gloredon]

One your best videos yet, I particularly like that you pointed out the very real issue of designing and building a suspension mod before the rest of the rig. That is true for ANY suspension mod, on any rig, off-roader, overlander, tow rig, race car, etc. You need to know how heavy and what the balance is before you go messing about with the suspension, or you're likely to just have to do it over anyway. Great content.

[Faknm]

Glad I didn’t fall into those holes….. you are my favorite, thank you!

[haemoccult]

You are absolutely right, thank you for that video. In my Defender everything is standard and upgrades, like boxes in unused space or a second battery, came in after I had bad experience on journeys without them. And as a fun fact: locals in foreign countries sometimes drive nearly dead or brand new out of factory cars and don't have fancy things in their trunks. Keep on traveling! Greetings from Germany.

[jerrychiasson]

Love your channel you make valid points... I had a four-door Jeep JL 2018 and I tow a off road Square drop trailer i built... It's 450 km to the nearest town from me in the Northwest territories and another 600 Km and some to Yellowknife I've got 200 Km nasty Gravel, pothole and mud so we're continually overloading ...lol but truthfully I'm amazed at the vehicles that are used up here mostly SUVs and trucks... But my jeep would be running on empty trying to get to the nearest town I was always packing The ride was rough so we traded it for a 2020 ford F 150 lariat diesel 3.0 I have twice the range less than half the cost in fuel and way more comfort and I can carry more Rather than loading my roof rack I'll put a little bit better shocks tires later on... As we always Boondock. But the truck even has a rear locker, so you're right it depends on your fantastic about the diesel I don't even know I'm towing and it never gets past 1500 RPM fully loaded and super quiet.... Yes I did think of putting a diesel in my JL jeep....lol even getting the new diesel jeep but the financing was way better for the truck and they gave me $18, 000 off...soooo the savings I can put a rack on the back.... Love your videos maybe you can do a video on the biggest overlanding mistakes you've maybe funny campfire

[bmonck]

Great commentary on not doing too much stuff. Recently watched a well known “experienced overland” guy load up his with two Dcdc chargers, way too much battery capacity, too much solar, too much fuel tank capacity, and guess what? His brand new prepared vehicle was WAY OVER legal weight maximum. And it must have cost a fortune. And probably complex to run and fix in the Bush. Madness ! Cheers

[taoforadacasinha]

Nice tips. Thanks for sharing your huge experience. Your 5th advice is excellent. "Usually less things means more fun".

[marceloanonimo]

Estoy armando un poroyecto y tus videos son de gran utilidad. Gracias ! Hasta la vista !

[overlandervanman]

Great advice once again! I built my own overlander van and my priorities were weight, space and everything must be dual purpose. Keeping the weight down saves you a lot of money because there is no need for any power or suspension upgrades and the vehicle is not under strain.

[luisguerreiro]

Agree with you, my challenge is having a daily driver, setup for 4 for only week long trips vs suspension setup.

[RollingRigTraction]

I see one, beneficial engine swap option and it's because the engine displacement is merely increased but is still the same base block of the engine. Specifically, going from the Ford Bronco II or Ranger pickup up to 1990 2.9l Cologne V6 switching up to the 4.0l Cologne V6 is and has often been the best upgrade for capability and fuel economy as the bigger engine doesn't have to work as hard. I personally got 38mpg in my '89 Bronco II with the 2.9l with a K&N stock air box filter and a Magnaflow muffler, towing a 14' boat with a 12' Porta-bote inside with 2 outboard motors (56 and 57lbs each respectively, two children one skinny wife and a week's worth of camping and fishing gear, clothes, and food. It was a fluke, the trip was from North of Salt Lake City to Jackson Lake, Wyoming. And, with an automatic transmission no less(overdriven) great little rig, someday I may have to install my spare 4.0l into my new one.

[TheTravelingTogetherJournal]

This is soooo good!
You nailed it. I know all of these things from experience too, but I should probably re-watch this video once a month to make sure I keep my current build on point 😂

[jimstringer]

You learned in a few years what I spent decades doing! And you're correct, most of that stuff doesn't really make for a good overlanding vehicle. I only wish I had all that money that I wasted trying to build crazy vehicles so I could have spent it on actually traveling!! Keep these coming!! Best series on the web for the real world of overlanding!!!