26" Wheel Options 32 Spoke or Rebuild 36 Spoke?

[PatNZ]

Hi All

I have a 26" Surly Long Haul Trucker that the standard 36 Spoke Wheels rims have worn thin on due to rim braking. I'm currently in the process of freshening things up for another big touring trip in 2020 and various smaller trips between then and now.

Currently due to the original wheels rim walls being too thin I have put on a set of regular 32 Spoke MTB 26" wheels with Deore hubs. These wheels work great and i've done some tours on them. My concern is how they would cope with a longer touring trip? My bike Weighs 21kgs, I weigh between 90kg to 100kgs (varies) and on my last touring trip carried a fairly heavy touring load of 30kgs + water.

So options I have are, stick with the 32 spoke Deore wheels.
Get a new 36 spoke rim and get a friend to rebuild my old wheels with possibly the existing spokes.
Fork out for completely new 36 spoke 26" wheels (most expensive and least favored option).

Are 32 spoke 26" wheels strong enough for long touring duties?

[Trevtassie]

Alex Adventurers are pretty cheap when you can find them.
But these https://www.bike-components.de/en/DT-Sw ... im-p45327/ might be better, ERD is 3mm less but that works out to a mm or so shorter in spoke length so probably do-able with your old spokes.