Ship of the Desert?

It was stupidly hot in London today.  An appropriate time to turn my mind to the onboard water tank that has been languishing in the garage for the last month or so – this guy needs to be fitted imminently, as we get the Taniwha back from SpannerMonkeys tomorrow or Tuesday, and are off on our shakedown trip to Ireland and the Isle of Man on Friday…

The tank is a 60l stainless rear footwell tank (with baffles to stop sloshing and the corresponding rapid weight transfer).  It will bolt in under the kids feet, and is shaped to fit exactly (I hope!).  I have noticed that it gets REALLY hot (untouchable) in the sun – not good with small paws in close proximity, so time for a wee craft project.  I have leftover automotive carpet from another job, plenty for the task at hand.  Carpet + Scissors + Contact Adhesive, job done!

Once we have the Taniwha back, I will fit the tank and plumb it in (electric pump, 3 stage filter to sieve out the nasties).  Running water, super fancy…  We will have a filter bag and a 20l jerrycan which will be used to fill the main tank, however no need for that until we get to Africa really, so still mulling over our options.

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Tower of London

Today I went to the Tower of London with my sister Vivi and daddy. Before we did anything we had a choclate muffin with our friend Brett. To get the Tower of London we had to go on two tubes and one train.

First we went to see the crown jewels we saw the Queens crown it is purple and sparkly. We saw lots of golden crowns for diffrent Kings and Queens.

We also saw Traitors gate. If  you were naughty you would be jailed for four weeks. Then you would go to Traitors gate to catch a boat to get your head chopped off!

Next we saw wire statues and ravens. Last we climbed the White Tower at the top I saw a pretend dragon with red eyes.

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My day at the Aquarium

Yesterday I went to the London Aquarium with my sister Vivi and daddy. To get there we went on one train and two tubes. When we were there we saw starfish and puffer fish first. After that we saw penguins. They live in a really cold part of the Aquarium. They are birds but they can swim really fast. there were lots of different colours of jellyfish in tanks. They had long stingers to catch prey. Next we saw a whale skeleton it was big and scary in a big tank with lots of fish and sharks. Last we saw a baby sting ray and had McDonalds for lunch.

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A Giant Meccano Set

ejector.jpegSo…  it’s been awhile since I updated the world on vehicle prep progress.  As I write this, I am gazing at an empty driveway – the Landrover is up in Newcastle at SpannerMonkeys getting its underbelly tickled, and the Jaguar is at the chop-shop having all its ailments treated in preparation for shipping back to NZ to be put on ice for awhile…

SpannerMonkeys – great people, I can thoroughly reccommend them to anyone else wanting open heart surgery on an aging Land Rover.  The list of jobs they are ticking off for me is significant: a new hot-dip galvanised chassis (painted black so as not to scream “steal me”), new bushes all round, new brake lines and calipers, a 2″ suspension lift (heavy duty springs at the front, +2″ spacers under the bags at the rear), the engine bay and underside will be stripped and coated in “Lizard Skin” to enable easy cleaning, a bit of cutting and welding, new high pressure hydraulic lines for the ACE system (Active Corner Enhancement).  There are also a few electical niggles that are being sorted, and they are fitting my front and rear airlocking differentials as well as some Safari Equip long range stainless fuel tanks – we will have 160l in total onboard, plus a 20l jerrycan – so should get around 2000km before sucking fumes.

Waiting here in the garage for fitting is a 60l stainless water tank that will go in the footwell under the kids feet, angry steel bumpers front and rear (I am still deciding on what winch and rock sliders to get).  I need to fabricate a shelving solution that takes my rear fridge/freezer into account as well…  it slides out halfway for easy access, but Scotland taught me that unpacking around it a few times a day is a pain in the bum.

I have delayed the writeup on rear electrics and onboard air, as I had to strip the vehicle completely before delivering it to SpannerMonkeys, when I reassemble I will take better photos and do a proper writeup.

So – only a few big purchases left: a winch (choices, choices…), tree/rock sliders, anti-truckdriver spotlights… maybe a fat airhorn.  16″ steel rims and agressive tires (I am a bit torn on what tires to buy, down to BFG or Cooper).

I have also started the painful process of working out what tools I *really* need to take. Harder than it sounds…

Getting there, slowly but surely.  Ireland and Isle of Man in a few weeks for more shakedown time!
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My day in London

Today I went to London with my sister Vivi and Daddy. We went on three tubes and two trains. The first thing we did was climb Monument.

It has 311 steps its a long way up.  I saw Tower bridge at the top. Monument is near where the Great Fire started in 1666. It’s even older than Mummy.

Then we walked over London Bridge and had lunch at Borough Market with our friends Keith, Col, Brett and Craig.

After lunch we went to HMS Belfast which is a big old warship. It has lots of guns. Did you know sailors slept in hammocks and officers had their own cabins. The ship was in a very famous battle in World War Two at North Cape in Norway.

We walked 13 and a half kilometers and had the best time ever.

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