Otly Update!

Phew! What a relief. Otly has made it to Switzerland without embarrassing me and it sounds like Christopher Robin has already started in on the same list of things that I would have done much more slowly.

Here are the edited highlights of his and Alice's trip as sent to me just today:

Day 1 (Thursday 16th October)
Short trip to Huddersfield. Check-in to hotel and do a little shopping

Day 2 (Friday 17th October)
OTLY's big service day.  The poor old Land Rover was subject to 16 man
hours of servicing (2 mechanics @ 8 hours).  But at the end of the day
he was sounding like new!

Day 3 (Saturday 18th October)
Left Huddersfield and drove to north Wales. Why North Wales? Well, we
were not progressing fast enough to reach our destination (Breacon
Beacon in mid-Wales) so we stopped about 1/2 way.

Day 4 (Sunday 19th October)
Drive to LLanerchinda Farm in Mid Wales. Great hotel run by a fantastic
host family, serving amazingly good food.

Day 5 (Monday 20th October)
We enjoyed a long walk/march through the forests and countryside and
"trundle" in OTLY around the amazingly narrow, winding and
steeply-rising-and-falling roads.  The Devil's Staircase for example had
an incline, and then shortly afterwards a decline of 25%

Day 6 (Tuesday 21st October)
Set of for Southampton. Met up with my parents and my little sister and
her boyfriend for an evening meal. Drove to Portsmouth and boarded the
ferry to Le Harve

Day 7 (Wednesday 22nd October)
LONG drive to Paris, around Paris and on to a little town called Nitry.
This has to be THE best kept secret in France. Our hotel was a lovingly
restored monastery - and the owner had spared no expenses. Each room has
its own theme and we stayed in the Millers room.  Very special and
rather romantic.

Day 8 (Thursday 23rd October)
Another LONG drive, this time close to Lausanne where we checked into
our hotel (my usual hotel when I'm in that neck-of-the-woods on
business) and then off to meet up with  friends for an evening meal in a
great hotel with stunning views of lake Geneva, over to Evian in France
and the entire surrounding area (large parts of which were designated
World Heritage Sights!).

Day 9 (Friday 24th October)
The last leg of our standard journey (just 250Km) home.
And, ..... YES! He fits in the secure underground parking!
Thank goodness

Day 10 (Saturday 25th October)
Started doing a little work on OTLY. Removed the rear seats, along with
the rear seat belts (don't worry they're going back later) and started
to clean, remove everything that's not "essential" and cover all
surfaces with a tough carpet! (Mainly to keep the noise levels down and
make him look a little tidier)

Day 11 (Sunday 26th October)
1 hour drive eastwards to a mountain town near St. Gallen in order to pick up our dog. As you probably remember, the dog is called Guinness. She's a 5 year old
bulldog. Guinness appreciated the carpets, and seemed to approve of OTLY as she
jumped in without any help! Not bad for a dog that's only knee high!
Alice got to drive OTLY - she's still beaming

Day 12 (Today)
20 minute drive to work. (Close to the airport).
My workmates love OTLY and they are now more convinced than ever that
I'm fully mad.

So, there you have it. I always fancied that accoustic matting stuff. Good choice!

Fin.

It seems a long time since I got Otly...probably longer that it really was. It's been good in places, wonderful in others and a bit of a struggle on occasions. Put all in all I've enjoyed it. I've learned a lot and met some great people and I can't honestly say that my career in Land Rovers is over; far from it I suspect.

But, for now, the sun is setting on Land Rover ownership. Christopher Robin and Alice came this morning and drove Otly away...although slightly later than anticipated as they forgot to set their alarm. Anybody would think they were on holiday or something! Anyway, I wish them both the best of British (and Swiss) luck on their new adventure.

What time do you call this?

I've no idea what I'm doing here in front of the PC; I should be in bed!

Issy and I have just been out to dinner with Christopher Robin and Alice. They are a lovely couple and totally mad. Chris has jumped into Landy ownership at the deep end by manfully sporting a LandRover badged fleece. Good for him!

They've seen Otly and waxed lyrical about it (or "him" as then insist) despite it's being pitch black outside. They were also very taken with the Swiss flag which I had whittled from a few scraps of cloth yesterday and mounted on the front wing in a handy hole.



Tomorrow they come to take Otly off to its new life in "a better place". But before it gets there it has, apparently, an appointment in Huddersfield for a complete engine rebuild! How cool is that? Mind you, I wouldn't trust my mechanical skills either.

But for now, it's time for bed as I have to get up at the usual horrible hour of the morning to take Mutt and Geoff to school. Hey ho! Life as an international playboy isn't all laughs.

It fits!

Well, full marks to Burlen who's diaphragm kit for the Zenith 36IV fits like a glove. Quite why nobody else's does I do not know.



This is where you'll find the so called "economiser" (also known as a 'power system')on top of the 36IV. It's the little round hatch with the three machine screws holding it down.

Inside you'll find a rubber diaphragm which is pushed down by a spring under the lid. There are a couple of gaskets on either side of the diaphragm. Like this:



This system basically uses the pressure in the inlet manifold to vary the fuel/ait mixture according to the engines needs; cruising or power. No, I don't really understand.

So, I shall have to take Otly out for a tripette to see if it's fixed the popping on the overrun. However, any trip is going to have to be in the next couple of days as time has flown. On Wednesday this very week, Christopher Robin and Alice will be ariving to take Otly away. Now I'm a little bit sad about this but still convinced that it's the thing to do.

For now though, I must go and make a pizza and then collapse in front of the roaring fire downstairs.

TTFN!