Sterlin is our 2002 Land Rover Discovery II and our first expedition vehicle.
The dream started in 1992 in a desert town in Morocco where 2 fully expedition worthy Discoverys were our neighbors for a night in the campground. These were the years where Land Rover Discoverys dominated the Camel Trophy Expeditions.
We believe that the Land Rover Discovery is an excellent choice as an overland expedition vehicle. It has great ride comfort, is more than capable off-road and can take us on any road we would want to go, has passable fuel economy and range and there is adequate international support for servicing and repairs by trained mechanics. In an ideal world we would elect for a diesel engine without an ECU which is simpler, more reliable and typically offers better range, but alas we could only get the petrol/gas version in North America.
Although we have had Sterlin for over 10 years and have added 90,000 miles to the clock, it has been maintained well and is in very good mechanical shape. In addition to regular maintenance, Sterlin has undergone a comprehensive mechanical review with pro-active repairs including new shock absorbers, head gasket, transfer case seals, radiator, thermostat, radiator hoses and partial ABS replacement. And we figure, what could possibly go wrong traveling around the world in an aging high mileage Land Rover?
In preparation for vehicle dependent overland expedition travel, we have made some minor modifications to Sterlin and added the necessary travel and camping equipment. The modifications and add-ons have been a labor of love involving many hours on the internet researching options and just as many hours implementing the changes in our alley in front of our apartment. These modifications made Sterlin more ready for the journey and the journey more enjoyable for us. We didn’t make extensive changes and tried to keep Sterlin as close to original condition as possible.
This blog provides more details than you could possibly want to know on what we have done to prepare Sterlin for our expedition and records the issues and resolutions during our journey.
