u/yycTechGuy

*overnight wilderness camping

We are not really "overlanders" but I thought the experience of this group is closest to what we want to do so I'm asking my question here.

My GF and I live in Calgary, AB, right next to the Rocky Mountains, Banff, Lake Louise, Kananaskis, Waiparous and a short drive from all that BC is.

We are avid hikers and outdoor lovers. We do a hike in the mountains almost every weekend. We usually have a fire and dinner after our hikes before heading back home. We also cycle and may take up mountain biking in the future. We also kayak.

I'm an avid dirt biker. The trail heads we ride from are usually on forest roads. I ride year round which means driving icy and snowy unplowed roads in winter.

We love camping but not in a tent. Many of the areas we frequent have lots of bear activity. In some areas camping is only allowed in hard sided trailers. Tents are either not recommended or outright forbidden.

One of the major disappointments of our lifestyle is that all these activities are done as day activities instead of overnights. We currently use a Lexus RX as our trip vehicle. It works as it has a decent amount of storage volume for gear, food, firewood, BBQ, etc. and it is AWD but we are straining it in almost every dimension. A Lexus RX was never designed for rough logging roads.

I'm not a 4x4/off road guy. I have a dirt bike if I want to tackle tough trails. The only thing my vehicle needs to do is get us to the trail heads and the best wilderness camping spots.

I am thinking of getting a Land Rover LR4 so we can increase the scope of our adventures. My thinking goes something like this...

- The LR4 would work well for day hikes because it is roomy, nice to drive on highways and will handle rough roads well. It has lots of storage room, even with 4-5 people in it.

- For quick, short overnight stays after hiking (wilderness camping), we would equip the LR4 with a swing away hitch kitchen which would store all of our cooking gear, cooler, dry food, etc. It would be bear proof. That would leave the back of the LR4 open for sleeping. Food cannot be left outside the vehicle in bear territory.

- For camping (glamping) excursions we'd buy a 20 ish foot travel trailer and tow it with the LR4. This would allow us to travel somewhere and make the trailer a home base and then do various side trips with the LR4. A typical excursion trip for us would be Vancouver Island, Fernie, Revelstoke, Montana, Idaho, Moab, etc.

We've considered a Ford AWD Transit van. It would have more room for the overnight trips but wouldn't be as nice as a trailer on the camping excursions. It wouldn't be great as a daily driver. It would be overkill on day trips. It wouldn't off road nearly as well as the LR4.

Transit vans are stupid expensive these days. Converting a van would take a lot of time, energy and money.

I've considered an F150, with a topper. The long bed on the CC (6.5') would have more room for the overnight trips, but not by a lot. It would pull a trailer a little better. It would be an OK daily driver. It would be overkill on day trips but not as bad as the Transit. I'm just not in love with the idea of having a pickup truck and the finish in the bed and canopy wouldn't be as nice as the inside of the LR4.

I've been reading about other SUVs. Not many have a tow rating like the LR4 (7700 pounds) or are as off road capable. Not many have enough room to sleep 2 adults in the back.

I am aware of the LR4's reliability issues. I'm a good mechanic and have a good set of tools. I feel I could perform all the necessary repairs on it myself. Parts seem to be reasonably priced.

It seems kind of funny that a 10 year old vehicle is at the top of my list for our lifestyle. The last year the LR4 was produced was 2016. The LR5 is considerably smaller in the back and less capable off road and most other vehicles I've looked at miss one or more of our check boxes.

Am I missing something ?

Thanks

TLDR: couple wants a vehicle to do hiking day trips and overnight wilderness camping, that is competent on backcountry roads and able to pull a medium sized travel trailer. Is a 10 -15 year old Land Rover LR4 really the best vehicle for this use case ?

How well will an LR4 handle towing a 22-24 foot travel trailer weighing 6,000 pounds ? In the mountains ?

The trailer would be a "1/2 ton towable" ultra lite with a rounded front end. The empty weight would be 5000 to 5300 lbs. Empty hitch weight is 500-550 pounds. I'm assuming I'd have to use a weight distributing hitch once loaded.

We'd want take it on 1000 km/ 620 mile trips, with several stops along the way.

The main thing I'm worried about is trailer sway. I know that having enough weight in the front of the trailer and on the rear axle of the tow vehicle is essential to prevent trailer sway.

I'm an experienced RVer. I've towed 5th wheel trailers for years with diesel trucks but I've never towed a larger bumper pull trailer, especially with a shorter wheelbase truck. The hitch receiver on the LR4 is quite close to the rear axle. I suspect this helps make it more stable ?

I've searched and found threads wherein people say towing a (large) travel trailer with an LR4 works pretty well. Just wondering if they are biased or if it is indeed a good experience.

I've seen VW Touregs pulling very large TTs in the mountains. They seem to work pretty well ?

Thanks

What is the size of a bed behind the first row seats in an LR4 between the wheel wells ?

Above the wheel wells ?

Thanks

Trump's ceasefire declaration of April 7th on Truth Social unequivocally required Iran to open up the Strait of Hormuz, allowing ships to freely pass.

"subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz"

In the 11 days since the start of the ceasefire, not once have the Iranians allowed ships to freely pass. In fact, earlier today ships were fired upon, in spite of Israel and Lebanon also entering into a ceasefire.

Where is the line in the sand that Iran must cross in order for the US to stand up to this stuff ?

The US mainstream media is awful. They, and the Trump administration, keep referring to the ceasefire but if one looks at Trump's terms, Iran has never met the conditions for the ceasefire in the first place. In effect they have violated the ceasefire since day 1. The only part about the ceasefire that is true is that the US stopped their bombing campaign against Iran.

Another thing the US mainstream media is terrible about is referring to the Strait as being "reopened" over and over. It's NEVER been open since the start of the war. How can it be "reopened" if it was never opened in the first place ?

Why does nobody call Trump out on the fact that there is no ceasefire in place due to the fact that Iran never did open the Strait ? There is no ceasefire. There never was.

One cannot trust a single thing that US media or Trump has said about the war.

Here are the facts:

- There is no ceasefire.

- The Strait never got opened.

- Iran has no intention of giving up any enriched uranium.

- Iran will not voluntarily cede control of the Strait.

- The world will be at the mercy of Iran's control of the Strait until a military power takes over control from them.

- The US and Iran are miles apart in their terms to end the war.

- This war isn't going to end anytime soon. And even after it ends there is going to be a lot of conflict in the Middle East.

- Oil is now a precious commodity and will be forever more. Not because of lack of physical abundance but because of those that seek to control its distribution.

Oil trading the last few weeks has been based on the belief of the statements made by Trump and the US mainstream media. At some point (Monday?) the world is going to see through the charade created by Trump and the US Media. Oil trading and trading in general is going to fundamentally change when that happens.

Further comment on the media

If one watched the shipping trackers yesterday, April 17th, several French ships approached the open part of the Strait after Iran posted that the Strait was open. They then had to turn around. Everglade and Roya were 2 of the ships. This happened about noon, Eastern time. Not a peep from the media on this occurrence. In fact, the first place I saw mention of this was on r/oil !

Furthermore, about a dozen ships were able to slip past IRCG today, April 18th. The Everglade was one of them. The media is also not talking about this.

Can the media not monitor shipping trackers ? Is that too advanced for them ? Or don't they want to report what is really going on ?

Another lie...

Trump is heralding the 100ish tankers heading to the US to get crude and refined products. The US doesn't have enough excess crude production and refined products to fill up 100 tankers anytime soon. At least not without spiking the price of crude and transportation fuels in the US. It's a farce !

Anyone that looks at US production numbers can see that it relies on imports to get its crude. What the US does have is an excess of NGLs, not crude itself. If the US fills tankers with crude it is coming from the SPR, not production. That is only going to work for so long.

Trump is playing a very dangerous game doing this. Again the media has not or will not pick up on this.

I'm running KiCad 9.0.8-1.F43. I'm trying to open a schematic that has the following on the top line:

"EESchema Schematic File Version 4" It was created in 2020.

When I open it in the schematic editor I get the following error:

"'/home/me/Downloads/xxx.sch' is not a KiCad schematic file. Use File -> Import for non-KiCad schematic files."

When I attempt to import the file I get the following error:

"No loader can read the specified file: '/home/me/Downloads/xxx.sch'."

How do I open this file ?

Thanks