Aviator4x4

Aviator Expedition1: The Outer Banks is a mild, low risk, offroad adventure but it was the perfect introduction.

In 2021 we spent 5 days on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It was the first time I had taken the truck somewhere without fuel, grocery stores, or any kind of resupply available and it created a lasting impression: this was something I enjoyed and wanted to do more of. I have since taken several multi-thousand mile trips through WV, NC/TN, and FL, but it all started here.

Obligatory not affiliated with these companies, I bought all of this myself, none of it was provided to me, etc…

After driving onto the ferry, we aired our tires down to ~20PSI with a Grit Performance Deflate Tool. First time using one, and it worked as expected. The case also contained spare valve stems, caps, and a valve stem tool which could be quite handy while exploring.

Off the ferry we got our pre-paid ORV stickers and set off to find a secluded spot. Parts of the beach were closed for turtle migration, forcing us to use the sugar sand access trails behind the beach which turned out to be pretty fun, and the trucks handled it like champs.

Eventually we found a spot and setup our basecamp from which we would relax and explore. The GCI Master Camp Table purchased for this trip turned out to be one of the stars of the camp, along with canopies for shade. We modified some Made in USA Igloo 6gal Water Jugs with new caps and stainless steel spigots to facilitate running sink water for dishes and hands.

Being the first trip of this sort for any of us, I wanted to try out the recovery gear and get some practice with the winch on my truck. It ended up taking a little bit to get the truck stuck in the sand, which was confidence inspiring. I had to disable all forms of stability/traction control, put it in 2wd, gear select M1, and step on the accelerator pretty hard to bury the rear. Then repeat in 4×4 for the front… Digging and putting the traction boards down almost took less time than to get stuck, and the truck easily climbed right out.

Following the traction boards, we setup a rear winch with snatchblock.

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WARNING: DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, USE A TOW BALL FOR A REAR WINCH POINT. THIS CAN, AND HAS, KILLED PEOPLE.

Here is a very sad story, with pictures, about the death of a father trying to help a friend.

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We anchored a Rhino 26k # Snatchblock using a 41k # Rhino D ring shackle on the Silverado’s rear hitch chain safety loop, which would be fine for the constant pull of a winch but not somewhere anyone should snatch/jerk from with a kinetic rope/strap. In hindsight we should have put a Rhino Shackle Hitch in the receiver instead to standardize training and minimize risk. We connected both of the front rated recovery points on the Colorado with an 8′ Rhino 31k # Tree Saver Strap to the 30′ 31k # Rhino strap from the shackle kit, and spooled the winch out as far as convenient.

In a real recovery we would spool out the winch as much as possible to get the greatest pulling strength, down to the last row on the drum. That, in conjunction with the 2x multiplier of every snatch block, creates an immense amount of pulling strength.

/divi

At the end of the trip we were all sad to leave, and promised to return, despite living covered in sand for 5 days. And by living covered in sand, I mean it was *everywhere*.

The truck got a nice vacuuming, seat shampooing, and foam cannon bath the next day with some Chemical Guys Honeydew Snow Foam

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