Basically, we've decided we need more space. Not for storage or any of the usual reasons, but just to be able to stand up, stretch out and generally be more comfortable if we can't go "outside". You could be forgiven for thinking that if you go camping anywhere south of the English Channel after the winter's over, the weather will be kind and the living easy. Our experience has not been like that, though. Also, since we live in the north of Scotland where it's almost permanent winter anyway ("Nine months of winter followed by 3 months of poor ski conditions") it's quite rare to be able to sit around in the evenings and enjoy a pleasant sundowner without the benefit of a fleece jacket and/or midge net. Normally an unconverted Defender of whatever type just doesn't have the room to do that comfortably if 2 people are in it. In Morocco this year the best we could do was for Mike to stand outside and get whatever shelter could be provided by the open door.
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| Photo hubertdafrique @ wordpress |
So, what to do? We sat down and listed our Wants and Needs. Why do we want an offroad-capable vehicle anyway? The reason for the Landrover in the first place was to combat the difficulties that go with heavy snow. We'd had 2 consecutive winters of really heavy weather so we decided that a Defender would suit us for not only getting to work in bad conditions from our rural home, but perhaps provide Mike with a place to hide from insects and gales (Gaels?) during his sea kayaking trips to the west coast. "Daphne", our CSW, was designed and redesigned several times to allow the latter activity but since the snow has never returned with the same intensity the primary reason for owning her disappeared with Global Warming. So do we still need a Landrover? They're thirsty for fuel, need constant maintenance and are all getting a bit old now - at least, the ones we can afford are!
We then looked at why we go to places like Morocco and the Pyrenees. To escape from the usual run-of-the-mill tourist tracks, to find the views that don't make it to the postcards, to find those special wild camping spots, to explore places that aren't on the map....All of those things are the motivation for the sometimes week-long drives to find remote places. Do we need a Defender to do that? What else is available that offers more comfort, is more reliable, is cheaper to own...?
Caravan?
Don't be silly.
Motor Home?
Tempting, but must be offroad capable. There are some small ones that are claimed to be 4x4 All Terrain but will probably prove to be a poor compromise. Of those that provide standing room none will get to the places we like to go. And all our friends would point at it and laugh.
Camping trailer?
No real advantages there. Still nowhere to hide from the elements that gives the space we want and logistically not as easy to manage as a single vehicle unit. We like the self-contained-unit aspect of this, though. You could leave it packed and ready to go without having to bother with checking everything's in the van.
Defender Ambulance?
Ah...now you're talkin'...or so we thought. Then we did some more research. Not only are they top heavy - not ideal for offroad adventures - the apparently large living space isn't. Large in the right way, that is. Folk of normal height can't stand up in the back, and the same applies to the box-body Utility versions of the TD5 or Toyotas we'd found on 'tinternet.
All these can be modified with a lifting roof, of course, so we looked at those options. Yes, perfectly do-able but the base vehicle is silly money albeit generally pretty low mileage. Being a TD5 isn't ideal for us either due to the relative complexity of the engine management system. We don't Do Electrickery, which brought up another bonus for the 300Tdi - its relative simplicity and "fixability" when away from professional assistance. This has proved to be a big advantage and, anyway, Mike likes to tinker with Elly and can do so with his limited mechanical experience and a only a small bag of spanners. Anything more complex and especially if it's equipped with an ECU isn't what we want. See previous comments re expensive vehicles stranded at seaports because a brake light bulb had blown...Nah!
So we came down to the fact that the 110 Defender in 300Tdi form does what we need it to do, it just needs more space inside. The cost of converting a 110 would be about half the basic vehicle cost of buying an unconverted Utility box-body or ambulance which, of course, would need a lot more spending on it to make it habitable to our requirements. Some of this money could be raised by selling what we have, but we'd still have to find the balance of the purchase price plus the cash to fit it out and lift the roof. Of course, we'd also be buying an "unknown" quantity where the truck itself is concerned. With that in mind we researched the options:
Cut the back off Elly and put some kind of custom built box on the bare chassis:
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| Not a bad option, but no standing room. |
We saw a very clever cut on this a couple of years ago at the Stratford Show. A little complex and very expensive, but extremely well engineered. We e-mailed the designer in France for details. He didn't reply.
Quite an interesting concept, though. The roof and sides open out to provide quite a large living area.How about going a little more radical? Cut a hole in the roof and the floor of the roof tent? Seal the gap somehow. With the roof tent opened this would allow us to stand up in the back of the van with our heads, well most of our upper body actually, up in the tent. A bit like this:
How we'd get from this situation to one for sleeping had us thinking but could be done, albeit with a lot of shifting around of floor sections, mattress sections and bodies.
A bit like a Chinese tile puzzle, and not really workable if you need to "go downstairs" in the middle of the night. Could always climb out of the window, I suppose....It also required some fairly committing woodwork and metal cutting which couldn't be reversed. Not good if it didn't work. Into the "Forget It" tray.
Dormobile-style lifting roof?
The old Carawagons we saw at some of the shows gave us something to think about, and there are a number of modern versions that can be built to order.
These provide more headroom but the extension to the roof spaces aren't for sleeping in, not for the 2 of us anyway. This would mean having to re-arrange the internal space depending on the activity. It would probably mean that we couldn't have roof rack since it'd be too heavy and unbalanced if opening sideways and clearly impractical for the "domed" roof so the sea kayaking "base camper" function would be lost, not to mention not being available for the more mundane load-carrying jobs. No doubt about it, the present "low roof" configuration does make a Defender an excellent all-round Useful Tool. However, could be done - place the idea in the "Maybe" tray.
How about lifting the entire roof? This idea from the web looked feasible:
Thinking about how this would work in practical terms, there doesn't seem to be a solid point of contact with the vehicle at the front, and perhaps 2 struts at the rear to hold it up. Would this be a bit wobbly in a high wind?
How about a front-hinged lifting roof?
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| This is a German "Ex-Tec" version of the lifting roof idea |
A number of these around too, and they all follow the same basic idea, with materials and details differing. This seemed like it'd do the job of giving us lebensraum while letting us keep all the benefits that Elly offered for our adventures overland. The downside was the price. Serious money for a fairly serious modification. There followed a few weeks of trawling the Web for opinions, reviews, specifications, anything we could find, in fact, that might give us some idea of the possibilities.
Some had an arrangement that allowed half of the sleeping platform to slide away, which gave about a square metre or so of "standing room". The Ex-Tec roof in the picture is one example. This one also has solid sides, which would be an advantage in a windy situation and probably easier to insulate for winter use. It isn't particularly attractive, though. Lots of battleship-style rivets and bolt heads, and a little too much chequer plate for our taste, although this is possibly optional.
Somebody local to us had done a DIY version of the idea which he'd documented very well in an on-line form, so we arranged to go and see it. Unfortunately the day of the planned visit was, unsurprisingly for a Highland Spring, one of gales and driving rain. Not wanting to have the owner open it all up for our benefit and have to spend a week trying to dry it out, we postponed the idea. Unfortunately the re-arranged date had Sue feeling ill and since the major part of the inspection was for her benefit, we postponed again. However, we'd made some enquiries of some European companies and a couple of the UK suppliers of the Alu-Cab roof, and one of these rang me while I sat at home that morning, wasting half a day's holiday...
