Your Overlanding Experience Is Only as Good as Your Equipment
There is nothing else in the world that compares to overlanding. Whether you go out for a few days or weeks or spend years on your journey, you live to explore the great outdoors in a way that is just not possible with an RV or a public campground reservation. But for the best possible experience, you need the best possible equipment.
Your overlanding experience will only be as good as the equipment you take with you. Attempt to do things on the cheap, and you will quickly discover that cheap doesn't get you very far. Poor design can be a significant hindrance as well. Take your typical cam strap or ratchet strap. Hard to use, unreliable, with a design not intended to maximize your load securement potential.
Strength and Efficiency Win the Day
You expect to be up against all mother nature has to throw at you. It is part of the overlanding lifestyle. From rugged terrain to unpredictable weather, your equipment needs to hold up as well as you. There are two keys here: strength and efficiency. We sell the very best cam straps (sure, we may be biased), so we'll use them as an example.
A cam strap is a cam-operated webbing strap with a particular buckle that holds the strap firmly when under load. Ideally, the webbing material itself should be strong enough to secure the load without the risk of catastrophic failure. Webbing should be constructed of tough, high-quality materials woven together to maximize total strap strength.
Efficiency can be defined in several ways. The first is how a cam strap is tightened and loosened. The more efficient the process, the easier a cam strap is to use. And when you are talking cam straps for overlanding, ease of use is a big win. Our Rollercam® design can be tightened with a single hand versus a two-hand grip. This ease of use is also critical in the event of injury because you can still secure your gear without the risk of exacerbating the injury.
The more important aspect of efficiency relates to physics. Securing loads and keeping them secure is about controlling energy and maximizing force to prevent a load from shifting. You want a cam strap that transfers energy and force efficiently. The more efficient a cam strap buckle is, the more holding force you can generate by tightening it down.
Duct Tape Isn't the Answer
The serious overlander never embarks on an expedition without the right equipment. They do not trust duct tape as the secret weapon for fixing everything. (Just some things…) They understand that cutting corners is an excellent way to get in trouble in the middle of nowhere. There are no cobbling things together; there is no jerry-rigging with hopes of getting by.
All of this is to say it is well worth investing in the right equipment. (It's well worth investing in spares, too.) You can never have too many cam straps when heading out on that next journey. Plus, tossing one over to another overlander in need is a sure-fire way to make friends on the (off)road.
Do Your Research
If you are new to overlanding, welcome aboard. Be sure you are fully prepared before you leave home for any length of time. Do your research into the types of equipment you will need and how to use that equipment. Specifically, where load securement is concerned, make sure the holding force and finesse are what you're looking for.
Remember that your overlanding experience will only be as good as the equipment you carry with you. Figure out what you need and invest in quality. The higher the quality of your cam straps, the more reliable they will be over a lifetime of overlanding. Go cheap, and there is a good chance you will regret your purchase and have to buy new straps anyway.
