2012-05-24 - Overland Expo 2012 Overview

[NotAMog]

All,

We had a last minute conflict with presenters which opened up a timely slot to conduct a review of the 2012 Overland Expo held last weekend at Mormon Lake, AZ. We will be providing an overview of the event, and describe many of the new products on display from cooking implements, tents, vehicles, trailers, and campers.

There will be many pictures posted from the event so this will be a net where it will be very beneficial to follow along on your computer as we cover each of the items presented.

[Crismateski]

Wish I had known you were there, I was there thursday afternoon to sunday evening.

[NotAMog]

Cooking Gear


Auspit
http://www.auspitbbq.com/



Grub Hub
http://www.grubhubusa.com/


The Grub Hub closed looks like a large wheeled roll on bag. This is a new product. The prototypes were being shown at the show.



Opened it has slide out legs for stabilization, multiple work surfaces, sink, paper towel dispenser, hanging locations for supplies, utensils, and a lantern.

Exploro
http://www.exploro.co/ (New company, website not up yet)


Exploro had a cool true espresso press on diaplay with along with a nice hand crank coffee grinder among other cooking equipment.

My Camp Kitchen
http://mycampkitchen.com/


My Camp Kitchen had several different models of their traditional plywood chuck box kitchens. These are available both assembled or as kits.

Campfire Grill
http://www.campfiregrill.com


Campfire Grill showed a line of reasonably priced campfire cooking devices. They also had a charcoal tray for cooking when not using a campfire.

Cobb Cooker
http://www.cobbq.com/

Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of this one. It is similar in concept to the Cadac Safari Chef mentioned last year except that it is designed to use 8 charcoal briquets for fuel. Its very carefully designed for safety so the sides and bottom do not get hot. It also has an interesting development history -

"The design of the Cobb Portable Grill originated with safety in mind. An innovation straight out of Africa, the Cobb was initially designed as a cooking system for people in rural areas without access to electricity so they could cook in a safer environment, with less danger of out of control fires. The first proto type of the grill was a ceramic sphere-shaped device that cooked well, but was heavy and cumbersome. The initial fuel source for the Cobb was dry corn cobs, abundant in rural Africa, hence the grill’s name. The unit has been refined over and over, and the result is a small, eco-friendly, portable and incredibly efficient barbecue. Compressed charcoal briquettes – a universal commodity, have replaced the corn cobs."

Other Gear

TrekPak
http://trekpak.com/



The young lady above is the inventor of the TrekPak divider system. This was the first public showing of this product. It was developed under as a Kickstarter program (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/trekpak/trekpak). Kickstarter is an interesting concept where ideas for products are presented on the Internet and donations are requested to to back the product development. If the product meets it's funding goals it is brought to market. You can find out more about Kickstarter at http://www.kickstarter.com



The system works by using "U" shaped pins to hold together dividers with holes for the pins. It has the advantage over "pick and pluck" foam in that it is infinitely reconfigurable, and unlike Velcro, it doesn't shift or wear out.

Kanz
http://kanzoutdoors.com/index.html



Kanz has a line of chuck box type field kitchens that are the same form factor as an Engle 45 refrigerator. This year they were introducing their field power desk. It's equipped with GoalZero solar panels and power pack. They are quite pricey but extremely well built. If you're a writer or have to run you business while on the road this may be a worthwhile product.

GoalZero
http://www.goalzero.com/



GoalZero was present again this year with their solar powered showcase trailer. They were providing a solar powered satellite Internet link for the vendors so they could run the credit card systems and connect back to their offices. Like last year, there were offering some great show specials on their equipment.

Adventure Power
http://www.adventure-power.com/ (New company, website not up yet)



They are located in Apple Valley and offered a variety of solar panels, charge controllers, power packs, and LED lights.

Tents

Roof Top Tents

CVT
http://www.cascadiatents.com/



This is an American company based in Bend, Oregon offering a line of roof top tents.

Autohome
http://www.autohomeus.com/rooftop/



Autohome was showing their complete line of Italian made roof top tents from Maggiolina. Maggiolina was started in 1958 so they have been offering roof top tents longer than most any other manufacturer.

3 Dog Camping
http://3dogcampingusa.com/

Ooopppsssss..... Lost another one.

This is an Australian company with a line of small tent trailers and roof top tents which are now available in the U.S.

Tepui
http://www.tepuitents.com/



This is a new company located in Santa Cruz, CA. They offer a line of roof top tents.

Oztent
http://www.oztent.us




The U.S. distributor for Oztent was there again this year. They were offering some good specials on the inventory they brought to sell at the show.

Campers and Trailers

Australian Campers and Trailers

EarthCruiser
http://www.earthcruiser.com.au/



EarthCruiser was show their Fuso based off road motorhome. Along with some of the other Australian manufacturers they announced that they have arranged an agreement with a U.S. company to start producing their campers here for the American market.

Kimberly Kampers
http://www.kimberleykampers.com/





The Australian built Kimberly Kampers where present at the show. They have some really interesting designs with multiple telescoping slide outs. They also said that their campers will be produced in the U.S. for the North American market. The agreements for foreign off road campers to be built in the U.S. is a sign of the growing North American overlanding market.

3 Dog Camping
http://www.3dogcampingusa.com

I seem to have lost the picture of their trailer. It is a folding roof design where the roof folds all the over to become the floor.

Track Trailer


South African Campers and Trailers

Jurgens





These trailers had some very unique designs with multiple telescoping kitchen and bunk slide outs.



They also had very narrow pod like trailer from which folded out a sizable tent.

Domestic Campers

Pop Top Pickup Campers

Pop top pickup campers were really big this year. There was at least 5 manufacturers showing their units.

Haulmark
http://www.hallmarkrv.com/



Northstar
http://northstarcampers.com/



Adventure Trailers
http://www.adventuretrailers.com/



Somehow I managed to miss taking a picture of their display so here is a picture of my AT FlipPac camper with an Earth Roamer behind it.

XPCamper
http://www.xpcamper.com/



The XPCamper is a telescoping camper like the Alaskan Camper but it made from modern composite materials. The development of these campers was followed by a number of magazines and now they are in production with multiple models.

Chassis Campers

Tiger
http://www.tigervehicles.com/



Tiger is best remembered for their motor home conversions on the Chevy Astro and Pontiac Safari minivans. They are still around and producing much larger units on full size truck chassis.

EarthRoamer
http://www.earthroamer.com/

Missing pictures but you can check their web site. There were quite a few in the camping areas.

Other Domestic Trailers

Nest Egg
http://www.nesteggtrailers.com/

At the other end of the spectrum from the large truck chassis motorhomes was this little Nestegg teardrop being pulled by a Prius.



Other Vehicles at OX12

Jeep



This looks like a stock Willis Jeep Station Wagon.



A closer look reveals something unusual.



A look under the hood shows that it certainly isn't the original engine. This truck was put together by Chrysler engineers as an exercise. The body looks dead stock inside and out but it's sitting on a Jeep LJ chassis.



Jeep also had a 4 door pickup concept on display.

Local Motors



There were a couple of Local Motors Rally Fighters on display. This one is the daily driver of the owners.



And yes, they do have children as seen by the child seats in the back. I asked the wife if they would adopt me since who wouldn't want parents with a Rally Fighter as an every day car

Motorcycles



RawHyde was holding an adventure motorcycle rally in conjunction with the Overland Expo. They had their own area off to one side. Most of the motorcycles there were BMW GS models. Many motorcycle specific vendors where represented.



As a sample of what was there, here is a highly prepared adventure bike and side car.

Bicycles

There was no specific bicycle representation but still there were some interesting bicycles being ridden around the event.

Surly
http://surlybikes.com/bikes/moonlander



This is a Surly Moonlander. It uses 4.7" tires and is designed for use on snow. It also worked great on the pumice gravel roads around the venue.

Ice Trikes
http://www.icetrikes.co/explore-our-trikes/adventure

I didn't catch a picture of this trike at the event but it looked like a slick design with full suspension.

Event Tours

Mayan End of the World Rally



They had a booth to attract the interest of potential participants.



They hosted a well attended mixer Saturday evening.

Interesting People

There were many interesting people who have traveled the world in attendance. Here are just a couple of examples.



Pablo and his vehicle, La Cucaracha Libre, have been traveling the world for the last 10 years.
http://vimeo.com/22414919



Gary and Monica Wescott of the famous Turtle Expeditions where there with their latest Turtle vehicle. They have been exploring the world since 1972.

Solar Eclipse

A couple of us did some astronomy outreach during the annular solar eclipse Sunday afternoon. The venue was about 10 miles South of being able to see a complete ring around the moon. There were still some fabulous viewing of the event.



A young girl and her parents set up an indirect projection of the sun using one half of a binocular and a screen several feet away. This was the girl's science project which she shared with the crowd.



I set up my solar telescope so people could get a detailed view of the sun.



People soon discovered they could take pretty good pictures with their iPhones by holding the lens up to the telescope eyepiece.



Here is the best picture at near the maximum for our location. The solar telescope allows the solar flares on the edge of the solar disk to be visible. There is also some interesting patterns from light shining through the rugged lunar terrain.

[adventureduo]

Great net Bruce. Im seeing and learning more about new products right now, then i did when i was there "Working". I never got time to see anything

[Crismateski]

Is anybody else having issues with echolink, it is not showing keller in the list

[adventureduo]

YEah echolink isn't working with Keller peak. You have to go to "WORLD" 9251.. and that works. Western Reflector.

[Crismateski]

YEah echolink isn't working with Keller peak. You have to go to "WORLD" 9251.. and that works. Western Reflector.

Thanks, I missed most of the net, but at least i am getting part of it