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Hey @Carnity and everyone that stumbles along this post. I’ve been thinking about posting this as a general discussion or an advice page for good amount of time. My goal for this page is to get every off-roader together to share how they store their off-road gear during a drive (potentially even sharing pictures) what I’m hoping this should do is show our fellow members with a little less experience how we store are gear in the back of our cars safely for drives above Newbie (because no one wants a flying compressor or shovel in their face during an intense drive) of course this page is really meant to highlight Safety. As every car is different I encourage people with different cars to show how they store their gear as for jeeps (like mine) it’s relatively straight forward I’ll start off with my current setup So I use the advantage of the jeeps mount points on the surface of the flooring of the boot. We have 3 points per side totally 6. Personally after some time driving in the desert I notice two straps in a crisscross pattern holds down the gear the tightest while my shovel is held by a separate strap on the rear of the sports bar or (roll cage) this is a new setup to me so I’ll keep my fellow jeepers updated if I happen to change my setup or require two straps for the shovel (remember for the shovel location keep it tight but not too tight! We don’t want to damage the plastic exterior of the sports bar) Thanks everyone who happens to share

Call 800-ZED-TOW if you need some V8 towing again 😂

We will politely wait for our turn like good boys till Saturday only. 😂

I'm just here for the after-Eid cookies 😁 Btw, why are you @GauravSoni and @Srikumar in Waiting List? You guys can just skip the line and go to the VIP Manage line 😆

I use this locking plastic box from amazon (105cm) to keep all offroad gear + 20L of water in, with a stretch web holding it to floor. when off roading i take out the shovel and put the blade and handle through the webbing to hold it in place, secure, but quick and easy to get to.

What a lineup of drivers for this drive!! When the commander calls.. heavy weights answer!!!

@Varun Mehndiratta @Bashar Beasha I need my record of second lead letter with start and end date, to apply for pension and insurance benefits 😂🤣

Heavy weight lineup actually scared me, I am doing extra home work in Google now "zoom zoom"

Sorry to overpost here, but it's an exciting topic. Just sharing my setup as well as Benjamin requested in the initial post. I use an old full-size suitcase and 2 tie down ratchet straps. I found the suitcase big enough to fit all my gear, and the soft material of the fabric suitcase allows for tight tightening down without having to worry about cracking plastic suitcases or boxes. Also, if I am going for car wash and they need to vaccum the sand out, I can just take out the suitcase without having to unload a whole range of individual gear items one by one. Similarly, if I need the cargo space (maybe buying something at IKEA I can just take out the suitcase and wheel it to my apartment - easy and no hassle. All the gear comes out in one pop. During the drives I keep the kinetic rope with shackles attached and the shovel strapped to the top of the suitcase, so I can access these commonly-used items without having to unstrap everything and open the suitcase. I found the suitcase to be super convenient.

Dear Friends Hello and welcome . Please Note that the meeting point has been updated to https://goo.gl/maps/q72CgkDmrBeT2Ymr8 ( its shefted further south of 1.5 km from the previous point ) Attendees Bashar Beasha @Bashar Beasha Paolo Pellegrini @Paolo Pellegrini Felix Obst @Felix Obst Bjoern @Bjoern Ahmad Nerat @Ahmad Nerat Gary F @Gary F premindra rajaram @premindra rajaram Jona @Jona Senthil Kumar @Senthil Kumar Mark B @Mark B Waitlisted Attendees Zulfikhar Naiyar @Zulfikhar Naiyar

Interesting — in Jeep I don’t have this issue at all. 1. My rope, shackles, bungee cords, jump cable, wd40, duct tape etc fit in under mat compartment in the boot. 2. Shovel using d grip on sides of rolling cage 3. Compressor now I have on board one earlier it used to fit under the seat or between the seats (passenger side) during drive. 4. First aid kid now I have a utility bag from TE that has spanners, first aid kid etc goes under the seat. Earlier was using a behind the seat Molle bag set with all these things - on the rear passenger seats. 5. Jack and board tied to the floor in the boot using bungee cord. So car is usually neat and well organized

We will be just a bit further up north in Al Hayer and might hear your engines screaming

It might also be worth considering installing a cargo barrier in the car as a second safety measure besides tying down, to 'plan for the unknown'. I found that cargo barriers come in different quality levels, sometimes more marketed as a 'pet barriers' that likely won't stop a 15 kg jack flying through. Great discussion Benjamin 👍

I drive in the desert for the Dopamine rush - but this one is for Adrenaline. Charging my Insta360 for some cool vids after many months for this one. #instaboi

I just imagine where we will go when @Ale Vallecchi will have an astronaut with him in the car.

Get couple of these - come in very handy for lots of stuff. https://www.amazon.ae/YOCTM-Under-Seat-Organizer-Wrangler/dp/B07T9D5LLF/ref=sr_1_5?crid=2MICTA1S82K8J&keywords=JLU+under+the+seat+storage&qid=1683115966&sprefix=jlu+under+the+seat+stora%2Caps%2C398&sr=8-5

@Varun Mehndiratta Nice! I haven't tried this yet myself. Personally, I carry a spare Lug wrench with different sizes+ spare compressor hoses in that compartment. So true. I just got my jack and the sheer weight of it surprised me. But nevertheless going for my first int drive this weekend

Very good point, the higher on the Carnity ladder the heavier your 4x4 comes, and as a result the less higher you will climb

Hi @Hisham Masaad Not sure if I can recommend it here, but since it's a large brand and not a small shop or garage I will just mention it. Zeiss offers prescription lenses that are extra dark (I think 95% dar). I saw them at the Dubai Hills mall shop. The lead time is 1-2 weeks as they FedEx the extra dark lenses from Germany. I ended up not really needing them but it might be worth checking out if you need Cat 4 prescription.

Hi Benjamin, just sharing below the photo of the contents of the suitcase. Kinetic rope, soft shackles and shovel are typically kept outside the suitcase All that equipment does fit inside the large suitcase for whoever wants to implement that setup. That also includes full tools and backpack with full change of clothes, jacket and toiletries. I do have to note however that I keep my water (8x 1.5L bottles) tightly squeezed under both front seats. And if I wanted to put the trolley jack (my last one started leaking so I threw it out) into the suitcase, I would need to remove one or 2 items to make it fit. First aid kit and some other small items are stored elsewhere. It's amazing what can fit into a large suitcase and I find it very convenient.

@Patrick it’s alright! This forum is for anyone looking “how to” or new ideas on strapping down gear. first time seeing a suitcase which is actually a pretty good idea! I for one use a tool-bag to hold any non commonly used items like tape, zip ties, basic tools, multi tools, shackles, and rope. really interested to see how your setup will change when more gear is needed as you climb the carnity ladder thanks for sharing!

Totally agree with you @Patrick the idea of tying down gear is to reduce or completely eliminate the movement of jacks or compressors in the case of a roll-over, no matter what drive level there is a risk of this happening but if drivers follow support crew and marshal instructions and most importantly listen to briefing the risks of a rollover severely decreases. But always plan for the unknown! Thats my idea of what this discussion is for 'planning for the unknown'

I think one important point to add that tying down is not just to keep items shifting around during a drive. Most importantly the purpose of tying down is to prevent items flying around the cabin in case of a rollover. Especially in the case of a multiple rollover, lose items will quickly move around the cabin like in a blender and can dangerously hit the driver on the head and case serious injury. I have heard stories at other clubs where people were injured during a rollover not because of the rollover itself but because of loose items. You don't want a jack or compressor flying around in that case. Maybe this isn't relevant at our safe drives and levels, but it becomes a potential issue when tackling higher dune scenarios. Hence for example bungee cords or simple cargo nets that aren't the strap ones won't likely be enough.

Always love to show off the back board, one of the first things I made for Gladis there is storage attached to the back too 😊😊😊

Wow @Varun Mehndiratta a whole new world , in all my searching I never came across these before .. look extremely useful. bet you could go overboard mounting these everywhere 😂

Love this topic , still trying to find the optimal tie down setup for the Jeep Gladiator, now that I have moved up levels I find sometimes items become loose. @Patrick the suitcase is elegance in its simplicity, @Benjamin we have a few taking up space at home. @Varun Mehndiratta D Grip ? Not familiar with this.

Hi everyone, Since starting my off-roading journey I have noticed that both of my "standard" sunglasses that I had, whether polarised or not, were way to bright for off-roading. With the sunglasses on, I often found myself pinching my eyes a bit, causing slight fatigue when driving on a bright sunny day. After doing some research, I found that sunglasses are categorised by lens darkness. Have a look at the attached chart. Your run-of-the mill sunglasses you can buy at the shopping mall typically have a Cat 3 lens which refers to the darkness. You can check your glasses' Cat number by looking at the inside of your temples/frame. What Cat are you using? Now, the much less common Cat 4 lenses are generally not widely sold and are used more for applications such as winter sports in bright snow. After a lengthy journey looking around in Dubai and calling some optical stores, I found that Decathlon sells several models of Cat 4 sunglasses. There are options on the Amazon US store too. The darker Cat 4 sunglasses have been a game changer for me, allowing me to drive in absolute comfort on a bright day. Only having to switch to my Cat 3 sunglasses close to sunset. Just thought I would share that, for those that thought sunglasses = sunglasses when in fact different darkness levels do exist!

Many thanks for the above @Patrick. I heard once about the Cat4 in one of the offroad groups, and wanted to make more research, but so far no time. Now you have made the effort, thank you again. My issue, is to look for suitable one to use, keeping the power lenses which I can not get rid of. There is no point solving the sun issue, and not able to see the dunes all together 😂. I've seen some military grade ones, large with a space to keep the lenses on.

@Patrick Wow I’m actually surprised just how much you managed to fit in a large suitcase! Might be a good idea to do something similar myself maybe leading up to another camping trip!

In Qatar I remember seeing a few Landcruisers with this setup but they also had oversized sand tires. I expect its a very expensive build. Presume the hose that comes with the Jeep is only on Rubi models ? Mario think you for the detailed build list, gonna start looking at sourcing locally.

Went to Iceland a few weeks back and these bad boys had air build in, you can see the hose going into the wheels! That would be sick but not sure how practical as a daily driver lol

Just a thought, believe this standard 2 hose arrangement that comes with FJ and Jeep should be possible to upgrade to 4 hose one easily. There is one brass Chuck which is used for deflation - connecting another 2 hose arrangement with that should do the trick (?) Something I believe might be worth the try. After using two hose arrangement - am more and more inclined to go for 4 hose arrangement. Yes will take good amount of time to fill up - but then no need to stand next to car - can chit chat during winters and can be inside the car during summer.

Wow @Ale Vallecchi that is super cool … I recall we did a drive sometime back on finding water but with a geologist on the drive, this is super awesome. 👍👍

Wow really interesting .. didn’t know about cat 3/4 element. In general one element I observed is Polarized end up being super challenging on white sand - they make it difficult to differentiate between shades of white - a major issue around Qudra once sun is out. Bought some sports one with multiple color glass options - realized black doesn’t work at all - kills the differentiation. Best I found are blue glasses. I don’t do much sun set time drives, however understand that green glasses work best for that time. Understand yellow and Orange are also good, sharp shooter usually use these - yellow surely didn’t work for me, wasn’t very comfortable. Orange haven’t tried yet.

I personally tried several sunglasses expensive and normal brands , polarised and non polarised. But the ones that i currently use are the ones from Decathlon i dont know the exact model but i have picked then for very high sunlight and polarised, for me it was a game changer . I always felt there are 2 particular timings which are really annoying to drive ( without these sunglases ) . Just at the sun rise due to the sun blasting in my eyes and the second timing is within two hours from sunrise when the light angle reflects on the sand causes a mirage kindof effect which makes it harder to read the sand. Thanks for bringing up this topic

Apart from the above info on cat 3 or 4, which I didn't know before. I always found the polarized lens showing the sand dune formation, ripples, and ridges clearly versus non-polarized. Test of these is super obvious when leading on white sand (faqa, lisali, etc) during peak sun hour. Thanks for this new info, will explore more on my next purchase.

Wow that’s interesting to learn and I never looked into it. Weirdly enough I tried different sunglasses in the past and when leading in difficult terrain (bright white dunes with little shading) i still prefer no sunglasses at all. It takes a while to adjust but eventually trust my eyes better without glasses. I’ll definitely look into the cat3 glasses and see if that helps !

You can get most of the parts you need in speedex in DIP from what I remember they have a pretty good range, only thing you may struggle with is the unction

congrats @premindra rajaram. enjoy the new offroading lvl😇

Tyre problem sorted. New shoes for the girl

Congrats! Well deserved! It is always great driving with you!

Congratulations @Marketa Dobesova, you are a good driver. Well done and enjoy the new level of adrenaline 😁

Gefeliciteerd @premindra rajaram !

Well done @Jaro Tuzinsky !!

Super Jaro 🤩

I have learned a lot of technical skills with my previous Pajero:)) thank you.

Congrats Prem @premindra rajaram..see you soon in the new level!

Congrats Jaro!!! Enjoy the amazing new level, hope to see you there soon!!😁