Safety Gear for Remote Travel

 

So remote travel is a fantastic experience but what do you take to ensure that if you do get into trouble that you have an exit strategy?

Winch

Never used a winch whilst 4WDing.  I do carry a manual hand winch which I have a lot of experience using as I do a lot of tree felling and lantana clearing around my property and the hand winch comes in very handy.  I have a manual winch as the cranking amps of the standard battery is about half what is required to run an electronic winch and whilst I have seen the footprint size of lithium battery with high cranking amps coming down - I would still need to do a number of mods to get the battery to fit.

The other reason is with a manual winch, I can pull from any angle (given a suitable anchor point).  The down side to a manual winch is that they are slow - but if you are stuck out somewhere by yourself, it could be the device that makes the difference between making the news and continuing on your travels.

Max Tracks

I carry these mainly to assist other people but I have used once.  My 4WD failed to engage (though it said it was engaged) in the Conondale Ranges after some considerable rain.  After sliding down a hill I decided to not go any further and attempted to turn around but found my front diff wasn't engaged.  I didn't have the winch on board as I was just sticking to main tracks so I was stuck on the side of a steep hill in sucky red mud with no traction in 2WD solo.  The max tracks allowed me to inch up the hill and eventually gain enough momentum to reverse up the muddy track to safe ground - learning from that day was that I needed to put the max tracks in front of my rear tyres and drive forward onto them and get some momentum going without wheel spin to reverse off the board to move back another foot or so before stopping and repeating.

Straps

I have a number of straps on board - tree protectors, snatch strap, tow strap, etc.  I generally use them with the winch when I am felling trees and clearing out clumps of lantana or helping others out of a fix but haven't got stuck in my travels yet...there is always a first time and they are always in the car just in case.  I have a number of D shackles to go with these straps and I purchased a soft D shackle so might get a chance to use that at some point.

Satellite Comms

I have a Garmin in-reach mini coupled to a Garmin Overlander.  This lets me contact friends and family to let them know where we are and that we are okay.  If things get a bit sticky, it also lets me communicate via text messages and/or email to people who could assist, and if things get a bit too edgy to handle, we have the ability to send an SOS to a rescue group and to give them the details of our situation.

Navigation

The Garmin Overlander has a set of on-road and off-road topographical maps.  Through associated software with Garmin, I am able to plan my trips at my computer, down load waypoints and routes and have a device which I can interact with to know exactly where I am and where I need to be no matter how remote I am.

It is easy to throw my Garmin Overlander in my backpack with my in-reach mini and go out free-hiking.  I have an additional Garmin device which is loaded with topographical maps for free hiking which will allow me to mark waypoints and return to where I took off from.

Food and Water

Apart from the equipment it is important to risk access how remote you are and how much time it might take to have somebody come and assist.  I try to have enough water and food to cover that period with some leeway.