... is far more complicated than UK car insurance!
Actually, thats probably not true, but it certainly feels that way.
Anyway, I have just settled the bill for 5 months US insurance that gives us maximum protection for the duration of our trip... all for the luvely chubbly sum of $809 (at todays rates, thats about £400) which I don't think is bad for a foreign vehicle with foreign drivers, a fully loaded policy to cover a fully loaded vehicle for 5 months.
Tina Jenkins at Sunrise insurance in Florida provided the insurance through their foreign insurance program. She has been incredibly helpful throughout my insurance investigations and from the outset provided all the information we needed. There aren't many companies in the USA that deal with this sort of policy... I found 3 in total. There may be more but they aren't well advertised. I contacted one other company who had exactly the same forms to fill out as Sunrise, but wanted far too much info out of me at the beginning when all I wanted was a quote. It turns out that the policy would have been underwritten by the same company as used by Sunrise, but the quotation process was just too long winded for my liking. So Sunrise got my credit card number ;-)
Thursday 28 June 2007
Monday 25 June 2007
Power to the Landy... Part 2 :-)
After faffing about with oily bits, I thought it would be a good idea to sort out the battery situation. Up until the weekend just gone, Charlie had one big battery powering everything. As I previously mentioned, this battery has been discharged a few times now, something that lead acid batteries don't like. The more times you discharge a lead acid battery, the less capacity it will have.
So after loads of questions to a couple of seasoned battery experts, I decided to go for a couple of Deka Intimidators from Brooklyn4x4. One big puppy for starting and winching, and one normal sized battery to run things like the the fridge, heated seats (!!??!), and any other plug in-able accessories.
Most people would have rewired the winch to run from the accessories battery, but that would involve messing with some more wires and that ain't my strong point... So I left it as before and basically added a second battery to power the fag lighter sockets. Add to this a Voltage Sensitive Relay and in theory we should get both batteries charged when the engine is running.
Most people would have rewired the winch to run from the accessories battery, but that would involve messing with some more wires and that ain't my strong point... So I left it as before and basically added a second battery to power the fag lighter sockets. Add to this a Voltage Sensitive Relay and in theory we should get both batteries charged when the engine is running.
Good Vibrations!.. and some other stuff
Anybody who knows their Landy's will recognise that vibration that comes from a propshaft when one of the UJ's is shot.
After about a year of owning Charlie Camel, we had the dreaded vibrations. On inspection I found that one of the bearing cups had completely disappeared and the "spider" had eaten into the propshaft yolk :-( Oh well, says I, I'll stick a new prop on... which I did. But then after about 3000 miles or so, the vibration started coming back. So I took the prop off and sent it back to the Brooklyn 4x4 who were happy to replace it with another one and send the dodgey one back to their supplier. Now, another few thousand miles later, I got the vibes again!!
I have checked the bearings in the diff nose and the output flange of the transfer box and there is nothing obviously wrong there, so I'm making an assumption that the UJ's in these prop shafts are a bit on the naff side. No worries tho, as they are replacable (P.No STC3407?) . So the weekend just gone, I ended up changing both the UJ's.
I also changed the rear diff flange and oil seal and the transfer box front output flange and oil seal. These are hopefully the last 2 leaks to be sorted on the drive train.
After about a year of owning Charlie Camel, we had the dreaded vibrations. On inspection I found that one of the bearing cups had completely disappeared and the "spider" had eaten into the propshaft yolk :-( Oh well, says I, I'll stick a new prop on... which I did. But then after about 3000 miles or so, the vibration started coming back. So I took the prop off and sent it back to the Brooklyn 4x4 who were happy to replace it with another one and send the dodgey one back to their supplier. Now, another few thousand miles later, I got the vibes again!!
I have checked the bearings in the diff nose and the output flange of the transfer box and there is nothing obviously wrong there, so I'm making an assumption that the UJ's in these prop shafts are a bit on the naff side. No worries tho, as they are replacable (P.No STC3407?) . So the weekend just gone, I ended up changing both the UJ's.
I also changed the rear diff flange and oil seal and the transfer box front output flange and oil seal. These are hopefully the last 2 leaks to be sorted on the drive train.
Friday 22 June 2007
2 weekends to go! (& Travel Insurance)
Argh! ...Now I'm getting nervous. 2 weekends to go before Charlie Camel gets loaded in his container and Dans working tomorrow morning. Still a few jobs to be done: Steering box seals, some part of the transfew box is leaking again (forgive me, when Dan informs me of a new leak I just drift off into another fantasy world of clean driveways), 2 new UJ's needed on our quality new propshaft and the wiring in the vehicle needs sorting as well as the 2 new batteries and the heated seats... . The 'big yellow money sponge' is certainly living up to his name! :) We'll see how far we can progress this weekend as ideally I'd like next weekend for cleaning/polishing/packing and making a start sorting the house out!
My list of jobs yesterday included finally sorting our travel insurance. The nature of our trip was quite a strange one compared to most, so ringing up for 5 months worth of insurance travelling around in your own vehicle got some weird reactions. I did however discover backpacker policies which are designed to cover your for a long period of time in various locations. Luckily for us (well, Dan!) the trend of providing them only for the under 30's seems to have stopped and we were able to get a quote for such a Policy. After spending several weeks reading small print and almost falling off my chair with some of the quotes we recieved I stumbled across http://www.insureandgo.com/ . They have won a number of awards for their travel insurance and are FSA regulated. They provide more than adequate medical cover as well as the usual extras and more importantly have an 'adventure traveller' policy which includes the majority of activities we want to undertake. We had significant problems wanting to do a considerable amount of mountain biking and a few other things like white water rafting, climbing, horse riding etc. whilst out there. Luckily, insure and go covers us for this and pretty much anything else! (although some more 'serious' stuff does involve a small extra premium).
When ringing them they were very helpful, the only draw back seems to be the individual item limit of £150 and refusal to insure sports equipment. However, they added on the Laptop and Digital Camera for a small extra fee and suggested calling our house insurance about the bikes. ... Mm. Well, ok, Dan gave them a call and sure enough, they'll insure the bikes whilst we're away (as long as they are locked up when we're not riding them!) for up to £500 each. Excellent! The only other stumbling block was our plan to catch and internal flight and do some last minute snowboarding when we'd shipped the Camel off at the end of the trip. This is a dream of mine as I've never had a go at it before, but is only likley to happen if we've got enough cash left (so not very then!). Luckily this didn't phase 'Insure and Go' and they said 'just give us a call if you want to do it and we can cover you, a weeks notice is good but 48 hours if you can't do it will be ok!'. Excellent :)
We managed to cover both of us, the laptop and the Camera for 5 months for £317. Not bad I thought. Just one thing to look out for though if you're looking for some insurance for your own trip is the small print, our policy, like many others I looked at automatically stops if you 'come home' and you have to get a whole new policy if you fly out again, we could purchase 2 trips home for £12 each, but again, it's an extra.
My list of jobs yesterday included finally sorting our travel insurance. The nature of our trip was quite a strange one compared to most, so ringing up for 5 months worth of insurance travelling around in your own vehicle got some weird reactions. I did however discover backpacker policies which are designed to cover your for a long period of time in various locations. Luckily for us (well, Dan!) the trend of providing them only for the under 30's seems to have stopped and we were able to get a quote for such a Policy. After spending several weeks reading small print and almost falling off my chair with some of the quotes we recieved I stumbled across http://www.insureandgo.com/ . They have won a number of awards for their travel insurance and are FSA regulated. They provide more than adequate medical cover as well as the usual extras and more importantly have an 'adventure traveller' policy which includes the majority of activities we want to undertake. We had significant problems wanting to do a considerable amount of mountain biking and a few other things like white water rafting, climbing, horse riding etc. whilst out there. Luckily, insure and go covers us for this and pretty much anything else! (although some more 'serious' stuff does involve a small extra premium).
When ringing them they were very helpful, the only draw back seems to be the individual item limit of £150 and refusal to insure sports equipment. However, they added on the Laptop and Digital Camera for a small extra fee and suggested calling our house insurance about the bikes. ... Mm. Well, ok, Dan gave them a call and sure enough, they'll insure the bikes whilst we're away (as long as they are locked up when we're not riding them!) for up to £500 each. Excellent! The only other stumbling block was our plan to catch and internal flight and do some last minute snowboarding when we'd shipped the Camel off at the end of the trip. This is a dream of mine as I've never had a go at it before, but is only likley to happen if we've got enough cash left (so not very then!). Luckily this didn't phase 'Insure and Go' and they said 'just give us a call if you want to do it and we can cover you, a weeks notice is good but 48 hours if you can't do it will be ok!'. Excellent :)
We managed to cover both of us, the laptop and the Camera for 5 months for £317. Not bad I thought. Just one thing to look out for though if you're looking for some insurance for your own trip is the small print, our policy, like many others I looked at automatically stops if you 'come home' and you have to get a whole new policy if you fly out again, we could purchase 2 trips home for £12 each, but again, it's an extra.
Monday 18 June 2007
A few more odd jobs done
After work on Friday night I decided to get on with the forms that Bridget at Dartrans needs to get Charlie Camel into the US. It turns out that I need to get one of the forms noterized. Up until that evening, I had never heard that word before so had no idea what it meant!! Basically it means that the all important Power or Attorney form needs to be witnessed by somebody with the power to do so. Now, most of us would just ask a friend or neighbour, but having spoken to Dartrans, they would prefer a "qualified" person and a stamp to show they are legally able to witness stuff. So today I phoned a couple of solicitors. Blake Lapthorn said they could do it for the extortionate sum of £100+VAT!!! So Jen found another company, Paris Smith and Randal in Southampton who said they'd do it for twenty quid... I cancelled the appointment at Blake Lapthorn!
Weekend just gone...
With the nice shiny new MOT in hand and a couple of advisory points, I spent sunday with a hangover doing bits to the car again.
Finally got the front shock fitted. I didn't fit them at Eastnor as I did the rear ones 'cos I has one of the locating washers missing from the pack. I went to see Devon 4x4 at the show (they originally supplied the shocks) and explained to them that I had one missing. Fortunately for me they had plenty of spare at the show so where able to give me another one.
In the afternoon we went round to abuse Richard's workshop. He has a hydraulic press and the A frame ball joint on the back axle needed changing. You need a press to do this so we stopped in and drank loads of tea before getting the job done. In exchange for Richards generosity, I drank some more of his tea... and then gave him a hand fitting the new exhaust system to his other halfs Freelander.
Oh, and I sorted out that dodgey rear fog light that was so nearly the cause of an MOT failure!!
All in all, a productive weekend.
Weekend just gone...
With the nice shiny new MOT in hand and a couple of advisory points, I spent sunday with a hangover doing bits to the car again.
Finally got the front shock fitted. I didn't fit them at Eastnor as I did the rear ones 'cos I has one of the locating washers missing from the pack. I went to see Devon 4x4 at the show (they originally supplied the shocks) and explained to them that I had one missing. Fortunately for me they had plenty of spare at the show so where able to give me another one.
In the afternoon we went round to abuse Richard's workshop. He has a hydraulic press and the A frame ball joint on the back axle needed changing. You need a press to do this so we stopped in and drank loads of tea before getting the job done. In exchange for Richards generosity, I drank some more of his tea... and then gave him a hand fitting the new exhaust system to his other halfs Freelander.
Oh, and I sorted out that dodgey rear fog light that was so nearly the cause of an MOT failure!!
All in all, a productive weekend.
Friday 15 June 2007
MOT - we passed!
Took Charlie down for his MOT on Tuesday. Having spent the last couple of months doing anything and everything that looked even the slightest bit suspect, I had high hopes. I'd spent ages tweaking the fuel pump and trying to get that to a level where there wasn't too much smoke. I'd checked all the lights and all the other obvious bits. But...
You always forget something, don't ya! I'd completely forgotten to check the number plate light. My MOT man picked up on it, but being the good man that he is, pointed me in the direction of his screwdriver and his bulb collection. Funny, even with fully working bulbs, it was still a bit touch and go as the lense was covered in mud... on the inside... ooops!
He also mentioned that the emmissions were spot on, so I gave myself a pat on the back for sorting that out too :-)
Only advisory was that the A frame ball joint had a tiny bit of play in it and the fog light although it worked is a bit tempermental. So I now have a fog light to fit and need to chat up a friend with a hydraulic press to do the A frame ball joint.
You always forget something, don't ya! I'd completely forgotten to check the number plate light. My MOT man picked up on it, but being the good man that he is, pointed me in the direction of his screwdriver and his bulb collection. Funny, even with fully working bulbs, it was still a bit touch and go as the lense was covered in mud... on the inside... ooops!
He also mentioned that the emmissions were spot on, so I gave myself a pat on the back for sorting that out too :-)
Only advisory was that the A frame ball joint had a tiny bit of play in it and the fog light although it worked is a bit tempermental. So I now have a fog light to fit and need to chat up a friend with a hydraulic press to do the A frame ball joint.
Monday 11 June 2007
More Shipping Shananigans!
Having since found out that our UK shipping agent Kingstown have nothing to do with the unloading of our container when it lands in the US, I thought I'd better try to find out what is needed to get Charlie Camel in to the US.
Basically, we need a company that acts on behalf of the US Customs people. In our case I sent a whole raft of emails off to shipping companies based in Baltimore. I found this really useful website which list a whole load of associated companies. Any company that is an associate member of something must be good, eh??
I evertually spoke to a lady by the name of Bridget Lowy at Dartrans. She gave me a load of useful info during a half hour conversation (Ouch... I ain't looking forward to my next phone bill!!) and after a quick email outlining our plans, she replied with all the relivant info and forms that need to be filled in... there are quite a few! As soon as I get a chance I will get the forms posted up on our website so you can have a read and see if they make any sence to you!! :LOL:
Now all I have to do is let Kingstown know about the "Notify Party" and find out what my US consign address is?!?!??? Hmmmm sure it'll all come together in the end!
Basically, we need a company that acts on behalf of the US Customs people. In our case I sent a whole raft of emails off to shipping companies based in Baltimore. I found this really useful website which list a whole load of associated companies. Any company that is an associate member of something must be good, eh??
I evertually spoke to a lady by the name of Bridget Lowy at Dartrans. She gave me a load of useful info during a half hour conversation (Ouch... I ain't looking forward to my next phone bill!!) and after a quick email outlining our plans, she replied with all the relivant info and forms that need to be filled in... there are quite a few! As soon as I get a chance I will get the forms posted up on our website so you can have a read and see if they make any sence to you!! :LOL:
Now all I have to do is let Kingstown know about the "Notify Party" and find out what my US consign address is?!?!??? Hmmmm sure it'll all come together in the end!
LRW Show at Eastnor
We spent the weekend at the LRW show at Eastnor Castle. This was really our final camping trip before we leave so we wanted to test everything and make sure the packing and storage systems work for us. But as with all Landy shows we ended up spending the whole weekend either drunk, socialising, or taking part in the club challenges!!
But I did manage to get around to changing the rear antiroll bar balljoints and bushes as well as change the rear shock absorbers. Jen gave me a hand doing the shocks... shes a hands-on type'a girl, ya know! ;-)
We also met up with Paul and the Myway roof tent chaps. We've been moaning about the ladder on our tent for quite a while... well' since we got the tent actually! It's a bit bendy, a bit wobbly and not really man enough to cope with me and Jen climbing up and down it everyday for several months, so we started looking at replacement ladders. The Howling Moon ladder was the first that sprung to mind, nice and sturdy, but its a bit on the big side. Anyway, after mentioning to Paul at Myway that our ladder was rubbish he gave us a new one... just like that! It's the same design, but much more chunky and sturdy, and made from aluminium rather than super expensive stalnless steel! :-)
So we are how happy. All I have to do now is make some extensions for the new ladder as it's a bit short for a Defender... Doh!
The water tank we got from Boab made life so much easier... no more having to worry about filling up jerry cans, then having to lift them up to the roof! The water tastes a bit funny, but you get used to it.
May have to get some practice in on the Coleman stove we have. We gave up with it in the end and ate pasties from the fridge instead! everything thing I did went wrong on Sunday morning... I fancied a bacon butty. Got the cooker out (Really need to get a cooker shelf sorted on the back door now!!) Couldn't find anywhere to set it up out of th wind. When I found a non windy place, I went through the start-up procedure only to find that out soooper-doooper "turbo flame" lighter has decided to loose all its fuel! So I eventually found a smoker who lent me their lighter. Got the stove lit, put the frying pan on, then the flame went out. Do'h... borrow lighter again. Stove won't light... Double D'oh... out of fuel! Gave up and had weetabix for breakfast instead! Doing all this with a hangover is a major chore!
But I did manage to get around to changing the rear antiroll bar balljoints and bushes as well as change the rear shock absorbers. Jen gave me a hand doing the shocks... shes a hands-on type'a girl, ya know! ;-)
We also met up with Paul and the Myway roof tent chaps. We've been moaning about the ladder on our tent for quite a while... well' since we got the tent actually! It's a bit bendy, a bit wobbly and not really man enough to cope with me and Jen climbing up and down it everyday for several months, so we started looking at replacement ladders. The Howling Moon ladder was the first that sprung to mind, nice and sturdy, but its a bit on the big side. Anyway, after mentioning to Paul at Myway that our ladder was rubbish he gave us a new one... just like that! It's the same design, but much more chunky and sturdy, and made from aluminium rather than super expensive stalnless steel! :-)
So we are how happy. All I have to do now is make some extensions for the new ladder as it's a bit short for a Defender... Doh!
The water tank we got from Boab made life so much easier... no more having to worry about filling up jerry cans, then having to lift them up to the roof! The water tastes a bit funny, but you get used to it.
May have to get some practice in on the Coleman stove we have. We gave up with it in the end and ate pasties from the fridge instead! everything thing I did went wrong on Sunday morning... I fancied a bacon butty. Got the cooker out (Really need to get a cooker shelf sorted on the back door now!!) Couldn't find anywhere to set it up out of th wind. When I found a non windy place, I went through the start-up procedure only to find that out soooper-doooper "turbo flame" lighter has decided to loose all its fuel! So I eventually found a smoker who lent me their lighter. Got the stove lit, put the frying pan on, then the flame went out. Do'h... borrow lighter again. Stove won't light... Double D'oh... out of fuel! Gave up and had weetabix for breakfast instead! Doing all this with a hangover is a major chore!
Thursday 7 June 2007
Alarm and MOT
The MOT is booked for June 12th... fingers crossed for a pass!! Bloomin well better do after all the work I've done on it in the past couple of months!
We are booked in to have an alarm fitted a week later. We are having a Clifford Concept 650 installed by Sextons in Southampton. Apparently the fitter chappy has a 90, so I have a feeling our 110 will be in good hands!
We are booked in to have an alarm fitted a week later. We are having a Clifford Concept 650 installed by Sextons in Southampton. Apparently the fitter chappy has a 90, so I have a feeling our 110 will be in good hands!
Monday 4 June 2007
Shocking!
With the MOT due on Charlie only a few weeks before we leave I thought I'd check everything out. It appears that the top bushes on the rear shock absorbers are knackered. There is also a bit of a leak from one of them. So now the fun starts... what shocks shall I fit?
Initially I was going to fit a set of standard Landy heavy duty jobby's, but then the worry bug got to me. If I pay £18 each for a patent part, how good is it gonna be? If I pay the full Land Rover retail price for an OE item, then I may as well fit something better for the same money. Pro-comps seem to be all the rage at the moment, and they are good value for money. But I'm not after anything that gives extended travel or anything like that. I fitted Delphi's on my Rangie a few years back and they transformed the ride. Cornering became almost pleasurable! So I think I'd like something that is positive pressure and gas filled rather than the standard oil filled jobbies. So after lots of ummmm-ing and arrr-ing, I decided to go for a set of Old Man Emu Nitro Chargers. I'll be fitting them at the weekend while we are at the Eastnor Land Rover show :-)
Initially I was going to fit a set of standard Landy heavy duty jobby's, but then the worry bug got to me. If I pay £18 each for a patent part, how good is it gonna be? If I pay the full Land Rover retail price for an OE item, then I may as well fit something better for the same money. Pro-comps seem to be all the rage at the moment, and they are good value for money. But I'm not after anything that gives extended travel or anything like that. I fitted Delphi's on my Rangie a few years back and they transformed the ride. Cornering became almost pleasurable! So I think I'd like something that is positive pressure and gas filled rather than the standard oil filled jobbies. So after lots of ummmm-ing and arrr-ing, I decided to go for a set of Old Man Emu Nitro Chargers. I'll be fitting them at the weekend while we are at the Eastnor Land Rover show :-)
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