Vehicle-dependent Expedition Guide: 2nd Edition, Field Manual [Paperback]

"Attention to both mundane and technical detail is highly impressive." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Press comment on Tom Sheppard's earlier books on operation of four wheel drive vehicles THE LAND ROVER EXPERIENCE Editions 1 and 2:

"His writing is superb. The most complex subjects are explained with striking clarity and simplicity supported with summary side notes and ... hundreds of attractive drawings and pictures. Most surprising is the quality of the excellent all-colour photography, which combines high information content with stunning locations and artistic merit." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Book of the week: 'Attention to both mundane and technical detail is highly impressive.'

‘... one of the best off-roading advice books ever written.’

'... one of the most comprehensive books on off-pavement driving that has ever been produced. Tom Sheppard is known as a world-wide expert on expeditions and expedition vehicles. ... The print quality and photography are superb."

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Book of the week: "Attention to both mundane and technical detail is highly impressive."

A book to reflect – and implement – the new millennium spirit of adventure. The capability of competently driven 4x4s and the availability of satellite-sourced communications, navigation, images and emergency beacons dramatically widen the scope for modern voyages of discovery.
Detailed and very thorough in its approach to every conceivable aspect of vehicle-based expeditions, the book in its first edition won praise from armchair media critics but, far more importantly, accolades from actual users – the Amazon five-star reader reviews tell it all. Signposting within the book ensures easy access to just the information required. Headings, tables, line drawings and page side-note summaries together with copious photography give the overview when needed.
Clothing, equipment, and vehicles are covered; plus water filtration, shipping, fuels and oils, communications and comprehensive coverage of maps, navigation and driving.
READERSHIP: A book for the outdoor and adventure-oriented, 4x4 owners – private and professional – enthusiasts, university expedition groups, aid agencies, youth organisations, expatriates, military.

Publisher’s note – Second Edition
Following the sell-out of the first edition, the 2003 reprint – which eventually evolved itself into a fully revised Second Edition – was crowbarred into existence by persistent demand and sky-high second-hand prices on the internet (£150 offered for what had been a £30 book). Users also said of the full colour, gold-blocked hardback ‘Too nice to take on an expedition ..’ . We hope the new ‘Field Manual’ format – softback and monochrome – is appropriately butch and now suits the book to being used as a load-spreader under the jack or a suitable spot to rest your mug of tea! It also brings price and mailing costs down. Some things don’t change much – and haven’t – but the book has been revised throughout with major updates in the vital areas of communications, satellite-based navigation and emergencies. Also vehicles, modifications, fuel and oils, tyres – and there’s a good number of tweaks and giddyups elsewhere too.

Going to black and white has not meant a lowering of print quality; despite the accolades the first edition’s colour printing earned, the reverse is the case. All the 375 illustrations were rescanned to ensure optimum tonal range in the new medium. And to preclude the all-too-common ‘grey-on-grey’ monochrome reproduction seen today, the book has been produced to exceptional print standards by a rarely used stochastic process that yields razor-sharp illustrations and extreme detail. Going from author/publisher’s screen direct to plates, Butler and Tanner’s print-meisters have produced a clean, jaw-droppingly sharp feast for the eye – and magnifier!

"... an inspired result ... unusual distinction of being well written (clear but not condescending) ... thoughtfully designed and beautifully illustrated. The quality of photographic images, sketches and diagrams is exceptionally high .." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

The spirit of adventure lurks within us all and has done down the ages. But now the solid backbone of just about every remote area expedition is a rugged 4x4 or pickup. Their popularity and utility in everyday life underlines our latent urge to head for a distant horizon.
An expedition can be a half day exploring a hill track, two weeks off-road in Turkey or the Pyrenees, a major journey in Africa, or a development, aid or research project in a remote area; the demands are similar.
Work or leisure, every expedition needs planning, selection, training and reliability as its ethos. To thirty years’ expeditioning experience has been added over three years’ concentrated research to produce and later revise this book – shipping, equipment, fuels, oil, communications, vehicles, driving and navigation are dealt with, distilled and summarised.
Easy access, selectability and signposting to this information has been a special aim.

This 2nd edition is revised throughout – vehicles, modifications, fuels and oils, tyres, emergencies .... with major updates in the vital areas of communications and satellite-based navigation.

Press comment on Tom Sheppard's earlier books on operation of four wheel drive vehicles THE LAND ROVER EXPERIENCE Editions 1 and 2 and the next book OFF-ROADER DRIVING:
"The most complex subjects are explained with striking clarity and simplicity supported with summary side notes …" (Daily Telegraph, UK)
"...unusual distinction of being well written (clear but not condescending) ... thoughtfully designed and beautifully illustrated."(Land Rover International magazine, UK)
"... one of the most comprehensive books on off-pavement driving that has ever been produced."(Four Wheeler magazine, USA)

During TOM SHEPPARD’S career in the Royal Air Force as a pilot and test pilot he planned, led and trained teams for numerous expeditions and operations – among them the first coast-to-coast crossing of the Sahara through the Mauritanian Empty Quarter for which he received the Royal Geographical Society’s Ness Award. With the inclusion of three recent solo trips in the Algerian Sahara and an earlier voyage round the four corners of Libya, also solo, he has now totalled more than 100,000 overland miles on four and two wheels and has been a 4x4 owner for over 35 years. Apart from navigating aircraft, his navigation experience has spanned sun compasses, astro navigation, Transit sat-nav and use of GPS and satellite imagery to supplement otherwise uncertain mapping. Between expeditions, he has also worked for British Aerospace and been an author and consultant on four-wheel drive. On this, the logistics and planning of expeditions and the hugely exciting implications of space technology on mapping, positioning and communications he admits he is unlikely to ever stop learning.

EXCERPT FROM Sec 1.1 – Initial Scan

Plan ahead, basic philosophy

Important detail. No matter what the size and scope of your expedition, the importance of advance planning is fundamental. Even on a day-trip to the hills – wind and waterproof clothing, gloves, rubber boots as well as walking boots, jack, a baulk of wood to put it on, shovels, flask of hot drinks or a stove – the detail is important. Here, as on longer trips, when you will be away from other habitation and support there will be no opportunity to cushion planning shortfalls, to obtain the equipment you omitted to provision, to hone the knowledge or skills with which you should have come equipped or to make good the preparation of equipment you now find is not functioning in the field.

Pragmatic realism. Time and cost are especially unforgiving taskmasters and pragmatic realism must be brought to bear early in the planning stage – typically in the distances you plan to cover each day. (Avoid the common trap of turning your trip into a mile-eating marathon, a blur of changing scenery you cannot absorb.) Allowing for these and other modifying factors at the planning stage will be good training for later. Accommodating the host of ‘Murphy’s law’ influences and events during the execution of your project will be the application of that resilience training – typically, ‘the place has just closed for the weekend’, ‘the fuel pumps don’t work’, ‘it’s a national holiday’, ‘the water is off’ et al.

Keenness counts. Basic motivation in your team – keenness on the project and care in its execution – is paramount. From this will stem the commitment to plan ahead, to plan in detail and to allocate time and go to great pains to produce a situation in which the trip may be successful. Included as outcomes of this basic attitude will be training and preparation, thinking yourself into all the situations that can arise, researching what others have done in the past and tirelessly seeking the best available advice and equipment.

Planning criteria – overseas trips

The general headings. Not all expeditions will be overseas but the planning sequence and considerations such visits demand are worth following for the thoroughness of approach they instil. The main influencing criteria at the planning stage will be scanned in the following paragraphs and in most cases also dealt with more fully later in the book:
o Cost – support by team and any outside agencies.
o Time – for adequate planning, preparation and training.
o Time – time of year, length of visit.
o Government permission – and preferably active co-operation – from the target country.
o Personnel – ability to assemble a team of appropriate expertise and inter-ests.
o Safety vis-à-vis political extremism, bandits and thieves – increasingly important, alas, to keep in mind.
o Logistics – access to and resupply in the target area.
o Equipment – availability/suitability of vehicles and equipment.
o Shipping – drive, ship or fly?

Cost, funding, media markets

Don’t underestimate. The implications of cost are self evident. Your first-guess estimates will be done when your enthusiasm (and optimism) for your project is at its dizziest and your scan at its most global. Whilst this will also be the start of an appropriately anything-is-possible approach, beware of letting optimism take over too much in the area of costs. It is easy to under-estimate by omitting such items as insurance costs, vehicle carnet indemnities (if required), the multiplicity of handling charges when sending vehicles by sea and other surprises such as the high cost of taking a sensible supply of photographic film (or digital memory cards.). Reserve funds and medical insurance for possible medevac must be catered for after sober thought and consideration of what may be needed.

Don’t bank on media sales. Especially beware of glib hopes of making a film or doing magazine articles. Transmitted television standards for travel documentaries are dauntingly high in terms of visual (if not always intellectual) content and are often associated with well known personalities. UK television companies are not a bottomless source of wealth and are reluctant to buy from non-union film makers, besides which production of a viable film is overall probably more work and cost than the whole expedition. Magazine journalism standards are usually pitiful with coverage shallow and clichéd. The playing field is very seldom level and such assignments as are published have often come from an in-house 19 year-old ‘travel editor’. In general, letters are rarely answered. Editorial attention span seems seldom to better that of a housefly (arguably a requisite qualification for the job) and you will be lucky to get an advance commitment firmer than ‘submit material on return’ !
– not unreasonable, in all fairness, unless you are an established author. Get by without the media if you possibly can or at least treat any sales as a post-expedition bonus.
Sponsorship. Regarding other sponsorship try, before going further into this jungle, to see your project through the eyes of the company you are about to approach. What, really, is in it for them? Your package of proposals must offer real prestige and a positive spin-off for your sponsor. Again, the Royal Geographical Society is able to offers a valuable guide to sponsorship.

Transit costs. On costs overall, you will find in most cases that the expense of getting to and from the expedition operating area is by far the greatest constituent of total costs (see also Section 1.2 ‘Shipping’). Next will come fuel for your vehicle, especially if it is petrol (not the best idea) rather than diesel powered. In the field you are very often self-contained and self-sustaining and living at a very low rate of expenditure so this will be the cheapest part of all.