Final Prep

Since the last update we have been trying to get all the remaining prep and mods done, while still feeling like we are already on holiday. This has been surprisingly difficult. Apparently time passes much quicker when you are trying to fit a tricky bullbar, than when you are waiting for someone to finish fitting a tricky bullbar so that you can go to the beach.  Both can be frustrating. For those that are planning to fit a bullbar and winch yourself (as opposed to paying a sucker to do it for you), be warned that it is only similar to building Meccano, not exactly like it. The main differences are that not all the parts are provided (you have to fabricate some yourself) and some of the bits are rather heavy which requires an assistant (preferably one who knows how to fit bullbars and/or winches). Here is my lovely assistant... errr... sitting down, drinking a beer...

The truth is that there is no way that I would have been able to do this job without Marius. Thanks boet!

I also mounted a pair of Hella HID spotlights (1 pencil and 1 spread beam) that are remarkably bright! They are so bright that when I switch back to dipped beam it feels like I have two dirty oil lamps lighting the way, rather than the upgraded high wattage H4 Philips bulbs that are in there.

Next I fitted a UHF Radio and bullbar mounted antenna good buddies. At first I was very disappointed by the performance of the radio, over. Somehow Ness managed to translate some of the static that it was producing, over. In convoy I would hear "ggggggghhhhrrrrrrr, pfffffffttt, sssssssss....." and Ness would interpret, "they are stopping for pineapples", over. The solution was to fit an external speaker in the dash, over and out.

Here is what the truck looks like now.

You may have spotted that Jake has a new do. He was starting to grow a bit of a mullet so we took him for his first haircut. With every trick in the book employed we still had a pretty rough start.

But the lady was very good with him, and voila! Jake went from toddler to little boy.

Hear ye, hear ye! Etienne has finished the truck electrics! After almost 2 years of thinking and planning I finally plugged in the solar panels and everything is working as it should. We have 3 different types of power outlets at the back (Anderson 50A, Anderson Powerpole 30A & cigarette 20A) to power/charge all the appliances (cameras, laptop, tablets, lights, etc). I decided not to fit the 2kW inverter as we don't really have a need for it on this trip and I don't have time to get comfortable with AC power which can bite hard if I get it wrong. As I have already mentioned the 370W of solar panels are working perfectly with the 40A MPPT controller, and as a bonus they are acting like a mobile carport which is keeping the black truck surprisingly cool in the full Aussie sun. The panels even seem to be keeping up with the fridge (80 litre Engel fridge/freezer) on cloudy days too, so I am a very happy camper :)

Here is a pic of some of the power outlets, distribution blocks, cut-off switch and solar controller, mounted in the rear body trim.

The camper has also been getting some love. All the rust has been removed and treated with rust converter. On the underside this was followed with a coating of fish oil to prevent (or at least slow down) further rust. Tip: if you ever want to spray fish oil on anything, do it in the street or a noisy neighbour's lawn.
All the visible paintwork has been touched up with matching paint  and the camper is looking like new again. The electric trailer brakes were about as effective as dragging a hanky on the rear wiper, so I replaced both units. They are slightly better but still won't lock on full power. When I replaced the trailer plug, I noticed that the copper wire was black so I will rewire them next to see if that is the problem.
The matching Landcruiser wheels have been fitted too, so now it would take some very bad luck for us to get stuck with a flat somewhere - we have 2 spares, and can use the trailer wheels as another 2 spares, and I have a puncture repair kit and compressor... Hopefully we won't need them though.

After spending about $20 a bag for firewood at Gordon Country I decided that I am going to collect my own wood from now on. Over here the problem is not so much finding it, but rather cutting and transporting it. For transport I have fitted some chequer plate and tie down loops to the toolbox on the trailer's drawbar so that I can strap logs onto it.

To cut the logs I have a very good axe that Ness got me for my birthday, but this isn't really suitable for cutting lots of firewood. I also tried a bow saw, but with my dodgy shoulder we would end up having marshmallows over a very modest fire every night. After doing a bit of research I bought my first 2-stroke. I was obviously always hoping that it would be a CRM500 powered motard, but this is pretty cool too.

Sawing with it can be quite addictive. A bit like pressure washing a very dirty driveway (if you have done this, you will know what I mean).

OK, everything above this was written a few weeks ago and we are now on the road already, so to move things on a bit: there was a lot more prep to the LC, equipment and trailer. I'll get on with  trip posts from now on.