I have basically made up my mind and ordered a pair of 2″ wheel spacers from Snake Racing Australia.

By now we have now done about 5000kms through all sorts of terrain and when fully loaded for 5 days in the wilderness, we are quite heavy (close to 3.5t methinks). It was neither the dune driving, nor was it crawling steep mountain tracks, nor driving corrugated gravel roads or any such sorts, that would have been reason to raise any concern.

Ugab River Bed

Ugab River close to Messum Crater

However, when we drove through the Ugab river bed, from Mile 108 to the Brandberg, and when in deeper/heavier sand, I felt that Wohni was wagging its tail a bit more then it should (whether following other vehicle’s tracks or not). The ’swinging’ of the back, obviously caused by the hind wheels’ alternating efforts to follow the tracks made by their respective peers in the front and amplified by the rather rearward center of gravity, worried me somewhat and still does. Not right there and then, where we took it nice and easy, but projecting that tail wagging to what it would/could be like on a sloping wet beach, where you have to keep the speed up at all times, is what may be rather disconcerting. Especially along those stretches, when the wet part is your only option, because you are flanked by steep dune walls on one side and the sea on the other .

Lange Wand - Source: Wikitravel

Sometimes for many kilometers, such as when driving along the “Lange Wand” between Conception Bay and Sandwich Bay for example.

A pair of 2-Inchers for me please - and the unlikely possibility to overstress the axle and/or wheel bearings on the side, thank you very much. I promise to let you know, should something break after all.

Cheers and Beers
Tommy

Related Link: At the time of this writing the discussion is still on @ Landcruiser Club Southern Africa Forum

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The short and sweet of it is, that the bodywork at large and integration of the cabin is top notch. However, pursuant to some testing and trips and as early as at the time of picking up Wohni, flaws started to become apparent when “looking a bit closer”, the sum of them bordering on being a nuisance. Would I do it again? Yes, but only the bodywork together with the basic joinery and interior work. The rest, especially technical extras, water, electricity, etc., I would rather do myself and/or have them done by specialists close by.

When we picked up Wohni:
I had taken loads of stuff with me to Jeffreys Bay when I delivered the vehicle for conversion, which now had to be stowed away and/or tied to the roof carrier. It turned out that the carrier was fabricated with three struts on the top only. With only one strut in the middle, there were obviously few items that could be tied to the carrier. Utilising Schroeder’s workshop and staff I swiftly solved that problem myself by fabricating and riveting four plywood boards onto the carrier. Our beloved camping table, sturdy and hence rather heavy, was leaning quite lazily in the rear compartment. Not only would it have been rattling around while driving, but one would have had to remove it every time when accessing something in the back. That too was quickly solved by mounting it on top of the spare wheels.

On our maiden trip:

Secured with cable ties

Making camp the first night, it turned out that opening and especially closing the pop-up roof was a bit tricky, to say the least, and that you have to be quite the contortionist to make the main bed on top. We still don’t understand why they didn’t come up with a slide-out solution for the bed’s extension board, rather than having to lift, squeeze, pull and shove at the same time, in order to get the board stowed under the mattresses and bedding (Doris still cannot do it on her own). As for the pop-up roof, you also need some practice and knowledge of applied science in order to open and/or close it. The main problem is the rear roof carrier which has been positioned way to close to the roof frame and thus more often than not is in the way of the pop-up roof’s rear edge. We usually close the roof together, with Doris pulling down from the inside and me pulling forward while sitting on the spare wheels. A rather worrying phenomenon are the clips at the front, securing the roof in its down position, which had to be mounted on the outside due to the fact that you cannot reach the front closing mechanism in the cabin’s nose where the bedding and mattresses are stowed away. The way the clips are positioned, they pull the roof more forward than downward and by now, with the roof and sealing properly settled, the downward action is close to non-existent. Schroeder’s words are still ringing in my ears: “I suggest you make a plan with those clips, once you’re back home, as I don’t trust them fully”. Huh?

Two-night test camping at the dam together with the kids:
The middle part of the kiddie bed, which according to Schroeder would stay in place once the mattress pieces are puzzled together, kept on crashing down. In order to avoid the boys potentially hurting their heads on the protruding slide-out support, I installed a simple locking mechanism, right there and then.

Five-day trip to the desert and coast:

The Middle Of Nowhere

Fully loaded with water and supplies for five days and fuel filled up to the brim, Wohni actually provides a very pleasant ride, although the ride height at the rear is a bit low for my taste, also causing the steering wheel to feel somewhat “sluggish” when traveling on gravel. 300km out of Windhoek, in the middle of nowhere at 40 degrees in the non-existing shade, we accessed the Engel fridge for the first time to quench our thirst. Trying to slide it back in, it wouldn’t travel the last two centimeters, which also made it impossible to lock it in place. Try as I might, I wasn’t able to locate the problem there and then and with the spot, we picked for camping that night only two hours away, we decided to continue. Doris had to hold on to the slide-out, preventing the monolith from becoming a destructive furniture basher. At the camp we had to empty the fridge for trouble shooting and found out the the slide-out floor bends downward under heavy load and gets stuck on a way to closely mounted cable duct right underneath. The only option there and then was to simply remove the duct. Back home I would spend more than a day to fix the slide-out and to properly support the weight of the Engel, by not only replacing and reinforcing screws, mountings and fixture, but also by adding screws which seemingly had been simply “forgotten”.

No comment

On day three, or rather night two, I ended up inside the cabin with the door handle in my hand. I decided to let this be tomorrow’s worry, only to learn that having to climb over the kids and out the front, with a close to bursting bladder at two o’clock in the morning, is a very unpleasant experience. What I assumed would be a minor effort, to simply replace the handle, would eventually become a two hour makeshift ordeal accompanied by swearing and sweating. Some of the fine-thread screws had been tightened with pliers - and obviously broke - others, such as the ones holding the handles in place had yet again been “forgotten”. At our last camp, at a cozy and secluded spot near the Brandberg, we realised water dripping out the bottom. One of the two main tanks had come loose due to a broken (very bad) weld and, probably rubbing against the before mentioned, had chafed a small hole through its skin. I spent the better part of the next morning securing the tank back in place with the aid of ratchet belts and wire and also fixed the hole in the tank.

Summa Summarum: The above is a rather brief synopsis of the surprises and flaws we found and/or experienced. I presented a 12 page list/report to Schroeder hoping he would be co-operative, considering that we had already paid the full amount for the conversion. Pursuant to some hick-hack and arguments and once I had made it clear that I WOULD NOT COME TO JEFFREYS BAY to have the issues rectified and/or addressed (especially not at our own costs), Claus Schroeder apologised professionally and showed a very service orientated attitude. As per his suggestion, we are now in the process of gathering quotes from workshops and specialists here in Windhoek. The work and materials used will be reimbursed by Schroeder Motorhomes.

Even with the happy ending in sight, we still have that bitter sweet taste lingering in the back of our throats. IMHO most of the issues could have been avoided and/or were really unnecessary.

Cheers & Beers
Tommy

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Howdy All,

Sorry for the long silence and thank you for your continued support and visits. We hope you had an enjoyable festive season and wish you and yours all the best for 2009.
As I said in the last post - way too long ago I know, but I promise I will make up for it, as there is loads to report about - there wasn’t really anything to blog about and all we did was waiting for the day to come where we can go and pick up Wohni. December 17 was the big day when we (Doris and I) hopped on a flight to J-Bay via Cape Town to see our new family member for the first time. All in all amzing and almost more than we bargained for. Almost, as some shortcomings were visible at first glance, with more to follow. More about this in a separate post.

Fill it up please!

Once Wohni was equipped with the basics, refulled and checked, we were off to Mossel Bay for a little sand and dune testing in Vleesbaai, joined by the Schroeders and their converted Hummer. We stayed over night in Plettenberg Bay with the CEOs of Africa Adventure who are also the organisers of the first women only Cape to Cape challenge, sponsored by Mitsubishi amongst others. Enya and Andrea will lead the crowd in their Ford Ranger also converted by Schroeder Motorhomes. More about this again in a separate post soon.

Vleesbaai

Pursuant to Wohni (obviously) sailing through the challenges at Vleesbaai, where some others had more or less troubles, two of them Schroeder Motorhomes mind you, we went for some more or less biggish shopping and errands in Mossel Bay. We organised drinks, food and water, some essential tools and spares, some should-have and nice-to-have items - plus - we did two quick stops to a) silence the exhaust a bit and b) to get the wheels aligned properly, both mediocre yet bothering issues caused by the conversion. Once sorted, we headed north - general direction Namibia - via the Swartberg Pass. More in a separate post

Swartberg Pass

The Schroeders, also on holiday by then, decided to join us for a while and see how far north the wind would blow them and/or their hair back. Not that far, as it would turn out. North that is - the hair was a different story. The Hummer, which had been giving electronic problems for quite a while by then, started loosing power at the worst of all times and places, about half way up the Swartberg Pass. There were plenty times when we thought we would have to part ways, for us to stay on schedule and for the Schroeders to wait for the recovery by GM, but every time the Hummer resuscitated itself miraculously and decided to crawl for a couple more kilometers. Just on the other side of the pass, in Prince Albert, both the Hummer and the Schroeders called it a day and decided to call the cavalry, the way home to J-Bay was spent in their Hummer albeit the same sitting on the back of a tow truck. More about this in a separate post.

Our main objective/plan was to meet the boys at the farm of Doris’ sister (close to Mariental) latest by the 23rd in order to have Christmas together, ideally at our home in Windhoek. Apart from that we were pretty flexible and with three days to spare, we continued north. Through a quite boring part of the Karoo, slanting slightly to the West in order to hit the coast somewhere - which happened to be Doornbaai of all places - we aimed for Sendelingsdrif, the boarder post of the Ai-Ais Richtersveld Transfrontier Park. Time permitting, we would have appreciated some time and a nice camp in the Richtersveld, unfortunately we had to give it a rain check and stayed over night in the rather unattractive camp site of Sendelingdrif to catch the ferry to Namibia early next morning. More about this in a separate post.

Das Boot

The following day, we checked out early as planned, loaded Wohni onto the boat - yes, it’s just a boat - checked into Namibia and headed for the farm. Reunited - eventually - the joy and hooray was obviously ginormous. About Wohni that is, the two of us weren’t even missed much by the two little buggers as we had to find out. Which was probably a good thing at their young age, especially as it was the first time ever that they were without mom and/or dad, for almost a week after all.

Back home and with Christmas out of the way I went off on a shopping spree for tools and materials and into a equipping/modifying/fixing/altering frenzy for 3 days flat out. Most of the things to do were obvious and I knew that I would be busy for a while, however, there were surprises and discoveries ranging from “was that really necessary?” to “do you believe that?” and anything in between.

Guess what, more about that, the “Schroeder Handicap” and also about our first trips, including short ones, more testing, picnics and the recent longish one, in other posts to follow.

So long
Tommy

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Out of the factory for the first time:

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Pop-up Roof, canvas fitted:

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Almost finished …

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Sooo, with Wohni still being light years away, physically and space-time-continuum wise, at least that’s what another guesstimated 3 weeks feels like at this stage, I am slowly but surely running out of things to contemplate and write about. Other then, what to do first when s/he is here and where to go and what to pack and add and install and load and so on and so on. The waiting is becoming a burden now and excitement turns into pain when you can almost reach out and touch the object of desire.

I am well aware that there is nothing worse than a blogger blogging when there is actually nothing to blog about. Looking at the visitor statistics we have a good thing going here and many visitors are dropping by on a regular basis. I am determined to keep up the quality of posts and therefore will have to drop the quantity by a notch or two, at least until Wohni is ready for pick up.

Unless you want to hear about the excitement of potty training 2-3 year old boys for the time being or my struggle to get Rosemary and Chilly to grow in our Garden … I didn’t think so.

So long.

Tommy

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Initial stages of interior - shelves, cupboards and back seats, rear storage compartment, pull-out kitchen, spare wheel carrier:

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In true and typical raging research mode, I went on a quest on the Internet looking for answers to a seemingly simple question, Wheel Spacers - Good or Bad? I posted the question on three different bush whacking, rock smacking, hardcore 4×4 forums, one in South Africa, one in the USA and the other in Oz. The results were rather interesting to say the least and I am now more confused then before. But that’s not the point

Before I take it any further I have to say that I neither mean any disrespect, nor do I intend to mock anybody or sound condescending. I just find it rather fascinating how different perceptions can be. It’s in the eye of the beholder, yes? Pursuant to my concerns and questions posted I received this, no doubt well meant reply:

Having taken a fully loaded and that is at GVM across the Simpson Desert and for an extended off-road and remote area tracks evaluation covering over 3500km I do not agree with your assessment of the potential risks.

Fun in the Namib

Allrighty then, me thought. Through the desert, fully loaded, 3500km at GVM, sounds just like the kinda scenario Wohni was conceptualised for. Strange enough, while the thread was going on and on, participants pointing out who has the mostest experience and the bestest knowledge, it was only two days later when I thought to myself “let’s check out this ominous Simpson Desert”. After all, there are all kinds of desert. Amongst many others the Sahara, largest of them all, the Moab, rock crawlers paradise or the mighty Namib, the oldest one of them all with the highest shifting dunes in the world, towering some 300 metres into the air.

Just to recap, the Namib is quasi right at our door step and my main photographic interest is the desert, especially dunes. Which makes it slightly important to conceptualise and build a rig suitable to traversing these areas and capable of taking the abuse and strain, both terrain and environment will confront it with.

Which brings us to the Simpson Desert and the challenges it presents to man and machine:

Big Red

Let's Go!

Big Red, also known by its aboriginal name as Nappamerri, is a huge sand dune in the Simpson Desert that stands approximately 90 metres above sea level and 35 metres above the plain, although height may vary due to winds and dunal movement. This sand dune which sits 33kms west of Birdsville in Queensland, provides an extremely challenging feat for 4WD enthusiasts although it is not necessary to scale its height to traverse the Simspon Desert as there are alternative routes. Source: Exploroz

No further comment, yet, besides trying to show (with the video footage below) what a dune can be, I’m happy to use this opportunity to introduce iDream Africa. Because I love what these guys are doing and because together with them I had the best fun you can have with your clothes on - with much more of it yet to come.

Keep it straight,

Tommy

iDreamAfrica - “Don’t Try This At Home” (00:15)

iDreamAfrica - “Desert Adventure” (04:31)

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Hallo Zusammen,

Nachdem ich nun mehrfach aufgefordert wurde, mein Deutsch zu polieren, will ich das hiermit tun. Ich werde mein Bestes versuchen, das wesentliche unseres Wohni zusammenfassend zu uebersetzen - und zwar nicht woertlich sondern sinngemaess, denn sonst gibt’s Krautsalat.

Wie bereits erwaehnt, haben wir vor, das suedliche Afrika, extensiv und quasi bis ins letzte Eck, zu bereisen. Ausgangspunkt der Etappen und unser Zuhause ist Windhoek, Namibia. Dieses Jahr im Dezember geht’s erstmal nur an die Kueste, um der Hitze zu entfliehen. Dann wird noch etwas modifiziert, mindestens einmal im Monat in die Duenen zum Fotografieren und April/Mai entweder Angola oder Mozambique. Soweit erstmal der grobe Plan, nun zum Auto.

Die besagten “Ecken” und vor allem deren Entfernungen verlangen natuerlich nach etwas mehr als nur Vierradantrieb – wobei, und hier streiten sich die Gelehrten – der Landcruiser Pick-up alles andere ist als nur ein simpler 4×4. Anway, autark (oder autonom?) ist das Stichwort. Sprich, Sprit, Wasser, Vorrat und Saft fuer mehrere hunderte Kilometer und Tage.
Das Wohni bekommt also, zusaetzlich zu den serienmaessigen 180l Sprit, noch zwei 20l Reservekanister fuer den Notfall, 120l Wasser und eine 300amp (Sonnenschein) wartungsfreie Batterie. Desweiteren einen 12V, 60l Engel Kuehli und eine 45l Kuehlbox. Fuer den Fall das der Strom doch mal ausgehen sollte, werden wir einen 2kW Generator dabei haben und spaeter vielleicht irgendwann mal ein oder zwei Solarpanäle.

Da wir ungerne “aus dem Kofferraum” campen und auch nicht sehr viel von Zelt aufschlagen und abbauen, in Boxen rumwühlen, etc. halten, kommt die Wanne runter und eine GFK Kabine mit Hubdach hinten drauf (voll integriert). Darin werden wir (Eltern oben, Kinder unten) schlafen – und sonst nix. Ich sag das so, denn Wohni wird eigentlich kein Wohnmobil im ueblichen Sinne, sondern etwas anders. Wir haben hier in unserer “Gegend” das Glück, dass das Wetter meist gut und die Temperaturen selten unangenehm sind. Daher ist das draussen Aufhalten, Essen, Waschen, etc. kein Problem.

Wir haben aber gerne einen gewissen Komfort, wie z.B. die eigene Toilette und eine ordentliche Dusche. Wohni bekommt im hinteren Teil, über der abgeschrägten Verlängerung eine Heckgarage. An der Innenseite der Klappe, rings um den Rand haben wir Zeltstoff, den man einfach runterlassen kann und somit in null-komma-nix ein Badezimmer. An der Klappe befestigen wir auch einen Lattenrost, der als Boden dient. Dann brauchen wir nur noch das Porta Potti aus der Heckgarage zu holen, die Dusche aufdrehen, der Warmwasserbehaelter hat sich in der Zwischenzeit aufgeheizt – und voila.
Unter die Heckgarage kommt eine ausziehbare Küchenzeile mit zweiflammigem Gasherd und Waschbecken.

In der Kabine sind hauptsächlich Stauraum, Schränke, der Kühli, etc. Die zweite Sitzreihe besteht aus zwei festen Sitzen fuer die Jungs mit Dreipunktgurten und Isofix Halterungen fuer deren Stuehle. Zwischen den Stühlen kann man, quasi als Schwiegermutter/Schwiegervater Sitz ein vier-teiliges, gepolstertes Brett, einhängen und wenn man es nicht braucht einfach zusammenklappen und verstauen. Damit hätten wir also einen 4-6 Sitzer.

Da wir aus Gewichts- und Schwerpunktgründen die Ersatzräder nicht hinten oben haben wollten (und an der Heckklappe geht nicht), kommen diese auf einen Träger der vorne am Luten befestigt ist und an der Bullbar abgestützt wird.

An der Fahrzeugseite befestigen wir eine grosse Markise mit optionalen Seitenwänden, welche auch bei Bedarf mit dem Duschzelt verbunden werden kann und somit ein gemütliches Vorhaus bildet.

Ein wenig zum Technischen: LC79, neu, mit bewaehrtem 4.5l Reihensechser (Benziner), säuft wie ein Loch und zieht dafür aber, dass sich die Ohren anlegen. 285/75 Bridgestone Mud Terrain auf 16” Alufelgen (konnt’s nicht lassen). Da wir das maximum von 1.5t ausnutzen (und auch zertifizieren) werden, brauchen wir vorne einfache und hinten doppelte OME (Old Man Emu) Dämpfer, die Blattfedern sind stark genug, so wie sie sind (das weis ich so genau, weil mir bei der Fahrt nach Jeffreys Bay fast die Plomben rausvibriert sind).

Dann kommen natürlich noch die Schnick-Schnacks, wie High-Lift-Jack, Sandbleche, irgenwann mal vielleicht eine Winde und auf alle Fälle was zum Reifen pumpen.

Sooo, das war’s erstmal – mit wunden Fingern und wahrscheinlich 1001 Schreibfehlern (sorry).

Bis Neulich
Tommy

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