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Since most rooftop tents have the mattress and sleeping gear stored inside of them, it is inevitable that they get sandy. Unlike a standard backpacking tent, they are closed up and packed away day after day without the ability to easily remove everything and shake them clean. It’s really hard to keep the dirt out, but we’ve developed a few basic rules.

Rooftop tent on the New Cruiser.

Tools for keeping a rooftop tent clean: towel, wisk, and car mat.

1. We place a car floor mat at the base of the ladder. They are durable rubber, really cheap, and double as a (guess what) car mat when you’re driving. You don’t need a special place to store it.
2. We have a small towel for wiping our feet clean and dry. It hangs on a ladder rung, and we clean our feet just before climbing into the tent.
3. Finally, after we’ve taken all of the precautions, we find our tent is dirty. We have a small straw wisk that we use to sweep the sand out the door. The wisk is a great tool for keeping the rest of the vehicle clean so really it’s a must-have on our expedition equipment list.

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MapBorder, written by John Tserkezis of Technician Syndrome is a small freeware utility that runs on the back of OziExplorer and lets you easily define a complex map border. To use it, open OziExplorer and then run the utility. Click the ‘Load Map’ button and select the .map file you wish to edit. Scroll through the map in OziExplorer, and click the mouse where you want the vertices to appear, circumnavigating around the map in one direction (I go clockwise, but I’m not sure if it makes any difference). When you’re finished, click the save map button, and quit the utility. Simple!

Here’s an example of an ITMB map we have that required a complex border. The first image is a screenshot of our South American index map in OziExplorer, showing the shape of the map - it’s northern Peru. The second is a zoomed out screenshot of the map itself. The blue gridlines define the map boundary, and you can probably make out the the map cover leaf down the left hand side, a legend on the top-right, and a city cut-out (Lima) on the bottom-right.

A complex map shape of Northern Peru in the Index Map of OziExplorer.

Complex map border in OziExplorer.

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To prepare for our latest trip through South America, we purchased a hardcopy of each of the country maps that they produce. I scanned each map on a large format scanner, and calibrated them for use in OziExplorer. (we have access to a large scanner for free - many companies will charge over $20 for double sided scan - it might be cheaper to buy the digital versions outright).

In either case, you’ll need to calibrate the map images in your GPS software. Read this article for our Video How-To explaining the calibration process in OziExplorer. The basic settings are:

• Use the full number (9) calibration points.
• As a map datum select Pulkovo (1942).
• Use a Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area Projection. This is typical for maps in the southern hemisphere. This projection requires a central meridian and latitude origin to calculate correctly.
• Choose the central meridian as the longitude that is central on the map.
• Experiment with a latitude origin that works the best. Check it by turning on the gridlines drawn by the mapping software and compare them to the gridlines on the map. If the lines don’t fall on top of each other then change the latitude origin. In general, the latitude will be around the middle of the map.

So, how well do they actually work? It varies. Sometimes the software gridlines fall perfectly on the map gridlines, but the cartography varies slightly from the actually GPS track. Sometimes both are offset, and somtimes it is all bang on. The following images are screenshots of some of our tracks in Colombia and Ecuador, using OziExplorer software. The following text describes them - click the images for full-size screen shots.

Accurate ITMB Map of Ecuador with OziExplorer Track.

Inaccurate ITMB map of Colombia with OziExplorer Track.

Accurate Russian Military Map with OziExplorer Track.

The first image is a portion of an ITMB map of Ecuador, with an OziExplorer track overlaid on top. You can see that the acuracy of the track is pretty good, for the most part following the roads. This track follows major highways and smaller unpaved roads.

The second image is a portion of an ITMB map in Colombia. For some reason the cartography is shifted quite a bit - the gridlines fall properly on the map, but the OziExplorer track doesn’t follow the roads.
The last image shows the same track, but this time overlaid on the Russian Military Topographic map. In this case the Russian map is incredibly accurate.

So for us the moral is to have some redundancy in your mapping information. You never know how good the data will actually be in the field. We have the original hardcopy versions of the maps, the digital scanned versions, calibrated for OziExplorer, and finally a complete independent map set. If you haven’t already, take a look at our Russian Topographic Maps of South America, pre-calibrated for OziExplorer. You can download them from our site.

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• Bluetooth 2.0,
• Internal WiFi A/B/G cards (often with external high-gain antennas),
• Internal GPS receivers,
• large capacity hard drives, and
• DVD/CD Burners.

And to top it all off, they come with new paintjobs!

While all of these extras are great, remember that at the end of the day these are just CF-28 ’s on the inside. The maximum processor speed is still only a PIII 1Ghz, and the maximum RAM supported is 1 GB. Windows XP will run very slowly, and Vista will barely run at all. Windows 2000 is fine, but no longer supported by Microsoft, and many modern programs won’t run on it either. For example, the latest version of Microsoft Streets and Trips navigation software (a typicaly application for a Toughbook) doesn’t install on Windows 2000.

In any case, the CF-28 is a great little notebook, a true ruggedized computer, and if you look hard enough you’ll be sure to find a deal (prices are going anywhere from $800 to $2000 depending on the options). Take a look here at the latest eBay listings on our site for some of the current options.

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The downside is that, like all other guidebooks, they tend to focus on the touristy places and things to do. Since we tend to try and stay off the beaten track, this renders most of the content useless to us. However, we DO find the guides useful for navigating through towns and cities, so I have ‘narrowed’ it down to the following list of Lonely Planet guides that we’ll be taking with us. Basically, we’re taking a whole library!

Country Travel Guides (these links will take you to Amazon.com where the books may be purchased)

• Lonely Planet Mexico (Country Guide)
• Lonely Planet Central America on a Shoestring
• Lonely Planet South America on a Shoestring (Lonely Planet Shoestring Guides) (covers the Guianas, Suriname, Paraguay & Uruguay not covered in other guidebooks)
• Colombia (Country Guide)
• Venezuela
• Ecuador & the Galapagos Islands (Country Guide)
• Peru (Country Guide)
• Brazil (Country Guide)
• Bolivia (Country Guide)
• Lonely Planet Chile & Easter Island
• Lonely Planet Argentina

Other Lonely Planet Guides:

• Trekking in the Central Andes (Walking)
• Trekking in the Patagonian Andes (Walking)
• Healthy Travel - Central & South America (Healthy Travel)
• Lonely Planet Latin American Spanish Phrasebook
• Brazilian Portuguese: Lonely Planet Phrasebook
• Lonely Planet Quechua Phrasebook

I’ve decided to purchase the guides from Amazon.ca who are the cheapest in Canada, and also have most of these guides in stock at any given time.

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If you have Garmin the GPS 35 TracPak remote GPS antenna/receiver, you might need the manual - Garmin has stopped distributing it via their website. We have an original pdf version of the Garmin GPS 35 TracPak Manual.

This unit came in both USB and 9 pin serial forms. It didn’t have a display, so it was designed to interface with a computer with mapping software.

This is basic description is from the Garmin site :

“The Garmin GPS 35 TracPak is a complete GPS receiver and embedded antenna designed for a broad spectrum of OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturers) system applications. Based on the proven technology found in other Garmin 12-channel GPS receivers, the GPS 35 will track up to twelve satellites at a time while providing one-second navigation updates and low power consumption. Its far-reaching capability meets the sensitivity requirements of land navigation as well as the dynamics requirements of high-performance aircraft.”

We have used one for the past 5 years - it’s bolted to the roof of the truck, has a really low profile, and has excellent reception. The downside is it needs a display or laptop mounted in the vehicle, and we can’t just grab it to go on a hike at any time.

Are you looking for more? Check out

• Garmin’s GPS Guide for Beginners and
• Using a Garmin GPS with Paper Maps.

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