Welcome to Botches Off -Road. Join us as we talk
about everything from gear review to tent stories.
I gotta do that again. Try this again. Welcome
to Botches Off -Road. Join us as we talk about
from everything from gear review to trail stories,
tent camping to rock landing, and all things
to do with the great outdoors. I just added a
word there. Oh, and Alex is muted. Man, we are
killing it today. Oh my god, are we on top of
it? So today's a good ol' rap. A weekend recap
and plans. If anyone didn't know, that's why
when you see these short episodes, they're called
rap. It's weekend recaps and plans. Yep. Rap.
Yes. Good ol' rap. Gavin, I see you sent your
podcasting setup. That's pretty sick. Yeah. Yeah,
usually once we get done with the intro, I get
rid of the one screen and then go back to whatever
I have online, pulled up. I'm gonna see if I
can take a screenshot of my whole setup for you.
Or, like, if I can even do that? No, you got
me curious. I don't see what's important. My
setup's pretty... Well, you have like four screens.
So it's like kind of hey, it totally did let
me do it Hmm yeah, I just do it this way The
print screen button and then dragged it to cover
all of them yeah That's my that's my my beautiful
little setup there It takes up see this is a
27 inch 27 inch, 27 inch, 24. You can't do the
whole, okay, so you hit the print screen button,
right Mark? I have no idea which button that
is for me. It says PRNT screen. Oh, got it. And
then it's gonna bring up a clipping tool and
you gotta drag the four corners out. Okay, now
I got it. Now we're talking about tech now, what
are we doing? Hey, chapter art, I guess. I guess
chapter art. Live and learn. Man, Mark's setup
looks so sad with his one little monitor. Is
that really? So when we record this, that's really
how you do it? Yeah. Oh, man. I only have one
monitor, too. It's just long. Yeah, yeah. How
long is your monitor? That's a good question.
Say 20 something It has to be over 20 yeah, yeah,
it's something because I don't know so my My
monitor that's got audacity like the you know
I've got audacity in my web browser on two monitors
there uh -huh each of those are 27 inch monitors
and then the one on the far right that looks
really small because It's only 1080p. That is
also a 27 inch monitor. Let's see if I could
go into. Check what kind of monitor I have LG
ultra wide. But. This is important for rap, by
the way. People need to know what we're sitting
in front of. This is very important. It's on
our screen at all times for recordings. Yes.
I'm slowly working on a new studio, and part
of what's keeping me from moving is I need new
monitors and to build a new computer because
I could not go down to two. I think it's a 29
inch or a 30 inch. Hmm But it's an ultra wide
so It just they turn the diagonal a little bit
farther so it goes wider Yeah, I like it. It
does it does the job. It's like having it's basically
two regular size monitors Actually, I can't maybe
these are 24s. Give me a second. I might 27 might
be the one I threw another 27 but the Okay, so
the two in the middle are 27s the one on the
rights of 24 and the one up top to 24 Aha, I
knew I had a tape I shouldn't just Corner to
corner corner to corner Yeah, yeah, that's 30
damn Nice corner to corner Don't ask why I have
I'm trust I'm trying to remember what monitors
these are I I had no expenses spared about four
years ago. Let's put it that way. Yeah Well,
shall we uh Yeah, let's get into more fun text
No, I mean overland overland stuff Hey, off -road
-y stuff. Off -road -y? Almost gotcha. So, Mark,
you know what? Gavin, what are you doing this
weekend, Gavin? What am I doing? I know you don't
work. Yeah, well, my wife is going to her sister's
bachelorette party, so me and the kid are home
alone for the weekend, so with that in mind,
I... You're coming over. Yeah, I'm probably coming
over. Um, not sure. Not sure how many days, um,
but we'll probably try one night and see how
it works with them. Uh, I know Saturday we've
got, uh, we got to go shopping for our buddy's
wedding. Yep. But we'll be back Saturday evening.
Yeah. Um, I have no idea what we're going to
do, honestly. Um. I know I want to get him outside
a little bit, and I'm getting stir -crazy. I
want to be outside, so... You can always come
set up in the corner of my yard. It's a nice,
safe place to set up. Yeah. The shade is what
I'm going to be looking in for, so... That's
why we go to the corner of my yard. You got good
shade over there? Well, now that it's not wet,
we can go sit on the wood line. Oh, cool. I'm
down with that. Um, but other than that, um,
I'm going to go buy a crap ton of various lengths
of carriage bolts. Um, I found, yeah, I found
out that a quarter inch carriage bolts fit into
the, uh, my rails for the Princey rack. So it
makes it really, really easy to remount all my
boxes back up there and really easy to take them
out. Cause the carriage bolts like lock in. To
the actual like slide. Yeah, so right So I'm
gonna remount my tools of stuff up there until
I get a rooftop tent and maybe work on getting
my My poop awning put back on And I have all
the lights still that I was waiting for my princy
rack to put on So I might we'll see well, I might
put those on Start getting some of those extra
lights wired up We'll see I have a lot of plans
about having a kid mixed into those plans doesn't
really You know what else is cool about camping
at my house? Free childcare. Oh, yeah. Well,
we'll see. Yeah We'll see how long she could
take it the kids been a menace Oh, dude, ours
too. Jesus Christ. He'd probably bite the dog.
So Mother's Day, right? My mom was over with
her three -year -old and then add our three -year
-old to the mix. They were running around outside,
smashing windows and stuff with hammers. Like,
it was bad. Yeah. Smashing windows? Yeah, they
smashed a window on Mark's topper. Yep. Oh. And
they drew all over the 442 with chalk. Oh, boy.
Oh, yeah. I'm not that kind of crunchy parenting,
am I? Some spankin's word. I mean, oh, that's
not OK. No, it's OK. Some corrective action was
taken. Yeah, no, that's OK. If my kid did that,
I would spank his ass. Right amount of crashes.
Yeah, the right amount of crew, because they
got told put the hammer away like five times.
And then a dude, they smashed the tail lights
out of the crawler. I mean, are you most of most
of the damage was on the scrap vehicle. Yeah.
They smashed the windshield of the crawler, like
stuff that I'm already throwing away. Yeah. But
that doesn't make it OK. No, it does not. Yeah,
I know yeah, I was I would have went ballistic
can't lie dudes just non -stop craziness the
whole time and Jackson's not usually like that,
but you add River with his non -stop go go go
go go it just It's awful All right, so maybe
I'll be camping at home River won't be here.
It's okay. Yeah, I would be drinking Will you
find some Bush Apple and try those out? Because
I've been seeing all this hubbub about them.
I'm sure they're just as bad as they were the
first time they came out. I've never tried them.
Yeah, they were pretty gross last time. All right,
if any of our listeners have tried Bush Apple,
let's hear it. Tell me your reviews on the Brapple.
Brapple. I give them an F. I would not buy again.
Really? That's why I didn't. Mark, what are you
drinking? Uh, M43. Yep, M43. Bro. Bro. Quinzies.
Nice. And I got water. I was all out of, uh,
I was all out of some El Chavo. All the caimans
are gone too? Yeah, those are all gone too. I
do like Cayman Jacks. I will say that dude. I
worked 70 hours this week You can bet I was coming
home and getting oh, yeah, not wrecked, but I
was having a beer every night Yeah, oh I needed
a beer tonight, too. I am Friday if Jasper isn't
sick We have to take him in to get his tubes
put in for his ears so oh shit yeah it's he's
been sick every time the last two times you've
tried just at the right point to where we're
like a day or two before surgery so we'll see
if that actually happens but yeah let's hope
that you could finally get him because I'm worried
that he's gonna have permanent hearing damage
and then that's gonna affect his speech and You
know, it's not an end -all be -all, but it does
suck Right So hopefully Friday goes well if Friday
goes well Sienna will be able to leave for the
bachelorette party And then I will be able to
do my own thing with Jasper But it all kind of
hinges on that so that'll be my wrap Let's move
on to our next one. I was just gonna say so mark
Yeah, what did you do last weekend? See? I know
Gavin work. That's why I didn't ask him what
yeah, but what did you do last weekend? I don't
remember what we did We got the oil. I got the
oil change done in my truck I Sony adjusts the
front shocks. I didn't get to that But we were
very lazy that day and we schemed about something
that's gonna happen and it's in the works right
now So, oh, yeah. Yeah So originally we're gonna
mount two packouts in the rear of my truck and
we're gonna make a tabletop on it The more I
thought about over the course of the week of
us originally talking about it. I realize this
is gonna sit tall Like I kept talking myself
in and out of putting my tailgate back on because
it would make a good work surface But it looks
terrible it does it does The tailgate got smashed.
That's the reason why I got the tire carrier
to begin with it was to hide the horrendous dent
Tailgate never really functioned properly. So
that's the reason why I came off begin with But
um, I just was trying to Figure out how to make
a tabletop that wasn't sitting so tall because
of losing all the weight out of the rear So it
sits higher than what it did previously Alex
came up with the idea. How about we make a slide
out slide out table? I'm like, oh That's actually
a good idea and just mount the back out on top
of the slide out portion. Oh Yeah, okay Yeah,
it's it's pretty sick. Yep Uh, I did what? Three
quarter inch plywood. Mm -hmm. Um, I made a bottom
plate and a top plate and then made some spacers
for either side and then just cut another one
for in the middle. So you grab the one in the
middle and it just slides out between the other
two. Yep. Um, and then you stained them black,
correct? Yes. I got to finish staining them.
They had it like a six -hour dry time for some
odd reason. Okay, so yeah, that sounds all right.
Yep I gotta finish things and I gotta see if
I want to do extra layers on the tops Yeah, just
place and then Well, the way that stain works.
You can't really do extra layers. It just makes
it darker Okay, because wood absorbs stain. It's
not like paint. Okay? Wood absorbs paint the
stain rather than it's sitting on top Okay, I
was trying to understand that. How it was worded,
it sounded like you did an extra layer of help
with protection, at least with the polyurethane
or whatever I'm putting on it. Oh, it's got poly?
Yeah. Okay, only put the poly on the outside,
but that you definitely have to do multiple layers.
Okay. So yeah, it's... And then we're gonna grease
the underside of the table that pulls out. Yep.
So you'll be able... He'll have his two packouts
up top and then just a slide out tray, basically.
Mm hmm. And it only stands like an inch and a
half tall. Yeah. That was pretty sick. Mm hmm.
Gavin is me. I'm digging it. Yeah, I realize
that like immediately after I said it. Yeah,
well, I have to see that. Is it going to be ready
by Friday? Maybe. Sounds like he's got to do
another coat. I gotta do another coat. We'll
see though. Yeah, it's pretty sick. I'm aiming
to get it mounted up this weekend, but I still
gotta get a couple things, but I got other things
going on. We literally went from sitting on the
couch without anything to do to going to get
lumber for this thing in a matter of like...
20 minutes. Yeah. That's usually how it goes.
And we cleared all the packouts off the trailer
and used the trailer to haul a four by eight
sheet of plywood. Yep. The trailer is a phenomenal
utility trailer. It is. Well, I'm sure that was
easy just getting the packouts off and everything,
so. Oh yeah. Yeah, they pop right off. I mean,
it's... It's nice having it modular like that.
So it's multi -purpose. Mm -hmm. Yeah Did anybody
do any Any purchases any any future? Equipment
purchases or anything we're thinking of I'm getting
there. No, I'm taking a mark. You know, is he
know anything planned? I'm kind of chilling it
out because I had two big purchases, so I don't
have anything in the major works as of right
now. I am planning out how to do 35s. And then
we got that whole scenario. That's going to be
an interesting one because my truck, Mark's truck,
is Alan on board with the Jeep? For 35s? matching
wheels and tires? Oh, matching, yes, yes. I don't
know how we're gonna get him in it, though, because
that's a big build. Just whenever that time comes.
Yep. So the goal is for the 4Runner, the Tacoma,
the Jeep, and the trailer, and all of our spares
to all be the same wheel with the same tire with
the same... Set up. ...bead lock, internal bead
lock, exactly the same. Mm -hmm. That way we
can just rotate tires to whatever vehicle they
need to go to I mean shoot we could almost literally
have like this crazy convoluted rotation system
so that all the tires are worn down at the same
rate. Yeah, I Mean that'd be dumb, but we could
do it Yeah, it's gonna be sick though because
it's gonna save us a lot of effort in finding
new wheels, because we always buy cheap ones.
Not this time. No. We're not doing it this time.
No, not this time. Expensive wheels, cheap tires.
I mean, expensive wheels, decent tires. And quite
the setup, an expensive setup. Yeah, we're looking
at pneumatic internal bead locks. So they're
basically like a small inner tube that goes inside
the tire. And then... It has its own valve stem
that you have to drill through your wheel and
then it inflates to lock the bead on either side
They Really you don't see a lot of people run
them. No, but the reviews that the reviews we
see they're absolutely amazing. Yep Those Aussies
running it at zero PSI just whipping corners.
That was cool. That was cool Have you guys figured
out like a price range for something like that?
Pretty high. Yeah. Yeah, it's $600 for four And
that's not including installation Yep, ooh Yep,
or like 3k for a good set of bead lock wheels.
Mm -hmm It The big benefit is they're DOT approved
whereas a bead lock isn't and there's no maintenance
on them Yep. You just gotta drill your second
hole in your rim and then as long as we get everything
mounted up properly, it should work. Yep. Is
that something tire shops are willing to even
work on? Never enough is. Never enough is. They're
actually very intrigued by it. Yeah, I I stopped
in the other day and talked to him and asked
him if they could do it and they were like We've
never even heard of that and then they looked
it up and they're like we need to start carrying
this Yeah, that's really interesting so Never
enough by the way for anybody who doesn't know
that never enough is our local off -road shop
here in Grant, but they and they are They are
pretty great. Mm -hmm They have a massive online
shop. Well, I think they're one of the biggest
suppliers. So probably they are especially for
Michigan. Yeah Not just Michigan, dude. When
I lived in Arizona people were buying from never
enough. Oh, yeah Yeah, they're a big shop. So,
you know They got a lot of stuff. I think they're
the ones that I have like they have the apex
setups that Alex is running Yeah, that's where
I got mine and he got yours too there or you
buy them have them installed Alex oh Sorry, yes,
that's that's who did my my apex valve stems.
Yeah, just went I I had the forerunner in there
getting Tires balanced, I think Yeah, I was getting
I was getting my new tires mounted And I saw
those and I'm like, all right, I don't even care
how much they cost. Just put them on. Yeah. Well,
I've fuck I've had mine mounted and balanced
on there. They put my wild peaks on. They figured
out something cheap to help me get by for now.
So I appreciate that. Yeah, because I needed
I needed a actual like a relocation kit for my
back tire. on like my spare wheel mount. But
they worked with me because I didn't have a lot
of time nor money to get that mounted on there.
I think they ended up using Chevy spacers. So
they worked with me. It was pretty cool. It wasn't
like the legit way to do it. And that's all I
wanted was the non legit way to do it. And they
were willing to. willing to work with me on that,
because like I said, I didn't have the money
to go and spend $300 on that right then. So it
was pretty cool. They were willing to work with
me on it, so good for them. Appreciate that.
But if we're talking about future purchases,
I have one that's coming up in like a week. Yep.
So I've been in the market for a two -person
tent for a while. I've got my single -person
Lightfighter. that's great for when it's just
me, but I needed something for me and Kaylin.
And the Light Fighter, as much as I love the
Light Fighter 2, it comes out to, like, $620
for the all -in system to make it four season.
Yeah. And it's quick setup, but not fastest setup,
right? Yeah. So I was doing some research. online
to see what the fastest setup ground tents you
can get are. And I came across something the
Australians use, which are called swags. Yep.
For anyone who doesn't know what a swag is, it's
a roll up tent that doesn't have a rain fly per
se. It's just a canvas, little canvas tent. Usually
they're one person, but they have an integrated
mattress and you roll your bedding right inside
of them. So when it comes to setup, it's literally
pull tent out, unroll tent, put up poles. And
now your bedding is ready, your tent is ready,
everything is just set up. I've been watching
people with this one and from the time that they
take it off the roof of their car to the time
that they have it set up is about three minutes.
And they were doing races between... The swag
and the not hardshell rooftop tents, but softshell
rooftop tents Yeah, and they'd have the swag
ready like a good 30 seconds before an RTT So
Yeah, we can't go see that The downside to a
swag is that the thing weighs 49 pounds. Yeah,
and is big and bulky. Yeah It doesn't fit in
a pack out like our light fighter system. Not
even close. So, it's an in -between of a traditional
ground tent and a rooftop tent. Actually, the
original rooftop tents were swags that people
were putting on top of their cars on the roof
racks. Yeah. So, yeah, it's pretty cool, man.
I'm looking at a 23 -0 Outbreak 15 -50, which
is funny because it's 90 inches long, 61 inches
wide and 40 inches high, which is bigger in two
dimensions than the Lightfighter tat and only
an inch shorter than the Lightfighter is tall.
And it's like, it's almost the same as the tent
that Gavin the rooftop tent that Gavin's looking
at. Yeah. Like it's a big thing, a lot bigger
than what I was you'd expect from a swag because
most swags, they're, you know, not much bigger
than a bivy cover with poles in it. Mm hmm. But
it's we'll get pictures of it when I actually
get the thing, but it's a pretty sick tent and
it's very, very overbuilt. Mm hmm. Yeah, very
overbuilt That's pretty nice Looking at it right
now. I'm pretty excited about it I've I've got
it in my cart right now with a new set of sheets
and some wool blankets and pillows for it and
The total cost is like 650. Mm -hmm. That is
the most I've ever spent on camping gear I mean
considering what you got was free with the white
fighter originally sells I Mean, yeah, my life
fighter one. That was all issued by the army,
but About say I think the most expensive so far
is a 110 and then your giant caught Yeah Yeah,
my other my car my car alone was like 120 mm
-hmm and I'd say for camping gear It's nice,
but it's not something that I would run all the
time But we use it here at the house all the
time. Yeah Like it's such a nice pop -up bed
to just have around. Mm -hmm. I Don't think I
could see the swag does isn't dual -purpose like
that like it's quite specifically just for camping.
Mm -hmm Yeah, I spent a lot of money on my setup
That was probably before I realized I was going
to be doing the overlanding thing more full time
rather than because I was mixing it with backpacking.
I wanted it to work both ways. So a lot of my
stuff that I use for overlanding is just as good
for backpacking. And actually it was technically
for backpacking. So like I had the Nemo. Dagger
two -person Which is like a four pound tent and
that was that's for backpacking the the big Agnes
Sleep pads the sleeping bags all more for backpacking
Speaking of your sleeping bags. So your sleeping
bags are they zip together, right? Yeah, they
can yep. I Might need you to send me a link to
those because I'm thinking about Like the, I
bought some wool, or I'm buying some wool blankets
to go in the swag, but wool blankets are only
really good in the summer. I'd kinda like some
sleeping bags to put in there too. Right. And
I don't see, I don't see the swag as the only
tent I use, because I only really need it when
my wife's with me. Yep. So I don't want to put,
like, my army sleep system and stuff in there,
because I still think the light fighter being
smaller is gonna be a lot warmer in the wintertime
than what the swag will be. Right. Um, and I
mean, they're both for season 10, so it really...
At that point, I guess it's just whatever I want
to take. Do I want the big bulk of the swag,
or do I just want the tiny little pack -out that
the light fighter has? Yeah. Makes sense. Yeah,
I think I have the Echo Park So I want to say
it's either Echo Park 20 or 35 and It's it's
done me pretty well. I've uh, yeah We've used
it in all temps and at the end of the day, I
think It keeps it keeps me more than warm Yeah,
it's the Echo Park 20 I believe But it keeps
me more than warm. Sienna's cold no matter what
everywhere. And she's fine in it, too. Yeah,
I mean the complaint is her face, really. And
so she likes having a little... The Echo Park
is not really a mummy bag. It's more like a kind
of a semi -rectangular. And they're extra wide
bags. Because one, I'm a wide dude and I want...
to be able to move around a little bit. I side
sleep, I toss and turn. And she, at the time,
was breastfeeding and stuff. So she had the baby
in there in the bag with her. So we wanted to
be able to have that extra room. And then, of
course, yeah, we can use them as quilts if we
wanted to, or we can just zip them together.
But they have a little pocket to throw your pillow,
which I never use. They're, they're nice. Um,
I think. Yeah. I'm trying to decide if I want
to do sleeping bags or if I just do the wool
blankets and then get like a down comforter to
put in there or a down quilt. Um, cause like
I said, it's not like I'm going to be using this
thing come winter time. And if I do, I'll put
a diesel eater into it. Yeah. I'm trying to think
of my, I guess if I had any complaints for it,
um, Can't really think of any I would like a
little bit more clearance around the zippers.
Maybe Because of the synthetic material I mean
everybody knows like was it sleeping bags you
have to kind of be careful when doing that I'm
I haven't had a zipping line up Yeah, I haven't
really had issues as bad as some of the cheaper
sleeping bags I've had with the material getting
like stuck in the zipper or anything. This has
got a pretty pretty clear way to to fix that,
but it's always just a pain of mine. But I don't
ever sleep with my sleeping bag zipped completely
up because I get too hot. So. I'm just I only
sleep with my zipping bag all the way up when
we're sleeping in well under 20 or 32 degree
weather. Yeah, that's probably like when we did
when we did that one. night mark the first night
like 15 yeah there's we were camping one night
and it was winds of like 50 and it got down to
15 degrees yeah that was full zip mind you not
in a not in a three season tent or anything or
a four season tent like just the standard three
season parts of our tent no four season installed
i didn't even have a sleeping pad under my cot
like worst situation possible yeah that was a
full zip night And you also had your, uh, bug
net open too, which actually did make a little
bit of a difference actually. Oh, it does. Yeah.
Not by a lot, but. It makes it a lot cooler.
We, when we had all our, uh, like when we had
all of our tie lines put out so that air could
come in, a big difference from having our, all
our, uh, lines out than having it closed up against
the tent. Yeah. Oh yeah. So I mean, That's the
only time I've really slept with it zipped all
the way up usually I unzip the bottom so I can
stick a leg out Yeah, me too. I need to have
that half cool half warm I think I just usually
zip it up to my chest, but it gets super warm
I probably leave it wide open, but last couple
times we've done. I've had only zipped up to
my chest I Also like sleeping shorts or something
because I don't I will say I get dressed It's
way better now that Mark has shown me how to
use the sleep system I've been using for over
10 years Because I would wake up with the inner
bag facing down the outer bag facing up and me
facing up so I'd have to like do like three somersaults
to figure out how to unzip this thing and I think
if I actually had it put together in mail, I
probably would have slept outside with no issues
like I Didn't yeah But Anyways, that is a little
bit longer than 30 minutes. We haven't really...
We skipped an hour last week, so I feel like
there's a lot we need to cover, but not a whole
lot has happened, so... No. Not really. Oh, well.
But we'll call that a wrap on the wrap, and then
move on and get the hour -long episode done,
which is an orthology episode? Yep. Yes. Yeah,
so listeners, be ready for Tuesday when you get
a Northology episode. And we'll talk to you later.
Later. Later.