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Bon Voyage to Matt Wright (Africa Above and Below)

Eish! I'll try tonight again, "Internet" here is rather slow and signal drops every minute.. I'm standing outside the camp in the road now and it seems better so lemme go grab the laptop!
PS, did a full scale clean of the car, fixed the inverter and cyrix so game on!
 
Whey hey, welcome back Matt. Been missing our chats. Though it must all be going swimmingly over there. Obviously not. What happened to the Cyrix? I presume that it's been functioning OK since the re-wire?


Will check blog later for a new picture of you filling up at Tesco. :lol: :lol:

Chris
 
I've posted some of the write ups!! Promise - I even checked.. The photos are uploaded but the upload died halfway so fixing the photo access page - lots more coming as we're in Kampala now kicking back while we get a new spare wheel and the fuel tank welded back on with the strongest steel available..
Brb, watch that space..
 
And (drum roll) the photos are up of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia..
 
Chris said:
Whey hey, welcome back Matt. Been missing our chats. Though it must all be going swimmingly over there. Obviously not. What happened to the Cyrix? I presume that it's been functioning OK since the re-wire?

Hi Chris

Alas, the Cyrix / inverter system isn't working 100%. I think the problem is the battery though as it loses charge quickly and doesn't seem to take a full charge. As the car is rammed full of stuff it hasn't been easy to check it but we just unpacked and I did some testing.
The cyrix unit has had the hard black plastic bits that bold the copper bars super glued back together and has held up. The cyrix isn't functioning due to water damage / RATTLING so I insert a piece of wood after starting the car and waiting for the volt meter to show that the front batteries have gotten up to the alternator voltage of around 13.5.

Once the wood is in, I see the voltage of the leisure battery increasing at around 0.01 per second so it is receiving charge. The question is how much and how cleanly. The 35mm cables shouldn't be the issue but I was thinking of running a second cable to double up the positive side of things (I only have enough for one - guessing this shouldn't be a problem?)

I have the Numax CXV24 batteries which have an indicator light and the front's show green whilst the leisure shows black which means it needs charging. I eventually swapped the leisure battery with one from the front about 3 weeks ago and the leisure battery that was in the back that became a starter battery turned green and has been 100% since. The starter battery that showed green that's now in the rear of the truck isn't showing green - and is why I think the leisure battery isn't charging correctly.. Not too sure what else to do, any ideas?

The fridge hasn't worked that well but it's due to it not having enough breathing space (now sorted out through a re-re-re-repack) and the amount of power it is getting from the battery - it works like a charm, even here where it's hot, when it's plugged in to mains.
WE have finally found gas so will go and get it filled today and start running off gas when we stop - but it's imperative that the fridge runs 24/7 to retain the cold. Otherwise it takes ages to cool down when it's full / the heat doesn't help!

So, there you have it.. Any ideas welcomed (except for "you should have gotten 50mm cables :cool: :cool: )
 
Hi guys
Not sure if this is the correct place for this post / question but thought it might be good to keep this all together as it's related to the trip..
It's a question about tyres. I have 285 / 75 / 16 BF Goodridge KM2's which were excellent till we hit the Moyale "Road" which is full of massive sharp rocks, corrugations, boulders and generally not a road. Eg. Only trucks are allowed on it - no mini bus taxis, buses etc..
So, the KM2's aren't looking too good but it is common knowledge that tyres look like they've ben "through a wood chipper" after the road. AT's look similar but obv the mud's have a larger area which isn't covered by the knobbles and we just picked up a stud like thing which may or may not have caused a puncture (this is being looked at by the garage at present but I have a puncture kit either way)

The question is : do the tyres look OK to continue with given that we'll be on 98% tar roads going forward?

I've posted some pics below for you to look at. Pics of the road are on the website.. I'm not too keen to buy a full new set of tyres as they're massively expensive here - like twice the price of the UK or more :( I'm pretty sure they'll be fine but just wanted to check as they're such an important part of the truck. It's a pity I'm having to question their quality as they really have excelled in the sand etc in the desert so don't think they're not good! :) They're just not good razor sharp rock tyres..

Thanks.. Matt

tyre1.jpg


tyre2.jpg


tyre3.jpg


tyre4.jpg
 
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Looking for excessive wear and chunking. I'd say they're ok considering the roads ahead. Not going down van Zyls in Nam so no worries. Mostly tar excepting Mozambique now and maybe a couple of others in SA, not too many harsh flinty ones to go I expect

Cheers
 
Oh ok - thought you were having a slow day in the Tardis!
:whistle: :lol:

Or going to buy the tyres!
 
Lol :lol: :lol: :lol: Thanks gents - it's easy to see the thickness and strength of the knobbles, but the sidewalls and top side aren't but thanks for confirming :)
Just got told my bill for the bits and pieces the garage has done will be a staggering 2.500.000 Ugandan shillings or around £750. Gulp. :thumbdown:
Anyway, at least we'll have a spare wheel! Looks like welding is an expensive job here. Will show y'all the job card when they're done for interest. Again, despite the stealer prices in the UK, it's still cheap compared to East Africa. Pity I didn't work harder on my welding course before I left hey Chris :roll:
Did anyone try the pics / write ups yet?
Thanks again guys!
 
Nope unfortunately not. The whole of central and northern Nam and Caprivi is still on my 'must do before I vrek' list :)
 
Matt Wright said:
...Did anyone try the pics / write ups yet?

Yeah I have been browsing the pics and had a very brief read. :cool: I couldn't take it anymore so sloped off...... :sick: Jealousy is a bad thing :lol:
 
Gary Stockton said:
Nope unfortunately not. The whole of central and northern Nam and Caprivi is still on my 'must do before I vrek' list :)

Better get a move on, its changing fast boet!
 
Matt, my BFG ATs looked far worse than that (especially the rears, pity I dint take a photo) when I was in Mongolia. There were bits of rubber hanging off them which you could pull off with your fingers :shock: They currently look like yours after thousands of miles on tar which wore them down evenly again so IMO when you get to SA they will look like nothing ever happened :thumbup:
 
Rob said:
Matt, my BFG ATs looked far worse than that (especially the rears, pity I dint take a photo) when I was in Mongolia. There were bits of rubber hanging off them which you could pull off with your fingers :shock: They currently look like yours after thousands of miles on tar which wore them down evenly again so IMO when you get to SA they will look like nothing ever happened :thumbup:

Thanks Rob.. I saw yours so That's more good news. We got the puncture fixed in about 30 seconds and it's held up nicely so tyres are back to normal

We're at lake Kivu in Rwanda now which is stunning.. Heading towards the coast as fast as possible though for the diving to start! Not good being on a dive trip and only having dived in one country ;)

The repairs included new nipples for the injectors which have made the world of difference to all aspects of the car. They help the ATF fluid keep cooler as she goes up hill better, more power overall, way better consumption - from 5.5 to 6.7km/l :) so all good..

More pics on the way soon including some write ups about roads, technical bits and fixes..

Cheers
Matt
 
Heard from Matt today. Truck going like a train he says but they've been broken into in Dar/Zanzibar and laptops been stolen. Most stuff backed up but not all. Ouch. Seems in very good spirits though. I rather got the impression he was enjoying himself. Says retipped injectors are magic

Chris
 
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