Thanks for the update.

Just in case anyone is interested, we are now back from our trip. A full write up can be found here

It was a fantastic experience and we are now counting down to Morocco in March 2012 ;D

Not exactly the M25:
http://overland-rovers.com/images/st...sia/TheM25.jpg

Wild camping under a stunning sky:
http://overland-rovers.com/images/st...a/PA146248.jpg

Fantastic sunsets:
http://overland-rovers.com/images/st...a/PA166362.jpg

My advice to all is; if you get a chance.....GO, you won't regret it.

Admire your spirit after the Morocco trip which sounded a nightmare. Thanks for sharing.

2nd Time Lucky
 

LOL, yes congratulations after reading your Morocco trip report I’m surprised you conjured up the courage to get off your driveway. :clap::clap:

BTW your link doesn’t work.

I’m sure you’ll love Morocco next time. I’m trying to get back in 2011 but the deal with my wife is we stay in Auberges this time.

Russ

Thanks for the comments.
Yes the Morocco trip did get some getting over and it is a testament to Peter, at Atlas Overland, that he managed to persuade my wife to give it another go.
I couldn't convince her!

Sorry about the link, this one should work:

Tunisia October 2010

We are now starting the initial planning for Morocco, figuring out what worked and what didn't, what we should have taken and what we shouldn't have and what could have been organised better.

Full info will be on the blog over the next 18 months.

Disco a good overland
 

Ralph,

After reading your blog about the trip to to Marocco I do have reservations about Disco I as a good overland vehicle.

I live in Indonesia and wanted to buy 1996 300TDI from Japan to make it my overland vehicle for here. I would be using it for ocasional dirt road tracking and plan a trip up Sumatra.

Reading your blog I have second thoughts about Disco I being a reliable vehicle. I also saw a 110 die in Tunesia, so it does not seem much better.

What is you opinion? Obviously you went with Disco I for a reason.

Thanks, for the advise.

how did the panels perform? interested to know as the position is of ideal being vertical and windows can absorb UV

I have not tried yet, been busy with other bits and bobs.

mogindo you cant base vehicle choice on one vehicles performance or you would not go with any vehicle , as they can all have trouble, Any older vehicle is a gamble of sorts , unless you do a full overhaul , and have the ability to do it correctly !
I would say that you need to own and use the vehicle for at least 12/24 months to get to know it and thereby possible faults.

moggy 1968
In my case it's actually difficult to say how well the panels worked. I had hoped to extend the life of the battery when camped. Unfortunatly we haven't camped long enough to see any benefits.
However I am having some trouble lately with the battery discharging (over 4-5 days) without any load attached. I have read about solar panels actually draining a battery when their not charging. The panels I fitted are supposed to be fitted with a reverse current diode but I'm not convinced. I am now looking at fitting a charge controller into the circuit to make sure.
In retrospect I would have liked to have gone for better panels. It is now possible the fit a 20W panel in the window space but they are too expensive (£200 each) for me to consider when I haven't 'needed' these ones yet.

I shall revisit my solar circuit soon (as we are now preparing for a trip to Morocco in March 2012) and will post more details on my site.

mogindo
As tacr2man says, you can't base your opinion of all discoveries on the basis of one or two examples.
Yes I had lots of problems on the Morocco trip but once the cooling problems were resolved we did a 2700 mile trip through France and Tunisia without any major problems. Also remember that I had done over 100k miles (with much of it offroad in the UK) before setting off for Morocco.

There is always the potential for any vehicle (yes even Toyotas) to go wrong. The only thing you can do is choose a good one (whatever make) and make sure that it is well maintained before you set off. In our case we suffered 2 problems which were not detectable (easily) before we set off. Weakend springs inside the fuel injection pump and a faulty cooling system (which was fine in UK temperatures). All the other problems were as a result of the overheating caused by the later.

There are plenty of stories of people who have taken discoveries across the world (Peter Crichton, Paul Marsh, and here). There are probably ten times more that have taken 110s.

We are now preparing to return to Morocco and will be taking the discovery again. We preferred the discovery over the 110 because of the comfort when travelling many, many miles on tarmac with minimal (if any) disadvantage when off road. However the 110 would probably be easier to 'configure' on the inside for storage.

Having seen our guides vehicle, on the Tunisia trip, I would willingly swap the discovery for a Toyota Troopie. Which I would suggest is close to being the perfect overland vehicle. Unfortunately at £40k+ and with the need to import them into the UK, this is beyond my budget.

So, to summarise, the discovery IS a good overland vehicle if you prepare it well. But, like any vehicle, you cannot expect to drive them across all terrains, for mile after mile and not expect some problems.

Having seen our guides vehicle, on the Tunisia trip, I would willingly swap the discovery for a Toyota Troopie. Which I would suggest is close to being the perfect overland vehicle. Unfortunately at £40k+ and with the need to import them into the UK, this is beyond my budget.

You could spend £40k+ and get an immaculate troopie, but they're available for much less. There's quite a few for sale on mobile.de starting at around EUR10k. Nearly all are LHD but there's even a RHD that has come from Australia via Africa. It's German registered so not too difficult to register in the UK either.

Now that's just not fair:(

I never thought about searching the european secondhand market. Thanks for the link.

Perhaps this is something for the future.

Another place worth looking for mainly German registered vehicles is the ads on www.buschtaxi.de (click on 'marktplatz')

All sorts of kitted out troopies on there. Sorry for making you jealous :oops2:

Now you're just rubbing it in :frown:

Alright, no more links. Probably best to leave it now anyway seeing as this is the Land Rover section...don't want to go too far :offtopic: