Ep202 - Jimmy, the Jimny and the Open Road

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Transcript

Lauren 0:06

Howdy folks and welcome to this Noise Camping Show with Ben and Lauren. How are you going, Ben?

SPEAKER_01 0:10

Good, how are you? Good. You're asked in this morning.

Lauren 0:13

Wild, wild morning this morning. Forgot I was supposed to be here.

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Get you out of bed half an hour. You know we've got an interview.

Lauren 0:18

Yeah, and you know what? Like I was here in 17 minutes or something, including getting dressed. So I think that's pretty fair. Don't forget to subscribe wherever you're listening to your podcast, whether that be on YouTube or your favourite podcast app. And also join in to our Facebook group, Snoys CampingBanter. Get involved in the chat. And today we have an interview with uh one of our ambassadors.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Yep, our OG ambassador.

Lauren 0:45

Our OG.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

He was an ambassador before we we even knew we had ambassadors.

Lauren 0:49

Do you remember when I started using OG and you were like, what is that? And now you use it all the time.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

Do I? Yeah. Did you get me onto that?

Lauren 0:55

Yeah, I did. Okay. I love it. Um OG Ambassador. Um and you would have seen, especially with our release of the Inspired Overland Tents, you would have seen a lot of um his sort of content um on our social media and things like that.

SPEAKER_04 1:08

Yep.

unknown 1:08

Okay.

Lauren 1:09

Um but today we've got James from Jimmy's Gymney. How are you going, James?

SPEAKER_04 1:14

Good. Thank you. Thanks so much for having me.

Lauren 1:16

No worries. It's good to see you.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

It's good to have you uh on the show. We've uh spent a bit of time together at a Sydney show last year, I think. So some people listing might have been past the show and seen your gymney there on on the um Inspired Overland uh display. That that's the brand that kind of connected us, I think, because you I think you'd seen them prior to us uh sort of sourcing them and and were interested. And then someone reached out to someone and and yeah, that's how that's how the relationship flourished. Uh-huh. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:46

I think I I saw the Inspired Overland team and their content in the US and just thought I really wish we had these in Australia because you know, as as you guys know, the range is very different in Australia and the design mentality is very different. Um when I reached out to them, they said, Oh, Snow is just about to start selling them in Australia and will be the exclusive distributor. So the stars kind of aligned there, worked out really well.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

Yeah, yeah, they're it's a great brand. They've got some cool stuff coming out. Um aimed at lightweight tents for smaller vehicles, which is uh your realm owning a gymney, but um I won't tell everyone about you. Let's uh over to you. Uh who are you? What's the the core of um how people know you online?

SPEAKER_04 2:31

Yeah, for sure. Uh we are James, but otherwise normally go by Jimmy's Gymney because it has a better end to it for the Instagram handle. Uh I started, I always love creating content and I love camping outdoors. So um when I had the opportunity to get a gymney when the new gymneys came out, um it really gave me a platform to get out and have a reason to create content, but also use creating content as a reason to get out more. So it was um a really good opportunity. And yeah, people would have seen my content um based in Newcastle and really just travel around Newcastle area. But I used to be up in Queensland, so have done a lot up towards like Cairns and far north Queensland, um, and then as far down as Melbourne, so not a lot of the East Coast, but yeah um with the being the smaller platform than it is, um mainly just stick to the the main East Coast routes.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Yeah, cool. Now you I I noticed you talked about the new gymney. You you if you go back through your content, you've got an an older style gymney with a white ball bar going way back. So is that is that where your love of the small four drive started?

SPEAKER_04 3:40

Yeah, absolutely. So I I remember when I first got that gymney, I do remember seeing them. That's the people that own this gymney, but I thought that's a funky looking car. Um but when the new body of the JB74 came out, um, I was obsessed with that, but it was just out of my budget. I just finished, I was at uni at the time, uh, but I really still wanted to get into it. And then the more I looked at them, the more older style grew on me. Um but that was really my gateway like into camping and the outdoors and like DIY modifications. Um and I learned a lot about like poor driving, pool driving and camping just from that platform. Uh and then after an adventurous trip to Lane Cruiser Park, Lane Cruiser Mountain Park in Queensland, the that chimney needed to go and needed to be replaced with something new. Uh at the time, yeah, there was a a white chimney, one of the new JB74s available, so it worked out really well.

Lauren 4:37

So you literally ran your old one into the ground, literally.

SPEAKER_04 4:42

I wouldn't say it was ran into the ground, but it was the perfect time where it needed some mechanical fixes, and there was this car available, and the demand was really starting to grow for the JB74. And this is at a time when the demand was like a couple of months, um, but the market was kind of saying that it was going to blow out to like 12 months for the wait time for a gymney, which obviously did happen. Um, so and that one was at Morton Bay, Suzuki, which was just near where I lived in Brisbane. So um, when that was available, I thought this is the great time to jump ship onto the new platform. Nice.

Lauren 5:15

What do you think? Like because the new gymneys have really boomed, like really, they're like almost this little cult. What do you can what do you attribute that to, do you think?

SPEAKER_04 5:27

I think aesthetic is one thing. Like it's just a really cool looking car. I can remember when they first came out just driving around, you'd almost every petrol station you'd stop at, which is pretty often with a chimney. Um, you know, someone would stop you and ask about the car and they'd never seen a like that car before. Um, it was a really striking design. Obviously, it shares a lot of similar design traits from the older gymneys, but um, you know, it was a very boxy car in like when these came out in 2018. Most cars weren't like that. If you think of the other 2018 four-wheel drives around, they're all very curvy and bubbly looking. Um, and now a lot of vehicles like the new Triton, the ILUX, the Prado, they're all boxy cars, I think, ahead of the design potentially. And also, you could get an auto for less than 30,000 back in 2018, 2019. And the manuals were even cheaper. I think they might have started around 24,000 for the basic colours. Obviously, they're much more expensive now, but I think that it was this less aggressive, more beginner-friendly platform that also happened to be extremely capable and have a lot of legacy behind it. So if you want to, you can just have it as your little runaround city car that you see a lot of like you know, grandmas driving around in, and it's a good little forward for that. But if you want to go all out and put massive tires on it and just do you know the hardest tracks that you can, there's also the platform for that as well. So I think being able to pay it to everyone while also not being perfect for everyone was probably the reason that it boomed so much.

Lauren 7:01

Do you have any opinion on the auto versus manual, especially if you're forward driving?

SPEAKER_04 7:08

Uh yeah, for sure. I I have an auto and I think that the auto makes forward driving a lot easier. You can focus more on the line that you're taking. Um I suppose it makes it less technical and easier for beginners to get into forward driving. Um, but I do often wish that I got a manual because I think that it would have been a lot more fun and a lot more engaging to drive. And it is a fun, sort of very responsive car. But if you can, the more you can control, like if you had a manual, I think you get more out of the car potentially.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

And you did a bit of a promo on the is, I think it's the XL is the longer wheelbase version. Is that is they call it the XL? I think you've got a few things on your YouTube channel where I'm assuming uh a dealership gave you one to try it out or something. What's your your take on the short wheelbase versus the long wheelbase?

SPEAKER_04 7:57

Yeah, so I actually reached out to Suzuki Queensland because when it came out, I was like, this is quite polarizing within the community, like the Gimny community, it was a lot of people just hated it and said that it's not a gym, you know, it's else. Um, but in reality, like the back seats and the two-door gymney are not particularly practical. Um, you sit back there, your knees are up at your chest and your head's touching the roof. Um, it's still fun, but the four-door is a lot more practical. I think the thing that I found from that review and just having it for just a day was that even though it seems so much longer, it's really only 30 centimetres longer, and the seats don't fold flat like they do in the back of the two-door gymney, so they sit up a little bit, so you end up with less storage volume in the back of that larger gymney. But you obviously have a larger vehicle. So I think for people that are often using the back seats, it's perfect, but you basically have zero boot space. Whereas the way I use my two-door gymney is that it is like the back seats aren't actually even in it, so it's just exclusively a two-seater, and that makes a good little platform. But the like the five-door gymney or the XL one would just be perfect if you've got a couple of mats you want to go up to the beach with, but you're not gonna do a full setup in the back of it.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

Yeah, cool. So more storage than the small one. That's a little a good bit of information for those researching, I suppose. Um, when you first got so you knew Gymney, um what were the first mods like out out of the out of the box, straight off out of the um dealership? Is it quite capable? And and what are the what are the first things you did or you think people should do on their gymney?

SPEAKER_04 9:35

Yeah, I think it's much more capable than people expect. Uh the first mods that I did was a roof rack. I think you do need a roof rack or roof bars on a gymney because it's obviously such a short vehicle. So if you even need to pick up a box that's slightly wider than the inside of the chimney, you can put it. Uh so it just gives you a bit more versatility. I think the other mods I did was a ladder for the back door that was probably not needed, but still, I thought it looked good at the time. And I put some mud terrain tires on. And the mud terrain tyres I probably wouldn't recommend to someone who's just getting a gymney. They're too aggressive, and if you're not spending time in the mud, it just ends up chewing through a fuel and makes it even slower. Uh, but I think, yeah, like I said, the gymney is much more capable than people would think out of the box. It's a very light four-wheel drive. You can take it on the beach with the highway tires that it comes with, and you will have a very hard time getting it stuck. Um, whereas when you start putting bigger tires on it, so you've got more weight and it's a bit easier to get it stuck and when you start overloading it.

Lauren 10:40

I have heard a bit of feedback about um they're great for a fun car. Like they're good for little weekend trips or to go and do some fun little fall driving without the investment and the expense of having a massive full drive. But when it comes to time spent on the road and touring and things, they're not very comfortable. Uh, you mentioned you've done a lot of the East Coast and gone down to Melbourne and things like that. What's your experience doing those long-distance touring type things with the gymney?

SPEAKER_04 11:11

Yeah, I think the thing that struggles with the most on long trips is power. And that comes back to when I was saying the auto and the manual as well. I think the auto is a four-speed auto, but the manual is a five-speed, so you have a little bit more control there and a little bit, you can it's it kind of in your own hands, you can drop it down more gears if you need to go past someone, whereas in the auto, you're pretty constrained to what the computer chooses. Uh, and obviously, if you're loaded on a long trip, you do feel that difference as well. But on the most recent trip that we did was from Newcastle to Carben Gorge in like central Queensland, and that was obviously a lot of long days of highway driving. I I think that the gymney is very comfortable with upgraded suspension, and when you've taken the time to put in like thoughtful modifications, a lot of the modifications that I put are inside, and they're things like the like rear shelf on the roof, um, like drawers, all those things that just make the rear space so much more usable. And that means that when you pull over, you don't need to unpack all these things that you've shoved in, all these random nooks and crannies. Um, so I think yeah, if you can make those modifications that are thoughtful modifications for the type of driving you do, it's definitely not a bad platform for it. But at the end of the day, if you've got, especially on the highway, if you've got more power, it's always going to make those long days just more enjoyable to spend on the road.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

Um I've got a question. This is what did you change out over time? But it's probably quite a long list. Can you um briefly summarize uh your your journey from where you started to where you are now? Because you've changed things like head units and grills and and all sorts of little details.

SPEAKER_04 12:53

Yeah. At the start, the changes that I made were mainly cosmetic. And as I mentioned, the last gymney that I had was really the first four drive that I had. So getting into the space and not really understanding what you do need and don't need, and you know, it's very easy to just buy anything. There's a lot of things now for sale for the gymney. Uh the one of the first modifications, yeah, was roof, rack, ladder, tires. Um, and then eventually I went and upgraded suspension, and suspension had one of the biggest impacts on the how enjoyable it was to drive. Um, for a factory, it's pretty soft, and once you've loaded the backup with camping gear, you're pretty much bottoming out the suspension. So when you're on it's not particularly comfortable. Um, and then inside the next upgrades that I made were the storage upgrades. So I started realizing that you know I I built a DIY draw system, but on the highway it would rattle and shake around and you know, things would fall over. So after that, just making small upgrades as I went. And really, it's taken like five years to get the chimney to the point that it is now where it just when it's sitting there is pretty much ready to go to just put our things in and just go away for a trip rather than needing to spend hours packing it and and reshuffling the swag and doing all these things to make it actually you know drivable.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

It's a good segue to my next question with gear considerations and how you camp in a small car. You don't have kids, do you? It's just you and your partner that would go camping, so you're only packing for two. But uh what do you what do you have to modify, I suppose, compared to uh someone who's got all the space in the world? Like what considerations do you make when you're buying gear?

SPEAKER_04 14:36

Yeah. Mainly buying like hiking equipment I found is really helpful. So things like uh taking a jet oil for your stove instead of taking a full double burner. I do have a double burner, but I end up just not bringing it because I've run out of space. Um, those like smaller decisions, like instead of bringing your full pillow, you're bringing a packable pillow that you would just take hiking or camping anyway. It makes it a little bit more expensive, but it when you do all those things, you end up not having a gymney that's just completely packed to the brim, and when you open the door, things are falling out because everything I think it comes down to again, those like thoughtful decisions rather than just buying the cheapest thing that's there that seems to fit.

SPEAKER_01 15:19

Um I'll probably load this question with my next one. I I want to talk about the the evolution of the shelter. I'm trying to think with your first gymney, I don't think you had a rooftop tent on the top. Trying to remember what the pictures look like. And you've had a few since lately. You've got the inspired overland one, but that doesn't have roof racks, so you can't put things on the roof. So I assume you're able to get everything in the back now. Um but when you started, what was your uh what did you start with to sleep in? Did you have to start with a small hiking tent? And you mentioned swags before, which are quite bulky. So how did that work with the gymney?

SPEAKER_04 15:54

Yeah, so I had just a cheap tent that I think I just inherited from someone. I don't actually remember buying it. Um probably once it's just lying around the family home that I ended up commandeering. And from there it evolved into a single swag. But the single swag is the was pretty much the width of the gymney in the back, and obviously I said they're huge, and putting something like a swag on the roof as well as a lot of extra drag um when you're already got a small engine that's doing its best to keep you going at 110. Go inside, and we did a trip down to Parishaw with a swag in the back, and yeah, it took up you know 50% of the space that was available in there. So since then, I've gone. I do have like an ultra-year hiking setup as well for our hikes that we do. But yeah, obviously, since then, since the swag, I've gone to a front runner rooftop tent. Um, and at the time that was the lightest one that you could get in Australia, and it's around 42 kilos, 43 kilos. Um, and that that was a good tent as well as this traditional like clam style opening tent, um, and then sit since then have switched to the inspired overland standard lightweight rooftop tent.

SPEAKER_01 17:06

Um and uh the the benefits you found with the Inspired. We've sold both um front runner and inspired, but obviously the inspired is is longer, takes up all the all of the roof, um the length of the roof, and I think you had to get the the standard size because otherwise it would kind of overhang, and I'm assuming that would then cause um wind issues and and um not make it quite as uh efficient in the wind. Did you have you noticed the difference with the height of the front runner being it was like a fold out one that folded out to the side, whereas now you've got a what do you call it, a not a sandwich, I don't know what you call it, like a just a V single, single pivot point. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:50

Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean, one of the biggest advantages is that it can go into a car park. And the reality is that it's also my daily driver, and I do live in a city, so I do need to be able to go to the shops and take the car into the car park. Um, the front runner tent, yeah, being that traditional style of rooftop tent, I just couldn't ever go into a car park. It sat at a 2.2 or 2. I think two meters. So most car parks are 2.1 metres. So since switching over to the new tent, that is obviously so much like just flatter because it's yeah, just a single, um, a single lot more convenient day to day, and also just less drag, less wind noise, um, and setup is considerably easier because you just walk around with that zip, as you know, and you just pop the tent up on the gas struts and climb it and go to bed. Whereas the front runner tent is, you know, you need to walk around, you need to take the zip off, take the cover off, and then you unfold it and you jump up there and put all the poles on. And when you're standing on the side, you know, standing on the wheel to reach up to be able to reach the pole and it's raining or it's the middle of the day and you're sweating, it's not an enjoyable experience. So the current setup is much more streamlined and much faster to just be able to pull up, unzip, pop the tenner, and climb it, you can go to sleep if you need to.

SPEAKER_01 19:05

Nice. Um, so broad question on everything we've covered so far. Um, you mentioned the earlier suspension upgrade was made a world of difference. So, knowing all that you know now with all the upgrades that you've done, if I went and bought a gymney today and said I've got a little bit of money to do my first major upgrade, what would be the first thing you'd say uh or recommend someone did if they want to use it for what you use it for, just getting around and uh adventures, and we're going to touch on some of your adventures shortly.

SPEAKER_04 19:36

Yeah, I would honestly say to go out and do an overnight camping trip with the gear that they've got, like just a random tent that they've got, and really understand like what is it that you do need and what kind of setup is good for you because there's so many different setups just in the gymney space alone that are so tailored for different things. But if I was to give, you know, if I was building another gymney again, it would be tires, like larger tires, because I think the tires are comically small on the gymney, uh larger tires, suspension, and and that just makes a world of difference for everything that you then put on as using that as your base platform. Because otherwise you start to add all these things to the gymney, and then it obviously starts to increase in weight, and you don't have the larger tires and suspension to help carry that weight.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

I reckon it's probably similar to most four-wheel drives where I think one of the best upgrades you can make out of the the showroom is to is tires and and suspension because they're all made for soft highway city driving. And if you want to get out there on the tracks, it can do it. But that better suspension or what you can put in the car and how it handles makes a huge difference. Um I want to touch on the questions that are asked all the time around the weight of the gymney, GVM, roofload, those sort of things. And there is an element of um is not uh we're not gonna sit here and say what you should and shouldn't do uh with a gymney. Um there are limitations and everyone's gonna make their own decisions. But let's start with GVM though. Um GVM is uh you can get a legal upgrade to a vehicle. Like what's the um the gymney? I had a quick look and I could be wrong. Uh GVM of a gymney about 1435 with a 340 to 360 kilo pay rate. Does it payload? Sorry. Does that sound about right?

SPEAKER_04 21:23

Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 21:25

Um yeah, and and like you said, you can get GVM upgrades now from not from factory, but from aftermarket manufacturers like Iron Man and I believe Tough Dog, and you can get them done pre-Rego. And that's the more cost-effective way to do it. At the time when I purchased the Gimney, there were no GVM upgrades available pre Rajo. So, and it's quite a bit more expensive to get them engineered after it's already been registered. So I think that rules out a lot of people from doing it. Um, but yeah, like you said, there's like three, I think 350 ish kilos there to work with. So again, it just comes about Making those thoughtful decisions. Like it's not all about space, a lot of it is about weight. So switching from those the big stove to the jet boil, from the pillow to the hiking pillow, like it doesn't seem like it makes a difference. But when you've done that to all of your camping gear, it does make a big difference in the end.

SPEAKER_01 22:16

How much fuel does it fit? Does it tank? Have you got a long range tank? Or can you do it on a long-range tank?

SPEAKER_04 22:23

They do, yeah. So the long range does one. Um and I think Brandavis does an auxiliary tank, but the long-range tank's 80 litres, and I think it's just under 40 litres. It's like 38 or 39 litres, is what you actually can put in at the tank at the at the station. But the it will get me maybe 400, 380 kilometers, which obviously and that's why I mentioned before, like spending a lot of time on the east coast rather than venturing inland, because even when we went to Carnival Gorge, there was a section there where the last petrol station was and and to Canaban Gorge and back was too far for the gymney. So we ended up needing to organize for extra fuel to be taken from someone else that was meeting us there that was coming from somewhere different. So there's that like logistics that that extra planning that you need. But at the end of the day, the long-range fuel tank would have solved that. So if you spend a lot of time doing high-way driving, that's something to consider. But it also then just is something to give you need to add then the extra weight that you're carrying on on the total weight of the vehicle. Um, and an extra 40 litres of fuel obviously makes a difference when you've got 350 kilos to work with.

SPEAKER_01 23:31

Yeah. Um how much have you had a GVM upgrade on your gymney? Do you know how much extra it gives you when you do that?

SPEAKER_04 23:41

I think it you have to correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it's only around like 100, 150 kilos.

SPEAKER_03 23:46

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_04 23:47

So obviously, a decent upgrade in the scheme of what you're dealing with to start with, but it's it's not huge. And ultimately as well, you're then just carrying the the weight that the engine is then needs to pull on, so your your fuel efficiency and just general power is going to be impacted as well.

SPEAKER_01 24:04

Yeah. So you've probably got two people of fuel. You've got um coming up close or 180 odd kilos, close to 200 kilos just for that. So you've you've already only got uh uh 140 kilos, so you'd use that up pretty quickly, so yeah, you have to put that carefully in a gymne. Um roofload rating. Uh we're not gonna dig into this too much because it does have a roofload rating. It's really hard to find anything that uh sits within those uh realms. Um I think a lot of people are searching for someone to say, yes, you can do this on a gymney. Um but uh the way I see it is that I think that people need to make their own decision on that and how they want to use their car, understand the limitations. And um, I I guess a a better question is um what uh considerations can people make in uh keeping that roofload to a minimum.

SPEAKER_04 24:56

Yeah, yeah, it's a good way to put it. Um obviously the tent or whatever you put up the top needs to be mounted in some way. So just making the switch from you know full platform rack, especially if you've got something like the inspired overland tent where it takes up the whole rack, you don't need a platform rack because you can't access the platform anyway. So the alternative there would be like two or three load bars, which you know might weigh like five or six kilos total rather than a kilo uh 20 kilo uh roof rack. So that's definitely the easiest way to save weight. You can also do things like pull the mattress out of the um tent that's what for an air mattress, other tents like the front runner tent, um, in the past I've seen people take the ladder off. So the it's wide over N1, the ladder obviously doesn't go inside the tent anyway, but all those small things that you can pull off to get it down closer below the 30 kilo um roofload limit, the better. And then also just considering you know, other things add up like a light bar and an awning. So if you opt out a rooftop tent, choosing not to have those things and also just driving and yeah, understanding the fact that at the end of the day it's your vehicle and it's the way that you drive the vehicle as well, like the rules that rule. But you know, if you drive the vehicle like a own, and it's the same with any car, uh you've just got what the legislation is. Um, if you are taking corners too fast and you're driving around like a bit of an idiot, then things will will probably go poorly for you. But if you drive like you've got things on the roof or you respect the vehicle and respect the road you're driving on, then um I don't think you really will run into an issue.

SPEAKER_01 26:30

It's a funny topic because it seems to be quite focused on the gymney roofload. But if you look at a lot of four wheel drives, big four wheel drives, any four-wheel drives, and start to do the maths. Um there's there's a lot of very overloaded vehicles around, and it's probably good that the gymney community is a little more focused on that weight and just how it handles. Do you drive I guess you you you probably don't drive it much without anything on the roof, but do you know if there's much difference between driving the gymney with a roof rack and uh and a rooftop tent versus not at all? Noise and drag or anything?

SPEAKER_04 27:04

Yeah, it is definitely noticeable. Um and yeah, with the shape of the gymney being like brick-like to begin with, anything that you can do to help streamline it definitely helps. Um load bars, uh, it depends on the brand, but some of them can like whistle, and same with roof racks as well, which is just not a gymney specific thing, but just um you know, general. But with upgraded tires and suspension, that's made a big difference for the gymney. If the tires sit wider, which helps with its stance and makes it less wobbly when there's a crosswind that comes past or a big truck drives past you, and then same thing again with the rooftop tent. Like a thinner rooftop tent helps, it makes it more stable. Um, but yeah, nothing can beat the just driving with nothing on top because it's it's so much lighter and just go.

SPEAKER_01 27:51

Yeah, same as any vehicle. Yeah, um I want to talk a bit about your your the trip. Step away from it, unless you've got any other car specific questions. So I'm doing all the talking today. Yeah, that's fine. You didn't need to come in.

Lauren 28:05

Could have stayed in bed.

SPEAKER_01 28:08

Have you uh found going on trips? Maybe you just go on trips with other gymneys so you don't come across this, but if you've ever been on a trip, say with a troopie or a patrol, a bigger car, and there's just been a point in which you've not been able to do that because you're in a little gymney, or do you pretty much push the gymney wherever the big guys go?

SPEAKER_04 28:27

Yeah, I I've definitely pushed the gymney wherever the big guys go, um, at the expense of parts and and broken bits and things along the way. Uh it's interesting because the gymney being so narrow, it doesn't often fit in a track that's set out either. So it also doesn't have the same amount of ground clearance as a troopy or like something like 79 that's heavily modified. But you often find that you're not actually driving the same track because you end up sitting up off the track or taking, you know, driving almost sideways along a track rather than sitting it because the wheels just aren't widening. So you might have a wheel between the track and one's up on the side, which makes it a bit more exciting. Um, but I I think the only time it's ever felt like that is is distance and and you know, like when you're driving around with a someone with a diesel that has a long-range tank on top of an already 80 litre tank, there's just no way to keep up. But also ultimately, I I I can't sit in the car for more than four hours at a time before I want to get out and have a stretch. And I also don't think you should if you're highway driving. Um so driving along the coast where you can stop at a servo and just fill up and stretch your legs is a huge inconvenience. It's not as much of an inconvenience as people might think that it is.

SPEAKER_01 29:41

So the only real limitation in reading into that is if you want a car that you got you want to do long outback touring, that's probably sounds like that's probably the only limitation um to a gymney.

SPEAKER_04 29:53

Yeah, and I mean as well. If you want to stay in one spot for um as long as possible, then there's a limitation, you know, if you want to bring things like Starlink and you want to have a big fridge. Um, I've got a 20-litre drawer fridge, I've got a 110 amp hour lithium battery in there, and that's enough if I stretch it to keep me off grid, you know, with a solar blanket for a week at a time. But you know, it's not like if you have a dual cab where you can just load up a carton of beer into the fridge and then throw your food in as well. It's very much, well, you know, we need we can fit in a 20-litre fridge, four cans plus food for a week. And then if you take one can out, you put one can back in, and you just be much more thoughtful of that to be able to stay for longer. It's definitely much more doable. And I think it's a fun challenge as well to be able to stay away for for longer and make those, you just need to think about a bit more and make those compromises to to make it enjoyable still.

Lauren 30:47

Do you sitting where you are now, if the money wasn't objective and there isn't there wasn't any sort of barriers to you making a choice, would you choose your the same thing you have now, or would you choose a different setup? Different vehicle?

SPEAKER_04 31:01

If money wasn't a an issue, it I would have two vehicles.

SPEAKER_01 31:07

Three three gymneys.

SPEAKER_04 31:10

But you know, we can it's like I think it's like having a convertible. It's the least practical car you can have, but everybody wants one because they're fun and something about it being so impractical is what draws people to it. Uh but obviously, you know, I would love to to drive out to down to South Australia and over to WA, but you can do it in Jimmy and people do it, definitely do it. But the I just think the enjoyment's probably lost a little bit when you you know compare it to a bigger setup. So I think there's a place for both. And it's more of the I think if you think of it as a convertible where it's like a fun car, um then that's it's like it's a toy, right?

Lauren 31:48

It's like a little micro machine.

SPEAKER_04 31:50

Yeah, yeah, and and be extreme with it, and you can you know really heavily modify it for if you're just gonna go off-road, and you can also just have a respectable middle ground that is great on the highway and put a long-range tank on it, and you can do all those trips. Um, so it's finding, and that's what I was saying with obviously it changes over the years. And um originally I started with the mud terrains and used to spend heaps of time like going off-road and and spending a lot of time doing that, and now I spend more time on the highway, like wanting to go further, and but it does get to the point where you can really only reach you know a few hundred kilometres from the nearest town before you then just don't have fuel, and then it doesn't matter how well you pass the car, and if you don't have fuel, you obviously can't keep going.

SPEAKER_01 32:34

I guess carrying extra fuel is difficult because you don't have space for cherry cans. Um I guess if you uh if you put them on the outside, then there's extra weight, so yeah, all these all these considerations. Um taking a step back to gear as well. Yeah, you I didn't touch on your 12-volt setup, but you must be using like a slimline lithium battery setup or something in there to kind of make everything fit neatly because uh a battery can quickly add weight and take up a bunch of space in a vehicle.

SPEAKER_04 33:03

Yeah, so I've got uh actually genuine Suzuki cargo barrier, which like goes from the floor to the roof. And for some reason, Suzuki produced I don't know how many, but they produced them for the first year that the gymney came out and then stopped producing them for some reason. So they're really hard to find, but they do go from floor to ceiling, which just means that you have this platform that you can bolt anything onto. So I found well, most ultrasound batteries now will fit, but just an ultrasound battery that sits behind the seats at the front and just sits on that cargo barrier there, and then I've got the full 12 up set up on the cargo barrier, and then that separates it as well from all the gear in the back. So I can, without any hesitation, throw bags and things in the back and you know, firewood without worrying that it's gonna take out my battery or you know destroy something and short something. Uh so it just creates a nice zone at the front for sitting comfortably without things falling on you as well if you get race, and then in the back, you can have it, you can have cargo chaos if you wanted to load it up completely. Um, but yeah, having those two zones and the battery just sits in the middle there.

SPEAKER_01 34:06

Do you find you need, given you've got such a small set, it's only a 20-litre fridge, do you find you need solar as well then? Or are you able to run pretty much that 110 amp hours just charging it off the car?

SPEAKER_04 34:17

Yeah, I do have a solar blanket and it just depends on on what trip I'm going on. So if I'm going on a trip, like we went away for New Year's and and that involved just driving somewhere and then setting up for four days. So I needed the solar blanket for that. But when we went up to Carvon, it was driving for you know five or six hours a day, and then I didn't need the solar blanket because by the time we would get to camp, it was already fully charged again. So yeah, it really just depends on the type of trip, but I've got one just in case. And and yeah, something like a solar blanket that just folds up and packs away is the kind of the perfect thing, rather than bringing big solar panels. Um and I have looked as well at putting a like a flexible solar panel on top of the inspired overland 10, but it's just not around to yet.

SPEAKER_01 35:04

Um all right, some fun questions. Uh when have you pushed an example of pushing the gymney, new or old, to the limit?

SPEAKER_04 35:15

I think pushing it to the limit was most likely that cannabin gorge trip that we most recently did. It's definitely a different like it's not like it's a mechanical limit, but it was more just pushing it as far as we had gone in a single trip and staying off grid for as long as as we could. Uh, and that was definitely um it was it was a good opportunity to see what we could do with the new setup as well. And that was the first trip that we'd done when the setup was really as dialed in as it is now, and it and like I said, it's taken five years and a fair bit of money and just time to get it to that point. Um, but yeah, that uh otherwise I think you know, with the old chimney at Lane Cruiser Mountain Park, where I was pushing it to its mechanical limit, was probably on the flip side, like you know, a different type of trip. But um I guess the platform can do both depending on depending on who you are as a person.

SPEAKER_01 36:08

Were you in a ever been in a position where you're thinking of maybe I shouldn't have done this?

SPEAKER_04 36:14

Yeah, quite a few times. Uh on the gymney, just you know, driving it through um the like fire access tracks out on the Sunshine Coast. And I remember we got stuck. I was with a mate of patrol, and for some reason we didn't let the patrol just go through first to see how deep it was or anything like that. And I just went into it gun-ho and ended up getting getting stuck in there. And I remember thinking this is a my brand new daily driver that I have just purchased, and I'm now sitting here just bogged. Um yeah, probably one of the last times that I did that in this newer journey, to be honest.

SPEAKER_01 36:45

Is that the photo with you hanging out the window waving? I think we've think we've used that for your um there's a photo of you in a mud hole somewhere hanging out, um, and we've used it as your profile picture on our ambassador page. Is that the one?

SPEAKER_04 36:57

Yeah. No, that's not the one, which maybe I probably didn't learn the same lesson I thought I learned. Um, like those kind of situations, but yeah, it's all it's all fun and you learn from it.

Lauren 37:12

What's your favorite bit of kit that you've got in your current setup?

SPEAKER_04 37:17

Uh I'd say the rear draw system that I've got now, it really was a I mean it's it's an off-shelf product, but it was a a massively upgraded version of something that I had spent a lot of time to design myself. You know, I thought about the space that I had and I made this, like now that I think back on it, very dodgy DIY draw system with a fridge. Um, so getting to put the draw system in that I have now, and it has a fridge on the same side, and it has a like a proper pull-out drawer, and it's it's all obviously manufactured properly, not just by me in the garage somewhere. Um, that is probably one of my favourite modifications. And it also just when you look at it, it just makes it look like this a purpose-built setup, not just me throwing things together that I bought from buttons on a random weekend.

SPEAKER_01 38:08

Um what have you got um the next on the on the cards for upgrading the gymny?

SPEAKER_04 38:17

Uh that's hard. It's it's getting to the point now where things need to start coming off to to put more things on. Obviously, we spoke about a GVM, but um that is a hard one. The next one would probably be a long-range tank to be able to get me to those places that I was talking about going. Um because fuel's really the only limitation. That's probably the the big limitation that we found when we just went to Carbon Gorge was that you know carrying fuel was the issue. And and like you said, it's hard to mount fuel externally because of legislation, and and also you just don't there's not really anywhere to put it without getting like a rear bar or something, but then you're another 50 gigabytes onto onto the weight of the vehicle. So um a long-range tank doesn't take up any extra space internally as well, so you don't have to worry about jerry cans, and it's yeah, I'd say that's probably the next thing, or further upgrades the 12-volt system, like bigger capacity battery to let me go for a bit longer.

SPEAKER_01 39:18

Um cooking. I think I've seen a few. You've got a stove stove, S T O V stove, uh, which sounds like it might be a brand you've you've worked with, or you just bought it or whatever. But um you do a little bit of cooking. I've seen a few bacon and eggs photos and that sort of thing. How do you um uh operate out of a 20-litre fridge and not much storage space in the gymney, but eat well every time you go away?

SPEAKER_04 39:45

Um uh we we really just need to to think about what goes in the fridge and what and what doesn't. You know, like things like typically we would have just like in the last gym when I had a like a chest, like a traditional chest fridge, we would just throw everything in there. Um now things like fruit and like some fruit and veg we just don't put in the fridge, um, and we just put the meat in the fridge and you end up just becoming very good at Tetris and having like you know square containers instead of a round container doesn't seem like it makes a huge difference, but the dead space when you have a round container and all four corners is is now dead space. If you can have a bunch of good-sized containers that all fit in the fridge, you know exactly where you can fit in there. And when it comes to actually cooking, it's about having those spaces as well that are specifically designed for that. So the on the back door of the gym here, you might have seen I've got the K on drop-down rear table. And that just means I don't have to carry a table in the back, you know, and it just replaced the factory door card that was on there. So the space was already used by plastic that was doing nothing, and now it's a fledged table that I can sit there and work from or cook from. Um, and then yeah, that charcoal, the barbecue that I mentioned is it does both charcoal and gas. So what I loved about that was that I can take it out from the gym, and you might see I could like to bring it down to down and sit by the river and cook a meal down there instead of just doing things from the back of the gym all the time. So having something that's super portable, and again, that is completely flat back as well. So that can just go in and it doesn't take up any space whatsoever.

SPEAKER_01 41:20

Do you always eat well? Do you always take do you do you find you need to cut corners? Is probably a better way to form the questions. You have to take long life stuff or noodles or all of those things that people kind of go, you've got to take camping food and it doesn't taste very good. It doesn't look like that's how you eat.

SPEAKER_04 41:37

No, I'm a huge advocate for not eating like the classic camping food. Like I'm very rarely eating like sausages and bread when we go camping. I I do find it funny when when people go camping, like, yeah, I need to eat tinned soup or whatever it is. I still bring those things. I have a couple of stashed soups for emergencies in the in the chimney, but um generally we will just plan out just like any other night at home, we'll just plan out the meals that we're gonna take. And instead of taking, you know, the six pack of bread rolls if we're gonna be there for two nights and there's two of us, and I'll just bring four bread rolls, um, and just being super thoughtful about the things that you bring and then planning ahead, and you can still eat nice food when you're camping. Nice.

SPEAKER_01 42:25

Clubs. Are you are you part of a gymney club? Are there are there gymney clubs that people who have just bought their gymney and want to get involved in other trips and go away with like-minded people? Um, what what are you part of and what trips have you been on with any any particular clubs?

SPEAKER_04 42:40

Yeah, I'm definitely less active in the clubs now compared to when I first got the gymney. Um the clubs that I've been part of are the Queensland Gymney Owners Club, there's a Southeast Queensland one and just a greater Queensland one. And then there's also the same thing for New South Wales. And most states will have a gymney club, and then a lot of cities will have a gymney club, there's a Newcastle gymney club as well. Um I said, I'm not particularly active in them anymore because we normally will just go on long trips between work now, whereas previously it would be, you know, we'll go out in the Queensland one, they will do something almost every weekend, and they will go out to like Rainbow Beach, and um they'll go out for coffee and go do some like forward driving through like Gold Coast, Hinterland, and like those kind of regions. Um, and those communities are I think one of the biggest assets that the gymney has because it allows people, and like we're saying before, it's it is uh almost like a gateway forward drive for a lot of people, and it allows them to get into forward driving in a really inclusive and and friendly way. Like when I first started going forward driving, I went forward driving with those clubs, and they teach you you know how to use your max tracks, how to do a safe. And there's a lot of people of all different ages and you know, um different backgrounds there and But the common thing is everyone has a gymney. They all love talking about their gymneys and the modifications that they've done. You know, they love how seeing how you've done this and how you've mounted this thing and you can share and learn so much. And it's probably similar to you guys have got your like the Snowy's owners or like the community group on Facebook. And it's just such a good way for people to learn different things that you know you can never put on a product page of a of like the rear door table, for example. You know, you can show people how I use that in my setup. Um, but yeah, so many different clubs. And I think it's probably the same from a lot of four drives, but the gymney seems to be almost culty, the level of clubs. And I know of a lot of people that have made really good, you know, potentially lifelong friends from these clubs. And I think it's a really nice way to know that when you buy a four drive, you buy into a bit of a community, and every time you see a gymney, you know, you flash your flash say flashy hard means. Um maybe you don't flash your heart means, but you know, you give them a wave when you drive past, and it's like the the gymney wave and it it reminds you of the car that you own and the community that you're part of, and it's just something you know exciting. But yeah, so many communities that I'd highly recommend if you just bought a gymney or you've had a gymney for you know since the old Sierra is that you just head down to one of those club days and and get involved. And they do a lot of good stuff for the community as well. I remember when the floods went through Rockley in Brisbane, they did you know a drive-thru where everyone filled out their gymneys with soft drinks and food and snacks, and we all just went around giving them to the army and the fire brigade and police that were out, you know, cleaning up the roads and workers, and and that's just part of it. It's all community, so it's and it's not just the gymney community, it's yeah, their local communities and charity drives, and yeah, it's yeah, it is a really nice part of owning the gymney.

SPEAKER_01 45:50

Yeah, that's cool. There you go. If you've got a gymney, join a club, the quickest way to get into it. Um favorite camping location. Uh vehicle base or just in general? In general, in general. We've got some cool shots from some cool places for the gymney, but what it, yeah, just your favorite. If you had to go away tomorrow and you could choose your favorite camping spot anywhere, no matter what, where would it be?

SPEAKER_04 46:17

I think it's Bribey Island. Um, there's a lot of those campsites on Bribey Island that are separate from all of the others, and they sit just behind that sand dune. I don't know if you've camped there, but um, you know, like a lot of other beaches like camping zones, and you've just got 20 tents or 24 drives parked up next to each other. Um but these are all individual campsites. It's still a national park, but you're you know 50 to 100 metres from the next person, and you can just have that space just as yours. You're right on the beachfront, um, you know, you get the most beautiful sunset, and you don't listen to anybody else other than just like learning the sound of the waves and that's it. That's definitely one of the things that I miss from being in Queensland is Bribe Island camping because New South Wales, for whatever reason, doesn't have much like beach camping where you can like directly camp on the beach, and most of it's like just off the beach or behind the sand dunes in the vegetation in like a national park. But um, yeah, Queensland is is good for that, being able to camp right up on the water.

SPEAKER_01 47:17

I think it's coming less and less now days camping on the beach. I know there was a wall tree in South Australia or somewhere in South Australia. Halubi. Halubi, sorry. Um I don't think you can camp on that anymore. It used to be a really popular beach. So um I think it's probably unfortunately down to those who don't um look after the place and it ends up being being closed.

Lauren 47:35

But I think it's also just the beach is getting heavily smashed. It's just it's not ecosystems aren't really designed for that.

SPEAKER_01 47:42

Yeah.

Lauren 47:42

I think but it also depends on where it is.

SPEAKER_01 47:45

Should all have lightweight vehicles like a gymney as lower impact. Totally.

SPEAKER_04 47:49

I think obviously a topic that there's a lot of discussion around at the moment with trucks closing. I won't get into that too much, but you know, it's just about when you go and camp in those places, just tr treating it the way that you know you would think a normal person would want to treat nature. And if you're gonna go in the bush and go to the bathroom, like dig a hole that's deep enough that it's not gonna be dug up by a dog or you know, a wild pig and then end up back at the campsite when the next person pulls up and doesn't need to see someone's toilet paper or rubbish or beer cans that are buried in the sand, you know, just treat it with respect and and those places will stay open for everybody to enjoy.

SPEAKER_01 48:30

Absolutely. We've talked about that in the past. Such a frustrating thing. It's it's so simple to just pick up after yourself. Yeah. Uh James, that was an awesome chat. Um, I'm hoping we can get are you in our Facebook group? I'm not sure if you're already in there. If not, we're gonna get you in there. Uh so people probably have questions for the for the uh about the gymney, which they can do in that group, or where else can they uh get in touch with you and and look at your content?

SPEAKER_04 48:55

Yeah, so most active over on Instagram. Um Jimmy Jimmy is the handle. Um, and then obviously over on YouTube as well. So you can go watch some of those videos if there's especially if you have a gymny, I do most of the content that's on there is like review specific about some of the gear that I've already mentioned. So jump over there and have a watch. And there's a video on the rooftop tent if anyone's interested in that as well.

SPEAKER_01 49:17

Yeah, for those watching and wondering, it's Inspired Overland, and they're uh we we've got it at Snowy's and they're well the one you've got is 34 kilos, um, and they've got some some that are all sort of sub 40 kilos. I think there's a couple coming out that are just over that, but they're carbon fiber, they're just trying to make really light tents to suit smaller vehicles like the gymney and SUVs and that sort of thing. So a bit of a plug there for them. Got any other questions for James? You sat there quietly today.

Lauren 49:43

Yeah, just listening. Just rolled out of bed and then just yeah, just rolled out of bed, but also like I've had um, you know, like I've talked a lot about on the podcast before about what I want to do and what my setup is. And the gymney's always been a question there. Um, so it's mostly just listening because you know, I think like James has said, they're cool, right? There's like an appeal to them, there's a like they're fun and there's this like toy element, and it's like, but um that's not where I'm at. And I think I love like this conversation has been really great for me because it's like I I think I know that a gymney's not the right car for me right now.

SPEAKER_01 50:21

Really? Because a while ago you're all like I totally want a gymney.

Lauren 50:24

Yeah. And it's I think but that's why this James has taught you out of it. Yeah, well it's not that he's talked me out of it, but I think this is why these conversations are important, right? Because that's like any what we were talking about before about um can you put a rooftop tent on or whatever. It's like you can do technically, you can do whatever you want to your vehicle, right? Like you know, but whether or not you should or if it's the right choice for you, it just comes down to learning and having conversations and working out what it is that you want out of your life and your your adventure experience.

SPEAKER_01 50:57

I've got to admit, I I have a patrol, as most people know at the moment. It's a big car, it's not the best city car, but I do think when the kids are no longer travelling with us, and I've seen your setup, James, I was looking at it in Sydney, thinking, when it's just my wife and I having uh a small car, there's less on fuel to get around the city. You've got probably just as much boot space as the patrol by the time you've got the cargo battery in the back of the patrol anyway. It's actually not as much room as you think. Um and just a smaller car to register and service and still get to most places you want to go. And I'm thinking, do I need a big all drive for the next car? So I don't know. Interesting. But yeah, interesting to know that you can push it as far as you want as well, provided you're happy to pay for the uh mechanical repairs. We'll get the mud out, mud out of the car if you bog it.

SPEAKER_04 51:48

Yeah, exactly. Well, I think, you know, like we're saying, it's just it comes down to educating yourself before you buy it. And it's definitely not the car for everybody, but it's so and I said it's so impractical that that's what makes it so much fun. So if you want a fun car, it's a fun car that turns head, it has a personality, um, and you just enjoy owning it and you smile when you drive it. And you know, there's a lot of more practical cars out there that you will just get in and you'll drive to work or you'll drive to your campsite, and it's easier to set up, but it's just less fun. And if yeah, you know, I think Suzuki did it well. They say, like, for fun's sake is their kind of motto for the gymney. And I think it sums out really well because it's just it's just fun.

SPEAKER_01 52:27

Cool, James. Thanks so much for your time today. It's been a great chat. Um, I'm sure the community will be uh keen to have it have a uh or have some questions too, or maybe they'll just go and join one of the gymney communities and can probably just ask questions from from all of those people there, which I'm sure you're also part of. But appreciate your time. Thanks for joining us.

Lauren 52:45

Thanks, James.

SPEAKER_01 52:46

Thanks for having me. Thanks, guys. All right, that's it. Another episode down.

Lauren 52:51

Another episode down. It's good that we've had quite a few interviews so far this um season, which is nice.

SPEAKER_01 52:57

Got a few more lined up still having to push a few out, but yeah, trying to make it more interesting. So we'll get more of our ambassadors on as well.

Lauren 53:03

Nice one.

SPEAKER_01 53:03

Cool.

Lauren 53:04

Thanks so much for joining us, guys. We'll see you again next week.