Choosing the Vehicle

The vehicle we chose is a 300tdi Defender 100 Hard Top, for all the usual reasons. The engine manages without electronic control systems, the drive train and chassis are rugged and repairable by bush mechanics, and there is a fun element to off roading in the UK that means the "training", research and development phase is most enjoyable!

I have to thank at this point my mentor and Land Rover enthusiast, Paul Hughlock, his wife Anne and their team of excellent mechanics, at PVH Land Rovers in Stokesley for their advice and care in rebuilding our P reg. "landy" in Coniston green and white, (otherwise known as the "Wanderer"). (http://www.teeshost.co.uk/pvhlandrovers)

To the left you can see Michele driving through a river on the North Yorkshire moors when we were invited to "test" drive for over 50 mls off road with Paul and his friends in the local 4X4 club. An awesome day indeed!

Special Features

The list of special features is long but not unusual for an overland 110. However we are delighted with the quality of workmanship and the follow-up service by Paul and his team.

• Galvanised chassis
• Safety Devices front cage
• Old Man Emu shock absorbers & steering damper
• New road springs, heavy duty + 50mm
• Rock slider sills
• Stainless steel exhaust system
• Front & rear auxiliary sockets
• Rear high level lights/indicators & side lights
• Steering guard
• Full blue polybush kit
• Split charge system
• 2 rear bench seats with lap belts
• 2 small side windows
• Winch with Plasma rope, strops, shackles, snatch blocks etc.
• 6 x Wolf wheels
• "Swingaway" wheel carrier
• Lockable side lockers to carry up another 80l fuel or water
• Rear bumperettes and NATO hitch
• Sedimentor
• TBR longranger 120+36 l fuel tanks protected by Southdown bash plate.
• TBR 37 l water tank with tap to rear. (http://www.tbruk.com)
• Floor safe
• A Bar and lights protection. (rather than a bull bar, lighter and easier access to bonnet).
• New radiator, steering box and water pump.
• Ventilated front disks.
• New track rod ends
• New timing belt and pulleys
• New clutch
• Wading Kit
• Snorkel
• Customised Roof Hatch to allow interior access from roof tent with doors locked and photo opportunities in game parks!
• Internal Rear Window Guards
• High aspect rear Reverse Lights
• Split Charge Unit
• Battery isolator switches
• 2 deep cycle high "high output" batteries
• Individual Volt Meters
• Fluorescent Light in load area
• Roof Console
• Eberspacher Heater
• Mobilestoragesystems Cubby Box (http://www.mobilestoragesystems.fsnet.co.uk/)
• Back Door Chequer Plate
• Alloy Corner Protectors
• Alloy Bonnet Protector
• Spot Lights
• Customised Brownchurch roof rack
• Howling Moon 1.4m Tourer rooftop tent from Trekoverland (http://www.trekoverland.com/)
• Howling Moon 2.5m side awning
• Autowatch security system fitted by B's Sound and Security of King's Lynn, Norfolk.
• Jeremy Fern Intercooler (http://www.jeremyjfearn.co.uk/)

There was much debate about the pro's and con's of fitting air con but in the end we succumbed and this was duly fitted by Coolair of Lincoln.

Vehicle development from May 04

We have managed to spend some time travelling and camping in the roof top tent. Good for comfort, easy to erect but noisy if anything stronger than a slight breeze, especially if camped near trees!

We would like to develop an extension over the front part of the roof rack to enable access to the land rover through the hatch from the tent. Trekoverland are trying to help us with this at the moment. Planned for convenience and a useful "evasion" strategy.

Chris at TRB has been very helpful sorting out some suspension problems, fitting a rear diff locker and air system and installing some very expensive but very effective lights! He has also supplied and fitted an inverter. One feature of the lights is a 360 deg illumination at the touch of a roof top switch! Another practical security device. The vehicle alarm also has a "panic" button feature.

We have fitted a drawer and locker in the rear well by mobile storage systems. (An ace bit of kit as heavy spares can be locked securely low down and the drawer is big, lockable, and can contain most of the day-to-day camping needs) The 40litre Engel fridge is to the right of the rear load area. One of the advantages of the mobile storage systems items is that the rear load area becomes a flat surface for fitting and box storage.

We have organised space for 10 separate Allibert boxes plus toolbox and 2 oils boxes. In addition we can house the tent "downstairs" extension, table, chairs and Dual Fuel cooker, not to mention 2x20 litre black plastic jerry cans for water. Something has to suffer as this is not a Pandora's box and clothing and other personal items will be trimmed to a minimum. (Yes the much promised side locker of "hair products" will have to be dropped Michele)!

Indeed the side lockers contain one 20litre unleaded petrol and 3x20 litre diesel cans. This should give us a total of over 200 litres of diesel. The petrol is for cooking and lighting when camping.

The storage boxes are spaced around an adaptable metal framework devised by Michele and fabricated by Dave for Johnson's Ironworks of Kings Lynn. He has also helped us with security for windows and hatch. By manipulation of three gratings and plastic laminates, we can secure the rear load area from the cab for leaving the vehicle unattended.

Dave has also added a towing eye to the front bumper and created an effective guard to protect the a/c condenser, intercooler and radiator from damage on African roads.

Our water system is a Brownchurch ready-made unit which pumps "dirty" water from the jerry cans to the "clean" rear under chassis tank with a lockable tap to the rear. If we need more water carrying capacity, we can fill a 150 litre water bag (supplied by Boab) and add this to the mid vehicle load area. In practice this will have to ride in the "sleeping" area on the grating between the 2 single side-facing seats.

We have installed the seats for guests and guides!

The concept of having a rear lounging area, made as comfortable as possible over the top of the storage area, is borrowed from the idea created by Andy and Jacqui in their Discovery (www.overlandy.co.uk"). We will use self-inflating mattresses and possibly a thin Moroccan rug with curtains lined with reflective material to keep the heat out! A security grating covering the hatch will allow us to sleep in relative comfort inside the Wander with the hatch open under a mosquito net if we can't erect the tent for some reason.

We have tried to reduce sound with the Noisekiller Acoustics (uk) pack supplied for Defenders. This took quite some time for us to fit but worth it in the end (I think)!

Steve is now spending several hours a week with Robert Hilton. This is the final orientation phase! Not only adding features such as extra security locks but also wiring the solar panel, air horns and water pump. We are covering a curriculum of truck maintenance to include a final service, brakes, fuel line management and drive train repair. We have incorporated a vice on the front bumper capable of rebushing UJ's and sorted out how to change the wheel bearings!

We shall be taking 4 road wheels and 2 spares. One housed on the rear wheel carrier and one on the roof. (Unfortunately as the idea of a double wheel carrier whilst ok for the wider Land Cruiser, obstructs the number plate and lights of a Defender). We have decided that since our Boab air system is capable of blowing the bead back on the rim, we will drive on tubeless tyres as this seems a safer option on a fully laden overland vehicle in the event of a blow-out!

We both changed all the wheels onto tubeless Wolf rims under the tutelage of Robert using tyre pliers and our own compressor. This took us most of the day! Rob was very patient and kept coming up with new ways to solve the more strenuous parts of the process so that eventually Michele was able to change a tyre by herself!

We will also be taking half a dozen Michelin tubes with narrow valve fittings as a back up.

Two " waffle boards" were purchased at Billing and will be attached to the bonnet. The left side of the vehicle is taken up with a Howling Moon 3 metre awning. They also supplied a giant mosquito net to allow us to sit outside relatively unmolested in the evening!

Paul from Footloose4x4 has been very helpful suggesting technical solutions and in particular came up trumps when our dual battery system crashed with a simple and cheap alternative. Thanks Paul.

I would also like to thank Chris from TBR who has provided 2 spare OME shocks and a spare side window.

Robert has been there through out these last 4 months helping, teaching and suggesting a whole host of solutions to technical problems and servicing issues. One of the great advantages of being involved in every practical step is the knowledge of what can go wrong and how to fix it! I have gradually built up a really useful toolkit, again with Robert's guidance.