\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>It wouldn\u2019t be painting with too broad a brush to say that most people who fall into the overlander category are overland gear and equipment junkies. This isn\u2019t necessarily a bad thing: it\u2019s natural to indulge in the wants, rather than the needs of our builds. However, there is a downside to this inherent urge: we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22493,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"It wouldn\u2019t be painting with too broad a brush to say that most people who fall into the overlander category are overland gear and equipment junkies. This isn\u2019t necessarily a bad thing: it\u2019s natural to indulge in the wants, rather than the needs of our builds.\n\nHowever, there is a downside to this inherent urge: we overlook upgrades to our rigs that aren\u2019t \u2018exciting\u2019. If it doesn\u2019t throw out thousands of lumens of light, make our vehicles a little bit taller, or give us a little more power, it can feel lackluster. Again\u2026 this isn\u2019t a bad thing. But in the larger conversation of preparation for off-road exploration, it pays to drill down and focus on the basics.\nWe Are Fragile\nHumans are fragile, and for whatever reason, we like to play with things that are trying to hurt us like axes, knives, fire, propane, winches, etc..\n\nFACT: As overlanders we pride ourselves on seeking out remote locations.\n\nLesser known fact: Remote is derived from the latin \u201cnot close to a hospital.\u201d\n\nSo what does all this mean?\n\nCarry a first aid kit. Carry a trauma kit. Have solid comms. Be able to put out a fire. These are musts. (Go see if you can stuff that fancy light bar on your truck into a wound to stop the bleeding.)\n\n \n\n \nFirst Aid & Trauma\n \n\nHere are the basics:\n\nKeep a First Aid Kit for minor injuries, light cuts, abrasions, burns.\nKeep a Trauma Kit for life threatening injury.\n\nA First Aid Kit will have your basics for treating scratches, light burns, small cuts, blisters and other scrapes. Think band aids, wound cleaning tools like alcohol pads and neosporin, gauze, athletic tape, pain killers, etc.\n\nExample items you want to have in your trauma kit include clotting sponges\/bandages, tourniquets, splints, trauma scissors and dressings, gloves, etc. These are the tools that allow you to stop bleeding, immobilize a sprain or break, or control a penetrating trauma.\n\nAnd because you never know if things are going to end \u201crubber side up\u201d while overlanding, it\u2019s a good idea to have multiple kits accessible at various entry points in your vehicle.\n\nA Basic First Aid kit stashed in the drivers side door.\n\nThere are wide variety of kits available online (Amazon returns 52,082 results in its online search alone), so find a kit in your spending comfort zone but do not cut costs and skip the basics.\n\nHere's an outdoor first aid\/trauma kit combo for $50:
Adventure Medical Kits Sportsman Series Bighorn Medical Kit<\/a> \n\nAnd you can\u2019t just carry these kits, you must know how to use them. I find that medical classes are the most ignored, yet critical, for off-roaders\/overlanders. It\u2019s a perishable skill as well. You\u2019ll forget things, and consulting a manual when you\u2019re trying to stop bleeding is not the best on the job training.\nGet Trained\nA quick search around the internet can point you to numerous classes and resources to help educate and prepare yourself for first aid emergencies. For example, the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS)<\/a> offers weekend long Wilderness First Aid Training courses at locations around the globe, as does WildMed<\/a>.\n\nGood kits can be put together for a great price, and by taking medical training you\u2019ll realize what\u2019s important to have and what you can leave at home to save space. I carry at least 2-3 trauma kits in my vehicle, stashed in the door pockets, with tourniquets present in each door or visor panel. These kits are not just for me to use on someone else, but for someone else to use on me if the moment arises.\n\nCommunications\nHave access to communication for reaching first responders. While it's important to have a CB or Ham Radio for communication on the trail when you overland with a group, communication only works in an emergency if someone happens to be listening on a frequency. \n\nIf you pride yourself on being away from civilization, be forward thinking in being able to reach civilization. I\u2019m a big proponent of systems like Satellite communicators, they\u2019re a fraction of the cost of a satellite phone, they\u2019re more reliable than a cellular phone, and you only need to use them ONCE in a critical situation to justify their cost.\n\n<\/a> A one time purchase in 2015 has paid off on the trail for Overland Bound #0000.\n\nOverland Bound co-founder Corrie Murguia has this experience. \u201cWe bought our DeLorme (now Garmin) Garmin inReach<\/a> back in May 2015 and we immediately used it to plot and track our off-road excursions. It was definitely an investment we considered carefully. It's not an impulse buy. I liked that we could activate and deactivate our service based on if we were home or on the trail.\n\nWe didn\u2019t put it to the test until September 2015 when we coordinated an off-road trail repair via text message\/satellite. There are no words to describe when you send a text message confirming a spare part is on its way and will arrive in 3 hours while you\u2019re in the middle of nowhere. Hugs, high fives and relief were abundant.\u201d\n\nOverland mishaps aren\u2019t a question of \u201cif\u201d, it\u2019s \u201cwhen\u201d. Be prepared and know what technological resources are available.\n\nFire Suppression\nIt\u2019s not just our bodies that need to be looked after, it\u2019s also our vehicles. It is alarming to consider the amount of people who travel without a fire extinguisher in their vehicles. And even more critical, the number of people who travel with an extinguisher but out of arms reach. If you store it out of reach, you\u2019ve basically put it on the moon.\n\n\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><\/a> Quickly accessible by being within arms reach of the driver.\n\nGood quality fire extinguishers range from $40-$100. Whether that\u2019s an ABC for gasoline or grease fires, or a gas based (halon style) for electrical or interior fires, there\u2019s a bunch out there. What\u2019s $40 to keep your high dollar investment from burning to the ground?\n\nWe also all make campfires, and campfires can get out of control. Don\u2019t be that person who burns down their rig and\/or the forest because a widget from REI was higher on the list than basic fire suppression.\nDon't Forget Your Basic Overland Gear and Equipment\nRoof racks, tires, suspension, light bars are all awesome, but life is a perishable and fleeting thing. Make the investment into the systems and products that can maintain your investment into this wonderful thing called life. The life you save may just be your own.\n\n \nBecome part of the Overland Bound Community!\nConnect with Members near you and around the world with our\ninteractive Member Map, Event Calendar and Overland Rally Point Trip Planner!\n
Go to the Overland Bound Store to get your Member Emblem and join the team.<\/a>\n<\/a>","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[45,62,29,76,47,49],"class_list":["post-22413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gear","tag-adventure","tag-boot-camp","tag-gear-2","tag-outdoors","tag-overland","tag-survival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22413\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}