Self-Sufficiency

As briefly addressed in Considerations & Thoughts, an obviously very important consideration is self-sufficiency, hence suitable amounts of water, food, electricity and fuel, sometimes for many days and kilometers, presenting a challenge for the vehicle, which has to carry all of the before mentioned – plus – occupants (in our case a family), their clothes, toys, etc. pp. you name it (the weight issue will be addressed in yet another post).

Some figures of what Wohni will be equipped with for starters:

• Standard long range tanks containing 180 liters two Jerry Cans = 220 liters of fuel
• Two water tanks (60l + 40l) = 100l plus 20l warm water tank = 120l water
• 300 amp deep cycle battery
• 60l Engel fridge-freezer plus 45l Engel cool box

The above should result in the following self suffiency, calculating averages only:

Let’s start with fuel:

• Cruising on tarred and/or good roads @ 80-100km/h average speed, with an assumed consumption of approximately 15l/km, gives a range of ~1500km and 15-19 hours endurance
• Cruising on gravel and/or badish roads @ 40-80km/h average speed, with an assumed consumption of 20l/km, gives a range of ~1000km range and 12.5-25 hours endurance
• Tough terrain, sand, etc. mixed into the equation @ 20-40km/h average speed, with an assumed consumption of 35l/km, gives a range of ~ 600km and 15-20 hours endurance
• Drawing the averages of all of the above, on a typical trip (mixed) this should give ~1000km range and 13-22 hours endurance @ 45-75km/h average speed
• Furthermore, assuming an average daily driving of 3-5 hours this should result in 225-375km covered distance/day @ 75km/h and 135-225km covered distance/day @ 45km/h and hence 4.5-2.6 days or 7.5-4.5 days respectively.
• We concluded a required self sufficiency of approximately 1000km and 5-7 days in extreme cases and/or the maximum stretch allowed for route planning without visiting a refueling facility

Which brings us to Water:

• The above mentioned 120 liters will not be utilised for drinking at all, but for washing dishes, showering and the likes.
• We assume approximately 20-30 liters per day using water economically and wisely i.e. body hygiene from a bucket or bowl and with a washrag, dish washing once a day only and if need be to have a shower, approximately 3-5 liters have to suffice. This again will result in approximately 4-6 days self-sufficiency.
• Drinking water will be bought in bottles before the trip plus where and when possible, assuming at least 2 liters per day per person. The before mentioned obviously in addition an d on top of cool drinks, beer, wine and whatever else is consumed during the day or evening. Before setting off on a tour and/or stretch we will want to stack approximately 20-30 liters of drinking water.

Electricity:

• The 300 amp deep cycle Sonnenschein battery has to run the fridge-freezer, lights in the evening, mayhap some music every now and then plus, albeit not always, the warm water heater. In my special case there are additional requirements, the likes of charging camera and laptop batteries.
• On a rough thumb-suck calculation we arrived at approximately 3 days @ worse case scenario, meaning that there would be no driving in between.
• On top of that we will have a 2kw generator with us for emergencies. Solar is considered for the future if and when the wallet has recovered a bit.

Food:

• This to me is the least worry. The amount of fresh goodies, such as meat, cold meat, fruits and veggies, etc., you can store in a 60l fridge-freezer plus a 45l cool box will be more than enough in any event.
• Additionally to that, there will be long-live food stuff, such as canned food, snacks, noodles, rice, etc.

Summa summarum, Wohni should be able to get us from A to B as long as A is not much further than ~1000km from B – plus – provided that it does not take us more then 5-7 days to get there.

As always, your thoughts, input and comments are welcome and appreciated.

So long

Tommy