Modifications & Equipment
A trip like ours demands quite a few modifications to a vehicle. Matt Savage (mattsavage.com) worked extremely hard to get Ginger up to snuff for the trip! Here are some of her modifications and equipment...
| Heavy Duty Suspension - Old Man Emu (OME) - We replaced the standard TLC suspension with heavier springs and gas-shocks to handle the poor roads and the heavier than normal load we'll be carrying. |
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| Long Range Fuel Tank - 35 gallon tank to compensate for insufficient fuel availability in some areas. The extra range will allow us to explore more remote areas otherwise inaccessible. It will also allow us to take advantage of cheap fuel when we find it! |
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| Raised Air Intake - Safari Snorkel - A raised air intake allows the vehicle to travel through water. Since a diesel has no spark plugs, it can operate under water as long as it can get air. Since the air is coming from a higher position then it otherwise would, the snorkel also keeps the air filter cleaner when driving through dust and sand. |
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| Drawer System - African Outback - This is the ultimate drawer system, with 2 lockable carpeted drawers and welded galvanized steel for construction it will help keep you organized and most of all keep your things secure. |
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| Roof Rack - Hannibal Safari Equipment - Its heavy-duty, yet constructed of lightweight aluminum with a black powder coated finish. A necessity to support the 2nd floor in our new home - the tent! As well as one spare wheel, jerry cans and other equipment when necessary. |
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Roof-Top Tent - (a. k. a The Master Suite) - Eezi Awn - Constructed of rip-stop cotton canvas, its waterproof, breathable and while the mattress isn't our wonderfully comfortable queen size bed at home - it actually ain't so bad! Shower Skirt - Eezi-Awn - Well...you didn't expect us to run around in our birthday suit - did you? This nifty little thing installs very easily at the base to the underside of the tent platform when opened and hangs over the back end of the truck. It creates an enclosure for privacy when showering or can protect you from the elements when cooking or working in the back of the truck. Awning - Hannibal Safari Equipment - We needed something to protect us from the rain, sun and to hang the festive party lights from! It sets up in a jiffy, is lightweight, waterproof and made of rip-stop cotton fabric. |
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Cargo Barrier - à la Matt Savage Ltd. - Serves two purposes. Protects us from flying objects if there is an accident or if we have to break unexpectedly. It also serves as a security measure, isolating each half of the truck, should we be unfortunate enough to experience a break-in.
Cargo Netting - Overland Expedition Co. - When you have a "house" this small, you have to utilize every inch of space you can! So to store lightweight but important supplies, we installed a cargo net in the rear of the truck and another to the front of the cargo barrier. |
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Rear Wheel Carrier - Rear Tire Carrier - Toyota - You can't venture off into nowhere with only one spare tire! However you also need a place to store the 2 extra you should bring a long. We installed a swing-away rear tire carrier so at least one spare would be easily accessible, the 2nd is mounted on the roof rack. The spare is typically stored in the undercarriage of the truck, but once we installed the Long Range Fuel Tank we lost that option! Tires - Michelin XZL - A tough multi-ply tire designed to operate on varied pressures and to perform well on sand, mud and snow. We felt this was our best choice to avoid spending all of our time making puncture repairs! |
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Spotlights - Hella & KC - These are so strong, you can see the trees wilt when they are on! Helpful with providing additional visibility at night, though if we can help it we won't be doing much of that! Bull Bar - ARB - One of the strongest on the market, made to protect the front end of the vehicle when crashing into bulls! Hi-Lift Jack - A dangerous piece of equipment that you must take care in using - it can get you out of almost any unfortunate situation such as mud, sand and border patrol confrontations. |
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| Sand Ladders - Another piece of recovery equipment, however much safer to handle then the Hi-Lift Jack |
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| Refrigerator - Engel 40 Liter - Absolute necessity...MUST keep beer cold at all times! Oh yeah, its good for food and medicine too! |
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| Water Purification & Heated Shower System - Brownchurch and Twine combination - A wonderful thing to have after a long hot dusty day on the road! |
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| Security Console - Tuffy Series II - A lockable center console, providing additional secure storage for all of the smaller valuables |
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| Chequer Plating - Installed on the inside tailgate of the truck. This provides a safer place to stand when accessing the roof, provides safe area to use the cooker, it also provides a better work surface then carpet! |
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| Security Tint - to protect the truck against break-ins, we blacked out the windows from prying eyes and installed a security film on the windows, so even though the glass could shatter, they still wont (at least in theory!) be able to get thru the window to access the inside of the truck |
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