No title

As we were pottering around on the weekend, I thought, I must empty the grey water tank as there was a slight smell when you took the plug out of the sink. Well it turned out to have a bit of mould in it which came out quickly after bleaching. When I put it back in empty, I put maybe a few table spoons of bleach in there. I figured it may stop or slow growth next time.

Unfortunately, they fresh water bottle also had a slimy brown mould in it as well – thank goodness we were not drinking it. Same treatment, bleach fixed it, and ran through maybe 5L of bleached water through the lines, filters and pump to clear out anything in there.

We moved the storage/bed cupboard over 125mm which allowed for the cushion to sit down the back while driving, but also meant there wasn’t such a large gap beside the bed to roll off. Finished off nicely with two cushions which double as pillows.

The main idea with the roof rack, was to allow storage of non-critical, non perishable, bulky goods outside the car, leaving the nice dry secure space inside for clothes, food and valuables.  As life is an eternal compromise, it seemed ever-present in our choice of external storage.
My major concerns in order are:

Weight
Weight is everything. Every single kilogram above the roof changes the handling and off road capability significantly. A good steel box would be cool, but we’d be nearly overweight before putting  anything else on! The other point is we need to be able to assemble and dissemble the roof rack and load/unload it’s contents wharf side. No point putting our backs out before we even start.
Dust/weather resistant
Initially, I thought I had a kickass idea of buying an icebox for the job. It would be light weight, lockable and damn water proof. But that has two inherit downside. If it’s water proof, and holds ice for 8 days, it is also airtight. If it’s airtight and we’re changing altitude continually, it may well fracture from the differences in pressure and or be impossible to open. Pelican cases are designed with this problem in mind and are equipped with pressure equalisation valves… ice boxes are not. An esky is ‘weather proof’ but not airtight… perfect! Also, it should regulate the temperature fairly well as to avoid things melting or degrading in the sun.
Price
It goes without saying that price is a consideration is most purchases. Because it’s insecure, on display and potentially a total loss (as it’s uninsured), I thought it prudent to not tie up much money in this article. To take it one step further… we already owned this and now that we have a fridge, we don’t use it as an icebox. And because we may need one or two more, it means the cost shouldn’t skyrocket.
Security
The only reason I’ve ranked security lowest on the list is because it’s near impossible to do much about. We could have the best lock, best box, secured to the roof rack… and someone could just take the roof rack off, or steal the car. Its one of those things I’m consciously trying to relax about.

So with all that in mind, we ended up with the below: Hacky some might say, but oh well – I think it’s ideal.

They are a little difficult to secure as the side handles are flimsy (not designed for this purpose) but I also wanted to be able to open it without unstrapping it. It does look a little out of place at the moment, but with the Maxtrax, spare tyre and one or two more boxes it will look ok.

This box currently contains:
Jacking plate, gloves, snatch strap, tree trunk protector, jumper leads, spare air hose, multiple chains and D bolts. Not pictured is a heap of rags and overalls.

On a follow-up to the previous post, the belts were indeed wrong… but not the length, the width. The ones I was delivered were 13mm wide, these ones are 11mm wide. They slid on instantly. Also pictured is the idler pulley adjuster bolt which was mysteriously missing.  The supplier apologised for accidently supplying the wrong one and was going to send new ones or refund me the total amount. It didn’t sit well with me as I had cut one, but he did compromise and allow me to send the unused one back for a refund. Some people may scoff at that, but I’d rather be fair than take advantage of them.

Tonight I ordered a ‘filter kit’ from eBay… containing an oil filter, fuel filter and air filter. ($70 Delivered) I think I’ll change the fuel and oil filters soon, but order some more before our trip. I’m sure we’ll be able to source and oil filter in our travels, but I can’t help but think it’s easier just to carry the two we’ll need. I’m not sure if you can really ‘store and reuse’ an old fuel filter, I’m pretty sure it’s like an oil filter in the sense it’s used once it’s used.

I’d welcome some ideas on how you can test if a snorkel is sealed. I figured you could remove the air cleaner, block it off somehow and fill the snorkel up with water to see if it leaks? The reason for the question is that the rubbery seal between the body and the snorkel seem to be a bit loose for my liking and would like to just KNOW it’s perfect as if it’s not, it would put a huge dampener on the trip if we needed a new engine. The internet is amazing. A couple of people confirmed my idea, a few others just take the snorkel head off, and cover it with your hand. It’ll either stall, or suck air from somewhere else.

I’m sure I’ve mentioned before how rubbish the drivers seat is. One of the previous drivers was a large guy and the left hand side support is crushed flat and the right one isn’t much better. I did try repairing it a few months back but it wasn’t much better. I got a rough quote by emailing some pictures for a $350-$660 to repair the seat. So far original seats are fetching $600~ sort of money for a used one. Everyone complains about them, so at this stage I’d prefer to fix this super-doper one.

I made the mistake of having a quick sleep this afternoon – so far I’ve been up for two hours past when I tried to go to sleep around 10:30 tonight. Oh well – I’m still not tired.