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.
Friday, 15 June 2007
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 :-)
Thursday, 31 May 2007
Power to the Landy...
Decisions, decisions, decisions....
What should I do about our battery situation? At the mo we have just the one big battery in the battery box. I think its a tractor battery or something like that, but i'ts a big puppy! But having drained it a couple of times using the winch I think it would be a wise idea to replace it before we go. I also want to set up a dual battery configuration so that the starting battery never gets flattened by accessories.
Currently my line of thinking is to have a standard sized 069 or 072 battery for starting, then a hoochy muma Intimidator battery for accessories and winching. The Intimidator battery's seem to be fairly new in the UK, not heard much about them up until recently, but they sound good. They use something called absorbed Glass Matting technology instead of the normal lead acid stuff. They also have good deep cycling ability meaning that they can be charged and discharged many times without affecting their overall charge holding ability, again unlike normal lead acid batteries. Plug it all together with a split charge and a twin battery monitor and we should be away!
However, if I want to do this then I will have to re-wire things like the winch as they are wired up to the starting battery under normal circumstances.
I have already "aquired" a Voltage sensitive relay from a club member. He works in the marine industry and seems to know his stuff, so I think I may ask his advise again... look out Matt, loads questions coming your way!
What should I do about our battery situation? At the mo we have just the one big battery in the battery box. I think its a tractor battery or something like that, but i'ts a big puppy! But having drained it a couple of times using the winch I think it would be a wise idea to replace it before we go. I also want to set up a dual battery configuration so that the starting battery never gets flattened by accessories.
Currently my line of thinking is to have a standard sized 069 or 072 battery for starting, then a hoochy muma Intimidator battery for accessories and winching. The Intimidator battery's seem to be fairly new in the UK, not heard much about them up until recently, but they sound good. They use something called absorbed Glass Matting technology instead of the normal lead acid stuff. They also have good deep cycling ability meaning that they can be charged and discharged many times without affecting their overall charge holding ability, again unlike normal lead acid batteries. Plug it all together with a split charge and a twin battery monitor and we should be away!
However, if I want to do this then I will have to re-wire things like the winch as they are wired up to the starting battery under normal circumstances.
I have already "aquired" a Voltage sensitive relay from a club member. He works in the marine industry and seems to know his stuff, so I think I may ask his advise again... look out Matt, loads questions coming your way!
Monday, 28 May 2007
Shipping... yeah, whatever!
Ok... prepare yourself for a long and boring read. I've been looking into shipping for quite a while now, and now after several glasses of wine, thought it was time to put pinkies to keyboard.
The shipping industry seems to me to be amazingly relaxed. Jen has been nagging me to find out when Charlie will arrive in Baltimore. The trouble is I can't give her an exact date. Every shipping company I have phoned have pretty much said "ahhh yeah man, dounnnnt worrrrry about a thang... just gis a caaaall 3 daaaays before ya want to go". Now, to me this seems just a tad on the relaxed side.
Being based in Southampton it seemed logical to us to try to find shipping from here, but every company quoted from Felixstowe. This seems to be the best and cheapest place to send a container from. So I asked on the ever faithful LR4x4 forum for peoples experiences with shipping companies... sure enough the responses supported my experiences. But as with all forum posts, some good suggestions were also made. I was pointed in the direction of Kingstown Shipping who are based in Hull. They specialise in the transportation of cars between the USA and Blighty. I spoke to a chap called Steve who was very helpful and full of re-assuring assurances along the lines of "Dounnnnnt worrrry... about a thang". But I have to admit, even after the posts from people doing similar things, that I am still nervous about this whole shipping milarky. Steve has assured me that he will contact me in plenty of time to arrange our shipping, and I don't doubt him, but in the shipping world, plenty of time is like a week before, and this is doing our nuts in!! I'm sure if we were more experienced in the international travel and shipping game that this wouldn't be a problem, but as it's our virgin trip...
Anyway, after a few phone calls to Steve at Kingstown I found out that it takes between 8 and 14 days for a container to ship from Felixstowe to Baltimore and that they sail on a Monday. So now we have a rough guestimate about when Charlie will arrive in the USA.
Through my chats with Steve I also worked out that Charlie will not fit in a 20ft container! The opening is 2.27m. Charlie Camel is 2.34m tall. This presented us with a bit of a problem. We have 7cm to loose in height. Varoius options were discussed like taking the rear springs out, letting the tyres down, using a ratchet straps around the chassis and axle. In the end we just opted to go for a 40ft high cube container which is 2.58m tall. It's a couple of hundred quid extra, but there are no worries about Charlie fitting, and the potential for damage is a lot less.
Time to go make sandwiches for work tomorrow.... more will follow!
The shipping industry seems to me to be amazingly relaxed. Jen has been nagging me to find out when Charlie will arrive in Baltimore. The trouble is I can't give her an exact date. Every shipping company I have phoned have pretty much said "ahhh yeah man, dounnnnt worrrrry about a thang... just gis a caaaall 3 daaaays before ya want to go". Now, to me this seems just a tad on the relaxed side.
Being based in Southampton it seemed logical to us to try to find shipping from here, but every company quoted from Felixstowe. This seems to be the best and cheapest place to send a container from. So I asked on the ever faithful LR4x4 forum for peoples experiences with shipping companies... sure enough the responses supported my experiences. But as with all forum posts, some good suggestions were also made. I was pointed in the direction of Kingstown Shipping who are based in Hull. They specialise in the transportation of cars between the USA and Blighty. I spoke to a chap called Steve who was very helpful and full of re-assuring assurances along the lines of "Dounnnnnt worrrry... about a thang". But I have to admit, even after the posts from people doing similar things, that I am still nervous about this whole shipping milarky. Steve has assured me that he will contact me in plenty of time to arrange our shipping, and I don't doubt him, but in the shipping world, plenty of time is like a week before, and this is doing our nuts in!! I'm sure if we were more experienced in the international travel and shipping game that this wouldn't be a problem, but as it's our virgin trip...
Anyway, after a few phone calls to Steve at Kingstown I found out that it takes between 8 and 14 days for a container to ship from Felixstowe to Baltimore and that they sail on a Monday. So now we have a rough guestimate about when Charlie will arrive in the USA.
Through my chats with Steve I also worked out that Charlie will not fit in a 20ft container! The opening is 2.27m. Charlie Camel is 2.34m tall. This presented us with a bit of a problem. We have 7cm to loose in height. Varoius options were discussed like taking the rear springs out, letting the tyres down, using a ratchet straps around the chassis and axle. In the end we just opted to go for a 40ft high cube container which is 2.58m tall. It's a couple of hundred quid extra, but there are no worries about Charlie fitting, and the potential for damage is a lot less.
Time to go make sandwiches for work tomorrow.... more will follow!
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