So this came up on Facebook page I am on that deals with Overlanding (yuppie camping in overly expensive rigs with stupid expensive crap.

https://rebeloffroad.com/blackout-kit-for-jeep-wrangler/" rel="nofollow - https://rebeloffroad.com/blackout-kit-for-jeep-wrangler/

SO here is what I added to the conversation

Then some people decide to get really serious with their car camping and would spend a month in Baja, or cross the Gobi desert, or drive around the world.  They need a different word for living out of your vehicle for months at a time, and I'm fine with "overlanding" applying to that.

But now people go "overlanding" for a weekend!  I'm sorry, that's car camping.  Nothing wrong with car camping, just don't make it sound like you're crossing the Gobi desert.  I'll reluctantly allow the use of "overlanding" if it's only 2 weeks (a month minimum would be better).  But anything less than 2 weeks is car camping.

 

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=croIsbI4kt8" rel="nofollow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=croIsbI4kt8   

I watched this because I wanted to see the Black Bear again, and see how they handled it. I'm glad I did it in a CJ2-A, not a big ol' hog like those Wranglers. I only had to back up on two switchbacks. And the CJ2-A can carry everything I need for an overnighter, or several nights. 

I had my doubts about this guy right from the start, when he said they went West from Moab to get to Ouray, (he said it You-ray. It's obvious there's a "Y" on the back end, but none on the front) Colorado. And then he kept talking about Ophir (he pronounced it Oh-feer) pass. Maybe we natives don't always pronounce the names of places in Colorado (or the state itself) the way that some outsiders think they should be said, but as long as I've been in the state Ophir has been Oh-fer.

I didn't mean for this post to turn into a rant, so, sorry, I'll sign off now.

Bruce W in Call-o-rAdo, not Call-o-rAHdo.  

I know this is in "Off Topic", but I gotta say this is insidious.  Don't hyper focus on the expensive tiny water jug... back off 3000ft and just see folks enjoying the same thing in a different way.  They'll think you nuts for relining a 50 year old tin can, but they'll have your back when it comes time to holler about potential trail closings.

Just sayin. 

I do get that (not that I'd do it, but that's not about the money...).  I've built my trail vehicles, and quite honestly, they aren't as reliable as newer vehicles.  Not to say that they've ever stranded me, but that's more a function of them being simple to repair and I'm familiar with them so I'm able to repair them.

My younger son is also into 'wheeling.  He can drive my Bronco (with me spotting) over things I can't drive it over.  And now he's getting to be a good enough spotter that I can drive over some of the hardest parts too!  But he's not a mechanical engineer like I am, he's a finance guy.  He wants to get his own trail vehicle, but he doesn't want to have a project vehicle like I have.  In fact, he's even reluctant to borrow my Bronco if I'm not along (I'd let him take it).  So he wants to get a JL Wrangler Rubicon for his daily driver and trail vehicle.

Would I do that?  No.  New vehicles are too complicated for me to feel good about them.  Yes I just argued that they're more reliable, things don't go wrong nearly as often.  But when something does go wrong you are more screwed.  Plus I like the project aspect of my trail vehicles.  That's who I am.  But it's not who my son is.

Still, if he does get his JL and go off-grid for a week or two he'll be camping, not overlanding 

I get the old trail Jeep coolness, but I also get the $80,000 Overlander with the tent on the roof.  Tents are the cheap part of these rigs.  $1,500 to $3,000 for a tent - seems nuts to a CJ2A guy with $6,000 in a complete small format Jeep.  But for a Yuppie making big bucks between the ages of 40 and 70 - who can have a shop put together an Overlander for a 2 week trip into the backcountry with a few friends every year - might not be so extravagant.  They just want to go - not wrench and troubleshoot and fink with the vehicle.

Just wondering how those tents are in a real storm.

Chad  - That's the deluxe model with the washer/dryer option!

Well said, Glenn!

As usual, I just do things my own way. They can hang whatever name they want to hang on it!

Excellent point of view. Thanks for pulling me back in and you are absolutely correct and wise for recognizing it.

I need to work on this part of my head. I've kinda struggled all my life so I have developed an opinion that isn't always right or good or fair. Trying to fix it. carry on.

Couldn’t help myself from commenting, but finally someone to agree with me!  When I lived in Durango as a kid, and all my life before and since, me and the “Natives” called it “oo-ray”.  I think the yuppies must have started trying to rename it a while back.  Ennyhoo, I still love to visit Khalla-redda!

You guys help a flatlander on the east coast with a Bahstin accent... im-ah-gene, or I'm-o-gene? 

wheelie wrote: Excellent point of view. Thanks for pulling me back in and you are absolutely correct and wise for recognizing it.

I appreciate the sentiment, but certainly more battle scarred than wise.  In a previous lifetime I have been a moderator on a couple hunting and fishing forums, and a member on numerous others...a member in firearms and archery forums and ATVs as well.   The constant din between the various special interests was numbing.  BATTLES over baiting and high fence, antler restrictions vs. meat hunters, fly vs. bait, longbow vs. compound, fudds that don't give a hoot about the second as long as they can shoot some stocked pheasants on saturday morning vs. full auto...it goes on and on... All while large tracts of land were posted, or the state gave them over to dog walkers and horseback riders, Outboard motor restrictions and outright waterway closures... Owning an ATV in MA is an expensive joke...ask me how long my "lifetime" firearms card was good for... and the violins played while Rome burned (or the band played on while Titanic sank, your choice).

I'm only suggesting that it's short sighted to worry too much about "yuppies", or how expensive, or whether it's excessive or unnecessary, or camping vs. overlanding vs. walkabout...(or stock vs.  restomod vs. tribute)  eventually you'll need a permit, then the permits will be overpriced, then unavailable to even the $80,000 rig with the extra 2 gallons of water same as the shoe string trail rig build with the relined NATO can.  So long as the tiny yet overpriced yuppy window can doesn't affect me directly, I'm good...your jeep your rules, and I really enjoyed watching some of the reasonably well done "TrailRecon" videos beyond the link BW provided... 

...and the band played on (or "lighten up, Francis"... your choice)

The thing I have to wonder about is, why the 4-door Wrangler with hardtop and full hard doors?  It's soooooooo much bigger than even a CJ-5 or a YJ or a TJ.  A 4-door JK with hardtop weighs 1,000 lbs. more than my YJ, which weighs almost 1,000 lbs. more than my 2A!  A JK/JL with full hard doors and hardtop is just an XJ with a different grille.  If you're not going to take advantage of the removable top why not just get something without a removable top? 

Of course I have heard that the 4-doors have a 70% take rate, but I don't know what those buyers think they're getting when they buy them.  A "jeep" is supposed to be a small vehicle, isn't it?  Even a 2-door JK/JL is way bigger than a 2A.

Interestingly, I saw a 4-door JK with half doors out on the street the other day.  I didn't know that anyone had actually gotten one of those.

Having owned a JK 4 door, they are pretty capable out of the box. Are the a 2A, well no. But if you want relative comfort and the ability to carry 5 people, it's a good choice. The tops are easy to manipulate. you can be cruising top down in under 5 minutes. I think a lot of the overland guys pick a JK/JL because of solid axles, available lockers, available 4:1 t-case from the factory. You can't get that elsewhere. You see an equally amount of guys going for the 4Runner/Tacoma platform as Toyota offers some legit off road packages, albeit with an IFS. 

Anyway.....I think the innovation in these builds is cool. Do these guys even use them as intended - probably not. But does a high end hot rod guy drive his car every day - probably not. They are cool to look at and these builds keep the aftermarket busy creating new parts for other segments of the off road community. 

Yes Overlanders probably go places the old Vista Cruiser couldn't go but the idea of getting away from it all still thrives. Sounds good. 

It has created quite a cottage industry to boot. Remember every time you see a (mostly) young guy beside you in his or her $$$$ Jeep with all the gear on top and sides, and you silently shake your head, they're doing the same thing to the old flatty that you are in. Quid Pro Quo. 

In retrospect, as a child my brother and sister and me slept in the trunk of a 54 Mercury in South Dakota and Colorado. A few years later it was 58 Ford. Bigger kids, bigger trunk. 

Perhaps we were trend setters. 

C u n the dirt (or some where overland)

Fuzz

So it's a capstan? 

 

roof basket rack with solor panel wired to a solor controller under the back seat for extra lighting and 12volt plug ins. 

some hella brand lights on the roof also. 

a kings brand roof top canopy that extends out to have some nice shade  

also making a drawer setup for the rear that pulls out into a flat space for a camp stove. 

might even add heated front seats for winter weather not sure on that yet. 

rocnroll wrote: The colorization was part of the appeal to me...

Off topic, but have you seen They Shall Not Grow Old, the WWI movie that's made of original movie footage colorized and speed-corrected? 

 

Yes!

... or just "wrong"

I worked at Chrysler and still drive new Wranglers often at work and they are huge. 4 doors are longer and wider than my wife's '05 Grand Cherokee. I'd be willing to bet that there are more aftermarket gadgets and gizmos made for newer Wranglers than for any other vehicle made. It's crazy how many Wranglers FCA sells that end up with another $10K of accessories piled on. 

It's funny to me that when I bought my YJ 31 years ago, it was hard to find much aftermarket stuff for it for a couple years.  Even when YJ accessories started coming to market there wasn't much that wasn't just useless appearance junk.

I have a 4 Door JL Rubicon, and a 47 CJ2a... so I'm schrodinger's yuppie? I just like Jeeps, and the outdoors.

To the OP's point though, that's a nuts amount of money for 2 gallons. You're not wrong there. Looks cool though. I might do something similar but fab it myself. Not very many good options for a Jerry can on the JL.

Sithinstructor wrote: Not very many good options for a Jerry can on the JL.

Yeah, if you put it on the side, you're making a wide vehicle W-I-D-E.  You have the front or the back as your width-limited-work-around spots and the front isn't the best idea.  The back is pretty much your default place.  I guess there's always the top...