2016 Round Up

2016 was a fun if slow year with Katy the Land Rover. I can't entirely call it quiet as you will read. below

At the start of the year there was definitely a need  for some sort outs which I needed some help for. I was working out of the country a lot in january and February so it was not until March when i got started

The first was some electrics which I definitely needed my friend Dave's help with over the course of a couple of excellent days we got the lights and the reversing camera working, but we did have an unexpected result with the lights as you can see in the video

After that it was off to Newport caravans in May for a new skylight and then some work I did myself getting the Radio to work properly and we attended our first show of the year with the SWLRC

Then a real mystery came in when a Geoff Fletcher author of British Military Land Rovers sent me an interesting picture

Katy then became a regular commuter as Rhian's Mini was in for some work in June and July and she definitely got some attention in the BGS car park and in Cheddar gorge

I eventually tracked down that picture and Rhian and I were made welcome by the Scots Guards at the Bourlon Barracks at Catterick camp in August after a trip to Scarborough

Then it was off to Margam with the SWLRC again in September before a year end put away in November because I knew I would be working away a lot again in the run up to the end of the year. This  year I invested in an intelligent charger and so far the investment has been worthwhile as it's been very good to have it on and the battery looked after

The final Land Rover event of the year was our trip with the SWLRC to the Land Rover Reborn tour at Solihull

The final event for 2016 came in as a complete surprise when we were listed on getoffroad.com as one of the best Land Rover blogs to read. I need to add that I have not used them as a supplier, but as they have been so nice I am happy to give them a link back

All in all not a bad year for being so busy doing other things, but I do hope to be out and about more often and doing a few more upgrades in 2017

New Roof, New MOT, New start

Old metal rusts...

I'd spotted a small hole and some rust patches on the floor of Katy and so did the MOT tester. so 2 new patches and she's right as rain and ready to go.

Talking of rain ...

We had some right disasters with the roof last year with the leak at the start of the year meaning a complete rebuild and then it leaked again, and then again...

So I stripped it out again and then with both of us working a lot at the moment and not getting time to play we decided the best thing was to take Katy to an expert and therefore she has just come back from Newport Caravans where she has had a new skylight fitted and a new inner roof

Hopefully that's it sorted properly now and we can be off to have a lot of fun!

Gutted

We went to open up Katy for the year and had a really nasty shock

The roof was black with mould all around the skylight I fitted last year :-(

After some rapid removal of the mould we were left with the view below. The insulation was sopping wet so all around the skylight it I took it out as well

Something to note was that there were 2 ceilings, the original Ambulance ceiling which can be seen on the left below, covered in grab adhesive, and the "tidy" roof as you can see from the section that is still up

Up above the original ceiling I found the original air vent. I don't know why that space wasn't used 

After a lot of hard work including an awful lot of sealant and filler to block every possible space it now looks like this. We are trying to decide whether to varnish it and leave it wood colour or whether to paint it white

It's been a learning - when drilling holes don't apply twice as much sealant as you think you need, apply four times as much 

Crystal Skies

We spend the afternoon fitting a new crystal clear skylight to replace the cracked and yellowed plastic one we've been looking at each morning we wake up

It should be a lot more starry from now on