15 minute read
Expedition Training A kind of overland prep you might not have thought of
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
Words and pictures: Noel and Marilu Peries
When you’re preparing for overland expedition travel, choosing the right vehicle is only half the job. Wherever you’re going, if you want your truck to get you there safely you need to know how to use it.
Now, we are defi nitely not 4x4 experts. Back in 2009, I remember buying Maggie, our 1991 Land Rover Defender, and spending a good half a day running through a huge checklist with the previous owners. High on my list was practicing offroading, using the differential lock and operating low-range gears.
At the time, all of this was a blur. And if I am honest, I was not completely confi dent on what to do while driving Maggie off-road.
When I did my fi rst overland journey from London to South Africa in 2010, I learnt how to drive Maggie off-road by experimenting. I came to understand how to deal with recovery situations the hard way – by making mistakes and learning from them.
These days, many thousands of miles later, we know much more than we did then. If I could do it all over again, however, I would certainly have enrolled in a 4x4 training course that would have given me the skills to make it there and back safely.
Contrary to popular belief, these training courses don’t take a onesize-fi ts-all approach. There are of course certain basic skills that apply to every off-road situation – reading the ground, knowing how to judge the correct gear to be in, reading the ground, when to use diff lock, reading the ground… you get the idea. But a good instructor will be able to adapt the training they offer to suit the kind of off-roading you intend to do – the best classroom experiences are very much a twoway street.
Here, we’ve considered the value of off-road training for overlander – as well as looking at some of
the specifi c situations which, in our experience, you need to think about before setting out on a life of expedition travel.
Why do a 4x4 training course?
There are many 4x4 skills needed when overlanding in a continent like Africa, where road conditions can be really diffi cult. Some skills, like recovery, might only be needed a handful of times – or not at all, if you’re lucky!
But you need to have them. And learning them in the safe environment of a 4x4 training centre is much, much better than having to fi gure it out for yourself when things go wrong at the sharp end. By ‘much, much better,’ we’re talking about the difference between life and death.
You have to be confi dent in your ability to avoid getting into a recovery situation, or to rescue yourself (or someone else) safely, with minimal risk of injury or damage to the vehicle. For this, the right level of training is important.
Following that original expedition from London to South Africa, we set out on another overland trip through southern and eastern Africa. This time, we invested in some proper training. For R1200 (about £65) per person, we took a day-long basic 4x4 training course with a specialist in Port Elizabeth; of course, you’ll be looking for a provider in the UK, and there are many very good ones to choose from.
How to choose a 4x4 training course?
There are many 4x4 training courses to choose from, aimed at different skill levels from basic to advanced. Many off-road clubs also offer informal training to new members.
In some countries, including the UK, industry bodies and/or government agencies exist which certify the standard of training you can expect to receive. In Britain, LANTRA provides ISO-accredited land-based training and BORDA is the standard-setting industry body for off-road training providers.
Our view is that it is defi nitely advisable to fi nd an operator with solid reviews and recommendations. Online reviews need to be treated as fi ction, of course, but word of mouth is very valuable indeed. However, fi nding the best course will depend on what you want to get out of the experience.
For us, an important aspect was whether the instructor could teach us how to use our Defender, not just any 4x4. What we liked about our course was that our instructor knew and understood Land Rovers, and focused on giving us practical skills to use in our own vehicle.
What do you learn during basic 4x4 training?
If your training course is like ours, you will be taken back to school and given a few introductory pointers through a screen. The theory always comes before the practical element – and you’d be surprised how many people don’t understand the basics of 4x4 operation.
Some of the topics our classroom session covered included: • Vehicle selection – knowing the mechanics of your own 4x4 • Equipment selection – the important kit you need to take with you on an off-road journey
This picture has an important story to tell. As you can see, the tyre’s tread is full of mud, so it’s as much use as a racing slick. So your instinct is probably to say that the truck needs a more aggressive fitment on it. This might not be what you want on an expedition vehicle, however. But what if the tyre had 50% less air in it? That would allow it to spread out over the terrain in search of traction, as well as putting down a lower ground pressure and relaxing the tread, givingt it more of a chance to self-clean. You don’t want to take it so far that you risk letting the tyres fall off their rims, but this is why a pressure gauge and air compressor are among the most powerful weapons in any off-roader’s armoury
• Driving techniques for different kinds of terrain • Tyre health • Recovery
After a couple of hours of classroom instruction, we were ready to do something practical and get our hands dirty. And boy oh boy, did we get dirty!
We learnt a wide variety of lessons regarding the way we should be operating our Land Rover. Here, we’re going to focus on just three of them.
Lesson 1: The high-lift jack
At our request, the first thing our instructor taught us was how to safely use our high-lift jack to change a tyre.
Until this moment, our high-lift was little more than a decoration on our Land Rover, to improve our rugged image. We were too worried
Not getting stuck is of course a big part of driving off-road, but it does happen. And when you’re in the wilds of Africa and your vehicle is your life support system, you’d better be able to get unstuck again. This means operating dangerous equipment and dealing with heavy loads under tension, so you need to know exactly what you’re doing. Learn the techniques before you’ll ever need them in anger, know what you need to carry and when the time comes, stay calm and don’t rush it
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that without knowing how to use it properly, we might cause ourselves more harm than good. And quite right we were too, considering the sort of forces you’re dealing with when you operate one.
After a good dose of WD40, our high-lift was working like magic and we learnt the proper way to use it. Here’s a summary of what we learnt:
First up, practice using the highlift before facing a real-life recovery situation. This is a dangerous tool that can cause injury!
Next, make sure the jack is well oiled and free from rust. If it’s not, use WD40 for lubrication.
As with any other jack, only use a high-lift with the correct jacking points. These should be welded firmly upon the vehicle’s chassis.
When jacking the high-lift up or down, avoid placing any part of your body between the arm and the shaft. If the arm snaps back while jacking, it could cause injury.
Lesson 2: How and when to deflate your tyres
Our first team exercise was learning how to lower tyre pressure to 50%.
Why were we taught this? The lower the pressure in the tyres, the more the surface of the tyre makes contact with the ground – and the more the traction. This was taught to us as a technique for driving on sandy tracks, but British 4x4 drivers will most likely know it as a way of gaining valuable traction in mud. There’s a reason why rock crawling fans air their tyres down as low as possible, too, and many people would be stunned to discover how much easier it is to get off their driveways in snow if only they too understood that less ground pressure equals more traction,
It makes a lot of sense when it’s explained to you – and even more sense when you actually experience the difference between driving a sandy track with your tyres at roadgoing pressure and then again with half the air let out of them.
Obviously, you ought to know the correct tyre pressures for your vehicle, both laden and unladen, when travelling on the road. The best pressure for off-road use is more a case of trial and error, and will vary depending on the terrain, but don’t go too low – your tyres need a certain amount of pressure in them or they’ll fall off the wheel at the first sign of trouble. As suggested above something like half your on-road pressure should be seen as the lower limit.
To help you here, you need to carry a tyre pressure gauge in your vehicle. You’ll also need an air compressor with a tyre fitting – because before you go back on the road, what goes down must go up! For one-off emergencies, it may be okay to drive to a fuel station to reinflate your tyres, but don’t expect the police to think much of it if they find you rolling on overly soft rubber.
Lesson #3: Safe recovery
Our final exercise of the day was to drive through a riverbed. Not the sort when you go splashing along then drive back out, though – the sort where you get seriously stuck. Which we did!
Rule one is to remain calm. A rushed recovery is a disaster waiting to happen. Think it through before you start.
Before you even start going offroad, though, another critical rule is to carry the correct equipment. And a sobering lesson for us was that despite already having driven from London to South Africa, we weren’t.
We’ve already mentioned that we didn’t really know how to use our high-lift. Well, we also didn’t know that we should have been carrying a kinetic rope and bow shackles – items which are used for recovery rather than towing.
Another rule: designate one person as the leader. If you’ve ever been sat behind the wheel of a stuck vehicle, or even just been trying to negotiate a tricky bit of ground, while half a dozen people all shout at you, you’ll know the reason behind this. One person takes charge and everybody else does what they’re told – in the heat of the moment, clarity is crucial.
Obviously, there’s a whole set of rules regarding both winching and towing recoveries which need to be followed for safety – this is the case in every off-road scenario, not just on an expedition. One worthwhile tip that we took away from our training course, though: when you’re being recovered by another vehicle, have the stuck vehicle in gear and ready for you to lift the clutch and add momentum as soon as you start to move. Apparently, a lot of people don’t think to do this until the tow rope has already gone tight.
Being taught how to use your 4x4 to the best of its abilities might sound like a laborious and needless task for some. But you can never overestimate the need for thorough preparation when you’re planning on exploring the wilderness with nothing else besides your truck to keep you alive. This is one of those classic cases in which the more you know, the more you realise you don’t know – a seasoned off-roader will probably have read this article understanding exactly what we’re on about, whereas rank novices (like we were when we first set off all those years ago) are more likely to dismiss this whole subject as a bit of a bore.
And it might be. But not as boring as lying on the ground in the middle of Africa next to the winch line or high-lift jack that’s just left you bleeding and unable to get up because you didn’t bother learning to use it properly, while your vehicle sits there as stuck as ever and you can hear a pack of wild dogs approaching. Common wisdom when preparing for overland travel is to invest in the best vehicle you can afford – and it’s exactly the same thing with learning how to drive it.
Noel and Marilu are seasoned overland travellers with an insatiable love for the African continent – and, having taken a 4x4 training course, a new-found sense of confidence! You can follow their adventures at www.maggieinafrica.com
