Hi ladies and gents,
I thought I should contribute by sharing the break-in adventure before I start asking a bunch of questions on this forum!
Ok, to be fair, she has already had a few runs on beaches and short back-country jaunts, but this was the first multi-day adventure to unknown lands.
Vehicle: MY24, Quatermaster Trialmaster + Norweld tray.
~5,000km/1.5 months old. Daily drive, but set up for flexibility and 3-7 day escapes.
Pretty stock with a few additional cost effective tweaks including 220L + 150L mounted storage boxes, 45L fridge+slide and a home-made slot in bench. The boxes are mounted via rivnuts into the surface of the tray and bolted down with SS M6 bolts internally for security and quick removal. Set-up to be a ute when needed and flexible for future builds.
The Tray comes with 1200mm roll out draw, side boxes and 40L water tank.
This trip was to test it out and see what else I may 'need' to modify (noting the light bar, awning and roof racks to be fitted yet). My cousin (co-pilot) and I travelled through the NSW Snowies down into the Victorian high country over 3 days and 2 nights. This is a short summary of the adventure.
Start- Crossing the mighty Murry River
The real fun commenced with crossing the Murray River and into Victoria proper. It was already late in the evening so we set up a basic camp after sunset and made a plan to tackle the summits the next day. We aired down, dropped into low range locked and tried to engage wading mode, which failed again. From what I can tell, I am doing it correctly but can never get it to engage, a dealer question I think!
We set up a nice campfire, cooked up some big juicy steaks on a cast iron pan over the flames (with a side spuds and green beans) and relaxed back watching the epic show that back country star gazing provides.
We got up at 5.30am to spectacular conditions, perfect weather and a friendly wallaby in our camp while we enjoyed a coffee. After a light fruit breakfast, we broke camp and headed onto plan A…..
Plan A-
I have never been here, so transit speed was unknown as were the conditions. Unfortunately, all to soon we had to jump to plan B as the NSW side one of the tracks was closed due to "dangerous conditions". Fortunately, I had backup routes planned and mapped out, which although longer, turned out to be more testing and thus enjoyable (albeit the bush pin stripes are bit heavier than planned!). Plan B was better than Plan A would have been!
Plan B-
This started great, pretty tame but good off-road conditions then became boring as we hit areas with logging access... however once we got onto some of the real tracks it got interesting. Wow, amazing places and hitting the summit of some of the mountains was a great warm-up for the new car. The last pinch was steep and rocky, but the summit >1,700m and full uninterrupted 360-degree views were the absolute highlight of the trip- hard to believe you can get a car up there. Perfect stop for bacon and eggs, which of course we did. The photos do not do the climb justice of course and this was low and locked, which really took a lot of muscle to engage, but it did with some persuasion.... a theme for the remainder of the trip.
From here it was narrow, narrow bush trails, and with the width of the Ineos it was like a bush car wash, but not the good kind! If you are precious about looks, not the place to be!
We pushed on and punched out a few more summits then assessed the car, the fuel situation, and the limited departure angle (fresh damage, thankfully a bolt-on piece) and then made the plan to head down the mountain to find some water to camp by, and fish for dinner!
The Descent
The descent was slow, but relatively easy with a few moments that we scraped on departure angles again even when exercising care... something to maybe modify in future, and I will look into. Our plan A for dinner was my take on a Russian trout soup, and I planned not to crack out the backup steaks! We found some water along our adventures and a couple of hours fishing saw us land a nice mix of rainbow and brown trout.
We set up camp and cooked up a fish soup and enjoyed a much needed bath in the river. Afterwards, we foraged a haul of berries for dessert by the campfire whilst we chatted about the adventures had and what we should do to get home on time... as clearly all the extra routes I had planned were not looking viable time-wise for us.
Homeward Bound
Given the slow speed of the trip we knew returning via another back country route I had planned was not going to get us home in time, so we called the adventure over here and made an adjusted tour through the NSW snowies towards home. We spotted the usual herds of brumbies on the way into the back, then civilisation started to hit for our journey north.
The Verdict
Looking forward to more adventures to come.
Thanks all,
Levi
Parting shots below show the box and fridge set up. The Bunker style tent, camp chairs and table/shelf fit perfectly in the slot between the fridge and main box. The large open back area was for my cousins swag and other odds and ends.
I thought I should contribute by sharing the break-in adventure before I start asking a bunch of questions on this forum!
Ok, to be fair, she has already had a few runs on beaches and short back-country jaunts, but this was the first multi-day adventure to unknown lands.
Vehicle: MY24, Quatermaster Trialmaster + Norweld tray.
~5,000km/1.5 months old. Daily drive, but set up for flexibility and 3-7 day escapes.
Pretty stock with a few additional cost effective tweaks including 220L + 150L mounted storage boxes, 45L fridge+slide and a home-made slot in bench. The boxes are mounted via rivnuts into the surface of the tray and bolted down with SS M6 bolts internally for security and quick removal. Set-up to be a ute when needed and flexible for future builds.
The Tray comes with 1200mm roll out draw, side boxes and 40L water tank.
This trip was to test it out and see what else I may 'need' to modify (noting the light bar, awning and roof racks to be fitted yet). My cousin (co-pilot) and I travelled through the NSW Snowies down into the Victorian high country over 3 days and 2 nights. This is a short summary of the adventure.
Start- Crossing the mighty Murry River
The real fun commenced with crossing the Murray River and into Victoria proper. It was already late in the evening so we set up a basic camp after sunset and made a plan to tackle the summits the next day. We aired down, dropped into low range locked and tried to engage wading mode, which failed again. From what I can tell, I am doing it correctly but can never get it to engage, a dealer question I think!
We set up a nice campfire, cooked up some big juicy steaks on a cast iron pan over the flames (with a side spuds and green beans) and relaxed back watching the epic show that back country star gazing provides.
We got up at 5.30am to spectacular conditions, perfect weather and a friendly wallaby in our camp while we enjoyed a coffee. After a light fruit breakfast, we broke camp and headed onto plan A…..
Plan A-
I have never been here, so transit speed was unknown as were the conditions. Unfortunately, all to soon we had to jump to plan B as the NSW side one of the tracks was closed due to "dangerous conditions". Fortunately, I had backup routes planned and mapped out, which although longer, turned out to be more testing and thus enjoyable (albeit the bush pin stripes are bit heavier than planned!). Plan B was better than Plan A would have been!
Plan B-
This started great, pretty tame but good off-road conditions then became boring as we hit areas with logging access... however once we got onto some of the real tracks it got interesting. Wow, amazing places and hitting the summit of some of the mountains was a great warm-up for the new car. The last pinch was steep and rocky, but the summit >1,700m and full uninterrupted 360-degree views were the absolute highlight of the trip- hard to believe you can get a car up there. Perfect stop for bacon and eggs, which of course we did. The photos do not do the climb justice of course and this was low and locked, which really took a lot of muscle to engage, but it did with some persuasion.... a theme for the remainder of the trip.
From here it was narrow, narrow bush trails, and with the width of the Ineos it was like a bush car wash, but not the good kind! If you are precious about looks, not the place to be!
We pushed on and punched out a few more summits then assessed the car, the fuel situation, and the limited departure angle (fresh damage, thankfully a bolt-on piece) and then made the plan to head down the mountain to find some water to camp by, and fish for dinner!
The Descent
The descent was slow, but relatively easy with a few moments that we scraped on departure angles again even when exercising care... something to maybe modify in future, and I will look into. Our plan A for dinner was my take on a Russian trout soup, and I planned not to crack out the backup steaks! We found some water along our adventures and a couple of hours fishing saw us land a nice mix of rainbow and brown trout.
We set up camp and cooked up a fish soup and enjoyed a much needed bath in the river. Afterwards, we foraged a haul of berries for dessert by the campfire whilst we chatted about the adventures had and what we should do to get home on time... as clearly all the extra routes I had planned were not looking viable time-wise for us.
Homeward Bound
Given the slow speed of the trip we knew returning via another back country route I had planned was not going to get us home in time, so we called the adventure over here and made an adjusted tour through the NSW snowies towards home. We spotted the usual herds of brumbies on the way into the back, then civilisation started to hit for our journey north.
The Verdict
- The Ineos performed very well off-road, as expected.
- The engine is just amazing, and the brakes and suspension for a stock car are phenomenal IMO.
- The extra width was noticeable on ruts and of course, the trees encroaching on the track and brushing the car for a good 20km was fun.. but also made me wince more than once!!!! The paint quality is however very good, and I will be getting a PPF for future
- The Norweld tray with 40L tank inbuilt is amazing, and using Rivnuts I was easily able to mount my accessories in a manner I can quickly remove and go back to a full tray ute when needed. I do not want a full time Roof Top Tent, and the way it is packaged up makes our swags and bunkers a neat fit.
- The basic set up was really effective, low coast and offers a good platform to modify as needed.
- The departure angle is a bit of a limitation, not crazy bad, but definitely easier to hook up than I expected, thankfully it is an easy repair. I am going to look at options to improve this, even the small amount could help which I think is possible.
- I need to resolve the wading mode issues as it could cause a problem if the fans engaged, but I have been lucky so far.
- Engaging low locked is very, how do I say, firm!!! Took some real muscle, which I kind of liked... felt old school.
- When/if I need more fuel range I would like to look at slim mounts on the rear door utility belt.... something to ponder.
Looking forward to more adventures to come.
Thanks all,
Levi
Parting shots below show the box and fridge set up. The Bunker style tent, camp chairs and table/shelf fit perfectly in the slot between the fridge and main box. The large open back area was for my cousins swag and other odds and ends.
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