Prepping a defender 130 for around the world..

[The Rover Shop]

Well some of you may know us from my other thread, (prepping the camel trophy for around the world..) while the modifications that were performed on that truck worked awesome while we lived in it for nearly a year, the limitations of what could be installed on the truck without damaging originality on the truck provided some challenges, that combined with the growing value of the camel truck and the old girl is getting a bit delicate.... So I have decided to completely kit out a defender 130 for the rest of the trip.. So I purchased a 2006 defender 130 , the last of the td5 motor. It is an ex utility works truck so it has the box on the rear. We found that in very cold weather or snow and rain that it was a pain to put the roof top tent up or down and there was nowhere to stay in bad weather.. So this time I am going to do a pop top roof utilizing something like a hard shell roof tent (think autohome/maggiolina) with access through the floor. This way when bad weather hits we can have the roof top tent popped up and be able to stand inside the box, naturally we will want to keep cooking to a minimum inside due to food smells but shouldn't be too much of a compromise. The reason for the autohome pop top tent is that you can access it from outside as well and it has windows on all sides. I will be using a lot of the ideas from the 110 but some will be improved and some will be changed completely. This truck will be ready to roll in any weather from the Sahara to Siberia..

 

[The Rover Shop]

Parts have already started to be amassed for this build so it should go pretty quickly but I will be doing another thread similar to the last one but hopefully more pics and updates..still trying to decide on the colour scheme but it is an orange truck with what appears to be a white wrap, will see how easily it strips off before I decide what colour scheme.. This truck is gonna be cool with all the mods I have in mind, if you like our last build you're gonna love this one..

 

[Scott Brady]

Fantastic! Looks like a Husky 10 up front already. Looks like all it needs is that rediculous tread plate off the hood and fenders and the hood replaced with a spare tire mount compatible.

Do you have other images of the utility body? They can be useful, but are often so heavy to begin with, that they really eat payload.

A roof tent over a factory bed with storage underneath would certainly be tempting. Keep the RTT at or below the roofline, then install a simple Front Runner rack over the cab for reserve storage.

RTT position reference only.

 

[The Rover Shop]

Thanks Scott, while I really like the look of the spare on the hood with our other truck I found it really limited the amount of fresh air getting into the truck through the front vents and since I won't be having a/c in this truck that's pretty important in hot weather, we also found on really dusty roads that having those open with no other windows open pressurized the truck and kept the bull dust out (as much as you possibly can..lol..) I will be carrying dual spares mounted to the rear doors.. I am trying to install the best of both worlds and I'm hoping to install a roof top tent opening to the side over the cab.. I have to see if space will allow it, I personally love sleeping in the roof top tent but will admit that when it's snowing or hailing its a pain to put the cover on and zip it when the canvas and cover is borderline frozen stiff. Closing your tent from inside will be nice in this environment.. When we were in Mexico it would have been nice to be able to pull into a Pemex and sleep inside the truck for brief periods, they frown on setting up a complete roof top tent system.... And I love oil workers setup, it's definitely drool worthy, but I don't think he has to appease a wife with his accommodations..lol...

I'm going to gut the inside of the utility box and remove the roll up doors, make the whole side a lift up door on each side instead with slide out kitchen setup on one side.. Will be installing rear winch under the body as well as all sorts of neat little mods..it's gonna be fun..

 

[Mack73]

Awesome. I'll be watching this one

 

[David Harris]

So I purchased a 2006 defender 130 , the last of the td5 motor.[/ATTACH]

Considering the age, are you just bringing this over to the U.S. temporarily, or are you leaving it overseas and taking it from there?

 

[The Rover Shop]

It will be brought over here temporarily to be modified and then shipped back out upon completion for the continuation of a round the world trip.

 

[newhue]

Well done,
Now that you have joined the 130 club I can let you in on a little secrete. Given you have vents, you keep them open and that tyre on the bonnet as well. But also open the rear sliding window. It creates a flow through draft that keeps the truck as good as it's going to get without air con.

Just as idea, what about the two wheels side by side in between the cab and tray head board. It keeps the weight more central rather than hanging way out past the rear x member. Furthermore commoonnnn.... it's a 130, not a land cruiser or patol.

As something else to ponder, I have a mate with a large rectangular cavity built under his tray. It good for tyres, storage, or a water tank, possibly gravity fed fuel tank, or a big slide out draw. He putts 255/85's in it plus what ever other junk he carts around. He also has a slide on camper thing that sits on top of the tray. Given you are considering a tent, then this option can give you lockable space under the tray, plus what you want on top the tray, and keep the weight low, out of sight, and uses dead space. It all works because the Defender has a low tray mounts and a high roof line.

Think your 130 build will move faster than mine, look forward to watching.

PS, if you can do me deal on a 200Tdi mud guard outer, like the air intake on the left, I can show you how to create a heater vent unaffected by weather, and find even more storage.

 

[The Rover Shop]

I'm still waiting for the truck to arrive here and then I should be able to see exactly how much space I have everywhere... I will be installing extra fuel and water containers (20-30 gallons of each) but I don't like the vulnerability of them under the chassis thinking i will incorporate them inside the box on the front down low and utilize them as seating, the front wall will be used for the electrics and other controls as well as storage with heavy at bottom and light higher up..I will also be having a pass thru from the cab into the rear box via the rear window, unfortunately that means losing the sliding window.. I will be building an external roll cage with internal hoops inside the truck as well for rollover protection and I will be also doing an external cage around the rear box as well, tied I to the frame, the rear box cage will be more for protection from tree branches etc, also it will allow me to mount the rear swing away tire carriers to it without placing undue stress on the door hinges., not to mention it looks really cool...lol. As far as heaters go in my other truck I had 2 webasto air top 2000 diesel heaters and was really happy with them, this truck already has one installed so I intend to plumb it on a switched duct to allow it to heat inside the truck cab or into the rear box which will also allow heat to rise to the pop top tent. The forward roof top tent will be used mostly in warmer weather conditions. Truck will be setup on lots of solar components also.rear seating in the truck cab will be completely redesigned and have something really freaking cool in mind (I can't spoil all of my surprises yet) but I am sure lots of people will want to copy it. Truck is being setup for my wife and I as well as our australian cattle dog Matilda.. So the back seating will be setup so that she can go from side to side at the windows but still allow to also be used as sleeping while driving..as well as storage and still be able to seat 3 people..and as far as winches go, yes I will be keeping the husky winch on front but will be rebuilding with larger bow motor increasing it to approx 12000 lbs.. And Scott, I have 4 husky winches currently...

 

[newhue]

Will be good to see. Quite a huge void with a flat floor when you pull the rear seat and seat box out of a 130, the pooch will be happy. Are you putting another seat security box in? Think i will copy you on that one for mine.

You can add the rear window to the order when you get that outer guard skin sorted. I need the inner plastic ducting box on the other side of the intake grill as well lol.

 

[TRIARII]

Nice 130! I did not know LR still made the 130 Defender. Dream truck right there. That utility cabin on the back on the truck has alot of potential and i question why you would even need to get a tent or anything when you could easily set up the back area are a sleeping/living quaters when not driving. Put in a slide/fold away bed and some cabinets and insulate the cabin and your good to go. When are you planning on leaving and where abouts in the US will you be traveling to? Im doing a cross country trip in April 2015 from NH to Alaska in case your interested!

 

[The Rover Shop]

Unfortunately I don't think the rear will be long enough for my wife and I to sleep in, also we like sleeping In the backcountry with the sounds of dingoes, coyotes wolves etc, also the roof top tent allows you to wake up with the sunrise instead of being in a dark cold box and also allows you to look outside your windows in the middle of the night.. Also it give you the ability to stand up inside your box to get changed, cook meals etc etc in bad weather..even if it's just slight drizzle, we plan on spending a good deal of time in England and Ireland and sometimes it can rain for weeks at a time..if I was just going to sleep inside a box I would probably just stay at home...lol..don't get me wrong, we will have the ability to sleep inside there but I don't think it will be as comfortable as the other alternatives and will be very rarely utilized..

 

[t42beal13t]

Subscribing to this one. If you have half as much fun with this one as your Ct it'll be one heck of a truck! Best of luck to you!

 

[The Rover Shop]

Thanks for that... Yeah I've been planning this one in my mind for quite a while now..seeing where I could improve on the 110 build and getting to see in real experiences what could be done a bit better or different.. I'll be glad to get it underway, then I can get all these ideas and designs out of my head and into reality.. Just love your sig line..lol... Looks like I've got a fan club..lol..

 

[Adventure Copan]

Watching and looking forward to seeing it come together like the past one!

-Daniel Kent