Thread: A QLD 110 in Europe

Someone like these guys .... Solarscreen - Quality custom made window insulation for Motorhomes, 4x4s, Boats and Cars

Brilliant! Thanks spudboy.

Originally Posted by stewie110

I noticed on your website that there is a photo of sulo being loaded up on a truck.. What happened?

Sorry for the delay Team - back at work...

That shot of Sulo on the tray is after the "low point" of the trip. It's a long story...

I'd done everything I could to make the Puma a submarine (impossible I realise); extended breathers, ExBox, Nugget's snorkel air-intake, Siliconed up AirBox valves. For two weeks it had been enough. I've no photos (sadly) of me crossing the serious rivers up there because the other half would not walk across them with the camera. They were probably about 3 degrees and some were too deep and powerful for her so I couldn't fault her on that. On the serious ones I was unwilling to do multiple crossings in the truck to drop her on the otherside as one crossing was enough. There were quite a few where the water was over the bonnet (and in the doors) but the immense weight of Sulo meant we'd generally trundle through slowly in low-range without too much hassle and with enough forward momentum the bow-wave meant our feet weren't swimming or anything.

There are no markers for where to enter / exit the rivers up there, and the water height varies as much as a metre dependent upon the temperature and time of day and their impact on the up river snow melt. You'd usually try and read the water, cross upstream of where you wanted to end up and invariably get pushed down stream by the current and hopefully land where you intended on the other side. On the particularly hairy ones I'd wade them beforehand begrudgingly. Pro-tip for anyone driving up there - take fishing waders - I did not and when 3 degree water hits your undies you know you're awake. I was lazy on a few bad ones and didn't wade them. On one occasion I hit an enormous boulder mid-crossing which bent my drag-link and track-rod quite properly, so that was insta-karma. Another resulted in Sulo on the back of a truck as you've seen.

So according to my Spot Trace, this is roughly where the fun took place. It wasn't a bad crossing at all, nearly still and I could see the sandy boulder free bottom. It was our penultimate day up there, we were on the ferry back to Denmark the next day, I was cocky and didn't wade the crossing. We slowly went into it and it was deep (water up the windscreen) but only about 10M wide and neither of us batted an eyelid after the week of Sulo swimming we'd done. As I came out of the exit I felt the slightest hesitation and killed the engine immediately. It was so slight my wife didn't hear anything and was confused why I did it. I said "we could be in trouble here" in my usual pessimistic way and opened the air box to remove the world's dampest sponge / air-filter. I then undid the intercooler hose on the other side of the engine and drained litres of water out of it, which presumably had been through the engine and into the intercooler. It was also raining torrentially, blowing about 60 knots and was around 5 degrees. Needless to say the mood was sombre.

That's Part 1. How we ended up on the truck and where we went is Part 2, which will have to wait.

Originally Posted by MrLandy

Hey Knodes85, thanks for the fantastic thread, I've really enjoyed reading about your Defender travels os.

Re tyres, was it that the side walls were too soft on rocky roads with the XZL's ? I've been thinking of trying them next. ...I've sworn by Bridgestone 661's for years now, 10 ply sidewalls, and they lengthen really will on low pressure in sand. Sounds like maybe I should stick with them...

Cheers

I don't mean to sound like I'm bagging XZL's - if you're not doing steep sand dunes at GVM I still maintain they're the duck's nuts. All my punctures were from sticks or branches staking the side-wall. I doubt much could have withstood some of them. Western Sahara has the typical African Acacia Trees - they're nasty sharp buggers!

Originally Posted by jc109

Hey Knodes85, where did you find (or how did you make) those reflective window shades. They look like a very tidy solution. I've previously just cut up window shades bought from Supercheap.

SpudBoy's on the money - they are SolarScreens which were made up by Jamie (the son of the father-son team who make them). They're up there with the best items I've ever purchased for the truck. I had curtains before but the difference between them is astronomical. They insulate effectively when it's freezing, and are far superior when it comes to reducing cabin heat when it's boiling.

Jamie has templates for all normal Defenders (90s, 110s, 130s). My 2 door 110 was new to him so he had to custom measure and make the back windows. First time round he undersized them by a bit. I told him and within 2 days he'd redone a whole new set for me and posted them over, no questions asked. Phenomenal service.

They only problem is they do make your truck look a bit like a mirror-ball but it's worth the gaudiness for the benefits.

Cheers knodes85.

I think I can handle to gaudiness for those benefits. I've shot a note off to SolarScreens requesting a quote, but I did so for their Touring Kit only, ie aft of the front seats. Although I won't be needing the front seats any time soon I might instead go the whole hog and be done with it.

Once again, super jealous of your adventure. Probably a good thing your website is so data hungry else my productivity at work would be through the floor.

How do you recover mentally from coming down to Earth after something like that? My brother recently walked the Camino. He's been back almost two months and is still coming to terms with normality. According to others who've done the same a couple of months of the blues is the norm. I don't know how I'd ever readjust to life back at home after what you guys have done together.

Originally Posted by knodes85

I don't mean to sound like I'm bagging XZL's - if you're not doing steep sand dunes at GVM I still maintain they're the duck's nuts. All my punctures were from sticks or branches staking the side-wall. I doubt much could have withstood some of them. Western Sahara has the typical African Acacia Trees - they're nasty sharp buggers!

Yeah similar sharp acacia spikes in western desert / gibson desert in oz too! Toyotas with split rims and tubes especially vulnerable. I've never punctured out there over the years, perhaps just luck but the 661's tubeless are definately tough.

Originally Posted by jc109

How do you recover mentally from coming down to Earth after something like that? My brother recently walked the Camino. He's been back almost two months and is still coming to terms with normality. According to others who've done the same a couple of months of the blues is the norm. I don't know how I'd ever readjust to life back at home after what you guys have done together.

I don't think you ever readjust. The world takes on a different perspective forever more...the important things become clearer, the surface veneer drops away.