Shamelessly Addicted To Matt's Offroad Recovery on Youtube

yeah, I do the same thing...its my weekly youtube watch list.

I miss the crew that was there until recently tho...I feel like it was a better group chemistry. Still enjoy it tho

I like it. Mostly I pay attention to different types of methods he uses to recover vehicles. Angles, recovery points, momentum, and other conditions that make pulling the stuck out of their situations.

And Ed's weather reports.

Likewise! Each video is also a cautionary tale, showing what we should not do when on the trails. Much cheaper to learn from other people's misfortunes, I'm afraid to say. I also wonder what size bill these people get. Matt explained on one video that he occasionally gets stiffed, but he just absorbs the loss--very positive of him. But he didn't say what a typical recovery cost is. Must vary according to distance, number of people and recovery vehicles & equipment needed.

MagicRobots, start saving you money and vacation time. Rig your truck with winch and the right tires and everything, learn about and invest in recovery gear. Colorado and the Southwest is definitely worth it all.

PS: Handsome Oxford White Outer Banks elegantly posed...somewhere near the real Outer Banks?

Xpathf1nderX

yeah, I do the same thing...its my weekly youtube watch list.

I miss the crew that was there until recently tho...I feel like it was a better group chemistry. Still enjoy it tho

I also miss that old crew.

Nowadays it's pretty obvious Matt's business is more about the YouTube side of things and less about the towing side. Which makes sense, they probably make WAY more money off of YouTube than they do towing. He has really staffed up to sell merch, work on the YouTube production, run/attend community events like the wrecker games, etc. etc. Awesome that he has been so successful that he is able to do those cool things. It's also a perfectly logical next-step for Matt's business and if I was in that position I'd be doing the same thing.

BUT, for me personally, the older videos were more enjoyable. They hadn't fully figured out the whole YouTube thing yet, their budget was more shoe-string, and everything was a lot more "scrappy"... which led to a lot of hilarious moments. There has definitely been a shift in tone/style since the Golden Nugget series finished. I assume a lot of that is just different editing styles after Tucker left, but no doubt the staff changes impacting things. Lizzy is pretty much the last of the original crew.

Still a good channel though. I no longer watch every video, but I grew up in that area and haven't been back in over a decade, so it's fun to see how the area changes over time.

Matt's Off Road recovery is the YouTube channel but he also owns Winder Towing which is the normal on road stuff . You will get a glimpse every so often of one of the regular tow vehicles. I started watching the channel when he only had 50k subscribers but don't watch every video like I used to. Once they completed the Nugget and Morvair then Rudy and others moved on I kinda lost interest . I'll watch one every couple of weeks now. He doesn't charge for the recoveries that he films is my understanding so keep that in mind if you go out there and expect to end up on one of his videos. You may need to do something really stupid to ensure you are YT worthy,lol.

Watching Lizzy progress in her welding skills did make me practice mine some more :)

BostonBadlands

Likewise! Each video is also a cautionary tale, showing what we should not do when on the trails. Much cheaper to learn from other people's misfortunes, I'm afraid to say. I also wonder what size bill these people get. Matt explained on one video that he occasionally gets stiffed, but he just absorbs the loss--very positive of him. But he didn't say what a typical recovery cost is. Must vary according to distance, number of people and recovery vehicles & equipment needed.

MagicRobots, start saving you money and vacation time. Rig your truck with winch and the right tires and everything, learn about and invest in recovery gear. Colorado and the Southwest is definitely worth it all.

PS: Handsome Oxford White Outer Banks elegantly posed...somewhere near the real Outer Banks?

Absolutely - educational especially for those of us that are new to this whole thing.
I'll try to convince my family to invest in the gear and the travel! My wife loves the beach so it'll be a tough sell. I'll do my best :)
And thanks - the location in the pic is along a more quiet area of the intra-coastal in Georgia. It is beautiful to drive here, but we got zero elevation :)

magicrobots

I'll try to convince my family to invest in the gear and the travel! My wife loves the beach so it'll be a tough sell. I'll do my best :)
:)

Not knowing you (or your wife!) allow me some speculative, unasked-for advice.
Start with beach-handy recovery equipment: shovel, axe, winch, boards. Fix your rig up with an awning, maybe, and a tailgate fold-out table for food prep. Find vehicle-permitted beaches and take her there! It's also a fun intro-to-offroading experience. Take the top off. Let her take the wheel on sand roads and beach. Show her pictures and videos of driving dunes in the West. "Honey, we just gotta visit Utah!"

I developed a system for sand (and muck) recovery, for when there's nothing to hitch a winch to, which I haven't needed yet, but: I carry 4 feet of chain and three 3/4-inch steel rods; each has a 4-inch hook on the top. The point is to lay out the chain and hook the winch to it, then pound the rods into the sand, tilted slightly away from the truck. These serve as an anchor for the winch to pull against. Once out, drive over them and use the rear tow points to extract the rods out of the sand (or whatever).
Haven't needed it yet, but I think that should work.

BostonBadlands

allow me some speculative, unasked-for advice.

haha you are diabolical, I love it.
We do go roofless whenever we can; both the ladies in my life really enjoy it (even when it's raining).



We do need to get out onto the beach though; I think there are a couple down the coast within an hour or two and I think you make a great point that this is an excellent gateway experience.
I should find a beach / sand recovery class I can take so I can kick start this whole thing under the spirit of education. Love this! Thanks.

BTW, I'm a Boston transplant so I'm digging your username :)

Rydfree

Matt's Off Road recovery is the YouTube channel but he also owns Winder Towing which is the normal on road stuff . You will get a glimpse every so often of one of the regular tow vehicles. I started watching the channel when he only had 50k subscribers but don't watch every video like I used to. Once they completed the Nugget and Morvair then Rudy and others moved on I kinda lost interest . I'll watch one every couple of weeks now. He doesn't charge for the recoveries that he films is my understanding so keep that in mind if you go out there and expect to end up on one of his videos. You may need to do something really stupid to ensure you are YT worthy,lol.

Watching Lizzy progress in her welding skills did make me practice mine some more :)

You nailed it @Rydfree - the earliest days when Matt was just figuring out that filming his work was interesting to others was truly magical! The channel is good today but very different from its origins.

Morvair looks like a 4WD ghostbusters car…. Too funny

magicrobots

haha you are diabolical, I love it.
We do go roofless whenever we can; both the ladies in my life really enjoy it (even when it's raining).



We do need to get out onto the beach though; I think there are a couple down the coast within an hour or two and I think you make a great point that this is an excellent gateway experience.
I should find a beach / sand recovery class I can take so I can kick start this whole thing under the spirit of education. Love this! Thanks.

BTW, I'm a Boston transplant so I'm digging your username

Ah, the wild, wind-blown look--very becoming on those ladies. Next time they might consider ponytails or braids!
To some extent, you want to learn, understand your equipment, don't exceed your limits. OTOH, a lot your just learn, sometimes from your mistakes. LIke when I was bogged down in muck a mile off a little-used road in the Dugway Proving Ground* in Utah. An Explorer ventured out to extract me!
I'd say invest in some quality recovery boards, get a sturdy kinetic rope + a tow strap + a tree saver, and learn about winches at a build shop you can trust. Then hit the sand! Getting in and out of trouble is part of the fun, at least for me. There's a personal balance point between being squeamish and venturing into a situation or obstacle you can't handle.

Check the member map for a club and develop a list of off-road enthusiasts in your area you can buddy up with.

*The Dugway is where "the Government works with things polite society would rather not know about."

MagicRobots, I'm 76, and have traveled 46 states extensively, hitchiked in 31, and jumped trains in three. I off-roaded in the Sonora desert in Scouts when I was 18, driven tractor-trailers, and been a cop.
My suggestion: start thinking about how you could manage a major see-the-USA road trip, maybe 4-6 weeks, and how you could get the money and the time. Something that will enrich you and your family and provide wonderful memories. I can give you a barge full of ideas on how to do it, keep costs down, keep family friction minimal, where to go and what to do there. A properly equipped Bronco is just the truck to do it with! Message me if you care to chat.