Is "Overlanding" a thing in your area yet?

We have a few of those overlanding rigs here in Las Vegas. They're called rental cars.
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Speaking to the older post about the kid slipping on an icy ladder and falling because he had to get up in the middle of the night and use the bathroom.

I don't "overland", but I do do winter backpacking and occasionally even when there are polar vortex's (less people out then), and I bring a dedicated pee bottle so I don't have to get out of the tent in the middle of the night. Consider it one of the most helpful pieces of gear for this season backpacking.

(Is it me, or has this site been ridiculously slow loading recently today?)
 
I used to trail camp a lot. Got older. Car camped a lot. Had kids. Went through a few campers. Did the occassional off-path exploration, usually without a buddy so nothing radical. Now I tent camp a couple times per year. If I tent camped quarterly, I’d consider a rooftop tent just because it’s off the wet ground and might feel a little more dry. BUT, I use my truck bed, and the rack hinders that. Right now I’m torn between my suspended tree-tent, which is quite cool but is tight quarters when it’s cold and it literally fills with condensed breath by morning, or a traditional Coleman which gets set up with fewer issues with trees, tension and angles. Jury is out whether air mattress or low-rider cot is more comfortable.

I miss campfires as I write this.

I mean, overlanding is a car hobby or fad just like any other car hobby or fad. Do we need to drive 200 mph in ovals? Do we need to build the HP for our fun car as if we were? Just like sports cars, trucks and lifts, zombie apocolypse suburbans (1 in town), ghost busters hearse (in this town we have 1 ghost busters suburban, 1 ghost busters fiat, and 1 more …. Maybe a dodge journey?) 2 matte black wrapped cyber trucks…. Who really needs a big brake kit, slotted rotors, and gg pads, to go to Publix?

I’ll admit, the overlanding theme gives some “rational reason” for adding TLC to your 4x4, because camping, and who doesn’t like camping? It’s a reason to justify an awesome 4x4 when really, it’s hard to justify the practicality of the thing otherwise, and that argument can easily be applied to half of us for what we drive. Idk.

I do like the look of the gear. I like the idea or pictures of “escape” it paints. I’ve not forged a creek in a vehicle in …. Years.
 
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meep said:
...Jury is out whether air mattress or low-rider cot is more comfortable...
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Good question. I'm going to be testing this out soon'ish. I'm about to start the process of prototyping a truly UL cot. If it ends up working well, I may consider marketing and selling it. It should be lighter weight than the lighest cots currently on the market, and easier to set up because there will be no aluminum cross poles to bend into place.

The impetus for trying to develop this is a twofold. I've gotten sick of air mattresses, even the very expensive ones, getting holes or otherwise developing leaks.

And if I ever have the means and free time, I'm interested in doing an Antarctic expedition-I do NOT want to rely on an air mattress in that situation. With that said, I'm not sure I could use what I'm developing either as carbon fiber, or rather the epoxy that binds same, is known to get brittle and lose strength at ultra cold temps. (If I ever do this trip, I'll have to substitute 7075 Al alloy, which actually becomes stronger at colder temps. It will definitely add some weight). Vacuum insulation panels would be the insulation. (The fabric part of the cot, will have a sleeve to put the VIP's in same).

(But that trip is honestly probably more of a pipe dream/fantasy, as I doubt I'll ever have the disposable income to do same, and I'm getting older).
 
VersysVsWhat said:
Good question. I'm going to be testing this out soon'ish. I'm about to start the process of prototyping a truly UL cot. If it ends up working well, I may consider marketing and selling it. It should be lighter weight than the lighest cots currently on the market, and easier to set up because there will be no aluminum cross poles to bend into place.

The impetus for trying to develop this is a twofold. I've gotten sick of air mattresses, even the very expensive ones, getting holes or otherwise developing leaks.

And if I ever have the means and free time, I'm interested in doing an Antarctic expedition-I do NOT want to rely on an air mattress in that situation. With that said, I'm not sure I could use what I'm developing either as carbon fiber, or rather the epoxy that binds same, is known to get brittle and lose strength at ultra cold temps. (If I ever do this trip, I'll have to substitute 7075 Al alloy, which actually becomes stronger at colder temps. It will definitely add some weight). Vacuum insulation panels would be the insulation. (The fabric part of the cot, will have a sleeve to put the VIP's in same).

(But that trip is honestly probably more of a pipe dream/fantasy, as I doubt I'll ever have the disposable income to do same, and I'm getting older).
Click to expand...
I don’t sleep easily any more. on nights I can’t sleep I go to a cot in another room. This cot, with three thin pillows she picked up off a etsy, is every bit as comfortable as our bed. I’ve easily spent 120 nights on it.

Naturehike GreenWild Camping Cot, Ultralight Folding Backpacking Cot, Supports 330lbs, Portable Camping Bed for Adults for Camping Hiking Travel Home, Black https://a.co/d/adyw3ze
 
Glad you found a good solution for sleeping better.

That product weighs 4.8lbs, which is fine for car camping, home use, or the like, but not the backpacking that I prefer to do (also do some car camping, especially with the misses and/or sometimes friends, but prefer backpacking).

The cot that I'm trying to develop, should weigh in the range of somewhere between 1.75 to 2.25lbs. Really simple design too. Basically two strengthened/fortified carbon fiber poles slip into 4 base/corners made out of composite blocks, with a couple strengthened carbon fiber arrow shafts as the cross beams. Fabric is a 1.6 oz/yd2 specially woven nylon 6.6 (high tensile strength nylon) fabric (also considering using Ultra TNT, but that material is non-breathable, so leaning against it). Just has sleeves on the sides that the main carbon fiber poles slip through before they get inserted into the blocks.
 
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VersysVsWhat said:
Glad you found a good solution for sleeping better.

That product weighs 4.8lbs, which is fine for car camping, home use, or the like, but not the backpacking that I prefer to do (also do some car camping, especially with the misses and/or sometimes friends, but prefer backpacking).

The cot that I'm trying to develop, should weigh in the range of somewhere between 1.75 to 2.25lbs. Really simple design too. Basically two strengthened/fortified carbon fiber poles slip into 4 base/corners made out of composite blocks, with a couple strengthened carbon fiber arrow shafts as the cross beams. Fabric is a 1.6 oz/yd2 specially woven nylon 6.6 (high tensile strength nylon) fabric (also considering using Ultra TNT, but that material is non-breathable, so leaning against it). Just has sleeves on the sides that the main carbon fiber poles slip through before they get inserted into the blocks.
Click to expand...
This sounds amazing. The weight is incredible too. Method for rip stop with such light material?
 
meep said:
This sounds amazing. The weight is incredible too. Method for rip stop with such light material?
Click to expand...
The fabric has a specialized ripstop grid pattern. It is somewhat popular among DIY hammock makers-used for heavy duty hammocks for larger, heavier people. Besides the specialized ripstop grid pattern, it is made with nylon 6.6 vs regular nylon 6 material. Nylon 6.6 has a 32% higher tensile strength than regular nylon, and regular nylon is considered one of the strongest fibers excluding specialty fibers like para-aramids (Kevlar etc), UHMWPE (Dyneema, Spectra, etc), etc.

One layer of fabric has a rating of being able to handle 350lbs. In this case, it will be two layers of fabric for the body, and 4 layers of fabric for the pole sleeves (at the seam). And that seam will be double stitched (thankfully my sewing machine can do that automatically). So it will be able to handle quite a bit of weight and be quite durable for a relatively light fabric. (again, 1.6 oz/yd2).

I'm going to make a singles cot, and a couples cot as well. (the latter is a bit more tricky for the cross poles). Singles will be around 25" wide, and the couples will be around 52" wide.
 
I built my bed and some storage to go into my sienna which I use to travel around the country on camping trips. I find it very convenient and comfortable but lately I've been thinking it'd be nice to have the added space of an aliner trailer.
 
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