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Preparation Overview Trip Changes Broken Bits Vehicle Mechanical Electrical Security Protection Storage Recovery Paint Work Equipment Camping Kitchen Medical Navigation Kit List Documentation Carnet Driving Permits Shipping Handy Hints and Tips Finance Insurance Training Courses Information Embassies Country Information The Home left Behind Islam Camp Life Visa's Preparation - Storage Overview Although you don’t want to take masses of stuff with you, the required kit does soon mount up, especially when including water, spares, food and cooking equipment. All of these items need somewhere to be stored safely but most importantly so they can be easily obtained to make living easy. There are lots of different methods of how to structure a vehicle for storage; it all depends on how you envisage using it. My tip would be to look about at vehicles and talk to people why they chose what they have, draw diagrams and imagine a weekend in it before starting anything. What we now have is not what we planned a year before; it has evolved and changed over time. Aluminium Storage Box Certain bits of kit made sense to keep outside the vehicle and on the roof. However this doesn’t mean it could get wet and wasn’t valuable. Therefore we have a got 2 ex-army aluminium storage boxes to mount on the roof. These are different sizes but are both fully waterproof, lockable and because of the aluminium they are light weight. These were obtained at different shows from Anchor Supplies. Overhead Storage There is a reasonable amount of head height in a Land Rover, all of which can be classed as wasted space in the areas that your head does not venture into. To make the most of this space and add some further storage to the front of the cab we have fabricated a roof storage system that contains four shelves to keep documentation, maps, books and most importantly our first aid kit at easy reach. Overhead Strorage The storage unit fits over the cubby box and is made using riveted aluminium and then attached to the roof with rivets from the outside. To be able to do this we also had to remove the existing, leaky sunroof and replace it with an aluminium plate. This has added lots of storage, a leak proof roof and all by consuming an empty space. Cubby Box As there are only two of us making the journey we decided to remove the middle seat at the front and replace it with a sturdy, locking cubby box. This adds a vital secure area for storage and somewhere to hold the cups! We were impressed right from the off by Mobile Storage Systems equipment and compared to others on the market, none came close to the quality of their products. Rear Draw and Chest The rear hull of a Land Rover Defender has a gap in the middle so adding proper storage units in this space makes a level loading space all across the back. We opted to break this space into two, starting with a rear draw that slides out through the back door and a chest placed behind the draw unit. Both of these units are able to be locked to make them secure and both are from Mobile Storage Systems. The reason for separating into two different storage compartments is that the draw is used for the more regular items (tea, coffee, kettle etc.) and the chest will be used to store the vast majority of the spares and parts as it is low and in the centre of the vehicle. Wolf Boxes We have opted to use storage boxes known as Wolf Boxes which are claimed to be extremely tough and difficult to break. This does come at a bit of a price, but the thought of getting a little way into the trip and then a box breaking is simply added hassle that I would prefer not to have, as finding the right size to fit would be difficult. We have chosen 3 of the high lid, green boxes and 4 of the standard size, black boxes, all from APB Trading, though Footloose 4x4 is a good online site to get them from. Cargo Area Shelving To house the wolf boxes and additional items, we have fabricated a shelving unit that contains two shelves across the full width of the vehicle and then two smaller shelves extending from the first shelf to the rear side windows. This provides us three levels to store the boxes, along with useful space over the water tank and gas bottle. We decided not to include shelving all the way to the back door, creating a U shape of shelving instead, as this allows us to continue to use the area just inside the back door as a work top. The unit is made of box aluminium and sheets of ply for each shelf. The unit is bolted directly to the vehicle to add full rigidity in the structure. All of the heavy boxes are to be stored on the lowest shelf possible to keep the weight as low as possible.