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Ha ha, Larcher exagerates.

Erik's post in brown.

so here's a few things which I personally would not be without if setting up a new Defender:

Mine is a beaten up old 1990 commercial Landcruiser Station Wagon, purchased off the old Electricity Trust of SA. However it still has less thn 200,000 kms on the clock as it is usully only used on the farm other than longer trips for hunting and travel. It will get a visit to panel beater soon and a repaint to fix dents in every pannel on one side when I stuck against a low vine strainer post one by mistake. Had to reverse it out. Plus other sundry dents from bush and farm use.

As mentioned in aprevious thread years ago, I would like it to have zebra stripes, good ones, but too and fro with the idea. Makes one very noticeable, which can be good and useful but sometimes also good to blend with the crowd.

- Locking diffs front and back. ARB makes decent ones, and the air compressor can also be used to fill up your tyres if you have let the pressure down when driving in soft sand.

Carry a good air compressor, but not integral to the vehicle. Standard Landcruiser diffs. I don't believe they are separately differential. Good change to make to a vehicle.

- Roller-drawer in the back. Good for storing stuff you don't want flying around.

Has a two drawer roller drawer in the back. I like this one better than the Landrover's ones which are shorter and much higher and deny space for other things.

- Engel fridge/freezer, mounted on quickrelease bracket that is mounted to rollerdrawer.

The roller drawers in one of the links show a roller drawer OR a fridge on one side. Erik's obvious had lower drawers. My fridge is on an "ad hoc" slide, I open a drawer, pull the fridge out till it rests on the edge of the drawer and then pull the fridge and drawer out together.

I do have plans to get a real fridge slide soon. Had been waiting for a new model to come out which also drops the fridge lower, so shorter wives can see in the engel, and then the "driver, camp setter upper, cook, bbq setter upper, tent and swag unroller etc etc" doesn't also have to get everything out of the engel as well ....

Good idea on quick release brackets. Must see if that is part of the new or old fridge slides for engels from TJM. Don't want them bolted in from the bottom.

On the NT trip this year, I also had a Chescold fridge freezer, separate sections, borrowed from my B-I-L. It allegedly runs on 12v, 240v and gas. I didn't have a gas tube for it, and tried to buy one but no one knew what the fitting was or had hoses for it. We ran it on 240v generator at the camp. Was turned off at night and during the day if the genny ran out of fuel. It was warm inside for the first three days, and only slightly cool after that. Ran it on 240v some nights elsewhere, and 12v on the trip back. I hooked the vehicle up to 240v at home and forgot about it, it finally DID freeze half the inside when checked days later.

The engel on the other had is only fridge or only freezer. It will freeze meat rock hard. And keeps everything nice and cold as a fridge. Much better than the chescold, but one or the other only. Buffalo and crocodile meat was nicely frozen in it for the trip back.

I carried TWO as I wanted to bring back lots of good young tender buffalo meat.

The two battery system only started to run down the extra battery after several days in the hunt. So lasted maybe four or five days before running down the extra battery. Some driving only.

I carry some extension cords, including a long one on a roller, and a power board or two. A EL2000 Honda generator.

- Roof rack to store an extra spare wheel/tyre, plus a highlift jack.

Rock rack, yes. Extra tyre and wheel on top. Another on the swing aside holder on the back, another underneath which is the standard Landcruiser tyre storage spot.

If I could I would with hindsight have gotten the rear bumber allowing TWO tyres to be carried on the back, one on each side. The second could be used for another spare or other stuff such as jerry cans.

I would also like a 12v floodlight on a rising pole on the spare tyre bracket. For some reason 4WD shops have been resistant to do this. Good for camping, but also very useful for farm work at night.

Still have to add a bracket for the highlift jack and long handled shovel either to the roofrack or perferably to the rear tyre cover.

- Raised air intake/snorkel. Will keep your airfilter substantially cleaner for longer.

Good to have. Don't have it. SO MUCH CHEAPER when added as part of a new factory purchase, maybe $70 vs $800.

Very useful for outback river crossings.

- Zarges cases (or similar) that are dustproof,

I had plastic Rhino boxes on the roof, two of them. Tied down and also rachet strapped down. Want to find a way to strap them down so they can be opened with rachet staps. I do like the security of rachet straps though. Another similar box in where the rear seat was, also tied down and half filled with cooking gear, and half with canned and packet food.

Never seen the Zarges aluminium cases in Australia??? They do look useful.

I wonder at the plus or minuses of a Zarges aluminium case vs the thick plastic cases such as the Rhino and other brands. The Zarges see a lot of use from Europe and also military use. The Australian Army and also the US Army I know use the plastic boxes/cases as well.

The Rhino boxes proved 100% dust and waterproof on this short trip, but also other trips and uses. I have probably a doizen of them of various sizes in the farm sheds for tools and other uses.

- Michelin XZY tyres, depending on where the driving will be done. Not great in mud, but are bombproof compared to most other tyres.

I'm just using some standard Bridgestone tyre. Will edit and put the name in. But most of my driving is road, farm and outback track use. Always a bit worry to drive cross country as the chance of staking a tyre becomes so probable that all three spares would be needed.

- Extra battery with split-charge system. Make sure main battery is ONLY for starting engine, while extra one is for fridge, winch etc.

Got that. Very useful. I also carry a jumper large capacity battery separately. Able to jump start a large truck, tractor if needed. I carry this due to a medical issue meaning I need electricity at night. Quieter than a generator.

- A few extra power outlets in the rear, to hook up external LED camping lights, charge laptop etc.

I had some quite unreliable power outlets newly added to the passengers seat wall. Four lighter sockets and four USB sockets. Worked some time and not some time. Not sure why.

There is a single lighter socket in the back which works well. Utilised for the Engle.

To run the Chescold, I ran a 240v powerboard in the back, an extension lead to the front, and a small inverter off one of the lighter sockets. If staying at a motel, I ran an extension cord from the room and plugged in the 240v to run both fridges over night.

A change I would do, is to wire this up better, and have an external 240v plug on the outside, similar to a caravan setup. May never happen though.

- Protection under steering, engine, diffs and fueltank.

Don't have any of this on the Landcruiser. Would be interested in reading more of this.

- Extra fueltank for longer range.

Got the standard 90L tank and the standard auxillary 45L tank. I usually carry an emergency spare 20L jerry can on the roofrack. Sometimes in outback areas, more jerrycans are needed if the drive in is long, and lots of driving expected. One always needs to have enough fuel to get back out in reserve.

I carried a 20L jerrycan for petrol for the generator as well.

I have a Honda EL2000 generator which regulates itself. Useful for some farm jobs as well.

- Winch, with synthetic "wire" rope to save weight. Plus shackles etc. An extra extention rope can be nice to have if trees are few and far inbetween.

Desire a proper winch on the bullbar. With synthetic rope is a good idea. ARB tells me only a hi-mount winch will fit the bullbar they sold me and while VERY good costs over twice the normal expensive price!!!

Carried a trifor hand winch, cable, recovery gear of straps, shackles etc Never used thus hand winch. On trips where we had NO winch, a couple of times we were lucky to get out without one. On the farm, many times have got vehicles bogged, or more than one, but tractors are at most an hours walk away.

- Shovel, axe and other useful tools.

I have a set of some strong South African shovel/axe/saw tools which demount into a roll. But still carry an axe, ahlf sized between a tomahawk and a full sized axe. I would also carry a long handled shovel. They are more than sueful when bogged in mud and for shovelling out under the vehicle.

Probably carry too many tools and spares. BOTH of the two drawers are filled with tools, spares, oil, fluids etc. I would prefer to have one of these reserved for useful camping stuff. Easy to get to.

I also have a good aircompressor good enough for large tractor tyres, and a 12 tonne jack in the back in pockets beside the drawers which can be accessed quite easily without removing fridges or boxes, only the stuff on the sides.

I know Erik also had a simple roof rack popup tent, which is useful if it opens and closes quickly very evening and morning. Pain if you have a base camp but use the vehicle every day. If needing a trailer, mounting the same simple popup tent on a trailer achieves the best result for both scenarios.

Some of these trailer "pop-up" tents nowadays are ridiculously expensive at $20,000 to $30,000 and up ... And leave no real storage space in a trailer. Which is the main purpose for the trailer in my opinion, usually to carry lots of additional fuel and water.

I carried a full sized popup tent. Quick to put up. Not as quick to pack up. Pain as when it is rolled up, it takes the full length of the roofrack on one side so is not compact. Have taken it on a number of trips but rarely used. One this trip again we just used swags. Nice under the stars at night. Northern Australia is also warm enough. At Coober Pedy with ice formed on the windscreen a bit colder.

I often carry a quick setup small tent which is compact and use this for overnight needs if under the stars is not possible. Light weight.

Carried two folding/demountable camp beds. I don't believe I have ever used them, but carried them on a number of trips. I wanted luxury on this trip, but still didn't use them.

I like the idea of the awnings which can be run out at the side and/or back of the roof rack. A luxury but good if shade is needed and also useful in light rain for cooking, camping needs, and for putting a swag under.

Water storage is essential. Some vehicles are modified with in vehicle water tanks, with a pump or gravity fed tap. Good idea. All I carried was a 20L water jerry can and a 5L smaller water jerry can. Not adequate in my opinion. DID carry beer, spirits and wine however.

I believe some rear bumper bars have a water reservoir in it,

SAFARI BAR.

I know Ahmed needs an excellent spot to securely store his lovely Anderson Wheeler Safari Bar!

My own is more humble and is a four bottle wicker round container. Or sacrifice one bottle and tow or three crystal tumnblers can be inserted there.

Internal cargo barrier is essential if an accident happens. Mine was mounted at the rear of where the rear seat would be. Can be moved forward to a foot behind the front seats. Much safer to have it here if an accident happens. As I had it, any gear where the back seat was could break one's neck in a rollover. Once rolled over my Pajero years ago, with no cargo barrier. Found an axe on the seat next to me. I didn't this time as I want an impromptu bed on the food/cooking gear box where the back seat was. That proved too cramped for me.

Driving lights. I did more driving at night on outback roads than I wanted. My Landcruiser headlights are good and far far better than the old Landcruisers had which were awefuil and absolutely dangerous. However I DO feel a strong NEED for some good driving spotlights to light up the highways well ahead. Doesn't stop a roo, cow or camel coming out at close range at a hop or run though.

An extra bit of gear. A handheld spotlight. Some guys use these all the time "hunt" in Aust, which is often legal. I carry one for searching at night. Sometimes more than useful.

Communications. I have a UHF mounted in the vehicle, which a screw on aerial on the roofrack. I believe it can have a range of say 20 kms or more. I also carry a couple of shorter range hand held UHF radios. Which we carry when hunting for communication if separated or lost.

On the vehicle, I would also mount a GPS carrier, standard vehicle sort of one, and a carrier for a mobile phone. Interesting stayed next to a guy with THREE large thick aerials. He said they were for work purposes, for his mobile, ipad and laptop.

Claydog had a good setup, where he could use his mobile phone card in a satellite phone and no additional costs. Something more than useful especially in an outback emergency.

I carry an emergency radio beacon in my daypack in the outback. So someone can find my bones if I break a leg or get snake bitten.

Good airconditioning is useful. I had mine serviced before leaving home and it hardly worked. In the Top End blew air out like a heater. Second Top End trip like that. Need to take it to a place that actually does fix and service it properly.

I don't have this, mine is more impromptu, using a folding table on top of the pulled out rear sliding drawers. But a fold down table attached to the rear door is cool and useful. I carry some neat steel folding/telescopic cam chairs (were from Opposite Lock) and a folding table for camp use. Gas cylinder and three burner stove, now equipeed with surgical clamps as knobs thanks to gifts from JB. (the plastic knobs were brittle and broke from age, JB had used surgical clamps whcih saved the use of pliers to do the same.

)

***

I hope Ahmed finds something useful from my long waffling here. Not a Landrover, but many things are applicable, even if with different models and slightly different designs.

Erik's Landrover was very well set up for long term camping and also in very remote and difficult countries such as the countries of the Saharra, Western Africa and Central Africa.

One decision is to whether you need the rear seats or use as cargo space.

One thing I would definitely do in your vehicle. Is the integral drawers and also ensure the drawers can be secure and locked. I would make one into a cool, rifle and gun storage rack, for your lovely and expensive new rifles. The Purdey drawer.

And good storage for the safari bar, maybe a classic wooden "chop" box too.

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John aka NitroX

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Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"