Our Defender

The Beginning

After living in Australia and New Zealand for 15 months, we knew that we need to build ourselves a camper capable for off-road use. The decisive factor was travelling through New Zealand for 3 months. Many tracks forced us to turn at some points, as our 2WD camper was simply overstrained with many tracks. Up to a certain level the rear-wheel drive was sufficient, but at some point it was clear: permanent four-wheel drive is the only real solution. Everything else is just a bad compromise.

After months of searching we found what we were looking for and bought our 110 Defender HT with the well-known 300TDI engine in January 2019. The Land Rover was first hand and has always been well maintained and well looked after. Nevertheless, the ravages of time have not left it untouched and we decided to do a complete restoration (for an overview of the work see “Restoration”).

In April 2019 the time had come. We rented a workshop and worked on our Defender for a whole year. A lot of rust was removed, it was painted, sealed and conserved.

In between all the work on the vehicle, we developed our first product: The Overlandies poptop DIY-kit.

After a long planning period and after a few prototypes, we went into serial production and The Overlandies poptop is now installed in vehicles of dozens of customers. And we are very proud of that. The desire for our own pop-up roof has led to our own young company.

Thanks to every single person who accompanied us on this way. Through your help and your support we became The Overlandies. We are grateful to all of you and are happy that we have become such a great community.

Thank you!

In the near future new products will be realeased, so stay tuned and be excited!

Restoration

Work already carried out:

Preparation and conservation of the ladder frame with Owatrol, UBS-Wax, FluidFilm and Mike Sanders
Core renovation of the rear pan including new floor struts (galvanised) and new aluminium floor panels
Core renovation of the cappings (sandblasted, primed with 2K zinc phosphate primer)
Repainting of the entire body in dull matt greyish-green (2K PUR paint, rolled)
New windows with aluminium frames all around (driver’s side gullwings, passenger side sliding windows from ExploreGlazing)
Installation of the theoverlandies elevating roof self-assembly kit
Core renovation of the roof shell (rain gutter newly grouted, primed with 2K zinc phosphate, painted with 2K PUR rolled)
Complete insulation of the trolley with 19 mm Armaflex AF (completely free of Alubutyl)
Shortened partition wall between front and rear
New windscreen
New rear door with HD hinges (also spare wheel holder) and Makrolon window
Reconditioning (sandblasted) and repainting of the door hinges (Brantho 3in1)
Sandblasting of all chassis parts and their repainting (Brantho nitro-resistant and Brantho 3in1)
Decoupling of aluminium and steel at all points including replacement of all screws with stainless steel
Re-painting of the diesel tank including new diesel pipes
Installation of a 2kW air heater (Autoterm 2D)
5x Wolf rims, tires currently still Goodyear MT’s
Front area completely lined with carpet
Side panels of 9mm birch plywood, sanded and oiled
base plate made of 15mm birch multiplex, varnished with boat varnish
Hidden anti-theft devices in addition to the immobilizer (will be uninstalled)
Interior fittings with Adam Hall flightcase profiles (Easy-Case System) and 6.9mm multiplex panels (coated on both sides)

At the moment we are preparing the interior for the electrical installations. We are installing a double battery system (AGM and lead/acid) with solar support on the roof (120W)