Storage drawer finished
15.february.08
After months of thinking and looking for ideas and examples I finished my storage drawer last december. With some help from friends the beginning-hurdle was taken easily. See the pictures in the gallery.
Geocaching
13.July.07
Geocaching cought me! A wonderfull combination of being outdoor and exploring nature with a Land Rover. The GPS also comes in handy when driving off road and track the routes. See the links page for more Geocaching links.
Restoration of the Warn winch
30.June.07
After several months driving without it and beeing towed by other Land Rovers, it was time to repair the winch. After opening the winch it became clear why it stopped operating. It was sand, water and rost all over the place. When opened a few large bowles of sand were added to our garden.... Luckily I have the instruction manual so dismanteling was easy. With some help from friends the winch was cleaned and brought back together.
See the gallery for pictures.
Land Rover Driving Experience at Laarbruch
11.Feb.07
Today we went to Laarbruch, Germany, for an advanced Driving Experience training. To upgrade our vehicle knowledge and behaviour in irregular terrainc circumstances. We spent a lot of time on breaking and driving away on very steep hils, short and long, back and forth.... Later in the afternoon much driving around the terrain and some guided-driving on rocky underground. It was worth every penny (;-)) and left us with little secrets on Defender 110's.
See the gallery for pictures.
Cleaning and repainting the spare wheel carrier
09.Feb.07
Last week I spent some time on the spare wheel carrier. The paint was bad, rust all over the place.... In the meantime I fitted a Noise Killer foam inside tha backdoor. That does reduce the noise....!
See the gallery for pictures. I used Owatrol and a black anti-rust paint on the several brackets.
The repair
02.Feb.07
After one and a half day in the workshop the CV-joints, halfshafts and driving member are replaced. Fortunately that was all.....
See the gallery for picture updates of the broken parts. One thing is for sure, Gretl will be cleaned and greased after every greenlaning adventure!
2007 a new year with new adventures
31.Jan.07
Since the last update a lot has happened. In october the new centre dash board was fitted, along with an extra electrical circuit. All works very well, looks good and makes Gretl more suitable for the Iceland trip to come in 2008.
Mid January the decision was made to sell the Sankey. I couldn't find enough time, had to re-prioritise so decided to sell it. See the Sankey section for the latest and last (...) pictures of the project. For the future we are still looking for an off-road trailer. Ideas are popping up, every day!Recently Gretl passed the 100,000km mark so the time was right to check the oils etc. In the meantime I heard strange noises from underneath, difficulties with gearing up and down so a large check-up was needed. Quickly after renewing the engine oil, checking the diffs and swivel housings we found out that the front proshaft, and in particular the universal joint, was broken. Hence the strange noises. Please check the gallery for pictures.
When buying the new propshaft and fitting by the garage they concluded worse elements. Rosty halfshafts and CV-joints. Later this week, all will be repaired and I new why I am working for the next months. :-)
Electrical 'upgrade'
07.Oct.06
Today the first thoughts were shared to upgrade some parts of the electric system. A new circuit for auxiliary items like a fridge, ipod, roofrack lights, electric seats, power converter etc.
See the modifications section for more details.
New website under construction
07.Sept.06
After a view months being off-line I finally found the time to build my new website. Hope you like it. My intention is to make it more dynamic that the first one. Time will tell if I will succeed.
Chassis painted and rear-step bumper re-assemblied06.Sept.06
After driving several weeks without it I performed some maintenance on the rear-end of the chassis and the rear-step bumper. Little rust was exposed on the chassis. The rear-step bumper was badly damaged by stepping on it and. I found a company in my home town to powdercoat the rear-step bumper for just eur 50. That's much cheaper than a new one... I also replaced all bolts with new ones and fitted it tonight after painting the chassis. See more details and pics on in the photogallery.
New Sankey arrived!
23.Aug.06
At a Yacht-broker's I found a 3/4 tonnes Sankey in a very bad shape. After visiting Billing with a friend of mine the decision was made, we want a Sankey. Some beautifull examples drove around at Billing and also surfing the net exposed some very nice projects. The Sankey project can be followed in the Sankey link on the left.
