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| Stonleigh &
Billing 2001. |
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An Ex Rpi 101, on its way to
Africa,
"Metamorphosis of a Nice Green Ambulance"
Buying a 101 ambulance from Chris, was perhaps the most stupid thing we ever
did! From there on in we were hooked! Nothing else got a look in. When the
lads and Lassies at RPI said it was pristine, they weren't joking, she was
'brand new', hardly been used, and (don't tell Chris)
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| Original 101 |
The
new paintwork is making her a bit shy. |
Ahh
There you are. |
- We love her, so
much - we painted her in her own unique colors! Having started on the road
of conversion to a motor caravan, then we had the bright notion that we would
pop over and take a look at Africa.
African preperation is well under Way
Well, it's the
nearest bit of the planet with any rough roads, isn't it? So, two years
after acquiring her, come February 2002, HEX sets off from the UK, across the
Channel, through France, along the Pyrenees (cos they are fun, - see LRE July
2001 "Europe's Best Kept Secret") a quick peek at Andorra (and you don't need
long, it's about as big as Trumptown). Heading south through Spain. Crossing
over to Morocco, then down the beach across the edge of the Sahara, into
Africa true, Mauritania, Mali, Cote D'Ivoire and finally Ghana where,
probably three or four months later, we pop Hex into a container and ship her
home. (We may feel tempted to visit a few extra on the way, if time allows,
Senegal, Guinea, Gambia, Burkina.)
The list of requirements for
the trip, gets longer by the day and so does the weight. We have put her on
a weigh bridge to see what we have to start with and she comes to 2.8 tons
unladen, so according to the plated weight, we have a only a little bit to play
with. Every little addition, in the way of domestic stuff, i.e. bed, cupboards,
has to be down to minimum, you can't strip down your recovery gear so
something has to give.
We also had to think about keeping
anything heavy down low to maintain a good centre of gravity. The way we have
done it is- we kept the bulkhead, thus giving us a secure, clean and insulated
compartment, (which we call the cabin, as opposed to the cab, which is the bit
in front.) We threw those two big doors away and are busy installing a
top hinged door with little stable door in. This gives us an awning across the
back when the main door is lifted (on gas struts).
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| Completely kitted up and ready to go. |
She
just came in for some last minute checks, and a final set up |
We stripped out all the ambulance bits
in the cabin, so we had a 'bare box' to start with and re-insulated and
re-panelled. To give more light, we installed an extra hatch of polycarbonate
in the roof of the cabin between the supports. A five foot double bed lays
across the width of the vehicle at the bulkhead, the centre folds away to make
a half circle couch by day. Lightweight 3mm birch ply cupboards are under
construction to fill the rest of the 'side bench' on the starboard side. A
multi fuel fridge and porta potti (which will have a demure little cupboard all
of its own) are securely clamped down on the port side benches.
Three
water Jerry cans will tuck neatly behind the cupboards and another two hang on
the front bonnet. There are quite a few overhead and bulkhead cupboards and
baggage nets in the cab too. Hex will not boast plumbing proper, except for a
hand pump from Jerry cans to a water purifier unit. She will have a nice
little, very deep plastic box set into the 'kitchen cupboard' which is an
excellent portable washing up bowl. We will carry three Gaz 907's in the side
tool bays, which fuel the fridge and two burner gas stove.
The spare
tyre and another casing will be on a spring assisted contraption off the rear
crossmember, this all falls into the horizontal position to make a step to the
cabin. A pair of aluminium bins on side hinges will sit on either side of the
tyre carrier. All the recovery gear then goes into the original tyre bay. The
battery box and compressor tank have gone, - to make way for a rack of fuel
cans. The air tank we are having cut down and will move to the space under the
floor just in font of the rear crossmember.
The batteries now
reside in the box behind the driver. A square section front bumper makes a
work bench which you can clamp your offending 'broken bits' to, to work on
them. Spares (all RPI, who else would you trust when you are deep in sand dunes
or rain forests?) go into the cabin back bins and around the lpg tank which is
in the oxygen bay under the starboard bench. If they overflow a bit we will
probably be sleeping on them too!
Notice there are quite a few future
tenses in this write up and if we ever get all the work done, - it's going
to be fun and be sure, we will keep you updated. Chris may have to open a
new bureau for international diagnostics. No - not a bit of it, Hex will be
fine, she does not usually give us half a much trouble as our two 110's
- and - to be honest, she is much more comfortable to ride in. So when you are
all freezing in February and drowning in March, think of us, complaining, as
all British do, about how hot it is! See you in June.
The journey is Now underway and
progressing well
27-02-2002
Hi Chris and gang Just thought you might like the latest pic of Hex. Would
like to do something better but we are rushed off our feet with last minute
prep. You must agree, Hex looks the part now. Well prepared and ready to go.
Well nearly, we catch the ferry at 2.15 on Monday (is that the 4th?) Panic. But
so looking forward to it, a bit of sunshine if nothing else. See you and thanks
Chris. Have a nice spring and summer.
27-03-2002 Hi all Sitting
in Internet terminal next to the Atlantic in Tan_Tan : Yesterday was 42 deg
today is much cooler: The desert is lovely quiet, but is it: miles from
anywhere there is a Moroccan don't know where they come from: They are really
sweet though: except the small variety sometimes _ with open palms Very glad
toget out of Europe: Different world here: it changed instantly we crossed the
gibraltar straits: Lots of pics and film cannot transfer here: would
writemorebut cant work this keyboard:
08-04-2002 We crossed the
Sahara: Faanntastic time: Lots of taales ttto tell: keyboard bad: pics galore:
no transfer as only takes floppys: hex is bril: desert is not hot cold at
night: very windy very saandy: sea is wonderful to swim after a hard days
plaay: towed a Mauritanian laand rover 45 km on the beach: dined with the
douane_ tasty: great fun: hope all is well there at home: leaving Nuakachott
tonight for Mali: and the waterfalls: phones do not work here: contact later;
hope we find better keyboards: Malcolm Su
23-04-2002 arrived in
Bamako, very hot, found 50 a bit much cooled off in the river senegaal for four
daays wwhich was heaven. now taking it eassy in the grand hotel. off to ccote
divoire tomorrow. bought a mosy net tto sleep on roof of hex cooler. seem to be
out of the desert now mucch more verdant. seen baboons; chimps; big bats:
hippos on senegal keep waking us up; parrots all colors: food is out of this
world: people are beautiful friendly lovely: roads AWFUL: hex great: reach
ghana 1 week? Su Malccolm
2nd May.2002 They have reached Ghana,
in a place I can’t pronounce or remember. They have met up with John and
the rest of the crew. Also have no sense of time as I asked why they took twice
as long as they said, they didn’t realise it had taken them longer! They
are having a great time, and said to send everybody their love. They will send
e-mails to everybody when they can get it to work.
Thanks Sue & Hex. Be sure we will help you all
the way.
Chris.
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