Primal Survivor is doing the Darian Gap on NatGeo now!
Darien Gap Jungle Expedition
- Thread starter Allen Stanion
- Start date
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- Tags
- expedition jungle land cruiser
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- Thread starter
- #102
"That was one where I thought I couldn’t go any longer. When I walked across the Darién Gap in Panama, my feet were so tore up and infected that I don’t think I could have taken many more days out there. I think my illnesses were getting exponentially worse every day, and the same thing was going for the rest of the film crew. So that was a really demanding trip on people’s health." Hazen Audel - Primal Survivor
- Thread starter
- #103
Panama Drought Set to Continue as El Niño Rocks Central America
This could be a boon and a detriment to the expedition. Less mud, but less drinking water.
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- Thread starter
- #104
Our 4 man/4 truck expedition team had it's first Skype session last night, and was extremely informational and valuable. Great men, great trucks, and a great expedition are under weigh.
We plan to gather and wheel together at the Great Smoky Mountain Trail Ride in TN from the 16th to the 21st of May. Anyone interested in meeting the expedition team is abundantly welcome. Hope to see you there!
We plan to gather and wheel together at the Great Smoky Mountain Trail Ride in TN from the 16th to the 21st of May. Anyone interested in meeting the expedition team is abundantly welcome. Hope to see you there!
- Thread starter
- #105
Oh, man I would LOVE to go on this. I have experience living and travelling in South America, have experience driving Toyotas off-road, including lots of river crossings, have experience dealing with armed hold-ups, have talked my way out of trouble with hostile military types, am a mechanic with lots of bush experience, love the jungle, love adventure and the road less travelled (this is part of why I live in Papua New Guinea), but I just don't see how I could ever come up with the time and the money to join you guys. A shame, though. I'd love to do it.
- Thread starter
- #107
We are looking for skilled "ride alongs" for the expedition. Send me a private message if you have a potential interest. Allen
looking forward to how all of this works out.
good luck.
good luck.
- Thread starter
- #109
We thank you.
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- #110
Getting "expedition ready". Picked up a Warn Series 18 winch. Came off a brand new US Army MRAP that was never placed into service. 24 Volt, 18,000 lb capacity with 1/2" inch steel cable, waterproof and completely submersible, came with a wire rope tensioner and remote. The best part is that it will fit inside my new front rally bumper. Also got two brand new "virgin lead" Northstar Group 27 AGM deep cycle batteries.
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- Thread starter
- #111
All food stores and human consumables for entire expedition have been completely procured. Six gallon buckets of rice, dry beans, dehydrated pork, beef, vegetables, and fruit. Cases of spam, vitamins, baby wipes, soap, salt, cooking fuel, paper products, plastic bags, water filtration, purification and storage systems.
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- Thread starter
- #112
More food products than I can post. All brand new. Current food quantity sufficient to feed 20 men for 2.7 months. Expedition to carry 1.2 month supply for 20 men, with excess in standby to be air dropped as required. We are prepared to feed the local men we hire who assist in path clear-age.
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Are you going to have a blog about all of this?
I'm sure lots of us will want to see the preparation, vehicles, plan, and tons of pics and updates of the trip. Like where did you source that winch? How much does it weigh..has to be quite a bit? Why such overkill?
Are you getting sponsors? Who has been helpful and is working with you?
If you need still need someone to ride along and/or help with prep, let me know.
I'm sure lots of us will want to see the preparation, vehicles, plan, and tons of pics and updates of the trip. Like where did you source that winch? How much does it weigh..has to be quite a bit? Why such overkill?
Are you getting sponsors? Who has been helpful and is working with you?
If you need still need someone to ride along and/or help with prep, let me know.
- Thread starter
- #114
I'm in the process of developing a website to do exactly that. Lots to do. That winch weighs 40 lbs more than the stock 9000 lb winch I'm taking off, but then the new rally bumper I'm putting on will be 50 lbs lighter than the stock Toyota bumper I'm taking off, so it's a break even on weight. The overkill is for obvious reasons. The reviews I've seen by 4 wheel off road magazines all cited mechanical failure of internal parts when 9000 and 12,000 lb winches were pushed beyond limits. We will not be able to afford failure of equipment due to specification and procurement of equipment that has borderline specifications for our application. We couldn't break that Series 18 if we strung all four trucks together and pulled them out with one winch. Plus its military grade and completely submersible. All electrical components are bedded and sealed at the factory in silicone.
There is a local Warn distributor here in the Greenville area who has 30 of these new surplus Series 18 winches that were pulled from new MRAPs. The image above appears to be a Warn Series 18 installed on an MRAP. My new remote cable connection still has that beige camo paint overspray on the plug...
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- Thread starter
- #115
And yes, we are interested in ride alongs for spotting and assistance. Please send me a private message with your skill sets and I'll present them to the team during our Sunday Skype session. Please include mechanical and electrical aptitude, as well as experience with Land Cruisers, and any other skills you may have such as first aid and survival/jungle training. Thanks.
- Thread starter
- #116
New rear Rally bumper installed on "Godzilla". New front Rally bumper from Proline, and "augmented" rock sliders from Jason at Cruisin Off Road are in fabrication. Jason is also working on measurements for "front to back" bottom armor for the BJs. Joe is working on engineering aluminum ladder tracks, but I've also contacted a local aluminum fabricator to estimate fabrication of eight 14' and eight 6' ladder tracks that will each have a singular capacity of 10,000 lbs. They will be modeled after Mark Smith's ladder tracks which In my opinion are superior to those used by the British Trans-Americas expedition in 1972.
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- Thread starter
- #117
Light, rigid and angled. Will provide much better angle of attack and will fit the Warn Series 18 winch.
Spam and beans, now you KNOW it's an adventure! 
- Thread starter
- #119
Unlimited shelf life! Plus with all the sweating going on, we'll be needing the salt in that Spam!Spam and beans, now you KNOW it's an adventure!
