[Mickldo]

Originally Posted by TachedOutOffRoad

Thats really, really cool. Every truck in every picture was badass

Thanks for the writeup.

Originally Posted by Russ in California

Nice, very nice. Lucky to have such an abundance of open country.
Thanks very much for sharing.

Originally Posted by r3run33

great write up I had a chance to go to broom a few years back on a month long trip but i could not get off from work with some people from the overland mag; I wish i had went b/c now I'm back in the usa. Hey some questions for ya? How did your tires hold up and puncturs or tires coming off the rims? Also how about lights t night time; did you see any good set ups for roof top set up? As for the shower under the bonet; I looked for the write up for that one did the water come from the tank in the back? I know you did not use it but was it set up for hot water? ifso what was used to heat the water? thanks for the write up great pics.

Thanks for the kind words guys

r3run33 - The MTRs did very well as far as puncture resistance went. I didn't get one puncture all trip. I did adjust tyre pressures to suit the conditions for every change in conditions. I don't like the MTRs as a tyre though, I'll be looking for something different for the 105. I'm thinking Mickey Thompson MTZs or some Pro Comp Xtreme MTs.

I replaced my small IPF rectangular lights at Broken Hill because they wouldn't light up enough of the road, too many roos out there not to be able to see them. I bought the Hella 4000s and they were brilliant on the long straight outback roads. I probably need more spread now I am back near the coast. It is a bit hard to see round the corners, maybe I will get some other lights and aim them out each side or get some HID upgrades for the headlights.

I have had bad experiences with roof top tents in the past but I think I should give them a second chance. The one I borrowed to use was a huge one. It was heavy, it caught the wind, it was a pain to set up, the roof rack couldn't be used for anything else. I like the ARB Touring tent though, it is only a fraction of the size and is a lot simpler.

I never used the hot water system on the trip. It wasn't hooked up to the tank in the back normally but it could be easily. The whole system used push on garden hose fittings so the intake could be hooked up to the tank, mains water via a tap, a bucket or straight out of a creek, river or lake. Out of a bucket is best, this way less water is wasted as you can stand in the bucket and recycle the water. The pump works at 17Lpm so the 40L water tank would be emptied in just over 2min. In the desert you just don't have that sort of water to waste on a shower. It should be good camping down at the beach where the freshwater creeks supply unlimited water though.

The heat exchanger is a copper tube with a copper coil inside. The coil carries the shower water and the rest of the space in the tube is filled with coolant that is tapped from the heater circuit under the bonnet. The shower water is heated by the engine coolant but they are kept separate from each other. Water temp is adjusted by using the heater tap inside the cab, it adjusts the amount of coolant flow through the heat exchanger.

I hope that answers your questions.