View from back door

Interior is black so it is less visible from the outside. Our concept is to have a discreet vehicle in order to not attract attention. It seems it worked - nothing was ever stolen and people did not seem curiously looking inside.

Everything has to fit in closets, there is not supposed to be anything lying around, because:

- it makes moving around inside more comfortable
- things don't break as they don't fly around
- it does not attract thieves
- things don't get dusty/dirty

Popup roof enables standing in the rear part. It is much more comfortable to stand while cooking or cleaning up. It also reduces heat inside, as warm air rises. We sleep down, so it is a bit cooler in our bed.

However, we do not need to open the roof for anything else than comfort. This is practical, such as in a sandstorm, a noisy place or when we want to be discreet in an inhabited area, like a city.

The popup roof has 3 windows with mosquito nets, so we can keep them open if it is not too cold.

The plastic floor is easy to sweep. We do not take off our shoes to go inside.

On the left side is a 10kg propane gas bottle (where the orange hose comes from) - it lasted during our whole 7 month Africa trip.

In the mornings we however used a little alcohol burner which we can put on the table - we find that more convenient as we don't have to stand up from the table which is usually outside.

View from the driver's seat towards the back door.

In the left cupboard is

the sink on top,
toiletries & medicines below and
further down an Engel 35 liter compressor refrigerator on a roll-out shelve.
Under the refrigerator is a 12V air compressor (for pumping tires), tire levers, the main part of the AirJack (a big pillow that can lift the vehicle), the table pole and Reto's shoes.

In the closet behind, which is a bit higher, are clothes.

The cushions over the benches in the foreground are part of the bed. Under the benches are big storage boxes fitting the equivilent of 6 banana boxes.

View from the passenger seat toward the back door.

On top is a 2-flame gas stove

In the first cupboard is all the kitchen material, including a pressure cooker, a special pot that can bake, one alcohol burner stove set incl. 2 pots, 1 pan & 1 kettle (Trangia), a multifuel stove (should work with diesel), a few litres of milk and other food items.

The rear cupboard in the top has a spare engine air filter (large and light) and more clothes from Victoria.

Below is a multi-purpose storage (we shifted things between that closet and the benches in the foreground), but basically it held a normally empty 22 litre water container (we will not take it on another trip), Victorias shoes, some small spare parts items (like lightbulbs) and a toilet ring/seat. Laundry was also put there if space allowed, otherwise we put the black bag over the gas bottle.

The bed

It is between the
front window and the
cupboards and over the whole width of the vehicle. The front seats can be folded completely down (they are Land-Rover).

However, we keep the driver seat tilted against the steering wheel, so we could drive away within seconds.

One person therefore sleeps a bit sideways, as the feet of both persons are more or less over the passenger seat.

In the right lower corner of the picture the sink is visible, 36 x 36 cm

Shovel, attached on the front bumper. We wanted to move as much weight as possible to the front of the vehicle, as it tends to be much heavier on the rear axle. Also, this is a convenient location for getting the shovel when stuck.

Sand plates (here being used). We had 2 on each side, so every wheel can be supported. As you can see on many pictures, they are transported on the side and covering the rear side-windows. We felt it protected the windows from looking inside in a discreet way, and we could still look outside through the holes.

Also, in case of stones being thrown at us, it might protect the glass (however, this did not really happen to us - but we met people who's vehicles had been hit by kids throwing rocks)

The Land Cruiser has considerable space between the inner and outer walls. We were able to fit most of our spare parts (mainly consumables such as oil and fuel filters) in-between, as our closets have openings on the back (the picture shows the access behind the fridge). Also things like empty water-bags (Swiss Military) and diving masks fit well.

GPS - Garmin StreetPilot 2610

We found an older model which cost 1/3 of the new price, but still has the functions that are useful for overland trips, in particular storing 500 waypoints, tracking the route driven for about 2 days, loading maps, and being vibration and water proof (this model is also sold for motorcycles).

We had www.tracks4africa.co.za maps as of Kenya and wished we had them also before.

Long range fuel tank. We bought the vehicle with the standard 2 x 90 liter tanks, but then exchanged the rear tank against one of 180 liters - enlarging our normal fuel capacity to a total of 270 liters, all under the vehicle (keeping center of gravity low).

Each tank can work individually, which would be important if one leaks or has fuel of poor quality (water or dirt). I mention this as some systems work by filling fuel from a second tank into a main tank

2 independent water tanks under the vehicle of 60 liters each.

fillers

They are located between the front 90 liter fuel tank and rear 180 liter fuel tank. The original exhaust pipe must be removed as the huge silencer is otherwise in the way

Short exhaust pipe

Gives space for mounting 2 x 60 liter watertanks and saves 25 kg vs original exhaustpipe. Also, it is said to increase engine power by some 6 BHP. However, we do find it a bit noisy. As both the air intake (via snorkel) and exhaust is on the same side, we sometimes closed the window while driving due to noise

Super-Heavy-Duty suspension (by OME). It is designed to carry an additional permanent load of 500kg vs the original heavy duty suspension. We are the only ones we met on the trip through Africa that had no problems with the suspension or shock absorbers.

Fully loaded (incl. people) we are 3'400kg, which would be the limit of the original suspension. The risk of damages when driving in severe conditions is then significantly increased.

6 tires and 5 rims in total. Thanks to split rims, it is not very difficult to take tires off the rim and put a spare tube inside.

Our trip through Africa was about 40'000km (of which about 20'000km not on sealed roads), we used up our 6 tires. Had we had only 5, we might have had to purchase one on the way. While that would have been possible, it might not have been ideal as finding the same profile would have been pure luck, however, we drove on the original 7.50 x 16 tires, which is the most common size in the developing world.

2 laptop computers. Usually, we both wanted to work on a computer at the same time, so it was ideal. We spent quite some time making our website. Having two computers is also good as you can make a backup from one to the other - or if one fails, you are not completely lost.

Wireless is useful, as even in places like Khartoum we found free hotspots (such as in a luxury hotel lobby)

In the picture you can also see how we can sit at the table in the vehicle

Box for 2 camping chairs
Spare tire (no rim), into which a 10 liter jerrycan fits

Chairs are among the most frequently used items, so access to them should be easy. They are light, so it is OK on the roof.

The spare tire did not fit well anywhere else, and without the rim, its weight is reasonable. The 10 liter jerry can was usually only half-filled, and eventually, we could fit it inside the vehicle and use the space for fire-wood