Defender is coming back to the US in 2020

[leeloo]

Just got a mail saying that my defender will be built soon and the dealer told me that if all the paperwork works smoothly I get a shot at receving it first week of July.
Much earlier than expected, the initial delivery date was September.
Much of the camping equipment and electrical setup will be transferred from the Hilux, but because of the difference in space available and the experience accumulated lately I will be making some changes and some additional bits and pieces are need it.
On one had I am happy that I get a chance to do my long summer trip in it, on the other hand I don't want to rush this, I would like to have more time with the vehicle hands on to figure the best solution.
So I have question for the new Defender owners,:
I plan to get a small Lifepo4 50 amp battery to power my fridge, where do you think will be the best spot to put it ? Do you think it will fit under the seat near the main battery ? It is 260 x 168 x 211 mm so about 10.2x6.6x8.3 inches.

 

[Nomad_Elvey]

I think if this was called LR5 or LR6 or whatever all this endless moaning would be gone.

I think you are wrong. Desert and off-road will be exactly the first place I will take it. Just like I took my brand new hilux, who after less than 3 weeks of ownership was saved by some significant damage by the rocksliders installed 1 week before. Scratches from branches - I got plenty. I already planned out the location of the aux battery and fridge in the new defender.
99 % - never take them off road - this is true from any brand, starting with Jeep, the most iconic and utilitarian off roader, for Land cruisers is the same and so on.
2 years ago, on a remote beach in Albania, extremely difficult to access via vehicle do to a very rocky road, full of dangerous boulders, there were 1 Pajero, me in LC Prado 120 ( Lexus 460 in US ), 1 old defender model, and the cherry on top, a family with 3 kids from Slovakia in Range Rover Sport with an RTT on it.
While I like the look of the old defenders, and admire how capable they are off-road, I would not be caught dead in one, just like like in wrangler. When I see one far from its home, the only thing that comes to mind is admiration for the stamina of their drivers. I drove a jeep for 30 km on a Highway and I could not get back fast enough back to dealership to return it.
The other issue I have with them is that I would like to survive minor accidents. Call me a coward, but I like living. both 2016 Defender and Jeep probably had the most abysmal safety rating from vehicles sold in the Western Hemisphere.
I know you like them, but they were so terrible that they would not even sold in the 3rd world anymore. ( about 2/3 of the 2016 production were sold there anyway and the number was very small ) . And the price.. omg, just like LC 76 now.. 40-50 - k euro for a farm vehicle.. with nothing - good lord..

@leeloo Can you share your thoughts on location for aux battery and fridge? my '22 110 is coming in second week in July and I am having a hard time finding any great examples for adding things to the 110. I don't want to go overboard but would like to put in a good fridge, an aux battery with isolator, and plan for a decent compressor / air tank to allow me to air up quickly.

 

[leeloo]

Not many videos out there with setups. Most of the ones I have seen make use of the space under the floor of the cargo area. But it seems this does not work on all models. Depends on what you have as an engine option . The versions without the 48 V mild hybrid have some valuable space under the luggage compartment. P300 has even enough space to fit a compressor and sizable battery + DC to DC converter under the floor board of the trunk.
From this point of view, I made a good choice with the p300, it seems to have the biggest payload and biggest "hidden" space
What is not explained at all is the routing of the cables. It seems possible that from the trunk you can reach the connection point to the main battery hiding completely the cables, ( A guy posted some pictures with the complete setup ) but how it is done is a mystery ( do you need to remove the back seats ? or maybe you can "snake"them somehow under the plastic floorboard.. ? ...)
The only common trend I saw is basically removing the foam and other trim bits from under the trunk, replacing the OEM trunk floor cover with a piece of plywood that you can maybe drill, add anchor points without worries of damaging the OEM floor cover,.
For the fridge - I saw a nice Idea. You make a box with one side open, big enough to house the fridge and the sliding tray. The sliding tray is bolted inside the box. The box you can anchor using anchor points that you add on the plywood cover + some OEM existing ones. The role of the box ? So you can store luggage over the fridge as well. When you need to use i, t you slide it out so you can open the lid without removing the luggage on top. I think it is a great idea, while the size of the Defender luggage capacity is impressive on paper, most of it is vertical, so that would be huge wasted storage space.
That is why it would really help if some Defender owner who already has it in his backyard can answer some of this questions...
My problem is I will have a very short time to figure things out between delivery and when I have to leave...

 

[Nomad_Elvey]

Not many videos out there with setups. Most of the ones I have seen make use of the space under the floor of the cargo area. But it seems this does not work on all models. Depends on what you have as an engine option . The versions without the 48 V mild hybrid have some valuable space under the luggage compartment. P300 has even enough space to fit a compressor and sizable battery + DC to DC converter under the floor board of the trunk.
From this point of view, I made a good choice with the p300, it seems to have the biggest payload and biggest "hidden" space
What is not explained at all is the routing of the cables. It seems possible that from the trunk you can reach the connection point to the main battery hiding completely the cables, ( A guy posted some pictures with the complete setup ) but how it is done is a mystery ( do you need to remove the back seats ? or maybe you can "snake"them somehow under the plastic floorboard.. ? ...)
The only common trend I saw is basically removing the foam and other trim bits from under the trunk, replacing the OEM trunk floor cover with a piece of plywood that you can maybe drill, add anchor points without worries of damaging the OEM floor cover,.
For the fridge - I saw a nice Idea. You make a box with one side open, big enough to house the fridge and the sliding tray. The sliding tray is bolted inside the box. The box you can anchor using anchor points that you add on the plywood cover + some OEM existing ones. The role of the box ? So you can store luggage over the fridge as well. When you need to use i, t you slide it out so you can open the lid without removing the luggage on top. I think it is a great idea, while the size of the Defender luggage capacity is impressive on paper, most of it is vertical, so that would be huge wasted storage space.
That is why it would really help if some Defender owner who already has it in his backyard can answer some of this questions...
My problem is I will have a very short time to figure things out between delivery and when I have to leave...

Thanks for the response. I opted for the P400 and the US options don’t have the flexibility UK or other regions have in terms of lower features to reduce complexity or load. So not sure how much space will be available.
I was not born with a lot of patience and waiting to get my hands on the vehicle is really trying the little patience I have. I learnt how to drive in a ‘76 defender in Africa and while this is nothing like that I am looking forward to having it, feel like a kid waiting for Christmas.

 

[leeloo]

Thanks for the response. I opted for the P400 and the US options don’t have the flexibility UK or other regions have in terms of lower features to reduce complexity or load. So not sure how much space will be available.
I was not born with a lot of patience and waiting to get my hands on the vehicle is really trying the little patience I have. I learnt how to drive in a ‘76 defender in Africa and while this is nothing like that I am looking forward to having it, feel like a kid waiting for Christmas.

I know what you mean. When the guy told me the initial delivery date September I almost started crying. I guess they expected some production issues but it seems to be ok now. I hope you get yours soon.
I the mean time I found a solution for the awning. I plan to have a couple of cross bars, not the full rack. Is too heavy for what I need to put up there. The Thule cross bar eve wing has a T-slot on top. Rhino Rack makes some nice brackets for T-slots at about 30 euro, they should do nicely. Got the cross bars ordered already.