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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324  
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Having completed the repairs to the kitchen, I've finally been able to turn my attention to some improvements. The counter top to the left of the gas hob lifts up to reveal a storage area, into which the wheel arch protrudes. It's an awkward space and previously had some rough boxing laying in the bottom to conceal the service runs to the sink and cooker.
Having previously constructed a new panel to support the left hand edge of the hob/sink unit, I decided to build an additional partition to create some more useable, regular spaces. This 'L' shaped panel was cut from the side of a surplus kitchen cabinet to give a nice finished top edge, and the cut edges were treated with PVA glue to seal them against damp. Both vertical panels were secured with brackets made from 20 x 20mm aluminium angle. With a vertical panel at the left hand end of the wheel arch, I was able to fit a false floor at the same height to create a flat, rectangular space that will be ideal for a cutlery tray:  Click image to enlarge (Picture taken before the floor panel has been varnished) The area in front of the wheel arch is much deeper and with another false floor to bridge over the service runs, it becomes a very useful space: Click image to enlarge Both false floors are easily removable for access to the services below. Once the varnish had dried, both areas were also fitted with some non-slip matting: Click image to enlarge Apart from re-wiring the gas solenoid, I'm almost at the point where I can permanently refit the sink and move onto something else! Darren 110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia Last edited by LandRoverAnorak on 7th Jun 2022 9:57pm. Edited 1 time in total |
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22nd May 2022 8:28pm |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
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I've been doing some tinkering in the evenings this week, which has included what I hope is the final chapter on the wheel arches. I've fitted some mud flaps for which I was pleasantly surprised to find an off-the-shelf solution bar shortening them by a couple of inches. They bolted straight onto the lower wheel arch fixings:
Click image to enlarge I'm taking a bit of a punt with these as they're really quite close to the tyres, but I hope they'll keep some of the crud off the rear legs and crossmember. Whilst in the area, I also took the opportunity to trim the lower corners of the plastic wheel arches to give them a better shape. I'm quite pleased with that: Click image to enlarge Darren 110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia Last edited by LandRoverAnorak on 3rd Sep 2022 2:50pm. Edited 2 times in total |
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26th May 2022 9:17pm |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
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I've also been tacking a few minor jobs, which is slowly chipping away at a fairly long list.
An easy one was to replace the hose from the gas bottle and its regulator. They both dated from the original construction and so were long overdue: Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge That's really just the first pass at this locker though, as it needs some work to the gas and water pipe runs and improvements to the way that the gas bottle is secured. The latter uses a standard caravan fitting fixed to the side wall with two small screws, which is just about ok for use on the road but not really robust enough for off-road use. Another relatively simple job was fitting new side reflectors. For some reason, it came fitted with red reflectors, which are the wrong colour for use on the sides. I've now fitted the correct amber reflectors, which I've mounted on plastic stand-offs so that crud doesn't collect behind them against the chassis: Click image to enlarge As the body is wider than the chassis, they're still tucked away and protected: Click image to enlarge At some point, the chassis is going to need re-painting but that's going to have to wait until after the summer. In the meantime, it's starting to come together to be used now: Click image to enlarge Beyond those things, I've plugged a few redundant holes in the front panel and prepped and painted the chequer plate A frame cover. The latter won't be refitted just yet though, as I have a couple of other jobs to do in that area first. Darren 110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia Last edited by LandRoverAnorak on 29th May 2022 9:30pm. Edited 1 time in total |
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26th May 2022 9:38pm |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
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This weekend can best be described as one of worthy endeavours as whilst I’ve got quite a lot done, it’s either been prep for future work or incomplete due to lack of materials. I set out with the intention of reinstating the wiring to the gas solenoid that protects the hob and to the external lighting, the latter with a view to installing the new lights. However, it soon became apparent that because all of the wiring and pipework to the kitchen runs through the fridge locker and is in a similar haphazard state to what I found there, I’d have to deal with that first.
All of the pipework and wiring enters the fridge locker from the base of the battery locker in the front right hand corner of the trailer, runs along the floor around the supports for the fridge and then turns 90 degrees into the kitchen area. As with what I found under the kitchen, the whole lot was just laid on the floor and made my teeth itch to look at it: Click image to enlarge To get at it, it was first necessary to remove the fridge and then dismantle its sliding cradle. The supports for the latter are bit rudimentary and will be revisited at some point but for the moment I’m trying to not dive into anything that isn’t immediately necessary. Anyway, with everything out of the way and some time spent crawling into a cramped space, I eventually untangled it all and fitted clips to keep it neat, tidy and restrained: Click image to enlarge The loose cable is the power lead for the fridge itself. The whole space was also filthy, mainly because it’s inaccessible with the fridge in position, and so I took the opportunity to give it all a thorough clean: Click image to enlarge This locker will get more attention in due course. At the moment there’s a simple shelf above the fridge but because it’s quite deep, it’s difficult to make the best use of. I have a cunning plan to fit a slide out shelf that will become the kitchen larder but it’s nowhere near the top of the priority list just yet. Whilst I was faffing around with the wiring, I delved into the base of the battery locker to try and work out what was what and take up some of the slack. I was confronted with this  :
Click image to enlarge The only saving grace to this is that most of the cables are labelled, but I’ve no idea why there’s so much excess just coiled up like that. This whole locker is going to be stripped out and rebuilt at some point and that lot will be dealt with then! I did eventually make a start on fitting new external lights but as I ran out of cable and was missing some bolts of the right length, that’s only half finished and this lot will have to wait: Click image to enlarge As I couldn’t complete that job, I spent a few minutes removing the redundant solar controller gubbins from the front panel. As originally built, the trailer had a solar panel on the roof that could be raised on a pair of actuators. These, in turn, were controlled by some electronics that tracked the sun and angled the panel to optimise its output. All very clever but redundant now that the panel isn’t on the roof anymore and probably overkill anyway: Click image to enlarge With that removed, the crud that had built up behind it was revealed. The mounting holes were sealed well enough but unfortunately the cable entry, which comprised a rubber grommet and copious amounts of silicon hadn’t faired so well: Click image to enlarge It all cleaned up reasonably well and the mounting holes were plugged with the original bolts for now: Click image to enlarge As a temporary measure, I’ve just taped over the cable entry hole for the time being. The inside of the hole is quite wet and I think I’m going to have to cut a bigger hole and plate over it to remove the damp bits. I’ll probably re-route the solar panel cables through here but haven’t worked out the details, yet. Darren 110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia |
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29th May 2022 6:28pm |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
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Having a deadline to work to (Land Rover Legends, weekend after next) certainly focuses the mind and so whilst I wait for various bits to arrive to complete other jobs, this evening I've refitted the A frame panel.
As bought, the A frame was clad with an aluminium chequer plate panel that had been painted with something like Hammerite and was looking a bit worse for wear. There was also a large aluminium box mounted above, which has since been sold as it didn't suit my needs: Click image to enlarge I took the panel off and had it shot blasted along with the jerry can holders a little while ago. It was fixed with stainless countersunk bolts into aluminium rivnuts set into the top of the chassis rails and there was quite a bit of corrosion both to the panel and the rivnuts due to the mixed metals. I drilled out the old rivnuts, gave the holes a squirt of Dinitrol and installed stainless ones instead: Click image to enlarge The panel has been primed and painted with a sprayed enamel that takes a while to go off properly but gives a very hard finish. It was refitted on thick rubber pads, both to separate the ali from the steel chassis and to take up the difference in levels between the chassis and the front gusset plate: Click image to enlarge It's another thing that will have to be removed again when I come to repaint the chassis but for now it's another thing ticked off the list  Darren
110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia |
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30th May 2022 8:33pm |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
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When first constructed, the trailer was fitted with two LED flood lights, one above the rear door and one to the right of the kitchen. These were, by all accounts, state of the art at the time and imported at some expense from the States. Whilst they both still work, they are however showing their age:
Click image to enlarge As time and technology has moved on, I’ve now replaced these lights with modern alternatives - a Labcraft S17 Scenelight and two Britalitez MSL.01 flood lights: Click image to enlarge The original lights were wired together and operated from a control panel within the kitchen. The wiring ran beneath the kitchen and emerged in the rear corner up through the kitchen worktop where it split via a selection of WAGO connectors and some small section mini-trunking to the two mounting points: Click image to enlarge This was inside the rear compartment, above the door: Click image to enlarge All of that was stripped out when I rebuilt the water damaged kitchen and the wiring has now been re-routed up through larger section trunking in the left hand corner, more mini-trunking across the roof of the kitchen above the flap and larger section trunking again across the rear panel. The latter is also used to conceal the emergency gas cut off and cables from the awning light connector and number plate light: Click image to enlarge I also took the opportunity to move the fire extinguisher slightly lower to improve access to the shelf above in that corner. In the rear compartment, a similar length of trunking conceals the wiring to the Scenelight and will, eventually, also provide space for an internal light and switches. I need to run a permanent live to this area for that, though. Externally, it was immediately obvious that none of the holes required for the new lights would match the existing. I therefore made some aluminium cover plates to which the new lights could be fixed. For the side lights, I used aluminium of a thickness to match the body framing to provide a flat surface across the various joints and all three panels were fixed in place with Sikaflex: Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge On the rear, fitting the Labcraft Scenelight was straightforward: drill three holes in the right place and bolt it on: Click image to enlarge Fitting the side lights though, was more involved. As standard, these lights come with a flat rubber plinth but there’s also an optional plinth that angles the lights downwards by about 30 degrees, which suited my purpose much better. The downside though, is that the mounting holes need to be drilled at a corresponding angle. That bit wasn’t too difficult but it does mean that the bolts project through the rear of the panel at the same angle, making it difficult to tighten properly. I got around this by making some small angled blocks by carefully cutting up some plastic: Click image to enlarge After that, again bolting the lights in place was easy: Click image to enlarge With everything connected up, a quick test showed that it all worked as intended: Click image to enlarge The real test was, of course, after dark
Click image to enlarge Darren 110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia Last edited by LandRoverAnorak on 23rd May 2023 9:28pm. Edited 2 times in total |
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4th Jun 2022 9:57am |
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| stew 46 Member Since: 26 Jan 2012 Location: Wadebridge ,cornwall . Posts: 561  
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Looking very
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4th Jun 2022 3:18pm |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
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Thanks Stew, it's getting there
 Darren
110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia |
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4th Jun 2022 8:56pm |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
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Happiness is a neatly clipped brake pipe:
Click image to enlarge The trailer is fitted with a clever isolating valve that prevents the (hydraulic) brakes from coming on when reversing, which is mounted under the front edge of the body at the rear of the A frame. A flexible pipe runs from this valve to a tee piece just behind the axle but the routing leaves something to be desired. When collected, this pipe was secured with a few randomly positioned cable ties with huge sags between those points, to the extent that I'm surprised that it's never been snagged on something: Click image to enlarge In an ideal world, I would have run the pipe very differently but as I didn't want to disconnect it and disturb the system, I settled for securing it with stainless, rubber lined 'P' clips bolted to stainless rivnuts set into the bottom face of the chassis rail. At least it's now properly supported and lifted up out of harms way. Darren 110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia Last edited by LandRoverAnorak on 31st Aug 2022 9:21pm. Edited 1 time in total |
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7th Jun 2022 9:14pm |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
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As shown earlier in the thread, under the kitchen sink is a waste tank. Its outlet pipe projects down though the floor and terminates in an outlet bolted to the underside of the rear crossmember. That outlet pipe was formed of 20mm spiral pond hose but it had become very brittle and didn't survive the removal of the tank. As I needed to reinstate it, I thought that I might as well improve on it a little, too.
The original outlet was, I think, a plastic pond fitting with a rubber cap on the end. Whilst this worked to keep the waste in and the tank has level sensors to tell when it's full, removing the cap just resulted in a torrent of dirty water, which was less that ideal. To get around this, I've added a valve into the pipe so that it can be piped to a waste container before release. Because the vertical distance between the tank outlet and the underside of the rear crossmember is quite short, I've had to be slightly inventive to make it all fit. I've added a 90 degree elbow as the pipe won't bend sufficiently tightly, and I've also shortened the spigots on those parts of the valve and elbow that face each other. Then finally, I made up a spacer for the outlet from some nylon block that I had kicking around: Click image to enlarge When all put together, it just fits in the space available: Click image to enlarge The outlet is now the standard sort of thing that you see on caravans and motor homes and will take a push-on pipe that can be directed into a waste carrier: Click image to enlarge Darren 110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia Last edited by LandRoverAnorak on 8th Jun 2022 12:11pm. Edited 2 times in total |
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7th Jun 2022 9:30pm |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
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As the trailers' first proper outing is imminent and I'll be using my 110 as tow car, it's the ideal opportunity to fit my newly prepped, matching wheels and tyres.
With the Discovery wheels and adapters removed, 30mm wheel spacers were fitted to suit the Defender wheels. Spacers are necessary for alloy wheels to clear the trailer hubs but these match what I have on the Defender anyway: Click image to enlarge These particular spacers came with the trailer and whist they were originally of the hub centric variety, that type doesn't work on the trailer hubs and so they've been hacked about to provide the necessary clearance. Once lined up, they fit ok and do the job but I may change these for a non-hub centric set in due course. Anyway, with those in place I could finally fit the wheels and very smart they look, too: Click image to enlarge I had these wheels painted Orkney grey to match those on my 110 and they're shod with the same General Grabber AT3 tyres. I can't wait to get it hitched up now! Darren 110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia Last edited by LandRoverAnorak on 8th Jun 2022 11:53am. Edited 2 times in total |
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7th Jun 2022 9:42pm |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
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Oh, and I finally managed to get the sink/hob reinstalled properly:
Click image to enlarge Darren 110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia |
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7th Jun 2022 9:46pm |
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| AJC Member Since: 30 Nov 2015 Location: Lancashire Posts: 1364
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Great work on the trailer, if i had the time i'd love to build another myself. bit more like this one though as opposed to the way i've done mine. we laos have the same tent.
looks a lot better now on the boosts over the other wheels |
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8th Jun 2022 8:13am |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
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Thanks. I'd forgotten about your trailer - lets see some updates!
If I had the time then I'd like to build one myself too, although given the amount of time I'm spending on this one at the moment I probably could have done  Darren
110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia |
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8th Jun 2022 11:59am |
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