Untitled Document

Our Land Rover came from Severn Trent Water, so while he is a superbly capable off roader he still needed some minor modifications and improvements!

This is an expensive little part of the trip as there is just so much out there that you can fit to your Landy you could literally spend the value of the vehicle again and then some. We took a minimalist approach and also shopped around for second hand stuff.

This section covers what we have bought and fitted to our vehicle to transform him from a water board workhorse into an expedition machine! The process has taken about 18 months in all, but that may be because we are not really productive during winter!

Roof Rack

Snorkel

Swing Away Wheel Carrier

Roof Tent

Bullbar

Spotlights

Steering Damper

Steering Guard

Dual Battery System

Fridge

Side Lockers & Fuel Jerrys

Water Storage

Recovery Equipment

Fishing Tackle Storage!!

ROOF RACK

We had a Patriot roof rack on our previous Defender, which was stolen (along with the rack!), and liked the idea of a modular roof rack where the rails could be unbolted as required. The Patriot is also a very strong, well made rack - all of which made it our roof rack of choice. The only problem with these racks is the cost. At over £1,000 they are substantially more expensive than other roof racks which are also suitable for overland travel. We found both our current and previous Patriot racks on e-bay.

The great thing we have found about buying and selling Land Rover gear through e-bay is the people that you meet. Here Ralph and his mate time time out from their beers and bbq to give us a hand in fitting our new pride and joy.

SNORKEL

We a great deal on a new snorkel from Mantec at the Billing Show. Fitting the snorkel was straight forward, providing you remember to fit both seals!

Straightforward until you realise that Mantec have not provided self tapping screws to fit the snorkel to the windscreen upstand as directed in the installation instructions. Instead they had provided bolts, utterly useless. No store in Eastbourne had the right self tapping screw, so the project was on hold....

Cue Riaan, with a tap and the right bolts, and we were back in business! I knew this engineer would come in handy! Nog n brannerwyn Riaan?!

Job done!

SWING AWAY SPARE WHEEL CARRIER

We met some guys from Safariquip at the Billing Show and spent loads of time looking at all the gear that they design and manufacture themselves. Their swing away spare wheel carrrier was a really well engineered piece of kit and we decided that we would get one. Another Billing purchase! Now, unfortnunately, I have learnt that NOTHING with our Land Rover is simple. So when I found that the wheel carrier on our Landy had been modified and that I had to cut it out I was not all that surprised.

Drilling holes in your Landy becomes easier and easier the more you do it.

After the existing wheel carrier had been removed it was fairly straight forward to fit the swing away carrier. Riaan was concerned that there was not enough support on the top bracket so he manufactuered a plate for us that is fixed on the inside. Thanks to Paul for giving us a hand fitting it!

The girls look on while the boys are at work!

Riaans plate fixed in place and adding some support!

Almost there now, final fixing in place and then just the connection to the rear door to do.

Done!

BULL BAR

Next up was a respray of the front bumper, purely cosmetic and smartened Ubejane up nicely. We are also planning on repainting the rear cross member. Once the bumper is on we fitted the new bull bar. Bruce won this on e-bay for a mere £20 including the sopts. Bargain!

CHEQUER PLATE

Next up we fitted the chequer plate so that we would be able to walk on the bonnet and wings.

Riveting the chequer plate in place.

ROOF TOP TENT

We invited Rohan and Candice down for a weekend relaxing on the coast......he he he. Not a chance. Up first thing and Rohan and Bruce altered the roof rack, cutting the rails to allow the roof tent to fit. Sarah and Candice repainted the rear cross member. Once the roof rack was back on we were able to fit the tent. After a dry run at ground level it was up onto the Landy to get the final fixings in place.

Lining the roof tent up with some marks we had made during our dry run made sure that the holes all lined up.

Fixing the final bolts that would hold the tent in place was tricky as you had to get right under the roof rack.

We have a house! Huge thanks to Rohan and Candice for the help, we could have not got this done without you. When did you say you were coming to visit again?

ROLLER DRAWER

Ubejane came with a roller drawer from Severn Trent so we decided to use this as a base for our packing system. This is a new piece of ply that we cut to suit us and now we are fitting aluminium runners to hold 4 ammo boxes.

Sarah fixing the runners in place.

Once it is done and all in it works like a dream! Just enough clearance to get the boxes under the top. We cut the existing top and frame short to make some more room at the front of the rear (??).

Fits like a glove! Space for 3 more ammo boxes and a fridge on top!

GETTING THERE!

Starting to look the part! Soon off to Foleys to get the suspension and side lockers done....

SUSPENSION

There are 2 areas of expedition preparation that are debated by Overlanders and there seem to be nearly as many opinions as Overlanders. These areas are suspension and tyres. I'll deal with suspension here and tyres a little later on.

After almost a year of research and chatting to people who had done the trip or similar trips I settled on a simple twin shock set up on the rear with the 130 dual springs. On the front I have gone for heavy duty springs and a basic Britpart Gaz shock. I have the same shocks on the rear.

I had not heard of an trans Africa overland expedition that did not have shocks go, be they OME, Monroe, Koni or standard. So I went for a basic gas shock with 2 on the rear to give some back up and I will be able to pick up standard shocks in Africa easily enough, although we'll carry a few spares anyway!

Sound advice from Paul at Foley's was ''when you're in Africa and a shock goes you'll replace it with anything, it's all about the trip!''

TYRES

Another area of debate with Overlanders is tyre choice. Do you go mud terrain, all terrain, Michelin ZLY, XZY, Cooper?? The debate rages on. Initially I was keen on the XZL based on its reputation and the fact that the Army use them on the Wolf. Can't be bad hey?? In the end I opted for the BFG All Terrain based on good feedback from a number of people who had done the trip.

SIDE LOCKERS

We have opted for side lockers to store our jerry cans rather than a long range tank or storing them on the roof. Ideally we would have gone with a long range tank, but the cost was prohibitive for us. Putting them on the roof is not an option as far as we're concerned as they make the vehicle top heavy. Fine if you're on tar but when you have 4 full jerrys of fuel it means you're going waaaay off the beaten track so will be in tough terrain when you least need to be top heavy. These were fitted by Foley's.

Land Rover Camping Paperwork Medical	Our Land Rover came from Severn Trent Water, so while he is a superbly capable off roader he still needed some minor modifications and improvements! This is an expensive little part of the trip as there is just so much out there that you can fit to your Landy you could literally spend the value of the vehicle again and then some. We took a minimalist approach and also shopped around for second hand stuff. This section covers what we have bought and fitted to our vehicle to transform him from a water board workhorse into an expedition machine! The process has taken about 18 months in all, but that may be because we are not really productive during winter!	Roof Rack Snorkel Swing Away Wheel Carrier Roof Tent Bullbar Spotlights Steering Damper Chequer Plate Steering Guard Suspension Wheels and Tyres Dual Battery System Roller Drawer Fridge Side Lockers & Fuel Jerrys Water Storage Recovery Equipment Fishing Tackle Storage!!
	ROOF RACK We had a Patriot roof rack on our previous Defender, which was stolen (along with the rack!), and liked the idea of a modular roof rack where the rails could be unbolted as required. The Patriot is also a very strong, well made rack - all of which made it our roof rack of choice. The only problem with these racks is the cost. At over £1,000 they are substantially more expensive than other roof racks which are also suitable for overland travel. We found both our current and previous Patriot racks on e-bay.
	The great thing we have found about buying and selling Land Rover gear through e-bay is the people that you meet. Here Ralph and his mate time time out from their beers and bbq to give us a hand in fitting our new pride and joy.
	SNORKEL We a great deal on a new snorkel from Mantec at the Billing Show. Fitting the snorkel was straight forward, providing you remember to fit both seals!
	Straightforward until you realise that Mantec have not provided self tapping screws to fit the snorkel to the windscreen upstand as directed in the installation instructions. Instead they had provided bolts, utterly useless. No store in Eastbourne had the right self tapping screw, so the project was on hold....
	Cue Riaan, with a tap and the right bolts, and we were back in business! I knew this engineer would come in handy! Nog n brannerwyn Riaan?!
	Job done!
	SWING AWAY SPARE WHEEL CARRIER We met some guys from Safariquip at the Billing Show and spent loads of time looking at all the gear that they design and manufacture themselves. Their swing away spare wheel carrrier was a really well engineered piece of kit and we decided that we would get one. Another Billing purchase! Now, unfortnunately, I have learnt that NOTHING with our Land Rover is simple. So when I found that the wheel carrier on our Landy had been modified and that I had to cut it out I was not all that surprised.
	Drilling holes in your Landy becomes easier and easier the more you do it.
	After the existing wheel carrier had been removed it was fairly straight forward to fit the swing away carrier. Riaan was concerned that there was not enough support on the top bracket so he manufactuered a plate for us that is fixed on the inside. Thanks to Paul for giving us a hand fitting it!
	The girls look on while the boys are at work!
	Riaans plate fixed in place and adding some support!
	Almost there now, final fixing in place and then just the connection to the rear door to do.
	Done!
	BULL BAR Next up was a respray of the front bumper, purely cosmetic and smartened Ubejane up nicely. We are also planning on repainting the rear cross member. Once the bumper is on we fitted the new bull bar. Bruce won this on e-bay for a mere £20 including the sopts. Bargain!
	CHEQUER PLATE Next up we fitted the chequer plate so that we would be able to walk on the bonnet and wings.
	Riveting the chequer plate in place.
	ROOF TOP TENT We invited Rohan and Candice down for a weekend relaxing on the coast......he he he. Not a chance. Up first thing and Rohan and Bruce altered the roof rack, cutting the rails to allow the roof tent to fit. Sarah and Candice repainted the rear cross member. Once the roof rack was back on we were able to fit the tent. After a dry run at ground level it was up onto the Landy to get the final fixings in place.
	Lining the roof tent up with some marks we had made during our dry run made sure that the holes all lined up.
	Fixing the final bolts that would hold the tent in place was tricky as you had to get right under the roof rack.
	We have a house! Huge thanks to Rohan and Candice for the help, we could have not got this done without you. When did you say you were coming to visit again?
	ROLLER DRAWER Ubejane came with a roller drawer from Severn Trent so we decided to use this as a base for our packing system. This is a new piece of ply that we cut to suit us and now we are fitting aluminium runners to hold 4 ammo boxes.
	Sarah fixing the runners in place.
	Once it is done and all in it works like a dream! Just enough clearance to get the boxes under the top. We cut the existing top and frame short to make some more room at the front of the rear (??).
	Fits like a glove! Space for 3 more ammo boxes and a fridge on top!
	GETTING THERE! Starting to look the part! Soon off to Foleys to get the suspension and side lockers done....
	SUSPENSION There are 2 areas of expedition preparation that are debated by Overlanders and there seem to be nearly as many opinions as Overlanders. These areas are suspension and tyres. I'll deal with suspension here and tyres a little later on. After almost a year of research and chatting to people who had done the trip or similar trips I settled on a simple twin shock set up on the rear with the 130 dual springs. On the front I have gone for heavy duty springs and a basic Britpart Gaz shock. I have the same shocks on the rear. I had not heard of an trans Africa overland expedition that did not have shocks go, be they OME, Monroe, Koni or standard. So I went for a basic gas shock with 2 on the rear to give some back up and I will be able to pick up standard shocks in Africa easily enough, although we'll carry a few spares anyway! Sound advice from Paul at Foley's was ''when you're in Africa and a shock goes you'll replace it with anything, it's all about the trip!''
	TYRES Another area of debate with Overlanders is tyre choice. Do you go mud terrain, all terrain, Michelin ZLY, XZY, Cooper?? The debate rages on. Initially I was keen on the XZL based on its reputation and the fact that the Army use them on the Wolf. Can't be bad hey?? In the end I opted for the BFG All Terrain based on good feedback from a number of people who had done the trip.
	SIDE LOCKERS We have opted for side lockers to store our jerry cans rather than a long range tank or storing them on the roof. Ideally we would have gone with a long range tank, but the cost was prohibitive for us. Putting them on the roof is not an option as far as we're concerned as they make the vehicle top heavy. Fine if you're on tar but when you have 4 full jerrys of fuel it means you're going waaaay off the beaten track so will be in tough terrain when you least need to be top heavy. These were fitted by Foley's.