Here’s a good video on winching from the guys at Rugged Guide. They cover the main pulling techniques (single line, double line, off-angle) as well some not-so-obvious safety tips.
If you have a winch, it’s worth a look.
Archives for posts with tag: tips
Here’s an informative video on 4×4-based desert survival, including tips and tricks for sand driving. It also tells the tales of others that have been trapped in the desert and made it out alive, and others that weren’t so lucky.
Thanks for the tip, Greg!
Youtube user, buscraftmyway, shows how to turn an ordinary tea light and a strip of cardboard into an ingenious, practical fire-starting tool. He calls it a “mini Bushbuddy” and reports that it’s also good for boiling a single cup of water. Brilliant. I can’t wait to try it out.
Devoted gear-head, Automobile Magazine fixture, and recalcitrant commentator, Jamie Kitman has a great column on Car Talk offering valuable wisdom gleaned from decades of car collecting — he’s currently in possession of 30 vehicles, including a 1968 Travelall 4×4. In the piece he expounds on tips like “don’t be afraid to walk away from a deal” and “buy the best.” It’s a great read.
And you can’t really argue with advice like that. As a friend’s grandfather put it: “Buy the best—you’ll only cry once.”
Last month I went to the Overland Rally in Hollister, CA, a weekend of classes, camping, and overland community, where travel, vehicle prep, driving, and navigation were all on topic. For example…
On international travel: if you’re traveling through a town and you don’t see any women or children, something is wrong. That said, the world is a pretty safe place and trouble is usually highly localized and easily avoided.
On vehicle prep: the most important change you can make on a vehicle is tires. Select ones that are suited to the environment in which you’ll be driving. For example, mud terrain tires work in mud but not on asphalt and snow.
On navigation: if you end up lost, stop. Figure out where you are (by plotting your GPS coordinates on a map or using a compass to triangulate your position from known points); make a plan; and proceed by dead reckoning (traveling a certain distance, on a known heading, from a known position) or by plotting GPS coordinates every few miles. Precision is the key. An error of a few millimeters on the map can translate into a few thousand feet on the trail. When following your compass, don’t forget to account for magnetic deviation (the difference between magnetic north and true north). Read the rest of this entry »