Contributor III
Greetings all,
My name is Jake, and I just joined up. I'm new to overlanding/rock crawling in the sense that I've done a bunch of off-roading when I was a young, dumb, reckless male but wasn't properly prepared, etc.
I survived. I worked as a commercial whitewater (Colorado) and sea-kayaking guide (Maine and British Columbia) for years in my late teens & 20s, so definitely experienced camper, wilderness first-aid, etc.
I had a '79 VW Westfalia that I put 200K miles on, camping all over, and later a Vanagan Westy. They aren't great for camping with kids, however, and we just outgrew them. (Having to set-up/tear-down is a PITA.)
Now, 30 years later, I've got a wife, two kids (5-year-old and 2-year-old), and a 2011 LC with 80K miles that my wife and I bought recently from an older couple in the SW for overlanding/camping/boat towing. I've also got a 1994 T100 that is just mine; wife drivers 2016 Suby Outback.
RE: the LC200 -- it will take me some time to build it out, but the earth is slow, and since the kids are young, we will be doing more mild adventures to start to get them hooked, anyway.
That said, we've got the following on/for the LC already:
My name is Jake, and I just joined up. I'm new to overlanding/rock crawling in the sense that I've done a bunch of off-roading when I was a young, dumb, reckless male but wasn't properly prepared, etc.
I survived. I worked as a commercial whitewater (Colorado) and sea-kayaking guide (Maine and British Columbia) for years in my late teens & 20s, so definitely experienced camper, wilderness first-aid, etc.
I had a '79 VW Westfalia that I put 200K miles on, camping all over, and later a Vanagan Westy. They aren't great for camping with kids, however, and we just outgrew them. (Having to set-up/tear-down is a PITA.)
Now, 30 years later, I've got a wife, two kids (5-year-old and 2-year-old), and a 2011 LC with 80K miles that my wife and I bought recently from an older couple in the SW for overlanding/camping/boat towing. I've also got a 1994 T100 that is just mine; wife drivers 2016 Suby Outback.
RE: the LC200 -- it will take me some time to build it out, but the earth is slow, and since the kids are young, we will be doing more mild adventures to start to get them hooked, anyway.
That said, we've got the following on/for the LC already:
- A full FrontRunner slimline II (I've got several expedition-length sea kayaks and needed something strong to tote them; this rack seemed to fit the bill.)
- OME
- Factory wheels: it came with a set of Toyo Open Country tires (285/65/18), but I switched them out for paved road driving we are doing mostly using Michelin 285/65/18s), which improved the terrible gas mileage somewhat and greatly reduced road noise.
- Wheels -- I want to get another set so I can more easily switch the wheels depending on need; do I really want 17s, so I can get more rubber at lower pressures?
- The LC came with OME, but how would I determine the size of the lift? (The seller actually didn't know - they were an old couple, orig owner, and rarely went off-road)
- Priority mods: rock sliders and undercarriage protection first? Then bumpers?
- We live on an island and often shop off-island, so getting a fridge/freezer is an easy sell to the wife, therefore we should invest in the Goose ultimate kitchen, right? (easy sell voice)
- I'm thinking travel trailer (i.e. Turtleback) would be a good investment as it can be set up and ready to go at a moment's notice, but I also want to just take the LC when appropriate.
- I don't think I want a RTT on the LC -- have plenty of tents, but that it would be fine on a trailer for setting up base camps.
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