The last time I flew a quadrocopter was in Norway in 2014 and there I almost crashed it into the sea… Today I tried my luck again with the new DJI Mavic Pro. It’s a super compact drone which comes with a gimbal and a 4k camera. There are worlds between the Phantom 2 and this thing, technology is amazing!
Well, all the technology doesn’t make good videos, and I have much to learn. You can see the result of todays flight below, I guess it’s ok for my first try 🙂
I’ve completed many small things this week. First of all the light in the back is mounted and wired. The LED lamp is super bright I might have to cook with sun glasses when it’s dark 8) Continue reading “Bits And Pieces”
Time to make a big hole into my Landy! I know, I know, Land Rovers are leaky enough, why would you add another hole? It’s easy, I want more storage space! But I am really not a fan of make holes into cars… There’s a reason I like to work with computers, when you break something, you just reset and everything is back to normal. That doesn’t work with metal and a disc grinder. So after measuring at least three times, I marked the outline and measured again. And again. And then I got down to action.
Luckily for once I did everything right and after some small adjustments the storage box fit! Just one little problem: The previous owner must have bumped into something quite solid once, because the vehicle body isn’t straight anymore, this didn’t help to get all the rivets in place, bolts and nuts to the rescue! Did I already mention that I don’t like rivets?
Also, some minor work on the water outlet, my “shower” is now almost ready. As soon as the temperatures are a bit higher the pump will be added 🙂
I am using a Coleman stove since years and was always quite happy with it, thus I’ll also take it with me for the Panamericana. It is powered by unleaded fuel and has two flames, therefore stove is quite big and needs a good place while not in use. The panel on the rear door which, when opened will be used for cooking, has the space required to also house the stove.
So today I made a frame for this, it’s not pretty but it works 😀
Finally I know when I’ll leave Switzerland and the journey begins!
The container ship will arrive in Halifax at the 16. May. I will fly to Halifax on the 13. from Zurich via Frankfurt. I booked a room via Airbnb until the 19. I hope to get the car on the 18.
It still feels surreal but with every step it get more and more real!
Another week has passed, less than 80 days until last day at work!
Not much happened this week because I was on-call and I had to bake cake with my godchild on Saturday which was a lot of fun. Gotta spend some time with her before leaving, I already know that I’ll miss her! Nevertheless, I was able to get some things done. The solar control unit behaved a bit funky after my last weeks work on the electrics. Turns out reading the manual is not such a bad idea. You have to plug the cables into the device in a certain order to make it work. Well…. Who could have known? 😀
I rebuilt the mounting bracket for the fridge, it worked but just didn’t feel right, now I have a much nicer solution that won’t chafe the tension ratchet used to pull the fridge down.
Additionally I’ve updated Finance & Health-page with the latest information (health and car insurance).
Another busy day in the barn 🙂 The power distribution is installed and ready to get some load! The water hose is also installed including the outlet in the back for cooking and cold showers, plus the whole interior is back in the car.
Because the original mounting kit for the Engel fridge is ridiculous expensive in Switzerland, I create customer one. I basically replaced the handles with an aluminum bar that can be used to tighten the fridge down. Saved about a $100, I guess this solution is good enough.
Next week will be busy with work, so not much time to work on the car but there’s still a bunch of stuff to do. For example I need to built a mounting bracket for the Coleman cookstove, I want to replace the windshield-washer nozzles, install a cruise control and so on.
Oh, and there are only 84 days left until my last day at work!
Yesterday the first steps have been completed. I finished insulating the interior, prepared the place where the water tank will sit and the in- and outtake valves. I was amazed by how quite the new BFGoodrich AT tires are compared to the MTs I had before. You can actually here different type of tarmac now, it’s almost like a normal car now! 😀
Last but not least I stripped out quite a bit of the electric wiring and prepared a power distribution unit that is properly secured via a main circuit breaker in addition to the fuses to for each individual consumer (additional light, USB chargers, fridge, water pump, and so on).
The next few weekends will be spent to finish everything up and hopefully have another few weekend trips to test things out 🙂
More and more all the pieces fall into place: I’ve finally found an agency that will insurance my car for USA and Canada (more on this later), I have health insurance for five years and the car shipping is also organized. I will have a 40′ HC container, in case you want to ship your car to Halifax in April, let me know and we can share the container!
In addition to that, yesterday I got a huge delivery of parts that now all need to be installed in the Landy. Think of safe electric distribution, water pump, and other amenities. There’s still some additional administrative work to do but an end is in sight (I am looking at you taxes!).
After a turbulent 2016 I am looking forward to the year where my travels start.
In roughly four months I will leave an environment that is familiar, friends, a secure job and a beautiful country. Sometimes this is really intimidating, sometimes it feels like heaven 🙂
What did I learn in 2016?
My new year resolution?
I hope your year will bring joy, some excitement and time to appreciate life.
