A fozzy in the sahara dessert, can that be done?

[casperfromholland]

My daughter has her own house now, my son thinks it isn't cool to go on vacation with his parents, I am getting 50 next year so time to do something different.

Now we are thinking not to go with our mobilehome on vacation upcoming year but a organised 4x4 trip in Marocco, Africa.
Then you drive in 2 weeks a trip from Spain into marocco, to the atlas mountains, the sahara dessert following a part of the same route as the paris-dakar did in the good old days and then back to spain. And then a 3.000km trip back to Holland.

Is a fozzy when running with 2 persons and all the gear for 2 weeks, a rooftent + extra fuel and spare parts able to do such a trip? I do know now that it is quite able to drive in the mud. But that is unloaden. Is it able to climb the sanddunes when loaded with all the stuff we need?

I have a 2.0 n/a with dualrange gearbox 2cm lift, SG shocks in the rear and AT tyres.
What kind of extra mods do I have to make on my fozzy? Or can i better buy a bigger 4x4 for that trip?

If I see the pics of cars who drove that kind of events before 75% are landrovers 110, 25% landcruisers, patrols and so on. Never a SUV.

 

[NachaLuva]

Subies are very capable in sand. You'll often hear on here how a big 4WD struggles up a steep, soft sand dune only to see a Subie make it up 1st go!

The trouble with the big fourbies is their massive weight. At 2.5 tons (3T kitted out) they sink into the sand whereas we float across the top.

Where you will struggle is with power. An SF Foz is fine unladen but as soon as you start loading it up with gear it becomes very asthmatic

If you hire/buy a 4WD, dont go for a bloated, overweight 4WD like a land looser or spewtrol, get a midsize like a Nissan Navara, VW Amarok, Triton (Kevin has one, you could PM him for an opinion). DMax has been mentioned, but I'd prob steer clear of a new Hilux. The old models are brilliant offroad & bulletproof but for the last decade or so they've really dropped the ball. Keep right away from Jeeps, great offroad when working but SOOOO unreliable.

Some good reading here:
VW Amarok.

 

[Rally]

Don't go anywhere isolated without a second car. I have found so many Europeans when they come to Australia have no idea how to cope in such conditions and grossly under estimate the conditions. A number have died in the process. I would imagine that part of Africa to be no better, perhaps worse. You will need to consider taking lots of water, assuming some local water may not be suitable for drinking. The Dakar rally cars got bogged, so you should expect the same. Don't forget either why they no longer have the Dakar in Africa. Sounds like a great trip, but I would suggest exstensive planning. A lone Forester- or a lone anything, especially for anyone with little or no sand and desert experience, is a bloody big risk.

 

[Kevin]

^ "organised 4x4 trip in Marocco, Africa" perhaps indicates he's not alone

Would love to do that trip! Many Subarus have crossed our Simpson Desert which has over 1,000 dunes of various sizes; the most well known is "Big Red" at 40m high (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simpson_Desert) and the Subies climb it just fine. Really depends on how much you need to carry. If an SG 2.5L I would say OK. Do you know how much fuel and water has to be carried? You say it is an "organised 4x4 trip" - are the "organisers" prepared to have a Subaru on the trip? Do you have a link to the trip organisers so we can have a look?

 

[Ratbag]

^ Casper, I totally agree with Rally and Kevin.

Even native born Aussies do stupid things here.

When I do (finally!) get off the beaten track in my Forester, it will be accompanied by a FindMeSpot and all my necessary medical supplies and medical equipment. I also have two GPS units, and a further GPS enabled "remote rural use" mobile phone. Will be buying a CB radio before then as well.

Plenty of other gear too, but the above are not negotiable.

Otherwise, there is a specialised medical term for silly old farts who don't take great care when wandering off around Oz by themselves - they are called "corpses" ... . I do not plan that mine shall be added to their number! Not through negligence on my part, in any event.

 

[Rally]

Probably the dummest things I've seen myself were 2 blokes from Melbourne. They tried so hard to be posthumous victors of the Darwin Awards. Managed to stuff up winning that too. I missed the bit about it being an organised tour- hopefully they have done their homework. But the politcal situation can still be a worry.

 

[Ratbag]

Gidday again Casper

The thread "Aids to Survival" here on this forum is highly recommended reading prior to undertaking anything like this. It is here:

https://www.offroadsubarus.com/showthread.php?t=3214

Of particular note is the booklet prepared by the Western Australian Police Academy "Aids to Survival" which is available for download here:

www.police.wa.gov.au/Portals/11/PDFs/AidsToSurival_2007.pdf

This is both free and copyright free. I suggest that you print it out, have it bound, and keep it in the car.

The booklet contains check lists and procedures for just about everything except open heart surgery ... :iconwink:. IOW, invaluable information.

 

[Athos]

They tried so hard to be posthumous victors of the Darwin Awards.

Given that the way to win a Darwin Award is to remove yourself from the gene pool, the usual way of doing that is by dying (or removing your ability to reproduce, at least). Most people who win do it by dying, but I'm sure there are a few non-posthumous winners who lost particular body parts but survived...

When I do (finally!) get off the beaten track in my Forester, it will be accompanied by a FindMeSpot

I used to have one of these and loved it at the time, but these days I use a different option. The Spot can only send messages (usually one of three: a pre-programmed "I'm OK" or "having trouble" to your contacts, or a "initiate rescue at these coordinates"). It has good coverage in Australia, but unfortunately not in many of the places around the globe I go to.

Then I got a 2nd-hand Iridium sat phone and used that for voice calls with a prepaid SIM. I have a separate GPS so could transcribe coordinates into SMS messages for the SMS/email gateway, but that gets painful quickly. But after a while I wasn't travelling and didn't have a working SIM, and when I looked at setting it up again for a couple of weeks in Africa earlier this year it was going to cost hundreds to get a SIM up and running for 6 months. I eventually re-sold the sat phone.

These days I have a Delorme InReach, which uses the new short-data services on the Iridium satellite network. Again you can press buttons on the unit to initiate the same sorts of messages as with the Spot, but also I link to it via Bluetooth from my iPhone/iPad and can send and receive short email messages. From anywhere on the globe. The ability to receive messages and send custom emails puts it miles ahead of the Spot. I have confidence that my messages actually got through! Highly recommended.
BTW the iPhone/iPad (and presumably Android) apps for the InReach allow you to download maps (no added cost) before you leave 'net coverage, and this meant in Africa I had a moving-map display which had more detail than the WorldMap in my Garmin.

Spot have the Spot Connect with a similar Bluetooth link, but it can still only send messages.


BTW for a trip to Morocco check on 2-way radio regulations and with the trip organisers: I think it's likely that radios legal to use in Holland will also be legal there (in general Africa and Europe try to be consistent with this). That's different from the Australian frequencies/etc.

 

[Douglas Ferrier]

Lots of good advice above on keeping yourself alive, desert areas are serious places to be, low humidity, high temperatures = need for lots of water and risk of heat stroke etc. Going with others certain,y is a wise choice.

As for the foresters I have a SG5 2.5XT goes like a ripper in the sand, used it multiple times in Victorias BiG Desert and Wyperfeld national park and many coastal sand based places, the things to watch for are overheating on long slow deep sand uphills when it is 40+ and you want the air con/cooler going ( low speed means it struggles to pass enough air over the radiator to drag the heat out of the engine bay).
Quite managable if you play carefully. SF I am not familiar with in such conditions but would suspect the 2.0 NA with dual range would be OK.
The key things to be sure of are ensuring high reliability, if you a long way from nowhere land, you do not want to be walking out for days to get a car part.
Ensure your cooling system is in peak condition, carry a long handled shovel, make sure your battery is suitable for high temps and be sure you drop and rise tyre pressures according to conditions.
If your foz is in good nick and you are traveling in a convoy, it is more than likely to be up to the job of most desert conditions, be mindful of your clearance and loaded weight.

Given the places and conditions we have all seen forrys in and reliably come back it seems reasonable to use the SF. Keep in mind the money spent on buying something a bit bigger would go a long way to making the foz tougher, more reliable and add some very useful upgrades.
This is just an opinion from my experience taking my SG to lots of desert and non desert based locations around OZ, in the end it is your choice.
It sounds like a ripper trip and something few people would get to do, so hope you enjoy.
A few last thought, I would suggest removing the rear seat if you only have 2 of you, drop some weight which ,you can replace with water - on a hot day in our deserts you can easily be drinking 10 liters per person ( got to watch body salt levels at that rate)
Take a silvered tarpaulin, aluminum poles and sand pegs which you can string up over the car and create shade with, the silver helps reflect a lot of radiant heat from the sun and if big enough provides shade for car and your seats which is luxury when temperatures head north of 45.

BTW we will all be hanging out for a trip report!

 

[jf1sf5]

I drove the moroccan sahara in 2007 in my Foz (1 car)and earlier 3 times in Land Rovers (2 Defenders and a Series II). I do know Morocco very well (was married with a native moroccan). Even in the middle of nowhere, you are never alone ! The best periods are spring and autumn as is is not too hot but you might get the desert wind...As said before, don't load your Foz too much, take the strict minimum and you'll have heaps of fun surfing the sand dunes where the big 4x4's will get bogged. You can see some pics of my trip on www.forum4x4.org in the subaru forester thread started by Mimouss that will be found in "autres marques".