Last minute

Yes, that's our gearbox on the road. Trying to fix a major leak before David Post arrives in a few hours.

Paddlewheels

We are still getting all the pieces together for our experimental streams. Yesterday we checked in with the welder we hired in Narok to make the shafts and paddlewheels that will turn the water in the stream channels. He did a great job of fashioning 12 paddlewheels out of a large sheet of steel and a pipe. Next step: affixing the paddlewheels to the shaft and building supports for the shaft so the whole 6 m of steel turns as one unit.

Breakdown - saved by nylon zip-ties

Although things have been extremely hectic lately, I can proudly state that we haven't had any breakdowns for several months...until today.  I have almost broke the Land Rover code...and figured out what needs preventative maintenance on a regular basis. 

Tonight, our serpentine belt starting shredding because our oil cooler pump disconnected from our engine block.  We were driving from Talek to Mulot.  Somehow, four out of the five bolts either vibrated out or broke off.  With one remaining bolt holding it to the engine block, the pulley bent off at an odd angle and pushed the belt into another pulley which then started shredding it.  

We searched through our spare parts and could only find a bolt that would halfway fill one of the holes.  Amanda was able to fit it securely with a little loctite.  We then used three nylon zip-ties in a through-hole part of the oil cooler pump to secure it back to the engine block.  After replacing the shredded belt with one of our spares, we were on our way and actually made it to Narok before dark!

Getting closer

We have our first little river prototype made! Ok, it may not look like a little river yet, but just wait until the water is flowing over gravel in the channel!