Happy sailing!!

We have sweated and toiled over the landy for what seems like forever. It has been a part of our lives for the last 6months plus. As of 24th November Casper (my name for the landy - Campbell disapproves. It's way better than Yolandy!!) has been entrusted to the shippers Wentworth's who use Kings as an affiliate shipper on the South Africa side of the world.

Suddenly our lives have been reduced to 1.5 bags each, an almost empty bedroom and no landy to paint, polish, rust treat, clean or fuss about. It's refreshing in a way to have this break from the car that will be our home for 7months, but also slightly unsettling to send our stuff off on a ship without us.

"See you on the flip side Casper"

Packing:

Now you see them>>>>> Now you don't>>>>>

Split charger

I have been having issues with the batteries charging correctly. It all started with my batteries being being replaced. They were passed their sell by date. The new batteries don't seem to be functioning well. The leisure battery does not hold enough charge to power the inverter and the main battery is sluggish in starting the engine when linked. At first I thought it was the alternator but after a bit of testing it seems to be the split charger.

I have had a look at the amp hours on the batteries and they are significantly different. After reading up a bit on the net this is apparently not a good thing. I'll be taking the batteries back this weekend to get two with the same amp hours rating. Hopefully this will do the trick. Will keep you posted.

Alternator

Our new batteries are now showing increasing signs of discharge. Its looking like the alternator may be to blame. I need to run a test on the alternator tonight which should reveal if it needs replacing. Not good news since we ship to Cape Town in a week.

New Batteries

Just when we thought the car was completely finished... Since our last post we had a whole list of things done to the Landy. Wheel carrier, split charger, electrics... The long list of things to do has now reduced to smaller and smaller jobs. Although, we are realising that the list of things to do never really goes away. Its just part of owning a Land Rover.

We have also learned that no matter how much time and you spend fixing things, the stuff you haven't fixed or given any attention to will still continue to break. We learnt this lesson when doing a morning run to the shops on a cold Saturday morning - the car wouldn't start. A quick call to the RAC, an hour wait and some diagnostic looking equipment all resulted the only possible conclusion - the battery needed to be replaced. Not only was one battery dead but the backup was dead too. So off to the garage to get two new batteries.

Lesson of the day - stuff will continue to break and the RAC do not cover Africa. The only option is to replace everything.