UK Based Trucks - Forum Needed

[Mezo]

Originally Posted by Grant Johnson

got it - sorry to hear about the apparent demise of the overlanders - just to be sure, is that Get over it! or Welcome To Uk-Overlanders ?

theoverlander.org

Grant, click on the forum & have a look at the damage done, this would be a warning lesson to any forum owners.

Mezo.

[crinklystarfish]

Originally Posted by Grant Johnson

got it - sorry to hear about the apparent demise of the overlanders - just to be sure, is that Get over it! or Welcome To Uk-Overlanders

FWIW, I understand the spammer issue well and feel for them - we get hit about once or twice every minute by the scum, have been for years, but thus far our several layers of defence are working well - took a long time to get it really well sorted though.

Anyway, anything I can do to improve the 4 wheels section here on the HUBB, I'm happy to do so. Let me know what additional forums you need - you're the experts, so feel free to debate it and spell it out for me!

Hi Grant,

Get over it! was the site affected. That said, one of the chaps there has rushed through some upgrades and has resurrected a forum facility so they might be in business - users are already drifting back, it seems.

As you asked... Regarding The HUBB generally, the knowledge pool is vast and it's altogether a fantastic resource. I'm sure I speak for thousands that are grateful for the facility.

However, regarding the 4 wheels container specifically, I personally always found that the '4 Wheel Overland Tech' and 'Other 4 Wheel Overland Tech' something of an artificial and confusing division. Dropping in from time to time it seems I am not alone as the posts in each sub-forum are pretty much arbitrary and do not meaningfully adhere to any 'generic' and 'brand specific' division.

I confess to losing patience in dropping into two sub-forums that essentially contain much the same subject matter. Furthermore, it's difficult to work out on which sub-forum to pose a question that will encourage the most informative responses. It's part of the reason I gravitated towards the Overlander in the first place.

A much more useful division would be a '4 Wheel Overland Tech - Light Vehicles' and a '4 Wheel Overland Tech - Heavy Vehicles'

The 'Heavy Vehicles' creation would, I suggest, be very attractive to a number of contributors / researchers. Though there is some crossover with the tech side of light and heavy vehicles it is not vast and it's fair to say that light and heavy overlanding vehicles are frequently subject to very different design / equipment / systems issues.

I'm aware that there is a growing number of people globally that are interested in converting / travelling in what we in the UK call 'trucks' - ie vehicles originally designed to carry goods that comprise a separate cab and skeletal ladder chassis, onto which is usually built a sub frame that supports living accommodation.

In summary, I personally think that the current generic / brand specific division makes the 4 wheels container unwieldy and furthermore the lack of a distinct division for 'heavy' overlanding vehicles is a trick the HUBB is currently missing.

Meant to be constructive - please feel free to utterly ignore me.

[Grant Johnson]

good stuff, thanks!

That IS exactly what I need to hear - to me it's all just 4 wheels but I am absolutely behind anything we can do to make the HUBB the best resource for 4 wheels possible.

One of the things that has always driven me crazy is the proliferation of tiny sites that cater to a very small niche, and that then disappear with all their good info - so as with the motorcycle side, we want to be the first place to go for all overland travellers, whether it's powered 2 wheelers, bicycles or 4 wheelers - much of what we all need is the same.

So to be clear - you're suggesting DROPPING the "other 4wd tech" and combining into 4wheel overland tech - light, and then adding '4 Wheel Overland Tech - Heavy Vehicles'?

Looking at the thread numbers for Toyota and Land Rover, it does look like they're rather pointless, so combine them into 4wheel overland tech - light?

Any other thoughts, or does that do it?

How would you like to be a moderator for 4 wheels?

thanks!

[crinklystarfish]

Originally Posted by Grant Johnson

...So to be clear - you're suggesting DROPPING the "other 4wd tech" and combining into 4wheel overland tech - light, and then adding '4 Wheel Overland Tech - Heavy Vehicles'?

Looking at the thread numbers for Toyota and Land Rover, it does look like they're rather pointless, so combine them into 4wheel overland tech - light?

Any other thoughts, or does that do it?...

First, thanks for being receptive and please allow me to temporarily park the moderation aspect.

I am conscious that there are very many established users and I really wouldn't want to upset the apple-cart for no good reason. It would be good to hear the views of others before any changes.

That said, I do stand by my original assertion regarding the ease of retrieving information and confusion surrounding where to post.

To articulate the basic idea further: I personally think that technical / equipment / systems discussions for 4 wheel overlanding vehicles fall quite naturally into just two categories.

Category 1. Tech issues most relevant to larger / heavier vehicles where travellers sleep, cook and eat mainly in the vehicle. These vehicles generally have onboard heaters, cookers, fridges, fixed furniture and beds etc. Generally speaking, vehicles in this category would include larger vans and trucks.

Category 2. Tech issues most relevant to smaller / lighter vehicles where travellers sleep, cook and eat mainly outside of the vehicle. These vehicles often have portable cookers, coolboxes, no (or only emergency) interior sleeping arrangements - and often rely upon roof tents or similar instead. Generally speaking, vehicles in this category would include estate cars, smaller vans and AWD utility vehicles like Land Rovers, Land Cruisers etc.

Naturally, there is some crossover, but in general terms - equipment, systems and tech issues are divided most markedly along these lines.

As before, I personally think having too many sub-forums creates confusion regarding where best to post, and makes information retrieval cumbersome.

It would be productive to gain feedback from others but I think the HUBB's 4 wheels section would benefit from scrapping all four of the current 'tech' sub forums and creating two new sub forums along the lines described. Currently active threads could fairly easily be dropped into the appropriate new large/heavy or small/light sub-forum and older inactive threads could be amalgamated into a 'historical' or similarly named sub-forum which shouldn't be open to new threads being created.

I hope others have a think about this and offer up some suggestions.

[Bromleyxphil]

Steve I agree with the two sections would it not be simple to label them "4x4 below 3.5 ton" and "4x4 above 3.5 ton" that is inclusive regardless of vehicle manufacturer.
Phil

[Walkabout]

Since this thread arrived a few days ago I wondered when the Landrover/Landcruiser folks would speak.
Since they haven't up to now, I scratched my head to try to remember the gist of what was said a few years ago, and then I tried to find the relevant thread.

Bingo! There it was all this time, hiding in here as a sticky.
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...hat-does-61908

Funny old world!

[Neil H]

I also like the feel of of Steve's
suggestions.

I think that the number of larger truck owners in the UK is growing and it would be nice to dedicate a section for them

We wouldn't need a top weight limit because we are all under 7500 kg aren't we. LOL



Neil

[Jervig]

Why you are talking about UK-based. As well in the title as in some posts.

GRTZ,

JP

[crinklystarfish]

A fairly sizeable pool of UK based overland truck owners temporarily lost the facility of a UK based forum and so began to migrate to the HUBB to continue to exchange views and information. The thread title was intended to stand out so all coming over could easily find it.

Several of us were already registered on the HUBB and all acknowledge the experience and knowledge levels on here are perhaps as good as it gets.

However, few regularly post on the tech based sub-forums in the 4 wheels container; in my case at least for the reasons outlined throughout the thread.

I, and a few other UK based truck owners would like to use the HUBB 4 wheels container rather more than we currently do but would prefer a more intuitive and user-friendly experience.

Many forums 'suffer' from the too-many-sub-forums phenomenon where it takes an age to work out where to best make a post, and even longer to browse multiple sub-forums that often contain posts containing identical information - or certainly information that would be just as relevant across the board. Solar panel installation is essentially the same irrespective of base vehicle and a good tip for recovering a Land Rover out of soft sand is of interest to anyone stuck in soft sand.

We are not seeking a UK based facility - just a facility that is user friendly for UK based truckers (most of whom have trucks of a Dutch origin incidentally!).

[Jervig]

I understood and understand the reasons. But you or we have to take care that it will not become a UK based part of the HUBB but a WW (World Wide) based part. Indeed it has to become more intuitive and user-friendly!!

We met some of "you" during our last trip in Kirgizstan. Two months later we drove together to Magadan.

[Silver Nomad]

Would it not make sense to refer to these vehicles as Overland Campervans, as described by Stephen Stewart (Silk Route site founder) and then subdivide into two categories based on weight, as others have suggested i.e under and over 3500kg? The advantage is that whilst such vehicles would be differentiated from those which are either 'camp beside' or 'camp on top', demountables and tray-backs would find a natural home.

[tacr2man]

The 3500kg split would seem the most logical , as that is where most points change , if not driving licence requirements JMHO

[Gipper]

Looking at this thread and the old thread about updating the 4x4 section here:
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...8-4#post488308

The Land Rover/ Toyota forums were started because of brand rivalry, but if this combined forum is well moderated there is no reason why it should not work.

Peoples photos of vehicles can go under trip reports. Whether you need a seperate forum for wheels and tyres is debatable.

Driving Techniques has been mentioned by a few guys, again debatable.

You could also have a separate Shipping thread or include it within 4WD Travel

Looking at everyone's comments it should end up something like this:

4WD Trip Reports (Trip Reports for ALL vehicles)
4 Wheel Travel (Non Technical questions)
Equipping the Vehicle (What's the best gear?)
2WD Tech (Technical questions for 2WD vehicles)
4WD Tech <3500kg (Any Make 4WD Under this weight)
4WD Tech >3500kg (Any Make 4WD Over this weight)
For Sale/Wanted

Comments?

[Grant Johnson]

4WD Trip Reports (Trip Reports for ALL vehicles)
4 Wheel Travel (Non Technical questions)
Equipping the Vehicle (What's the best gear?)
2WD Tech (Technical questions for 2WD vehicles)
4WD Tech <3500kg (Any Make 4WD Under this weight)
4WD Tech >3500kg (Any Make 4WD Over this weight)
For Sale/Wanted

Great work Gipper, thanks!

I like it, looks good to me - but it's up to you guys - "like" the above post if you DO like it!

If not let us know!

[Walkabout]

Originally Posted by Gipper

Looking at this thread and the old thread about updating the 4x4 section here:
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...8-4#post488308

I've stayed with the sticky thread identified here: over time, no other thread will remain in play.