New Gear for 2022

 Most of the gear I have is from my lightweight camping days with the exception of the Pop-up Oztent RV2 which weighs in around 22kgs but is a 30 second setup and high enough that you can sort of stand up in which is great for knees that have been around for a while!

We have added a shower/toilet tent and a shower and a toilet - yep it all fits.  The thunderbox flat packs and will be carried on the roof (the hessian sack in the photo).  The shower is a wonderful invention - after camping and trying to heat water on open fires or in the jetboil - we can now flick the switch and instant (sort of) hot water happens.  This will be great when we are camping near waterholes on the trip and is something we have used regularly in a Renault Van that we have decked out for luxurious camping trips when we don't need a 4WD.

Given I switched the roof basket over for a roof tray, I purchased a waterproof bag for all our bedding and clothes etc.

The weight of gear on the roof would be less than 40kgs.  I only carry empty jerry cans on the roof so have it set up to be a low as profile as possible.

I had a large sea to summit double sleeping mat which I replaced with a light weight 3 season version with a smaller footprint and replaced the two single sleeping bags and light weight doona's with a -15 degrees rated double sleeping bag which has saved weight and footprint size - both of which are packed in the waterproof bag on the rack.

I can carry three full jerry cans inside the back of the car which gives me a total of 100 litres on board for the Simpson Crossing.  Going east to west on the QAA line, I used just over 70 litres for the 525km trip from Birdsville to Mt Dare.  This trip I will be taking the WAA line/Rig Rd which is around 600kms so will use just over 80 litres for the trip.  The fuel useage does not seem to have changed much with the upgrade to the m15a - if anything, I don't have to keep the revs up to the vehicle as much as with the m13a so it will be interesting to see how the fuel useage compares.  My tracking of fuel consumption hasn't noticed much difference to date.