Morocco - Early 2010

Booger said:

Thanks Griff, that helps.

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just spotted a mistake (20x10L cans should read 2x10L cans)

A note on water purification if your a bit of a "it'll be allright" person (Im one too ) we took 10L of water out of a tap in a campsite in Erfoud and I thought, be on the safe side, purify with Iodine. Well, the girlfriend got ill the next day and for several days later. not cronic, but enough to spoil a week for her. Some tablets bought at a chemist sorted it out, but on reflection (and further reading) it could have been avoided. She is also a sissy when it comes to bugs and getting ill from them. on the otherhand Im Welsh and have an iron stomach

Im no expert, but from what I have read, Protozoa and bacteria can harbour themselves in particles within the water thus protecting them from chemicals. So you may think Iodine will be fine, but you need a fine filter system to. A milbank bag from an army surplus will probably do it. so you need to filter and purify Iodine/chlorine/boiling are the most tried and tested methods. These methods are not 100% safe, but it will certainly help your chances. I would take these small inexpensive items as an incase (breakdown/lack of water etc.)

HTH :blabla:

G

Griffdowg said:

just spotted a mistake (20x10L cans should read 2x10L cans)

A note on water purification if your a bit of a "it'll be allright" person (Im one too ) we took 10L of water out of a tap in a campsite in Erfoud and I thought, be on the safe side, purify with Iodine. Well, the girlfriend got ill the next day and for several days later. not cronic, but enough to spoil a week for her. Some tablets bought at a chemist sorted it out, but on reflection (and further reading) it could have been avoided. She is also a sissy when it comes to bugs and getting ill from them. on the otherhand Im Welsh and have an iron stomach

Im no expert, but from what I have read, Protozoa and bacteria can harbour themselves in particles within the water thus protecting them from chemicals. So you may think Iodine will be fine, but you need a fine filter system to. A milbank bag from an army surplus will probably do it. so you need to filter and purify Iodine/chlorine/boiling are the most tried and tested methods. These methods are not 100% safe, but it will certainly help your chances. I would take these small inexpensive items as an incase (breakdown/lack of water etc.)

HTH :blabla:

G

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When I was out in the Pyrenees & Corsica, Trekking I had something similar to this. 1 PRE-MAC TREKKER PORTABLE WATER PURIFIER on eBay (end time 08-Feb-10 09:36:55 GMT)
Takes about 5minutes to filter a litre of water. & then I used to drop a Puritab 100 (2 × 50) Aquaclear Water Purification Tablets on eBay (end time 19-Jan-10 19:27:50 GMT) into the waterbottle to kill off anything that had survived the filtering process.

Yes, these systems are by far the best way to do things. I have one of these now: First Need XL Portable Water Purifier- NEW - Water Purifiers and Water Micro Filters - General Ecology

even shifts viruses, which a lot of the competition cannot do. I managed to find it on Ebay and got it for £7! the bloke had had it a few years but only filtered 5-10L through it. I will be getting a replacement cartridge, but its a bargain for £7.

Platypus gravity filter also had a good review in a recent OJ issue and they are now £50 in Go Outdoors.

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/platypus-clean-stream-gravity-water-filter/COREECBA7060

G

I have a spare fuel filter and some plastic pipe and a bucket. Perhaps not, but i do have some milletery water purifiers as a last resort. I think the term "steroliser" would better describe what they are though. My plan is to carry too much water just in case.

Okay Route Done, Itinery Done, just odds and ends left to do, like print out checklist forms, make a list of recommended accomodation spots, maybe a list of things of local interest in case we get bored of offroading.

My bog arrived, WooHoo, now wild ****s can be done in comfort

i got your map via e-mail, it all works nicly and i can see your route well, looks good. Do we actually go into Algeria or is that a bug? Mind, theres probaly not even a fence out there.

Vehicle is gettign there. All the welding is done on one side, have ground off the other side so is ready to be welded up. Simon and Emma who will be coming with me have helped me out fitting the cooker and roof rack, and they finished off the dual battery rig for me that ive forever faffed about with. I got an old millitery bonnet with a wheel carrier off ebay, and have another spare same as mine i can borrow for the trip. Also means we can stand on it to get to the roof without wrecking my nice shiney bonnet.

Blacked out windows ay, i did mine myself, worked well when it was done. But i bought cheap ebay rubbish film and it has all faded. You will never out pimp my landys glowing sub-woofer though!

I made up a basic kit list last week, still alot missing from it and theres suff that im not sure we need on it. Portable cubicle and toilet!?! Not a bad idea, i got a shovel so far, and ive seen toilet seats that you can mount to your tow bar.

My dad thinks he can get the time off work too, and hes gutted about selling his TD5 110, but he is actually looking at hilux "surf" SWs, he might buy a cheap one just for the trip which would be fine to use "off the shelf". He found a 2.5 Diesel one with 50K on it for £1300 in very nice condition, but it was sold befor he had time to view it. So we might have a third/forth (carpy) participent.

woods767 said:

i got your map via e-mail, it all works nicly and i can see your route well, looks good. Do we actually go into Algeria or is that a bug? Mind, theres probaly not even a fence out there.

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Nope that is definatey a bug, the Moroccons and Algerians hate each other so much that they have closed all border crossings, and the border will be heavily patrolled, we need to make very sure we don't stray over or we will see the inside of an Algerian jail, and that's not on my to do list

Vehicle is gettign there. All the welding is done on one side, have ground off the other side so is ready to be welded up. Simon and Emma who will be coming with me have helped me out fitting the cooker and roof rack, and they finished off the dual battery rig for me that ive forever faffed about with. I got an old millitery bonnet with a wheel carrier off ebay, and have another spare same as mine i can borrow for the trip. Also means we can stand on it to get to the roof without wrecking my nice shiney bonnet.

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Good job, wish Carpy was as organised as you, then we definately would have 4 vehicles How did you sort out split charge, did you just do an isolater switch, or did you go the whole hog ?

Blacked out windows ay, i did mine myself, worked well when it was done. But i bought cheap ebay rubbish film and it has all faded. You will never out pimp my landys glowing sub-woofer though!

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Never say never

I made up a basic kit list last week, still alot missing from it and theres suff that im not sure we need on it. Portable cubicle and toilet!?! Not a bad idea, i got a shovel so far, and ive seen toilet seats that you can mount to your tow bar.

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Yes the bumper dumper, I could not bring myself to degrade my land rover like that Also if you are stopped on the side of the Desert Highway you may not actually want to take a crap on a seat bolted to the car, you may want to seek some privacy

My dad thinks he can get the time off work too, and hes gutted about selling his TD5 110, but he is actually looking at hilux "surf" SWs, he might buy a cheap one just for the trip which would be fine to use "off the shelf". He found a 2.5 Diesel one with 50K on it for £1300 in very nice condition, but it was sold befor he had time to view it. So we might have a third/forth (carpy)

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Great, and Carpy, sort yourself out, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, there will never be a more entertaining Morocco expedition

Re split charge system are you making it a kill switch and isolator or isolator or just a split charge only. Talking to a seasoned vehicle traveller he rates being able to isolate all the electrics as and when he needs to. If you put a bulb or any half decent load on it you can also turn the isolator into a kill switch so not to damage your alternator when the isolator switch is accidently switched. This has happened to my mota luckily witntu and damage caused as yet but makes you very wary. Or you can buy an fia one with a ballast resistor but they burn out often when used frequently and not rated high enough for a winch when used in anger

I have no split charge system, i have one of these on the front of the battery box. Rated much higher than those rubbsh red key battery isolators which melt and catch fire if u crank for more than 3 seconds.

woods767 said:

I have no split charge system, i have one of these on the front of the battery box. Rated much higher than those rubbsh red key battery isolators which melt and catch fire if u crank for more than 3 seconds.

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How many engines do you have ?

I like the isolator, but doesn't a winch do more than 175 amps under load ?

Tent ordered !

Booger said:

I like that, where did you get it ?

Tent ordered !

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Let me know if you need a hand fitting it, id like to see it.

You can get those switches of the internet, just type in "marine battery switch" or similar. Rated to about 180 amps i think. Can get them for about £20.

And stop confusing me with eddits! 4

woods767 said:

And stop confusing me with eddits! 4

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HaHa yes I was answering my own questions on google, so kept posting new ones, that isolator is rated at 175, but my winch draws 450 @ max pull..

The tent story, they only have one left, more coming in March, the one they have has a sealed awning, that is the room underneath is a separate room with only one door, so if the tent is mounted over the back door then I can't access the back of the land rover. The normal awnings only have 3 sides.

I could side mount the tent, can't decide

My marine isolator is rated at 200Amps @ 24Volts or somthing similar and somthing like 400Amps max draw for so many seconds at 24 volts so its more than man enough for my winch etc

Booger said:

the one they have has a sealed awning, that is the room underneath is a separate room with only one door, so if the tent is mounted over the back door then I can't access the back of the land rover.

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I could cut a hole in it for you! :mil22:

Booger said:

that isolator is rated at 175, but my winch draws 450 @ max pull.

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It has survived many a winching at max pull for longer than is good for any of the equipment, without even heating up. Its a 12000 lb winch too so its not a girly one.

woods767 said:

I could cut a hole in it for you! :mil22:

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I think I'm going to mount it sideways, probably best not to have the cooker right underneath the tent, if that arrangement sucks then I'll let you cut a whole in it

I which case I will need some help mounting it, will give you a shout!

O and when looking at the route use the Morocco Topo Map, it doesn't line up exactly with the worldmap, which is why it looks like we are going into Algeria. The Topo Map also has more of the pistes, so you will see exactly were we are going.

Booger said:

I think I'm going to mount it sideways, probably best not to have the cooker right underneath the tent, if that arrangement sucks then I'll let you cut a whole in it

I which case I will need some help mounting it, will give you a shout!

O and when looking at the route use the Morocco Topo Map, it doesn't line up exactly with the worldmap, which is why it looks like we are going into Algeria. The Topo Map also has more of the pistes, so you will see exactly were we are going.

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Ok ill studdy the route some more and try to line some of it up with the paper map. Are all the road youve folloewd the routes u want to use, or is it more bassed on the way points and youve connected the dots? Ill just put the way points on the map if its the later.

Does this also mean you will have a roof tent parked in your drive for a while while your landrover is still having its paint done? When youve got both parts give me a call then.

woods767 said:

on the way points and youve connected the dots? Ill just put the way points on the map if its the later.

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No it's more sophisticated than that, there are many possible routes between the places, and they are all reviewed in the book Morocco Overland. I read the book, and chose all the most challenging routes. Where none were "challenging" I chose the most scenic one. So it should all be good.

In mapsource there is a drop down box in the top left hand corner that will say World Map. Click the drop down and select Morocco Topo, then it will all become clear

Ah ok awsum, i duno why i assumed the route was only on the world map. Thats much clearer. I might get a copy of Morocco overland, is yours by Chris Scott?

Yes that is the one, of all the books I have bought that is easily the most useful. He covers everything, including what to wear, and how to treat the locals.

Well worth buying, I've still got to read it again slowly cause I just skimmed through. If you look on my excel itinery you will see numbers like MH2 - 221 That is route MH2 and the page number in his book. Then you will see that according to him, we are doing routes with Gnarly Off Road Action

P.S. I'm teetering on the brink of ordering my fridge