Locked down in self isolation? Boredom busters for 4WD’ers
With the country-wide, and world-wide, lockdowns and self-isolations happening as part of the worlds response to the Covid 19 pandemic, we’ve seen a lot of people ask what they can do to keep themselves busy during this trying time. Here’s a list of things that I’m doing, and I think everyone else can do too!
Do some basic vehicle checks and maintenance
Everyone here always keeps their vehicle serviced at the required intervals, and checks over common areas before they go out… don’t they?
Well, I know all to well that sometimes life gets in the way, and wen you get the invitation to go out wheeling that morning you don’t always have the chance to do a full check of everything on your vehicle. Your extra time now can be used to run checks on your car, and do some basic maintenance that normally gets overlooked. Check things like the air cleaner, brake fluid, clutch fluid, and even things that you normally don’t like diff oil. Spend a bit of time now and you’ll make your vehicle more reliable and you’ll know that everything is ship-shape for when you can get back on the tracks.
Check your additional wiring
The biggest things that I’ve seen fail in most DIY (and even some professional) installations is wiring – mainly where wires are joined. If you’ve done some bush mechanic repairs or you’ve had to do things a bit quicker then normal, now is the time to go back over everything and check your joints, solder everything that can be soldered and set up heat-shrink everywhere you can.
Get some more gear set up on your 4WD
This one we love… who wouldn’t? This is by far the best time to add things like lightbars, UHF radios, dash cams, and pretty much anything else that you can dream of. There’s still a huge range of stores that are still open online (like Major 4×4) so you can still get everything that you want delivered to your door instead of having to go to the shops yourself.
I realise that as much as we’d all love this, there’s also a lot of us out there that don’t have the funds available for buying a whole heap of new gear right now. For everyone in that situation, I’d suggest going back over what you’ve got now, and making sure that everything is secure, bolted up tight and in good working order.
Check and clean your camping gear
How many times have you pulled your tent out and had it still damp after it rained in your last trip? This is a great time to set up your tents and pull out the sleeping bags, chairs and more to get everything set up to see what needs bit of love and attention.
Another great thing about this is you can tell the lids that you’re going on a camping trip at home. Make it a fun time for the whole family.
Get your man-cave into order
This is one that I’m always bad at myself. The garage is always a mess, and things get put away where they shouldn’t be. This is the right time to spend getting things into order and making sure that everything is where it should be so you know where it is when you really need it.
And above all – keep in touch with loved ones
This is the one point that I can’t stress enough. Everyone needs human interaction, and being stuck in isolation takes that away from all of us. Something as simple as a phone call to your friends or family can be enough to life your spirits and keep in touch. We’re lucky that we’re living in these days of advanced technology where we’ve got a huge range of options available for voice and video chats, so there’s no excuse to be stuck alone!