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| The
Enterprise Africa Vehicle |
| I admit to being a total innocent when it comes to cars. I have never been interested in them beyond their ability to deliver you from A to B warm and dry. Motorcycles are more my thing. |
| The vehicle is a 2005 110 Defender County station wagon to give it the full title. It has been extensively modified from the base vehicle to be able to cope with being a moving home to 4 kids and 2 adults.
It also has to be robust and flexible enough to cruise on motorways yet sand, mud, dust and snow shouldn’t stop it. |
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| Using a Landrover as a base vehicle makes perfect sense. They have been around for so long now in one guise or another that everyone makes bits and pieces that bolt on with relative ease.
I have felt a little self conscious driving the thing around Bath but this is not the natural habitat of a large 4X4. |
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| The mods are many and probably OTT but on this trip I do want to be totally prepared from the off rather than building something by trial and error on the way. I want time to enjoy the places and people we visit and meet. |
Mods for sad people like me:
TBR
Diff guards (Scorpion)
Steering guard (Mantec)
Safari snorkel
OME shocks and springs (2 inch raise)
40 litre water tank in rear left wing
158 litre Long Ranger fuel tank
Dual battery system and monitor
Ipod interface
Cig lighter sockets 3 in front 3 in back
Spot lights
Bull bar/winch bumper
Winch
BF Goodrich A/T tyres & 2 spares
Security grills for rear load area windows (mobile storage systems)
Engel fridge 12 volt (40litre)
OEC
Rear wheel carrier with Hi-Lift jack and shovel mount
Rock sliders
Wider eyebrows (modified in Turkey)
Mobile storage systems drawers
Sand ladders
Inverter 240V
BOAB
Hannibal roof rack
Roof tent/Oz tent
On board compressor & air tank.
Pete Sutton ?Camerton (Near Bath) mobile 07966582434
Fuel tank guard
Security chests
Gas bottle holder with QD fittings
Some of the equipment we have brought with
us has been excellent and other things could
be better. I’d just like to outline what
I think has been useful, reliable, useless
and maybe if I was preparing for a similar
trip how I would do things differently. You
always take too much and we have spent the
last 6 months throwing things away. We now
have a bit of spare space in the car!
CARNET DE PASSAGE FROM ADAC IN GERMANY
(DON’T USE THE RAC):
The Carnet de Passage is like a passport for
the car. Should you sell your car in a country
on the way it guarantees that the tax will
be paid and so is accepted everywhere with
minimum hassle.
Wonderful service compared to the RAC and
want much, much lower financial guarantees.
RAC wanted a bank guarantee in excess of £80000
(yes, that is eighty thousand pounds!!) ADAC
are happy with one of £7500! More than
10 times less. The Germans are also ruthlessly
efficient and even….friendly!
HEADTORCHES & INVERTER FROM MAPLINS:
All the stuff I bought from Maplins. Head
torches with LEDs at £6.99 as opposed
to £40 for a Petzl. These have proved
totally reliable and with their rechargeable
batteries will go on forever. The only problem
is that we have “lost” two out of
our original five. One to a German dentist
at the campsite at Eldoret and short of re-starting
the Second World War and trying to strip search
her she wasn’t going to give it back
even though the Askari (night guard) had seen
her take it. She was an ugly munter anyway.
The 240 volt inverter has also been very useful
for recharging camera batteries and running
the laptop etc.
COMPRESSOR & AIRTANK:
The compressor with air tank from Chris at
BOAB (www.boab.biz) has proved invaluable
for pumping up tyres when back on the tarmac
after difficult stretches of dirt roads. I
really thought that this was a bit OTT when
preparing the car, but has proved itself time
and time again. Though I might go for a bigger
tank next time.
DELL INSPIRON LAPTOP:
The only reason why I can write this drivel!
Good or bad depending on your point of view.
ENGEL 12 VOLT FRIDGE FROM TBR:
What can I say…40 litres of pure heaven
after a long day at the wheel to have an ice
cold beer or a glass of freezing white wine
from a colostomy bag the South African wine
producers are so fond of. A brilliant bit
of kit that will run on the auxiliary battery
for three days without starting the engine
in cool conditions and up to two days in hot
countries. Keeps my supply of sausages cool
and fresh and enables the kids to have ice
cold water from our Sigg water bottles which
are not very good as they are too easy to
cross thread and can split if frozen. The
local 2 litre coke bottles seem better!
NAPPY BUCKET (£4.99) FROM MOTHERCARE:
With a lid doubles as a potty on those hippo
grazed campsites when a trip to the toilet
is just a trip too far.
INDIVIDUAL COLOUR CODED PILLOWS FROM GRANNY:
Can be used in the day, at night and they
remind everyone that someone at home loves
them.
CHAIRS FOR THE ADULTS MADE BY OUTWELL (DIRECTOR
STYLE):
These are “extra strong” as I have
a habit of collapsing inferior products (I
am really sorry about your chair Scott &
Clare)…but it means I don’t have
to worry about who sits in my chair…please
note Goldilocks you’d be welcome any
time. Just bring your own porridge please.
TUPPERWARE BOXES:
Never enough left overs to store in our hungry
family, but can be used for everything from
collecting bugs to digging in the sand on
beaches.
FLASK:
I love my coffee and unlike David Beckham
I don’t keep ice cream and coffee in
it. …It keeps hot things hot and cold
things cold, but not at the same time.
| Great equipment with reservations |
GELERT TWO RING GAS COOKER:
with 1X 4.5 kg gas bottle and 1X2 litre
bottle. The 4.5 litre bottle will last for
over a month although not so easy to get
refilled. There is usually a BOC depot in
every major city though. Have Q/D hose fittings
thanks to Pete Sutton in Camerton, alloy
welder par excellence, (0796 6582434). Many
people bring a petrol Coleman stove which
also works very well, but storing petrol
in plastic bottles in the back of a hot
LR is a recipe for disaster…Are you
listening Erin??!!
ROOF TENT:
By Autohome, Italy (BOAB) is extremely
comfortable and can sleep 4, but the mosquito
nets have proved a little fragile. We have
replaced the entrance one after many repairs
with an African one impregnated with insecticide.
Very waterproof. The cover has proved a
little fiddly and not as strong as it should
be.
GROUND TENT BY OZ TENT:
You can put this up in 30 seconds if you
need to, but is heavy to lift onto the roof.
Totally waterproof it also has strong and
effective mosquito nets. In retrospect I
wish we had gone for two roof tents as Chris
at Boab advised us. Sometimes you need to
change your equipment to remain sane and
I think we may well buy another roof tent
in SA.
IPOD WITH DENISON ICELINK TO PLAY THROUGH
CD PLAYER IN CAR:
I must say that this is more popular with
me rather than anyone else as it has all
my music on and also a large contribution
by Tom Hannel, so Welsh rugby songs and
“national anthems of the world”
are our usual fare. Poor Clare, but since
she wasn’t interested in learning how
to use the thing then she can’t complain
(but frequently does) The ICELINK has not
proved totally reliable as dust sometimes
makes the Ipod cut out…cured by blowing
everything out with compressed air and rough
roads joggle everything around which means
no IPOD on dirt roads.
CANNON IXUS 750:
Camera is quite good, but with only a 3X
zoom you have to be up an elephants bum
to get a decent pic. A 15X zoom would probably
be perfect.
PANASONIC VIDEO CAMERA:
I’ll let you know when I have a chance
to edit the DV tapes when I get back to
the UK although I have a feeling that most
stuff will be too shaky to use!
SATELLITE RADIO FROM WORLD SPACE:
Gives crystal clear sound from the BBC
World Service to Talk Sport, but you need
a balcony in a hotel or to be out from under
trees when camping. Saves all the fiddling
with dials and constant hiss and static
from our last trip, but I really think the
BBC has gone downhill since the late 80s
and early 90s….is this because DLT
(Dave Lee Travis) retired??!! I remember
the time when we took shelter in a cave
in Chile to escape the inclement weather
with only DLT to entertain us…I nearly
died!!!
GARMIN SAT NAV (GPS):
Very expensive argument saver, but seems
to have stopped bloodshed when Clare navigates.
Downloaded some tracks4africa software which
has quite good info on it which means you
kind of know where you aren’t, if you
see what I mean. Technophobes like me may
be better off with a partner who can read
a map! I wish they would make one that talks
to you in a Scottish accent, but that is
enough of my fantasies for now.
LICHTENSTEIN SIM CARD FOR MOTOROLA V3 MOBILE
PHONE:
(sim4travel) and Motorola V3 phone. A cheap
option rather than a satellite phone and
the sim card has not proved particularly
reliable or useful although where you can
get reception it is cheap to use. I quite
like the phone as it is tiny and not too
complicated for an old dinosaur like me.
Have gone back temporarily to my Vodafone
sim card in Malawi and was driving along
a road to the tobacco auctions today when
brrr, brrr, brrr….Pete Francomb mobile
calling message flashed up…”Hello,
Pete” etc etc…Amazing, I remember
being at the main telecommunications office
in Delhi in 1990 (not all that long ago)
and waiting four hours for a call to the
UK to be connected….and then all we
got was “I’m sorry, we’re
not in at the moment, but if you’d
like to leave a message we’ll get back
to you” (Arrrgghhh!) The world has
moved on and I must say I’m impressed
at the progress many African nations have
made in bypassing the “wired”
phase and going straight to mobile technology…at
least they then don’t have to put up
with completely useless companies like BT!!
BRITISH PASSPORT:
People around the world love the British,
I really mean this, but the British passport
just attracts exorbitant visa fees. Much
better to have a Swiss, German, Irish or
practically any other passport. When can
we have a true EU passport…the sooner
the better. The other thing that enrages
me is that it is no longer possible (due
to EU rules I was told, but they are an
easy target) to put your children on your
passport. This means huge extra visa fees
for all your children. We could have got
all the kids into the Sudan for free if
they had been on our passports, instead
of the $400 it actually cost us….sometimes
rules are just rubbish…up to 1927…we
didn’t even have passports and the
whole British Empire was run by 5000 people
in Whitehall…now just the FCO has over
50000 people working for them and we don’t
even have an Empire anymore…and they
have computers now!!! Sorry, off on a bit
of a rant here….Why do we need passports
anyway, I know who I am!
HOMEBASE STACKABLE PLASTIC BOXES:
And “unbreakable” Curver blue
storage boxes (now all broken) I’d
try to find decent boxes that can take the
rough roads and rough handling.
BROWNCHURCH WATER FILTER:
You could die of thirst waiting for this
thing to filter water! I don’t care
what anyone says about flow rates etc etc
this thing leaks everywhere and the aftersales
service is appalling! This is all confirmed
by other dissatisfied customers I have met
on the way. A much better option is Nature-Pure
water purifier from Footloose 4X4.
WASHING MACHINE:
By Ashley, I kid you not. The theory is
great, but in practice we just can’t
be bothered to use it. It consists of a
watertight sailing bucket of the type yachtsmen
use to keep their kit dry…only in reverse.
The idea is to fill it 50% with water and
some detergent, add dirty clothes and drive
for the day with the motion of the vehicle
on bumpy roads getting my smelly smalls
cleaner than clean. We have never used it…Clare
is averse to new technology so would prefer
to work her hands to the bone washing by
hand….don’t ask me why? Now relegated
to storage space for the towrope etc.
FOLDABLE TABLE:
For some reason we have never even got
this out of the bag…don’t ask
me why.
TRAVELLERS CHEQUES:
Absolute rubbish. No-one wants them and
if they do the rates are rubbish. Mixture
of Dollars, Pounds, Euros and cash advances
on UK cashcard and Visa from ATMs are the
answer.
COLEMAN AIR MATTRESS:
Never stayed up, absolute crap replaced
with two single foam mattresses from Nakumat
in Nairobi. Thermarests are brilliant and
we will buy a couple when we arrive in SA.
A CLARE:
Has its uses this one but…really just
too old and run down to be of any use at all.
I think I would prefer something of a more
recent vintage…say 1985 or there abouts….OOWWWW
THERE’S NO NEED TO PUNCH ME!!.
TYRES (WITH TWO SPARES, NOW ONE SPARE)
BF GOODRICH A/T LT235 85 R 16:
Supposedly the tyres to have, but have
shredded quite badly in Sudan and Ethiopia
to the extent that I had to throw one away
in Kenya and the others are f****d and I
am seriously thinking about getting a set
of meaty Mud Terrain tyres in SA if we are
going to drive up the west coast back to
the UK as I prefer to get stuck in sand…warm
and dry, rather than mud, sticky and wet.
BULL BAR & WINCH:
The bull bar comes in very handy for intimidating
small furry creatures and city traffic alike.
I wouldn’t bring a winch next time
as you hardly ever get stuck where you can
use it and they are quite expensive (£350
in my case)
SPLIT CHARGING SYSTEM AND TWO BATTERIES:
Great piece of kit although the solenoid
has been playing up recently and only seems
to work at a certain angle when held by
a clothes peg in typical bodger fashion.
Would consider 3 batteries as you can never
have enough power!
OLD MAN EMU H/D SPRINGS AND SHOCKS. DIFF
GUARDS & STEERING GUARD:
All worth their weight in gold as have
taken so much punishment and nothing has
broken yet although I have met a C of E
vicar in a LR 90 with standard suspension
which has given him no trouble over the
same route as us (Devine intervention??).
Don’t neglect suspension just because
you can’t see it. Under body protection
is equally important, I once spent 3 nights
sleeping by the side of the road in Peru
after putting a hole in my sump on my BMW
R80ST. I managed to fix it with a tin can
and some araldite in about two hours, but
had no spare oil…took 3 days for another
vehicle to come past. After that I got a
sump guard!
CIG LIGHTER SOCKETS X 6 (3 IN FRONT AND
3 IN REAR):
Fantastic and are used to run the fridge,
recharge headtorch batteries, power the
water filter etc, etc
SPARE WHEEL CARRIER:
From OEC, has broken twice, once in Ethiopia
and once in Kenya. Has been modified so
is now so strong could hold up the Forth
Bridge. Probably a one off weak example.
LONGRANGER 158 LITRE FUEL TANK FROM TBR.
FUEL TANK GUARD MADE BY PETE SUTTON, CAMERTON,
BATH:
Fantastic. You don’t have to fiddle
with leaky jerry cans and gives an on road
range in excess of 800 miles which is perfect.
Don’t forget to protect it though as
you will definitely scrape it on large thirsty
Sudanese rocks (and Kenyan, Ugandan, Jordanian
etc etc)
40 LITRE WATERTANK IN REAR WING:
Very useful and as we carry a 20 litre
jerry can of water as well we can generally
get by with about 3 days bush camping without
filling up. Don’t forget a length of
hosepipe long enough to get from a tap to
the filler. 12 foot is perfect.
MOBILESTORAGE LOCKABLE BOXES & SECURITY
GRILLS:
No-one has broken in and are tough and
up to the job. Have seen a SA registered
LR 110 CSW with the rear side windows taken
out and replaced on one side with a fold
out kitchen and on the other side with an
openable aluminium panel. (www.bushwakka.za)
SILVER PAINT & AIRCON:
Old joke about Land Rover and Toyota door
seals…A Toyota Landcruiser owner and
a Defender owner are having an argument about
which car seals better…They decide to
test this and each of them gets a cat and
locks them into their vehicles overnight.
The next morning they go and have a look and
open the Toyotas door to find that the cat
has died due to lack of oxygen, next they
go over to the defender to find that the cat
has escaped overnight! Seriously though, the
aircon really is good on dusty roads as you
can turn it on and keep most of the dust on
the outside. I guess the only complaint about
it is that it takes up a lot of leg room on
a defender and it is not totally effective
in very hot conditions. The theory is that
silver would reflect a lot of heat, but I
haven’t had a black defender to compare
it with. |
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