RichardAllen

Thanks. I am not sure we will have time to get up to Connemara on this trip, but I am keen to explore the west coast at some time, as my ancestors come from Sligo, and I have good friends in the North as well. PM sent re OziExplorer. Regards Richard

Thanks for that, we (my wife informs me) will be somehwere around Cork and the South-West. I have OziExplorer too, but have not used it yet, though expect to do so when we go further afield. So do you know where I can get a copy of whatever maps you use in OziExplorer ? Regards Richard

We are going to Ireland camping in the Summer and I would like to stray off the tarmac a bit. Does anyone know where I can get a set of 1:25000 or 1:50000 digital maps preferably compatible with Memory Map ? Preferably without paying too much. (I have looked at the Ordnance Survey of Ireland site and completely fail to understand how much anything from their Geolives people will cost, clearly great marketing- subscribe for 15 of our european tokens and we will let you buy some stuff for another pile of tokens of unknown size) All help gratefully received. Regards Richard

I'd no idea there were companies specialising in laundering money and providing fraudulent software. You learn something every day.

Is there an easy way to cut a rectangular hole 19mm x 13mm for a rocker switch in, say 1mm aluminium ? Last time, I marked, drilled and filed and it took quite a time to get a good fit. I did not think of using an old chisel. Any better ideas ? All help gratefully received. Regards Richard PS THis http://ae.rsdelivers.com/product/m10-rectangular-hole-cutter-193x131mm/0600155.aspx is what I have in mind, just cheaper.

Just thinking about the use of spare, we will have picks, shovels, 4 people and 4 spares, so it is certainly a potential solution for us. Is there any preferred orientation of the wheel ? And what is the neatest way to attach a winch cable to the wheel ? Regards Richard

After some correspondence with Simon at x-eng, who has put me right on just about everything, I have come up with this as a ground anchor design for emergency expedition use: which is pretty much a copy of his longbow ground anchor design, made from the following: - a baseplate (in green) the size of the cover under the driver's seat with holes so that it can be used as a hi-lift baseplate (like the red plastic things they sell), or a ground anchor blade - 6 nuts and bolts - a fabricated triangular bracket (shown in yellow) - a hilift (shown in red), rack only showm climbing mechanism and handle omitted for clarity, baseplate removed - 3 shackles (shown in blue) - a carefully measured bridle with an eye at each end (shown in dark grey). This will perform nowhere near as well as a x-eng longbow, as it is not a rigid mechanism, the blade is flat giving poorer ground holding, it will be heavier and the handle and climbing mechanism of the hi-lift will make it unwieldy. Also, if you get significant sideways forces, you might bend the rack of your hi-lift which will require either replacement or shortening, depending on where it bends. However, for emergency expedition use, apart from the bracket, everything may well be handy / tucked away anyway, and it should be reasonable quick to put together, the bolts need not be very tight for example, and it might work. I have not made one of these, not even as a model, and have certainly not tried it. I will do so when I have finished more immediate jobs. In the meantime, if anyone does make one up, I would be very interested to hear whether it works. Regards Richard

Martin, Keep us posted, I have been dithering on bush-wires, but you may have convinced me. Separately I have got well on with the water systems we discussed at length some while ago, once finished, trialled and improved I'll post some pics. I'd like to see how your wires turn out. Regards Richard

Martin, I bought my bits from http://www.tecni-cable.co.uk/, including ferrules for both eyes and stops (http://www.tecni-cab...ule-100-320-015) They are quick and helpful. I would add though that I am using 1.5mm wire for making metal lid stays and that kind of stuff with copper ferrules/stops. This diameter wire would be too flimsy for bush wires, I expect. My 'helpful' point is that these stops and ferrules are pretty much at the limit if what you can do with this, still expensive, crimp tool: http://www.tecni-cab...les-115-007-023. To do bigger wires for bush cables, you will need to spend the money on the bigger tools as advertised in the site, or, probably best, get a yacht rigger to make them for you. The look aside, are you convinced that bush-wires are expedition-essential ? Regards Richard

Thanks wingnut. As so often, and certainly with me so far, lots of ideas but no video of the action. They seem to be very cautios about keeping the hi-lift mechanism out of the ground, to keep it clean. This is not an angle I had considered. Regards Richard

Mike, Si and I have been throwing some ideas back and forth offline. The problem he has identified is not so much in making the blade as the means by which it is attached to the winch cable to make it effective. As of now we are not clear whether the use of the hi-lift as a bar between blade and winch cable has mileage in it or not. It might work if you don't mind knackering the hi-lift. One or other of us will post if we come up with anything helpful. Regards Richard

Mud rails £42.99 a pair. Pack of 8 M10 nuts on eBay £1.35. You pay your money and you take your pick.

Mike, Thanks, that's very interesting as the attachments to the blade are flexible wire rope, whereas all the blade type 4x4 attachments are rigid bars. It's also interesting that the blade has holes in it. I assume if they are not too large the anchoring effect is not reduced much, but the weight is. I really do need to finish off my Landy's water system and then play around with an anchor design. Thanks very much for that contributioin. Regards Richard

On that basis Fridge, you could have a large red illuminated push button in the middle of the dash with START written on it. It would be more secure if it was not actually wired up to anything ! Hat, coat, umbrella, keys, passport . . . .

There are lots of good reasons on here why a cautious approach with two vehicles with winches mean that a ground anchor is not necessary,and I am convinced that I have not yet seen a design for a purpose made anchor which would be worth the weight and/or space (unless Simon get's his notebook idea made). However if I am taking a hi-lift (already fitted to rear wheel carrier), and make a steel hi-lift baseplate (to be fitted under the driver's seat) anyway , and I can devise a ground anchor from these with some kind of small fab'd fitting, and a shackle or two, then in a way I get a ground anchor almost for free. I thought about using the hi-lift rack as a plate and add some pins to make a pin and plate type anchor, but I would need to stow pins and hammer, and I think a couple of uses would probably knacker the hi-lift. So the spade type designs look more promising. The pull-pal looks pretty simple and just beefy, but I suspect there are some very clever things going on with how the tension and bending stresses are handled in x-eng longbow design which need looking at carefully, if my design (lash-up) is going to work at all. Don't hold your breath, but if I make anything which works, I'll post it in the Fabrication Section. Regards Richard

I've been using GPSgate for some time in the way mentioned. You can also use it with bluetooth to re-transmit gps data which I sometimes use with a PDA to run it as an electronic compass. Tomtom has a compass on the screen but PC Navigator does not. Pretty geeky really Regards Richard

Paul, Thanks. I had a look at the army pin/plate ones at anchor supplies, but they were very big and heavy for what I hope will never be used, and need a sledgehammer to get the pins in. You are right about bending the hi-lift. The idea is to use the hi-lift rack in tension so that should not bend. But there is a good possibility of bending the base/baseplate if I don't get it right. I need to play with this idea for real to get an idea of what happens in real ground, so some links to representative videos would be good but searching for anchor in youtube brings up loads of orange coloured american TV presenters making arses of themselves. Regards Richard

On the winch question, my expedition will definitely be two vehicles a 90 and a 110. So, my reasoning goes, if the one in front gets stuck, the one behind can pull him out backwards with his front mounted winch. If the one behind gets stuck, since the front one got through the route must be do-able, so with a tow rope, or his front winch we ought to be able to get the rear one through too. I have given some thought to how you could pull yourself out backwards with a front mounted winch on your own, and read of someone doing it by leading the rope under the chassis to a tree to get out of a snowdrift. But I cannot see that working in mud. Still I have not been on the course yet; I daresay there are winching mysteries to be revealed then. Finally, I fully sign up to the view that the whole plan is not getting stuck in the first place, which is exactly what I was taught at Whitecliff and all the drivers will have done the Whitecliff 1 day course before we leave. Regards Richard

The hi-lift pics I mentioned earlier are: a) hi-lift used for normal jacking with steel "under-driver's-seat" baseplate, bolts shown exploded for clarity: b) hi-lift used as a ground anchor in the following configuration, there needs to be some kind of wedge between hi-lift and baseplate to give a dig in angle , maybe a shackle through the lifting bar of the hi-lift and the baseplate, something like this: : (with winch rope shackled to top of hi-lift rack not shown for clarity) Those of you who have used these things in anger, does this idea have anything going for it ? Regards Richard

I have used the hi-lift for pulling out a tree stump while attached to the Landy. Awkward tree stump, and I was dragging a chocked landy backwatds before we added a tree strop to the front bumper. I thought about the Tirfor which have used a couple of times, but I hate wire rope (Merchant Navy experience with them) and Tirfors are not neat to stow, whereas a front bumper winch stows the whole lot neatly out of the way, I can use synthetic rope and I need the second battery anyway. I have also (unfortunately) found that a winch bumper can do a fair bit of damage when impinging on the back of a white van in the wet, without receiving a visible scratch. My insurers have found my reporting of an accident and making no claim confusing. My driver's side cover, over the fuel tank, clips in the same way as the cover over the battery box on the passenger side. Thanks for the explanation Martin, as I missed the allusion. It sets me thinking. I have a bit of space under the seat on the driver's side, which currently is covered by the standard thin steel cover. I could fab up a replacement cover, in say 8mm mild steel, then: a) put in 4 central holes in to to bolt a hi-lift onto, to act as a hi-lift base like one of those red plastic jobs, b) put in 4 off-centre holes to bolt the hi-lift onto to make hi-lift + baseplate into a ground anchor, having about the same overall configuration as a purpose made anchor. This will need the joint between the hi-lift plate and the rack beefing up. It is currently just a non-stressed split pin, but in this configuration would have the full pull on the anchor stressing the pin in sheer. If I get some time tonight I will knock up a cad pic or two if this is not explanatory enough. All comments gratefully received. Regards Richard Regards Richard

Did Whitecliff for a whole day, one-on-one, a couple of years ago. Absolutely brilliant. I got a voucher for Xmas to do their recovery course, but no date yet set. Has anyone else fab'd up an effective ground anchor from usual expedition bits and pices plus some sticky-back plastic ? (Maybe I should start another thread). Regards Richard

My expedition experience so far is a little UK family camping and a fair bit of moderate laning ie nil.. However, as we build up our experience gradually over several years to a 12 month expedition, I am very keen to avoid hazards, getting stuck etc unless doing it on purpose for training. However, I do want to go some remote parts of Asia, may not always be able to pick the optimum season, will be taking children and want to be prepared. I definitely go with the principle that everything we take must have more than one purpose, and on each vehicle we will have a pick, shovel, hi-lift (with some kind of baseplate probably fab'd steel) a winch and bridle/tow ropes etc. Since the initial post, I have wondered whether an effective ground anchor could be rigged up from these bits, especially if I made the hi-lift base with use as part of a ground anchor in mind. As for weight, I don't mind some weight low down, and have a number of ideas for saving a great deal of roof-tent weight. My problem with the longbow or PRT is the space it takes up, and where you might stash it. All ideas / consideration very welcome. Regards Richard Does a Hippobag fold down really small ? And if it can hold a bath, could I fill it with water and use it as one ?

Regarding destinations: Scandinavia, Russia, Mongolia, North Africa, being prepared for on-road, off-roard all seasons (except Russian winter) taking 2 vehicles, so one should be able to help extract the other. However, it occurred to me that we might need an anchor at some point and someone might have come up with something clever, small and light, or maybe fab my own. Richard

I am after a small, light, reliable ,occasional use, ground anchor for expedition purposes. I am not too bothered about deployment time, but I am bothered about being able to stow it easily/well and I am bothered about weight. I would rather do better than burying the spare tyre. It would also be good to see it being used on youtube etc. Apologies if this has already been covered; I have searched but not found what I have in mind. I did see than two americans drinking beer badly and getting some x-eng steelwork painted black. Regards Richard

I would really really recommend doing a half day off-road driving course with a qualified instructor in your own vehicle. I did a whole day with a BORDA instructor and learned what all the bits do, how to tackle most situations either safely or not at all, l and had massive fun as well. Finally, having shown me I could do a route I would earlier have thought impossible, he then showed me I still had a lot to learn, as I needed 7 attempts to get up an innocuous, but slippery slope that did not look hard at all and the instructor in his unmodified 90 did with ease. Thgis instruction gave me confidence in the vehicle and a reasonable amount of understanding of how not to get stuck. I am going back later in the spring for another whole day, this time including recovery techniques, for when I do get stuck, or a friend does. I did my course at Whitecliff in the Forest of Dean. I cannot recommend them highly enough. (No interest to declare other than a very satisfied customer) Reagrds Richard