Vehicles » Surfing Africa

We made it!

After a 9 hour day, including the 4th puncture on Namibian roads in 5 days, we arrived in Paarl, 50km East of Cape Town, on Saturday evening, where we’re kindly being put up by Dave and Vicky and their two lovely kids.

On Sunday, we took a jaunt down to Cape Augilhas, the southern most point of Africa, and the symbolic end-point of our trip.

Ben and Finn are to be sold to a couple in Zambia to start new lives as rental vehicles. We’re spending a few days relaxing with Adrian and Leanne, and Dave and Vicky, and sorting out 101 logistical things to end a trip like this (buying suitcases, shipping home 100kg of tools and equipment, buying new tyres, valeting the trucks…).

All the images from this diary are available to view in a Picasa web album, and all the videos are on my youtube page – feel free to browse. We will post a couple more videos and, once we’ve had time to settle in back home, we will post some concluding comments and thoughts about the trip.

For now, it’s enough to say that it has been probably the most rewarding experience of our lives, that we are delighted and chuffed to bits to have made it. For those reading this who are thinking of or planning similar trips, go for it. It’s easier than you think once you’re on the road.

Fish River Canyon

Despite the name, I was oddly surprised when we passed a sign with the river’s name on it: “Fish.”

We spent three nights around the canyon. There was only enough to see or do for one, but as our last stop before Cape Town, we wanted to relax, unwind and fix 2 of the 3 punctures we’d received in the last 4 days (the first of the entire trip, not counting the knifing in Harare). The Third? It was beyond repair:

The canyon was spectacular, being one of the deepest anywhere. There’s a 5 day hike along its length, which is reputed to be one of the best hikes of its kind in the world. Perhaps we should have left a couple more days and attempted it?

As an interesting ps – ten points to anyone who can correctly identify what is going on here.

Another two days off-road, another minor problem…

As we prepared to leave Kasane, Louise carried out the routine fluid level checks on Finn. The coolant was very low; closer inspection revealed a sheared mounting bracket (leaving one side of the radiator hanging lose). Time to take out the radiator… As it came out, it turned out one of the two remaining bolts mounting it had ripped through the bulkhead. The radiator was hanging on a single 8mm bolt, and clattering around, which had caused a slight leak.

Close call.

I managed to get talking to a couple of good guys in the lodge’s vehicle garage and we discussed what was required. Although he couldn’t do the work on the radiator, James knew a good welder in Kazungula, about 10km away. He had to go there anyway and offered to take it – perfect. We then moved onto the 30mm hole ripped in the bulkhead, and he suggested sandwiching it in two thick pieces of metal. That would require access to the front, where the aircon reservoir and radiator was mounted.

We never liked the aircon anyway.

By the evening, we were running again, with a fully refurbished radiator in better condition than it’s been since we left, and our pockets only £55 lighter. As an additional bonus, the gubbins in front of the radiator is gone, allowing better engine cooling (we’re running 5C cooler now).

These trucks, now 18 years old, have taken an incredible beating, and their ability to keep on marching through with regular checks and simple, cheap maintenance has confirmed their choice as the right decision in our minds. When things on them begin to fail, they do so slowly, with enough warning to sort them out before any serious damage. There’s life in the old dogs yet!

A simple re-wiring

We have a box in the back called “consumables.” It contains nuts, bolts and washers from M6 to M12, insulating and duck tape, cable ties of various sizes, cable tie anchors, electrical and tying wire, fuses, a few switches, crimp connectors, relays, sanding paper, rivets, scotch-lock fasteners, solder, wheel nuts, a couple of thermostats, a radiator cap, light bulbs, inline fuel filters, gas lighter and blow-torch refill canisters, super glue, hot-melt glue, fibre-glass repair kits, para-chord, rope, jubilee clips, o-rings, exhaust putty, high-temperature sealant and one or two other bits and pieces.

No one thing in it was packed with a specific use, but it’s been the most often reached for box when anything needs fixed, from frozen pipes at Louise’s family farm on Boxing Day to a more interesting job last week.

Both Surfs had after-market security systems fitted when we left. In Ben, this was a rather nice all-singing all-dancing alarm, with motion sensors, remote central locking, the works. In Finn, there was a rather simpler “Toad” immobiliser, with key-fobs on each key which had to be beside the ignition for the engine to start.

Ben’s alarm went off one morning when we were illegally camped in Croatia (camping wild anywhere in Croatia is strictly illegal, and there are no open campsites in the winter). The siren was promptly ripped out with pliers and only saved from being hit by a large hammer by Kester’s managing to disable the whole system by pressing random buttons on the fob. It still lies dormant, but the backup battery in the siren should be dead by now.

Fiinn’s lasted a bit longer. One fob was a bit dodgy since we got it, and when the good one got bilharzia and died, it was time to get out the cutters once again. This time we had a bit more time, so the wire from the remote sensor at the ignition and the flashing LED were traced back to the computer, and wires from there traced to the door switch, 3 separate grounds and 2 sources of power, the ignition signal wire and the relay which turns on and off the engine control. The system is now simplified – a concealed switch does the same job, but at a fraction of the ability to go wrong.

The job took a switch, 3 metres of wire, insulating tape, duck tape, three straight crimp connectors, two female spade crimps, and half a dozen cable ties. The switch I had wasn’t ideal, but we managed to find a perfect one in a local market – the guy was busy hack-sawing a stack of mother-boards into pieces so I thought he was the right man to ask.

So far, every single thing packed in the consumables box has been of use, and none is depleted – creating a list of items needed to maintain two 18 year old 4x4s on a long journey was an interesting and rewarding task, and one which so far seems to have paid off.

African Statistics

MAF Hanger Visit – Truck Maintenance in Uganda

After the beating the trucks took in Northern Kenya, it was time to do some serious maintenance. One job was done by a garage while we were climbing Kili; an ATF leak from Finn’s gearbox was found and fixed, allowing us to continue to Uganda.

MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) own and operate from a small airstrip in Kajjansi, near Kampala. The chief engineer, a certain Kees Barandse (who I worked for in Tanzania and who inspired WASP, the software that was my life for 18 months), allowed us space to work on the trucks for a few days, while his wife and family welcomed us into their home for a week.

The list of jobs completed was:

Ben

Finn

New radiator (second hand from market)
New steering arm
New shocks all round
Back brakes inspected
Front brake pads replaced
Front brake callipers cleaned and repaired
2 new ball joints in front suspension
Leak in rooftent repaired
Rooftent mounting repaired
Rooftent mosquito net partially replaced
CB microphone holder repaired
New ATF (gearbox oil)
New brake fluid
New air and fuel filters
New inline fuel filters (at tanks)
Faulty side light fixed (plugged back in)
New winding handle for rooftent

New shocks all round
New brake fluid (ATF replaced after leak in Nairobi)
1 new ball joint in front suspension (1 already replaced in Nairobi)
Welded large hole in exhaust
Repaired front anti-roll bar droplinks
New stereo
Faulty brake light fixed (plugged back in)
Front and back brakes inspected, OK
CB microphone holder repaired

The hanger-time was good fun and satisfying; we were staying and working with great people in a great place, fixing dozens of niggling (and a few big) problems, allowing us to get back on the road. To get through a list that long in just a few days was some progress! The only real frustration was locating spare parts. It’s normally been possible, but often takes at least one full day.

You’re white, so you’ll need at least 14 people to help you, each of which know for certain at least 8 places where you can get the part you need. And even though there’s 14 people, by social etiquette only one of them is allowed to do anything at any one time. Buying a second-hand radiator took 6 hours; 3 hours getting to and from the shop in the Kampala traffic, one hour for the “specialist” to decide which radiator we needed and dig it out of stock, one hour to think about it, talk, “pressure test” it (blow into the top), and talk about price, then a further hour to repeat the last steps after changing it for another one in better condition.

So long as you have a few days spare, it’s an experience worth having!

Next planned job: Replace all suspension bushes in both Finn and Ben. We’ve taken the luxury of ordering them via Henry and Kathie, who are joining us in a week, and will fit them on the next leg.

Help!

If anyone knows what causes noises like this, please let us know asap. Text Louise or I, or reply here. Been happening on and off for a few days and we don’t like it.

The Start

If you’re following the news feed on the right, you’ll know we’ve been on the road for 5 days now. Nothing too exciting so far – we spent Christmas with Louise’s family and the last few days with Andy’s. Having left our home at -10C, and seen -16.5C on Christmas day, it’s now completely thawed leaving nothing but large piles of snow dotted along the sides of roads.

Which is useful when we’re looking for somewhere to park:

This morning we’re off to drop off half our luggage and a few spare with the second surf, in the Scottish Borders. We’ll be out of blogging contact till the New Year, in a remote house with a few friends, so I’ll wish you all a happy Hogmanay and New Year now!