Hi All!
So I'm pretty new to all of this Overlanding stuff, but I've been increasingly interested in what my Forester can do.
The car in my avatar is my trusty old 2012 Forester... which is sadly no longer with us. Freddy (short for Frederick) was stolen at the end of January, and still has not been recovered.
While in the grieving process, I starting looking at all the various things I could do if I ever got the car back.
Fast forward to now, the insurance has been paid, and now I'm cruising around in Freddy Jr. - a 2018 Forester Limited.
My running thought process is this - I want my car to best enable my existing hobbies. This includes Tahoe trips, and drives to random areas for epic hikes and the like. Most of my camping experiences have been more backpacking in nature vs. car-camping, but I'm really interested in using my car in that manner. Death Valley, for instance, has been on my list for a long while, and I'm seeing ways I could do that better with a car camping setup vs. backpacking.
This build is going to be a long slow process - but I figure a thread like this will help keep me on track, and make me take progress pics along the way! (Upon filling out my insurance paperwork, I realized I didn't really have any good pics of my old car - want to change that this time)
My short list of things to do is this:
1) Weathertechs! This is small but nearly first priority next to...
2) Crossbars. I had the standard Subaru ones before, now trying to figure out if the Yakima RailBar is worth the 2x price-tag.
3) Cargo rack. I didn't have this on my last car (just crossbars I could put a snowboard rack or surfboard pads on). I do like the aesthetic though, plus I think this will be useful for potential car camping situations (to stash gear while I sleep inside). Plus again, I can still mount my Yakima ski rack if I'm rolling with a LoadWarrior. The "perfect" rack I've found so far is a Gobi rack that is... not made for my car, grrr.
4) Trailer Hitch. My 2012 had a factory installed one, that I only used for a hitch-mount bike rack. That would currently still be it's only use, and my biking situation is lacking right now so this may be pushed out.
5) Skid plates. One reason I've been a little wary of too much off-roading in the past is the potential of just kicking up junk into the undercarriage. The Primitive Racing plates are on my list - just have to figure out when.
6) Light Bar! 1/3 of this is aesthetic, 1/3 of this is desire to have auxliirery lighting while at camp, and 1/3 is learning something about the car. Truth be told, while I can explain how a ICE works, and the thermodynamics of a turbocharger, I don't really have much experience working on cars. This seems like a project I can learn from.
7) HAM Radio - I should be getting my HAM sometime before May. One of my travel buddies is into it a bit, and it wouldn't be a bad idea to at least get a mobile radio rolling in the car for eventual DV trips.
Anyway, there's my long-winded intro post, lets see where it goes from here!
So I'm pretty new to all of this Overlanding stuff, but I've been increasingly interested in what my Forester can do.
The car in my avatar is my trusty old 2012 Forester... which is sadly no longer with us. Freddy (short for Frederick) was stolen at the end of January, and still has not been recovered.
While in the grieving process, I starting looking at all the various things I could do if I ever got the car back.
Fast forward to now, the insurance has been paid, and now I'm cruising around in Freddy Jr. - a 2018 Forester Limited.
My running thought process is this - I want my car to best enable my existing hobbies. This includes Tahoe trips, and drives to random areas for epic hikes and the like. Most of my camping experiences have been more backpacking in nature vs. car-camping, but I'm really interested in using my car in that manner. Death Valley, for instance, has been on my list for a long while, and I'm seeing ways I could do that better with a car camping setup vs. backpacking.
This build is going to be a long slow process - but I figure a thread like this will help keep me on track, and make me take progress pics along the way! (Upon filling out my insurance paperwork, I realized I didn't really have any good pics of my old car - want to change that this time)
My short list of things to do is this:
1) Weathertechs! This is small but nearly first priority next to...
2) Crossbars. I had the standard Subaru ones before, now trying to figure out if the Yakima RailBar is worth the 2x price-tag.
3) Cargo rack. I didn't have this on my last car (just crossbars I could put a snowboard rack or surfboard pads on). I do like the aesthetic though, plus I think this will be useful for potential car camping situations (to stash gear while I sleep inside). Plus again, I can still mount my Yakima ski rack if I'm rolling with a LoadWarrior. The "perfect" rack I've found so far is a Gobi rack that is... not made for my car, grrr.
4) Trailer Hitch. My 2012 had a factory installed one, that I only used for a hitch-mount bike rack. That would currently still be it's only use, and my biking situation is lacking right now so this may be pushed out.
5) Skid plates. One reason I've been a little wary of too much off-roading in the past is the potential of just kicking up junk into the undercarriage. The Primitive Racing plates are on my list - just have to figure out when.
6) Light Bar! 1/3 of this is aesthetic, 1/3 of this is desire to have auxliirery lighting while at camp, and 1/3 is learning something about the car. Truth be told, while I can explain how a ICE works, and the thermodynamics of a turbocharger, I don't really have much experience working on cars. This seems like a project I can learn from.
7) HAM Radio - I should be getting my HAM sometime before May. One of my travel buddies is into it a bit, and it wouldn't be a bad idea to at least get a mobile radio rolling in the car for eventual DV trips.
Anyway, there's my long-winded intro post, lets see where it goes from here!
