ARB Awnings

As you can probably tell from the pictures, we designed and made most of our stuff because it allowed us to customize and because honestly it was cheaper. We did, however, purchase a few things because there was no way we could improve on the quality and design. ARB makes quality products that can’t be beat. (http://arbusa.com)

We purchased two awnings from them. The first larger awning is on the side of our Land Rover and the second, smaller awning, is on the back. They are incredibly easy to put up and stow away, they are free standing and so far incredibly rugged, we have been out in some pretty good storms. And, our favorite feature is ARB’s use of keder strips, which allows us to add our own ‘touches’ to the awnings.

The large ARB awning on the side of the Land Rover.
The smaller ARB awning attached to the back of our Land Rover. It protects our kitchen from the elements.
Keder strip attachment spot on the side of the Land Rover and the collapsable woodstove tucked behind the extra fuel tank (black bag just barely visible).
Actual piece of keder strip sliding in.

Being from the north where the Mayflies can drive you crazy and the mosquitoes and horseflies can be big enough to carry you away, we had to have a screen room. We set to designing and sewing using the keder strips to attach it to the ARB awning and the Land Rover. We ended up with a completely enclosed area that is large enough for the two of us to hang-out in and cook, and it keeps the bugs out of our vehicle and tent.

Our rig set-up above the Suwannee River. The screen room is attached to the back awning.

Being true northerners, we couldn’t leave home without a woodstove. So again, we set to designing and sewing, and again used the keder strips to attach it to the ARB awning and the Land Rover. This ‘winter room’, as we call it, allows us to camp in at least three seasons.

The 3 season room attached to the back awning with the woodstove going in Ponca SP.

All of these extra additions stuff into sacks and store in our ‘junk drawer’, the red box on the back door of the Land Rover (we’ll blog about that later).

The screen room and 3 season room all stuff into these bags.

Thank you ARB for such quality products! We will write another blog later highlighting some of the other items we also purchased from ARB.

Rover Repair #3

We’ve had a periodic problem with the fuel system on the Rover. When the system is hot and we stop, restarting, usually on a steep uphill, the fuel line gets an air bubble in it that causes the Rover to be starved of fuel, which like all of us when we are starved, makes us cranky, and in the Rovers case makes her buck like a bronco. We have been a able to avoid stalling by quickly changing the gas to the opposite tank.

Today, we (the proverbial we, which actually means Darrin) are trying for a more lasting solution. Because the metal gas filter sits next to the engine, it gets really hot. We think because of this heat it is causing some expanding, contraction and boiling of the fuel as it heads to the carburetor, thus adding a few air bubbles where they shouldn’t be.

Darrin’s solution is to raid my pantry and insulate the gas filter with a peach can and a soup can. The peach can provides an air gap and the soup can lets air in when the fan turns on. This will hopefully avoid the contracting, heating and air bubbles. (Darrin’s version is much more technical with words like induction, and such. I put it into non-engineering human speak!)

Fingers crossed it works because when the Rover gets cranky, Darrin gets cranky😎

My mechanic at work.
All ready for assembly. Soup can, peach can, fuel filter, tinfoil and duct tape.
Assembly complete!
Installation complete. Fingers crossed!

Our first breakdown

Well, it was bound to happen. Not knowing my own strength, I twisted the lock on my door right out of its little Rover pin. Luckily, I travel with my mechanic😊. He rigged it to make it work, sort of.

We contacted Trevor at Rovah Farm outside Little Rock who was more than happy to help us get the parts we needed. The hard part was mailing them to us somewhere along the way, no easy feat when you don’t actually know where you are going.

Finally, we were able to find a future destination, Lake of the Ozarks State Park in MO. Trevor got the parts in the mail, even figured out the cheapest shipping rate. We let the park know they were coming (the staff was super about it, keeping the parts locked in the office until we got there), Trevor put tracking on them so we would know when they arrived and voila, 3 weeks later my mechanic picked them up and we have new door locks!

The new door lock!

Thanks Trevor! I’m sure we will be in touch again soon!

Oh, and my mechanic fixed the leak over my door….with Gorilla Tape!

Gorilla Tape rain gutter🙄

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home below the range

Today, Darrin installed our cook counter and new gas range.

Back door cook counter

On the inside of the back door of the Land Rover he added a drop down shelf. This will be our counter and our stove.

Just inside of the back door will be the fridge (big empty spot) and drawers (far left)for pots, dishes, food, etc. And they double as steps up into the roof top tent.  I’ll post better pictures of those later.

Cook stove

The cool thing about our new counter is the laminate is a leftover piece from when we redid our kitchen.

A little piece of home traveling with us

New Springs and Frost Heaves

The Land Rover is finally back from the shop with new Alcan springs.  We were quite anxious having it away since Darrin has always done all the work on the vehicle. Without a lift and winter in full swing, we turned to Performance Unlimited in Bridgewater, VT to do the work. After a few scheduling hiccups and miscommunications, they did great work and we are very pleased.

Alacan springs

With our vehicle fully loaded with 2 fuel tanks, extra fuel cans, water tank, extra water cans, the homemade roof top tent and us,  the Land Rover’s full weight came in at 5,000 pounds. Standard Land Rover specs say 4,250 is the max load on their standard springs.  Since we were over, we turned to Alcan for custom springs designed to carry the increased weight.

We never thought leaf springs could provide such a pleasant ride for a Land Rover…even on our frost heave roads!

Thank you Alcan and Performance Unlimited!