One week out!!

Preparations have been a little difficult for B and F this last week. The dreaded "Lurgy" has struck us down, and the weather has not allowed for an easy follow-up on finalising the van pack.

Having said that, the van has had some work done on the canvas, by way of fixing a zip and making covers for the fridge vents.

The van is at Springers getting a slight modification to the solar panel install. The panel and the remainder of the install was outstanding, but the meter installed was not as expected. Springers have been very accommodating with replacing it with a more suitable one, one that allows the incoming current flow and the outgoing flow to be measured. The only addition is another voltage meter, with a mometary on switch, to allow voltage to be measured. The whole story of battery condition is all about voltage and current draw. While not wanting to sound like an advert, I can highly recommend this company.

The Discovery had it's major service last weekend, with all fluids being replaced including brakes flushed, diffs flushed, transmission topped off, radiator flushed, and a general check all over. the front end got a bit of a tighten and all.

I managed to find a 2nd spare for the Disco last week, and a suitable lump of rubber to install on it as well. As luck would have it, British Off Road was able to supply a matching rim... Whoo hoo.

Tomorrow the Disco goes in to get the long awaited auxiliary battery installed. It has been a pretty difficult job getting a suitable box made and placed. Once that is done, and the fridge is in place the final pack of the truck can start.

The Rhino roof rack, while a brilliant system is proving to throw up a couple of hiccups, but we will overcome, provided this flu starts to resolve I will sort it out this weekend. The Landrover spare tyre will not be able to use the standard wheel bracket, so the J hook needs to be employed... The Maxtrax are yet to be secured. I need to secure a poly box to carry fluids and oils, and tie down the swags (for the couple of nights away from the vans).

One week to go, and I have to admit to a lot of excitement building. Many of the little things like emergency drugs (antibiotics, anti-emetics, and stuff like that have been finalised.

I have to register the EPIRB and upload mapping data, and a myriad of other stuff to boot....

So bed for as long as this cold/flu forces me to be there, then up and at 'em.