Seven free tools built from interviews with fourteen real overlanders: four guides and three printable sheets. Plus the gear the book talks about, the shows to see builds in person, and the builders behind it all.
Send me all seven ↓ See the gear
The guides pick up where the chapters stop, so their mistakes don't have to be yours. The printable tools go in the glovebox.
Why does a shovel cost seven times more once it says overland on it?
Print the word "overland" on a thing and the price jumps. Sometimes that buys real engineering. Often it buys the word. Here's every category where the hardware-store version does the identical job, the ones worth buying used instead, and the short list where paying up is the only right answer.
9 pagesWhat if the mistake isn't what you bought, but when you bought it?
Almost nobody regrets what they spent. They regret the order they spent it in. Here's the buying order: what comes first, second and third, what can safely wait a year, and what most people buy and never once use.
8 pagesDo you know your rig's real payload number? Not the brochure one.
Your payload number is not the one in the brochure. It's on a sticker inside your door frame, and being wrong about it is a safety problem and a legal one. Find your real numbers, your platform's known weak points, and where to source parts without paying retail.
9 pagesThe rig is nearly ready. So why haven't you gone yet?
Five people, five completely different answers to the same two questions: where do the days come from, and where does the money come from. One took twenty years to get there. One goes on weekends. One works from the truck. Find the one that fits your life.
8 pagesHow much can your rig carry once you're in it?
The sheet for the payload math: your door-frame numbers, what you plan to carry, and a log for every scale ticket.
3 pagesWhat did the last owner skip?
Take it with you when you go look at one. Frame, wiring, fluids, hoses and paperwork.
3 pagesWhere did you write that down?
The main decisions from all 24 chapters, each with a line to write your answer on.
9 pagesTell me where to send them and they land together.
What To Buy First puts these in order and tells you which ones can safely wait a year. Tap any pick and today's price is right there.
Three to five times the price. Same claimed load rating.
In sand, where most people actually use them, the budget pair does the job. When the premium pair is worth the money is in The Overland Tax Swap List.
See it on Amazon →Up to seven times the price. Same dirt.
Heavy 14-gauge steel, 33 inches long, and short enough to stow where a full-length shovel won't.
See it on Amazon →Don't pay to have your guesses organized.
Totes pull in and out of the rig easily. Drawers can wait until you know your layout.
See it on Amazon →One full-timer's whole kitchen: this pan, store flatware and a zip bag.
Cook the meat, set it aside, cook the rice in the same pan, and eat.
See it on Amazon →How many tables are rattling around in your rig?
One builder in the guides went from three to one small one. Count your surfaces. It's usually more than you use.
See it on Amazon →A camp shower from the garden aisle.
Fill it, set it in the sun, and it warms itself. Buy it new and keep it for water only.
See it on Amazon →One builder tore out his water tank. He was filling it from jugs anyway.
Five gallons is about forty pounds full. Decide now who's pouring it in the dark and the rain.
See it on Amazon →Smaller, lighter and cheaper than the tall lever jack. Same lifting job.
It starts at about 8¼ inches, so check that it fits under your axle before you need it.
See it on Amazon →Buy this before you buy a heater.
One couple in the guides sleeps at around thirty degrees with no heat at all, on a twenty-degree bag and a blanket each. ISO rated: comfort 32°F, limit 22°F.
See it on Amazon →The big number on most straps is where they break.
This one also publishes its working load limit, 10,663 lb. It's for towing, not a kinetic snatch.
See it on Amazon →Eating gas-station food by day three?
Cold storage is the one place paying up changes how you eat. A 47.5-quart compressor fridge.
See it on Amazon →Aired down for the trail. Now get home.
Clamp it to the battery, fill the tires, move on. No install. Rated for tires up to 33 inches.
See it on Amazon →Quit crouching at every tire with a gauge.
Preset them once, screw on all four, and they stop at your pressure.
See it on Amazon →A plug gets you home.
Put one in a scrap tire before you have to do it in the dark.
See it on Amazon →Most of your lighting hours happen at camp, not on the trail.
A headlamp each handles cooking and chores, and the red mode keeps your night vision.
See it on Amazon →Want power at camp without drilling a single hole?
Plug the fridge into it, charge it from the wall or a panel, and nothing gets wired in.
See it on Amazon →A clear, cold stream can still carry metals no filter catches.
This one handles the biology, down to 0.1 micron. For the chemistry, read the drainage.
See it on Amazon →The picks above, plus one row for each item a chapter sends you here for. A row that says "Pick coming soon" is one I haven't picked yet.
Also for this chapter, in the picks above: Sleeping bag.
A ground tent the whole crew fits in, with a rainfly.
Closed-cell foam. It goes under an inflatable pad and still insulates if that pad goes flat.
Gets you off cold or wet ground, with a pad built in.
Lets air move under the mattress so damp doesn't build up.
Also for this chapter, in the picks above: Power station.
Check voltage and continuity before you trust a wire.
Counts amp-hours in and out, so you know what's left.
Charges the house battery from the alternator while you drive.
Pure sine output, the kind the chapter says to buy.
One switch that kills the house battery.
Also for this chapter, in the picks above: Storage tote.
Made for one vehicle. See one on a finished rig at an event first.
Built to fit one vehicle. Totes first; drawers once you know your layout.
Bolts to a roof rack, so it needs one.
A packed kit to keep where you can reach it.
Pick straps by working load limit, not the break number.
Also for this chapter, in the picks above: Fridge, skillet, camp table.
A cheap dial that shows the safe zone.
A hard cooler, if you're not ready for a fridge.
Two burners on propane, with a shut-off valve.
Sold as a certified refillable cylinder.
Also for this chapter, in the picks above: Water container, water filter, pump-sprayer shower.
Sold for drinking water, unlike a garden hose.
A diaphragm pump with a pressure switch.
Non-toxic propylene glycol, for drinking-water lines.
A small bottle of camp soap.
Also for this chapter, in the picks above: Headlamp.
A sealed light pod. Mounts are made by vehicle.
A clean-agent (Halotron) unit, the kind the book names.
A power distribution module: one cable through the firewall instead of a bundle.
Built to fit one vehicle. Mount to the frame, never the pinch weld.
Made for one vehicle, and they protect what hangs lowest.
Made for one vehicle. Look at real ones on the trucks at an event before you buy.
For bolts you'll want to take out again.
Also for this chapter: Traction boards, shovel, tow strap, bottle jack. The winch is under Chapter 22.
Size it by the rule in the chapter.
The label gives its working load limit.
The listing gives a working load limit.
Protects the tree when you winch off it.
Put a damper on every tensioned line. A heavy jacket works in a pinch.
Work gloves for handling rope and cable.
GMRS, the service the chapter recommends. A pair.
For a radio wired into the truck.
Needs a paid plan to send messages.
Boosts a weak signal inside the vehicle.
An emergency beacon that calls for rescue by satellite.
Holds the phone where you can see the map, and charges it.
It reverses, so it can pull air in or push it out.
A small fan aimed at a person.
Look for sealed combustion: the exhaust leaves through its own pipe.
A 12-volt alarm made for RVs.
If you carry propane, mount one low down.
Butyl mat for floors, doors and walls.
A flushing portable toilet.
Also for this chapter, in the picks above: Air compressor, tire plug kit.
Medium strength, so it comes apart again.
They top out at 16.75 inches, which can be short for a lifted truck.
Wraps a leaking hose until you reach a shop.
Finds power in a circuit faster than a meter.
Splice and seal a wire in one step.
Tool only; the battery is sold separately.
Also for this chapter: Free Forest Service maps are in the lookups below.
One atlas per state. Pick yours.
For now, the free Forest Service maps are in the lookups below.
Sold as EPA and CARB compliant. The mount is by vehicle.
Also for this chapter: GMRS handheld radios, under Chapter 15.
Also for this chapter, in the picks above: Pump-sprayer shower.
EPA registered, with a holster to keep it in reach.
Also for this chapter: Heater, under Chapter 16. Drawers, under Chapter 8.
Needs a bumper or mount that fits your truck. Size it by the rule in Chapter 13.
Labeled circuits, so a fault can be traced.
Made per fridge and vehicle.
Also for this chapter, in the picks above: Water container.
Folds up and plugs into the power station above.
Lithium iron phosphate, the type Chapter 7 recommends.
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Your maker sends its dealers a list of known problems. You can read it.
Search your VIN for open recalls, or your year, make and model for complaints and service bulletins.
Check recalls →Weigh it once and stop guessing.
Certified public scales at truck stops across the U.S. and Canada. One pass, a small fee, and a real number.
Find a scale →Body panels and brackets don't wear out. Don't buy them new.
Searches salvage-yard inventory by year and model, so you can find the part without driving anywhere.
Find a part →Where you're allowed to drive on national forest land.
Each national forest posts its free Motor Vehicle Use Map. That map is the legal answer.
Find a forest map →Every date is checked against the organizer's own site, so you don't drive six hours to an empty fairground.
Fourteen builders sat down for recorded interviews and gave their time for nothing. Go watch them build.
2018 Toyota Tundra + cargo trailer conversion
2003 Nissan Xterra + self-built trailer
2018 Toyota Sequoia
1996 Toyota Land Cruiser
The book is sold in print and digital.
Interviewed, recorded and credited. Nobody was paid, and nobody paid to be in it.
Used to send the guides and tools, updates to them, gear worth knowing about, and the occasional note from Adam, who produced this thing and is as deep in it as you are. Addresses are never shared with anyone outside the AyerGuides house.
Buy through a link here and the store or partner may pay a small commission. That includes Amazon and other affiliate and partner programs. Your price doesn't change, and a commission never decides what makes the list. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Written from the interviews. No brand pays to appear in any of them.
Spot a wrong spec, a dead link or a credit that needs fixing? Tell me at support@ayerborne.com. It gets fixed here first, then in the next edition.