February 2020 Newsletter

Well, January and February have been flat out for both Nic and I and the support team here at Open Sky Touring. Not only were both of us travelling overseas at various times for work, but we also had to move all our gear down to Brisbane in early preparation for the upcoming National 4×4 Outdoors Show, Fishing and Boating Expo.

The bonus there though was that Ben got to take off in the 79 for some dad and daughter time and drive the long way to Brisbane from Cairns, managing to get caught in the beginning of the Outback’s wet season in the process.

“We were just south of Hughenden on our way to Muttaburra in the Black Soil country when the heavens opened up. What was a relaxing drive, stopping for the occasional echidna crossing (yes, more than once!), quickly turned into a four-hour slog in 4WD, struggling just to stay on the road in extremely slippery conditions. With the windows down and the thunder almost deafening at times, it was quite exhilarating to feel the waves of cold air and smell those earthy smells of the bush. I think the 79 gained about 200 kilograms from the mud though.

“Despite the rain and the fun in the mud, as we moved further south, it was apparent that the Outback was still in desperate need of a good drenching. In several places, stockmen were minding cattle as they grazed along the roads looking for feed, as there was literally none in the paddocks. By now though, many of these areas of Western Queensland and NSW have had some excellent rain that will hopefully see them able to make some sort of steps on the way to recovery.”

But back to reality and the upcoming 4WD and camping shows. We won’t be able to attend the upcoming Moreton Bay Show, but we will have our friends at Ezy Anchor demonstrating and showing the boxes at their stand this year. We’ll then return the favour and take their stuff to the Brisbane show at the end of March, which they are unable to make. Sometimes it’s just all about helping each other out when you are in a small Aussie business.

We are also now collaborating with Jamie Hazelden on a new portable power solution, in the form of the Enerdrive equipped Power Easy Expedition. Jamie says, “The Power Easy Expedition is a complete power solution that can be transferred from the back of the ute to the trailer, from the trailer to the boat, and from the boat to the campsite.” These can be fitted with either AGM or Lithium options in various sizes.

For those looking at going to either show, there should be a discount code floating around shortly that you can use to save 10 bucks on the entrance fee. Sing out if you are trying to get your hands on it.

Now, here are a couple of novel uses for our Expedition134 boxes.

When you forget the washing up dish…

And who doesn’t need a step of some sort to get to those hard-to-reach places in the engine bay or to just check the oil even? Here is another use for the box.

If anyone has any other novel uses for the box, we’d love to see them and share them with the Open Sky Touring community to inspire some ideas. You can reach us on Facebook, Instagram or even plain old email.

Recently, one of our Victorian customers sent in a heap of photos of a DIY project on the storage in his GU Patrol. He swapped out a heavy set of steel drawers for a homemade plywood frame and our Expedition134 boxes. The end result was a saving of 40 to 50 kilograms and a much more suitable setup for his touring family of four. Read the full story here.

Question of the Day
How do I lock my Expedition134 box?

The Expedition134 boxes are lockable using a padlock on either or all of the three latches. On each latch there is a curved tab that holds the lid down to the tub and there is also a vertical rectangular tab with a rectangular hole in it. This hole lines up on the side with another similar hole in the tub of the box. Simply close the latch and insert a padlock so it goes through the tub and the latch. All done!

Check out more of our Newsletters here:

• November Newsletter
• December Newsletter
• January Newsletter