Carpet Purchased

I purchased some large black carpet tiles this weekend, to cover the MDF shelf I had previously built. I had intended to cut the tiles to shape and install them this weekend, but the garden took over and I have not been able to get to the car.  It has not been washed either...

You can see how when the tiles are installed it will make the false floor disappear.  Maybe next weekend.

First Out of Town Trip

Having had its first 1000km service and taking almost 6 weeks to get to 1141km total distance travelled, we went to the Coromandel for three days and covered over 800km in just three days.  Although we did not take the car seriously off road, we have started to nose into the rougher parts of the public road network, so that meant a lot of gravel road driving, nothing too tricky or challenging, but fun all the same.

Our first run was from Tapu to Coroglen, one of the three roads that crosses the penninsular, the other one we want to do is further north and is known simply as the "309"  The reason for purchasing the car is to allow us to nose deeper into the parts of New Zealand that it is not often easy to access, except on foot.

Once out there we want to photograph birds, take timelapse photography clips and anything else that takes our fancy.  So in the spirit of our intended purpose, here is some footage and photos from the weekend, that getting to the back blocks allowed us to take.

The car performed really well and was a really comfortable easy experience.

You can see the photos of the birds that I photographed on my Flickr photostream.




coromandel vimeo from David Kinane on Vimeo.

Defender Owners

Today I took the car in for its 1000km service check up.  I had the tires filled with Nitrogen as apparently this can lead to a 30% reduction in fuel consumption, but driving a brick like a Defender I am not sure that the savings will be that great, but we will see.

I have had great pleasure in driving the car over the last 6 weeks and in that time I have witnessed three distinct things.  Defender owners tend to acknowledge one another as we pass.  I like that, it is like being part of an unofficial club.  But it has got me thinking because the other reaction I am getting from my friends about my owning a Defender 110, range from questioning my sanity to howls of laughter.  Is this why Defender owners wave to each other?  Are we mad?

The other reaction I get as I drive around town is the pedestrian stare.  The car does catch the eye and they are sufficiently different and rare that they do attract attention.  Whether that attention is one of envy or hilarity is hard to gauge.

Once I picked up the car after its service, there was a clear difference. The acceleration was noticeably smoother and quicker, the ride seemed smoother too, must be the nitrogen lifting the car slightly off of the road!

I have now made the 1000km mark, so now the open road and rough roads beckon.  We are off to the Coromandel this weekend...  Go Pro's charged and ready to go!

I Hate Rattles

I spent some time this morning creating foam templates of my tools so that the box that I store them in, under the shelf I started creating yesterday.  The point is that I hate rattles whilst I am driving, the incessant chink of metal on metal annoys the hell out of me.  When we rent campervans, the first thing we do is de-chink the chattels so that the journey has less white noise.  Here is a short timelapse of me prepping the tool box to be silent!

I Hate Rattles! from David Kinane on Vimeo.

Prepping the Defender

I am really enjoying driving the Defender, it has a presence on the road.  People stare as I pass.  Most likely they are wondering what that old car is doing on the road.  I am sure owning a Defender polarises opinions, but I do not care.  I have always loved this iconic car and have wanted one for as long as I can remember.  So in Auckland traffic, reslpendent with Remuera Tractors that probably go no more off road than the school sports field, the Defender and I stick out a bit.  We do not so much as cut a swathe through the traffic, we propel in front of us a force field that just seems to clear narrow streets of smaller cars, they just seem to dive for safety behind a phalanx of parked cars and let us pass through.

City driving is not without its issues however, I have yet to execute a parallel park in space anything smaller than an articulated truck might contemplate, High Street might pose a challenge too far.  I have yet to work out what the true weight and height of the car is.  I did not park on the elevated parking spaces at Sylvia Park this weekend for fear of falling through to the next level!  In addition to the above, the clutch is heavy and my atrophied muscles of my left leg are finding this a challenge as I recuperate from my back injury!  But despite that, I am still loving it and am itching to get past the 1000km service, which I shall be booking this coming week, so that I can finally stretch the legs of the beast and take it where it wants to go, where the roads are barely there or there are no roads!

In preparation for our planned off road adventure in the South Island, I have been purchasing equipment but I have also been preparing the Defender.  One of my regrets is that I did not specify solid windows in the rear of the Defender when I ordered it.  The rear of the car offers no privacy and the sliding windows offer scant security.  I intend to tint the rear side windows at some point in the future and convert them to solid panes of glass to prevent casual theft.  In the meantime I have been creating a false floor so that I can place goods out of sight.  I have installed a sheet of MDF into the rear and am now looking for some black carpet to cover it with.  So in the future when we are out shopping we have a space to place goods that are out of sight.

The other purpose for the shelf is for me to be able to store goods, whilst we are on the road that we do not want access to all the time.  So under the shelf will be the recovery chains, the box with the tools in and the box with the cooking equipment in.  Take a look at the work in progress, still got to find the black carpet.

Off-road Accessories

I have been collecting a few bits and pieces to enable us to be self sufficient off road, well I hope so!  I have opted not to install a winch on the front of the car, opting instead to have some recovery points installed at the front and the rear.  My logic here is that I hope not to get stuck!  But just in case I have purchased some recovery kit that will enable me to get out of trouble from either the front or the rear of the vehicle.  I have purchased a Hi-Lift Jack and a recovery pack so that I can use the jack to pull me out of trouble from either end.  I have yet to get a land anchor or sand ladders, but will review that situation after our South Island trip.  I have also purchased a 2.5kg dry powder fire extinguisher, some snow chains, more for the mud, but I am told that even in summer some of the high passes can be covered in snow.  I have also purchased a range of tools.  It all adds to the weight of the vehicle it has to be said.

Motorway Drive

I took the Landrover for its first motorway drive today.  I have done 500km of urban driving so far. Today we allowed the car to stretch its legs with a trip to the Botanic Gardens.  Check out the the time lapse.

Landrover - Time lapse from David Kinane on Vimeo.