The Yak

Hi. My daughter is driving a P38. As the children she runs about are now growing, she wants to do away with the rear centre seat lap belt and ideally fix in an 'over the shoulder' full belt. The Range Rover is miles away from me and I am not familiar with them anyway. Has anyone on here done this? Perhaps later seats could be fitted as I think they incorporate a full belt? Perhaps a bar/bracket could be fabricated to take the seat belt fixing? I saw this done once in a Defender. Any ideas? I am quivering in anticipation!

Hi Jano. Welcome! We have relatives in Argentina and one of them is soon arriving in Buenos Aires to watch the Dakar 2009 preparations. Lucky chap! My wife and I , in about three years or so, will be shipping our 130 camper to Argentina and spending several months travelling all over South America and visiting long lost relations in Argentina. I am amazed how many Land Rover enthusiasts there are over there! We are really looking forward to it! Bob.

(Slighty off thread, but....) Hmmmm..... we live on a main road only a few miles outside a city. Every day we see farmers in 4x4's WITH MT's towing stock trailers straight off the farm going to market or simply travelling from field to field. Every day we see BT 4x4's WITH MT's going to their worksites often off road. (They came into our back yard once and needed MT's on our clay soil !) Every day we see National Grid 4x4's WITH MT's going to their worksites which is usually off road. Every day we see the Environment Agency in their 4x4's WITH MT's going to off road locations usually by the river. Every day we see the local vets in their 4x4's with MT's going to attend to stock in fields. The likes of BT and National Grid go to extra expense to fit wider section rims and MT's......because they cannot get to their work sites without them! So, is Brussels going to give exemption to those that need MT's, and what would be the criteria? Or, does everybody have to carry a spare set of rims and tyres with them? I do not think that Brussels have thought this through! Living on a main road I can say that MT's are NOT a noise pollution problem. Trucks and motorbikes ARE! Bob.

That is very obvious and 'in your face' illegal to everyone. We should ALL not forget the insurance issues here. If we rang our insurance companies and told them that our vehicle was driven on the road in obvious contravention of the Construction and Use Regulations we know what they would say! Similarly, after a nasty accident, the insurancs assessor would get within fifty yards and see that the vehicle is illegal and he has the perfect reason to declare your insurance null and void. Extended wheel arches are cheaper! Let's ALL be careful out there! Bob.

The tread of the tyres are required to be always covered by a wheelarch or spat in the Construction and Use Regulations. This is a safety issue for pedestrians and to stop the windscreens of other road users being obliterated by road filth. Not only is it an MoT failure but you could be prosecuted! Be careful out there! Bob.

A few years ago at Billing, Colin Aldred was rude and ignorant towards myself and several other customers. He wanted our money but that was the only interest he had in us. Since then I vowed to never give him another penny of my money and I have even imported kit from America myself. Perhaps other people are doing the same? The trouble is that as he throws money at advertising and sponsorship, magazines and event organisers cannot see past the cash. In the Land Rover / off road fraternity over countless years we have had real gentlemen to buy kit from, the likes of the late Dave Simmonite. People who care about the customer and value their continued custom. But just lately we have the 'make a fast buck and screw the customer' type. The likes of Bolt On Bits. See their eBay feedback back awhile! They obviously don't give a damn about their customers and I was saddened to see they are now trading at Land Rover Shows. They won't get any of my money either, but they are lowering the standards for us all. If Scorpion are going down it is nothing more than they deserve! Bring back good old fashioned courtesy and customer care. It doesn't cost anything, but the lack of it has cost Colin a lot.

Funny you should mention Whites.... A while ago a farmer chap I know made loads of money selling his land on the edge of Swindon to housing developers. He fancied buying a Freelander for himself and another for the wife. So he dropped in to Whites in passing, still in his overalls and parked his trusty but rusty Ford P100 pick up outside the showroom. He walks in and mentions he was interested in buying two Freelanders. The salesman looked him up and down, looked out of the window at the pick up and said more or less to not waste his time. So he left! This prospective customer was a MILIONAIRE and wanted to buy TWO vehicles! In the space of two minutes this so called 'SALESman' had turned away the sale of two vehicles and possibly their replacement every one or two years thereafter, or maybe the sales of a Discovery or Range Rover or two! Less proftability for Whites and less work for the factory. As it happens, luckily, our man did not go straight to another manufacturer, but on a trip to Bournemouth he called in at a dealer there and purchased his TWO Freelanders. I would not expect to see the archetypal Double Glazing salesman tell a prospective customer that it does not 'look' as though he can afford the product! No, so which of the two is the real professional salesman? A salesperson is only as good as his last sale, so what would (or should) Land Rover think of a so called sales person who turns away a millionaire who wants to buy two vehicles? Land Rover have good products but they are now on a four day week because they cannot sell so many. Perhaps their sales staff should not be so arrogant and they would not be potentially losing factory jobs.

Eduardo. Thank you very much for sharing your photographs with us. My wife and I have long lost relatives in Argentina and in about three to four years we plan to ship our Defender 130 camper over there and tour the whole of South America for a few months. We might see you! Bob.

Hi Richard. Obviously it is well thought through! A proper job! As regards bottled water storage, no I do not have any neat ideas! Our 130 is a tall vehicle and a big benefit of having an underfloor tank (the floor is raised above the chassis on a sub frame) is to keep the centre of gravity nice and low. So part of your thinking will involve keeping the water nice and low to the floor. FYI we may be off the internet from this afternoon possibly for a few days as the BT boys are moving our line. I will put it on my back burner and see what comes up. Bob.

Hi Richard. This is an option we have considered for our camper conversion. We have decided to have onboard, underfloor tanks with a filter. As you suggest a problem could arise when water is taken on board from a source that you believe to be clean but turns out not to be! Hence the filter for drinking water. From another angle, if you have a tank or suitable containers and appropriate filters, water can be taken on board from anywhere, a pond or stream in the middle of nowhere. Your idea is fine, as you say, if supplies are good, but consider taking one of those hand pumping filter/purifiers so you can collect water anywhere in an emergency situation. Cheers, Bob.

So you complimented him on his driving ability, how nice.... Did he compliment you on your lack of consideration? You were obviously quite happy to shatter his windscreen and cause him to crash! Bl**dy 4x4 drivers I hear him shout.

The ones I will be selling do not go through the roof......they are surface mounting. They have a shaft handle to turn raise and lower.

I have a pair similar to this one. They came off an Avon and Somerset Police Range Rover that was being decommissioned in the 1980's. I don't know if they work..... I am planning to put them on eBay next week and will be of interest to anyone restoring an old police Range Rover. I believe other county police forces used them as well. I do not know how to put photos on here but if anyone cares to give an email address I can send pics for anyone who may be interested . Cheers, Bob.

Never seen one of these before and haven't a clue what it is..... BUT I WOULD LOVE TO TAKE ONE TO ICELAND!