January 2013

For years I’ve struggled with the best way to carry camera gear and all the associated accessories. Often times everything has ended up in a pile in the bottom of a backpack, sometimes in a standard (small) camera case, but most times not. Our current gear consists of:
•    Nikon DSLR
•    35mm Portrait Lens
•    18-200 Multi-Purpose lense
•    Charger + 2 extra batteries
•    SD card holder
•    Nikon Point & Shoot rugged camera with batteries/charger
•    ContourHD video camera w/batteries, mounts, and charger
•    Camera cleaning kit
•    Multiple camera straps & slings
Getting all this gear organized has been on my ‘to do’ list for a while, but I’ve never been a fan of the standard (and expensive) camera case/backpacks. The Velcro/padding used to separate components is cumbersome at best. It usually slips and never seems to stay in place. I carry such a variety of gear that no bag has ever been worth the money.

When I saw TrekPak announced on Kickstarter last spring, then saw the prototype first hand at Overland Expo last may, I knew this was the system to try out. With such a huge response through Kickstarter & around the outdoor photography world, Georgia and her team had to re-work their manufacturing process before production could begin. Luckily, just before SEMA show they were able to get one of the first full-production units down to Colorado Springs before our journey.

A dead battery as a result of the wrong setting at Overland Expo (twice) reinforced the need for a dual battery system in our TRD. While running LED lights and manually disconnecting items we don’t use every day worked ok, in reality any truck that may perform overland/camping duty will need an auxiliary battery eventually.

After attending Paul May’s overland electronics class at the Expo I was sold on the National Luna system. The fact that you don’t have to match batteries was one of the main selling points, but the easy to use controller and automated nature of the system are huge advantages over other systems. I called Equipt Expedition Outfitters and got a kit on the way.

FINALLY! A commercially available drawer system for the FJ that doesn’t take up the entire rear storage area. If I come across as very excited, it’s for good reason. We all know that storage in the FJC is an issue. Add mandatory gear (recovery, maintenance, etc), add kids, add dogs, and a fridge and very quickly your truck will be popping at the seams.

Since we’ve owned our TRD storage has always been a work in progress. I built the homemade storage box in 2009 (See January 2010 issue) to compliment our MPAC rear door storage and Roll-Top console cover. Later, I upgraded the bags to the quick release, and used the old MPAC bags for storage in the box and around the FJ. The storage box was very inexpensive (about $40) to build and has served fairly well. It was bulky and getting things in & out of it proved very cumbersome most of the time.

Unlike 2011, we actually found a couple of FJ Cruisers on the SEMA floor this year! We once again made the trek to Vegas (this time we made it an epic road trip: 6 states in as many days) to see get the skinny on the latest and greatest in the off-road (and automotive) industry. We certainly were not disappointed.

Toyota event had an FJ in their booth this year, the same prototype supercharged Quicksand model we saw at the FJ Summit. We would’ve loved to see a 2013 TT in the booth, but we’ll take what we can get. Rutledge Wood from Top Gear USA was in the Toyota booth for their press conference, covering the Toyota Dream Build challenge. No FJC’s were built, but a couple of cool trucks were on the floor, along with a super techy Prius.