Overlanding Gear and Build

It’s always tempting to throw flashy gear and modifications at your overlanding vehicle. If you aren’t careful, then you’ll end up over payload, over budget, and you may not even have resources left to actually enjoy your journey!

We have learned what works and what gear is essential. This is one of the most popular categories on our blog, where you can learn about our overlanding gear and build based on our experience.

Get started with our article, Ignore the Hype: What Do You Really Need to Go Overlanding?

We have an in-depth, walk-around tour of the Jeep Gladiator we’re driving around the world. Even if you aren’t using a Gladiator, you’ll want to watch this video. We share our build philosophy based on seven years (at the time) of full-time, vehicle-based travel, including our “clean side/dirty side” design and the modifications we carefully selected for our family.

If you prefer the written version, we have a detailed Jeep Gladiator Overland Build article, sharing how we took a factory-ordered 2021 Jeep Gladiator and turned it into a home to drive around the world. This vehicle was built for full-time, global overland travel for a period of 10-15 years. We also share transparently about how much it cost to build our Gladiator.

If you’re planning to build out a Jeep Wrangler for overlanding, then don’t start before reading 3 Obstacles You Must Overcome to Optimize Your Jeep Overlanding Build. Protip: owners of other makes and models can also benefit from this advice.

When you have the basics covered and are ready to bury yourself in the details, we have the Overland Jeep Build Sheet and Master Overlanding Packing List for our Jeep Wrangler, which we built and used specifically for North American travel. We lived out of our Wrangler full-time for about six months total as a family of three.