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| wyvern Member Since: 14 Dec 2009 Location: Cornwall Posts: 2068   
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We have a set of cargo rails on the side to hold a set of sand ‘ladders’ and then double up as a fold down table ... this works very well and is amazing to use under the awning or in nice weather ... I am fitting the rails on the other side of the vehicle for our longer trips to take some extra water and fuel as well as mount a pelicase for some bulky items loving the thought process ! Poppy - TDCI (Puma) 110XS 2.2 - Camper conversion - see the build here - https://www.defender2.net/forum/topic56530.html Elgar -TDCI(Puma) 110XS Dormobile - now sold Devon & Cornwall 4x4 Response - DC126  |
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25th Apr 2023 1:52pm |
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| dainger Member Since: 08 Feb 2022 Location: Harpenden Posts: 66 
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AW4x4 Are great.
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27th Apr 2023 6:29pm |
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| Andrew95 Member Since: 27 Jul 2022 Location: Midlands Posts: 58 
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So, its official, no backing out now. Yesterday we ordered the ‘big-ticket’ items and put down the deposit for the roof. Other than the house deposit, I think that's the most I have ever spent in an afternoon!
Its going to be quite disruptive and a serious change, but I know it will be worth it in the end - the opportunities it’s going to afford us will be huge. Having the roof tent has been great, but you live out of it - we have both spent so many nights sat in the cab of the truck because it’s too dark, cold and windy to do anything outside. This will finally give us an indoor space to live without fear of the awning blowing away in the night. It’s looking about five weeks for the fabrication of theAW4x4 roof - and then about a week to fit it to the vehicle. So, looking at hopefully early July for the roof. The interior from Oryx was ordered yesterday with a turnaround of about a month, so it looks like July is going to be a busy month! I am not looking forward to the big bill from HMRC… I have also ordered the Tuff Trek Speed Wing awning and matching shower / privacy cube which should be here tomorrow and I am going to get AW4x4 to fit them to the vehicle. The 12v is what is giving me a headache at the moment, and the next thing on the order list. I am going to start afresh, strip out everything that has been done before and do it right (not that it wasn't right before, I just know I can do better). What I am planning is quite simple, but I want to keep it very compact and neat which is what makes it more difficult. Split charge will be a CTEK D250SE and a Renogy 120W portable solar panel. We debated for quite some time a portable vs fixed solar, I am not fussed either way, I think left to my own devices I would have gone fixed for an easy life, but my partner wants a portable one so that’s what we are getting! I am hoping I will be able to cram everything under the passenger seat – I don’t think I will be able to do it. And if that’s the case I am not 100% sure on where the second battery will go (we need eyes on the Oryx interior before we can decide). Just like the water tank, we need the interior to work out exact dimensions and locations. I am kind of at thaw awkward stage where I am just sat around waiting for other people, there is no point dismantling our existing interior as we have a bit of a wait, but also, I can’t start anything just yet! Cargo rails have been shelved at the moment (there is a joke in there somewhere), by the time we had bought what we wanted it was running into £400-£500 which we think is a lot for something we wont use that often. Because of how the Oryx interior will attach it wont be a massive pain to take it out and install the cargo rails in the future if needed. That’s all build wise, the big news today is that I had several Vibracation books turn up this morning, time to learn French! |
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9th May 2023 2:33pm |
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| Galyman Member Since: 20 Jan 2016 Location: Scottish Borders Posts: 86  
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I had both Odyssey PC 1500 batteries under the passenger seat with a Blue Sea Relay in a 110 (They were also in a 90 and are currently in my garage waiting to go into my latest 110). It was a bit neat but it did fit.
Click image to enlarge |
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9th May 2023 3:40pm |
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| Andrew95 Member Since: 27 Jul 2022 Location: Midlands Posts: 58
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Click image to enlarge So first milestone this weekend. Managed to get the foundations for the 12v done. So I took out the old split charge system. Engineered a base for the batteries to sit on so I can fit both under the passenger seat. Hooked up the CTEK DCDC charger. Sorted the solar input (Anderson connection under the vehicle). I also ran cables into the storage under the drivers side where I have fixed a common earth fuse box - the plan is to eventually run everything using twin core cable for neatness. I'm supprised it all fitted to be honest! One of my big worries out the way though. Its by no means a professional job, but I think it's reasonably neat - and it works which is the main thing! Ignore the random thin wires on top of the battery (and the apocalypse of my driveway)- they are just a temporary hook up to the old 12v sockets as we are going camping this weekend, it will be removed in the new build. I'm going to sort out the cable to the solar panel, not happy with the mixed black and red - it offends my OCD. Click image to enlarge |
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15th May 2023 12:12pm |
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| Andrew95 Member Since: 27 Jul 2022 Location: Midlands Posts: 58
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I feel like at the beginning I made massive progress, but now everything has slowed down waiting on other people or hitting humps in the road.
------- So after doing the battery system I came back to it a week later before, just before a trip, and checked the voltage. Dead, nothing, flat as can be! This had be a bit worried that I had some sort of drain going on... Having charged them up and then three days camping they were fine, I checked them last night in preparation for this weekends trip and they are working fine. I am putting it down to being 'one of those things' they were never charging properly with the old split charge and would have benefited from a good charge anyway. So fingers crossed! I am keeping an eye on them, but fairly confident we are all good. ------- I am getting quite anxious about the roof now. I am resisting the temptation to message AW4x4 every day asking where it is! The roof tent and old awning has been sold so the defender looks a bit weird at the moment! They are going to do a couple of other bits for us at the same time - door seals etc. nothing I cant do, but while they has them off he might as well do them. ----- The Speedwing Awning and Shower Cube from Tuff Trek arrived. I like the shower cube, its not quite how I expected, for some reason I thought it would not have a back to it so I was going to put it above the drivers side gullwing so you could reach in for your toiletries, but it has a back with a small zip in it to reach through. So it would not work with the gullwing open, I am now thinking of mounting it above the drivers side second row door - Not decided yet. The awning I must admit I am not massively impressed. The awning itself looks and feels really nice, its got some nice features such as hidden pockets for guy lines etc. But the case feels really thin and weak, also when we opened it there were little bits of metal swarf / filings from where I assume holes had been drilled in the frame and not cleaned up, some of the bolt covers were missing and there was a tiny cut in the cover - none of it is the end of the world, but the weird tiny details that I pick up on, especially with a £1k awning. For comparison, we have had both an ARB 2.5m awning where the material case was properly better than the awning material! and also a seriously budget Ventura 270 which a friend sold us for £100 (come on... couldn't say no at that!) - the case on the Tuff Trek is no better than that of the Ventura. Kudos to Tuff Trek, they did sort the issues out and have been a pleasure to deal with, but a little disappointed to have them in the first place. We did discuss returning it and getting another brand, but my partner is happy so that's that! I don't doubt for a moment its going to be a great bit of kit, just a little downer to start. ----- Oryx (the interior) are being a total nightmare to deal with! When we purchased the interior we had a conformation email and nothing else, I don't know why but I kind of expected something more - being built to order and in another country?! So we gave them two weeks or so and then send an email asking how everything was going. They are almost impossible to get hold of, two facebook messages, two email and a website contact form and they finally reply - one line - "can only send order to business address or customs agent". That was it. I am very annoyed as they never pointed this out at the beginning (nor did they answer any of our questions we sent at the beginning). So I am at a bit of a loss, never used a customs agent before so my partner is looking up how do do that this morning - more cost I assume. Half of me wants to drive to Germany to go pick it up myself. The other half wants to cancel the order entirely and go find a company that is easier to deal with - or at least replies to emails! I am not sure I entirely trust them. The problem is that this interior is getting very expensive with hidden costs. But there seems to be nobody in the UK who will construct what we want - the solution is to get the tools out myself, but I really don't want to. If you have not worked it out already, one of my pet hates in life is companies which don't reply to emails. We messaged a few companies before we went with Oryx in the UK and out of the three only one actually replied to the email and the last we heard they were putting a quote together and 'we will be in touch shortly'.... that was four weeks ago.... If they don't want the work that's fine, but I would rather they just say that up front! Rant over! ------ So yes, everything is taking its time now. Should be about a fortnight / three weeks untill the roof will be fitted - that will be the first (main) milestone. Then its down to the interior..... Worst come to the worst I will just put our existing interior back in. |
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26th May 2023 8:58am |
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| wyvern Member Since: 14 Dec 2009 Location: Cornwall Posts: 2068
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Hi Andrew
I feel your frustration and totally understand the issues with emails ! We had our units made in Germany and had a couple of little issues with some things lost in translation, but got there in the end stress free. We took a trip over to Germany where the units were fitted while we waited and had a chance to discuss aspects of the fitting and how to remove etc. - all in all we were there for about 2 hrs then drove away with the units complete. We tied this into a trip to Yeps which was very interesting. Maybe a trip over and have them fitted will help ? Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Poppy - TDCI (Puma) 110XS 2.2 - Camper conversion - see the build here - https://www.defender2.net/forum/topic56530.html Elgar -TDCI(Puma) 110XS Dormobile - now sold Devon & Cornwall 4x4 Response - DC126 |
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26th May 2023 10:05am |
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| andy2111 Member Since: 17 Oct 2021 Location: Kent Posts: 365 
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Sorry to hear of your troubles Andrew - it's a bit of a heads up for me because after our July trip to the Pyrenese my next big job is an interior fit out and I was also looking at Oryx because I want something removable to revert the truck back to standard when not travelling.
I was going to email them to ask if their kit will fit in a 3-door hard top, or it it assumes/requires a 5-door truck in order to fit correctly. Sounds like I might struggle to get a reply. The customs agent thing is a gift of Brexit. When I was looking at potops some of the German companies insisted on using them so the correct taxes were paid. It all adds to the cost. I've got an award winning VW camper conversion company a few miles away from me so I might ask them if they fancy doing something a little different and see if I can get a qoute. Keep us in the loop on progress.. TD5 hardtop to Puma inspired Poptop - my build thread 2002 110 TD5 Hardtop ¦ Full Puma interior ¦ Carpathian grey / Santorini black ¦ X-Vision-X poptop |
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26th May 2023 10:22am |
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| Andrew95 Member Since: 27 Jul 2022 Location: Midlands Posts: 58
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Sorry for the moan the other day guys! Just felt like everything had hit the wall a bit. But we have regrouped, picked ourselves up and cracking on!
The best news is she's going in for the roof conversion this weekend. So a week or two and we will have a camper! Still can't quite belive it. As for the interior, thank you very much Wyvern for the advise. And all the help you've given both personally and with your build - your a absolute star! I loked at customs agents and pretty much hit a wall as I'm not a business, and when I spoke to them they all seemed a bit 'odd' - it probably dosent help that I don't understand the process, but they didn't inspire me that they did either! We did seriously consider traveling over and getting it fitted there. We almost started booking everything as well. Two things have paused that. The first was Oryx, because we've been struggling to get in contact with them and when we do it's just one line responses we totally lost confidence in them as a company. For us to pick it up we would have to pay the German VAT (19%?) And trying to communicate this between them and us.... well its a headache. The second was that interior would still need some modification to do what we want. And with all the fees etc stacking up it was begining to get costly. So after a weekend in Anglesea camping and planning (read: stressing) we asked a friend of a friend to make it for us. He's done a stunning drawer system for a friend and he's agreed to have a look out ours, it will be a very similar design, he's currently pricing it up so we will see what he comes back with. Because we will be avoiding all the import / shipping / traveling to Germany costs it's given us a bigger budget which allows us to make those changes we wanted to make to the Oryx interior. At the moment we have eggs in both baskets. Once we have a quote from him we can make a decision to either cancel the Oryx and do this, or pack our bags and take a trip to Germany! With things moving, even just a little bit, it's a welcome feeling. Hopfully ill have some photos for you soon. ------ Andy2111, that's the same reason we went for it. We still want to be able to use the second row on rare occasions. I've had better luck talking to them via Facebook so that might be a starting point? Brexit has so much to answer for! I'm not calling anyone out here, but I honestly don't think anyone is playing by the rules.... I don't think anyone knows the rules. The customs agents I spoke to didn't inspire me with there indepth knowledge of imports from the EU! And having spoke to somone who brought a demountable camper from Germany to the UK he had hell of a game to do it above board and even had to go back to France a few weeks later as the French did not stamp something correctly.... I think you could import the same thing three times and do the customs procedure four different ways. |
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30th May 2023 10:01pm |
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| Andrew95 Member Since: 27 Jul 2022 Location: Midlands Posts: 58
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She's going away this weekend for the roof, and then stright to the guy doing the interior - so I've pulled absolutely everything out of the truck, even even emptied the portal to another dimension..... I mean the cubby box.
I've also take off various bits which I can do while I wait - things like interior trim needs a touch up of paint and a clean. I always thought we were fairly minimalist, but it's amazing how much you accumulate. I've sorting through everything now, seriously deep clean of everything and drastically cutting down on what we don't need.... I'm sure some things will creep back in there when we figure out how much space we're going to have (fine bone China cup and saucer anyone?). I've put a few photos below so you can see some of the stuff (tat?) we have been sorting though. I've also attached a few photos of what the interior was like before I pulled it out. It really hurt to take it out, I built it all myself and it started getting quite sentimental! Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge |
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2nd Jun 2023 11:37am |
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| Andrew95 Member Since: 27 Jul 2022 Location: Midlands Posts: 58
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So today was the big day, picked up the landy from AW - I'm honestly in love. Having seen photos I've been a bit nervous, the extra height / slab side look I've never been a huge fan of, but it's a necessary evil. However looking at the truck now, I actually really love how it looks. It has a strange look to it which I can't quite pin down, but it just looks good.
We've also kept the sun roof - which makes for quite a cool little feature when sat 'up stairs' Lewis at AW was an absolute gent, considering he is one man in a shed, the quality / attention to detail is brilliant. Just small little things such as locking clasps for the roof which make all the different.... plus he aligned the doors, a job I've been putting off for five years.... its been a pleasure to deal with him throughout this. Next week it's going away for the interior. Think we're fairly happy with what we want but are going to put together a list of things to discuss with them. This week is going to be a mad panic (all after work) of getting the interior trim back in, some sort of floor and if I have time I've got some Gwyn Lewis mud guards that have been sitting on the shelf for months that need fitting. The Tuff Trek Speedwing awning is coming off. Opened it up for the first time today and one of the supporting arms is badly bent (as well as the ripped cover and missing / damaged bolt covers) and for what is supposed a self supporting awning, it flexes a crazy amount, it just didnt look right. The messages we received from Tuff Trek were not the nicest, they had quite patronising undertones. We said we would like to exchange it for an Ostridge Wing, we would naturally pay the difference, but were flat out refused a sale and were ordered to return the Speedwing, so well I suppose that's what we're going to have to do. So now I've got to faff around trying to find a box / dealing with courriers. I hope they sort a refund quickly and don't mess around / start getting petty with it. So that leaves us looking for another 270, I really want the Alucab, but it hurts to pay that much and i dont think we can warrent it. We have never really used our old awnings that much, so are half temped by a much cheaper Landtrekker et al - if it gets a few knocks from trees it won't be the end of the world. The Ostrich wing (not from TT) is another favorite at the moment but I have a feeling it attaches in an odd way - I'll have to speak to somone about it tomorrow. I think this week is going to be the make or break week! I have so much to do to get it ready for the interior build, but if I can get it all done then at least when we pick it up we will be good to go! Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge |
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11th Jun 2023 10:56pm |
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| alwoodley72 Member Since: 14 Mar 2010 Location: salisbury, wilts Posts: 716  
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Sorry to hear of your woes with the awning- we’ve had a Hannibal 270 on my 130 for nearly 5 years, bought second hand from a cool vicar..! It’s been amazing, strong, super quick to deploy and retract, used at least once a month for work and play, regularly left up for a week or so. Don’t think they make them any more but maybe a second hand one
? Great truck btw!… Cheers alex 98 300 tdi 90 project 94 Range Rover vogue 4.2 lse 79 911 sc 08 130 double cab utility |
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12th Jun 2023 7:08am |
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| steveww Member Since: 05 Jan 2022 Location: Uppingham Posts: 529 
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Check out these guys for awning at sensible prices.
https://eezi-awn.com/product-category/awnings/ The South African kit is usually good quality. |
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12th Jun 2023 10:46am |
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| LR Nuts Member Since: 10 Aug 2022 Location: UK Posts: 820 
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Yes, all things from South Africa ...... or Australia are BEST !! |
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12th Jun 2023 12:01pm |
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