SCUK euro/malta epic road trip

[twiss]

Make sure you get euro AA cover just in case... it was very handy!

[Rhinoman]

£550 worth of fuel, at 25mpg it would be £760. Then there is the cost of ferries and accommodation.

This is what made me start thinking about a diesel conversion last year.
I don't know if there are any great options but I think that a better, more efficient petrol engine is a good idea for everyone involved. Ladaman's M15a conversion should be close to 35mpg.

I can understand your thinking but I think that any decent engine conversion is going to be uneconomical unless you do a lot of miles. I would be interested to hear how many MPG Ladaman gets, a Jimny is a fair bit more aerodynamic and has a more modern drivetrain, I would have thought that 30mpg may be closer although gearing and driving style would make a big difference.

[twiss]

Everyone needs to quit moaning about the fuel costs and suck it up!!!
It's worth it for the adventure any day of the week. I am tempted to drive back at some point with no trailer just for the fun of it!!!

[Rhinoman]

I'm not moaning about the fuel cost, just trying to get a budget worked out, if its going to be done then this summer may be the cheapest time possible. I think the Cross-Channel ferry will cost no more than £140 both ways, what other ferries are there?

[twiss]

£140? Is that the ferry that scottie wants to take? Portsmount to Caen?
If you do Dover>Calais its about £40-45 each way

[Rhinoman]

No more than £140. It depends on the time of year, time of sailing and the height of the vehicle. What other ferries are there? is it just the one from Scily to Malta?

[twiss]

You have to go from Sicily to get to Malta...
There is one ferry from Catania (4.5hr) and one from Pozzallo (1.5hr)

The only options are how you get to Sicily really...
You can go from Genoa (21hr, where I replaced my rear diff), Civitavecchia (15hr), Naples (10hr), Salerno (9hr), or Villa San Giovanni (1.5hr)

Personally I would recommend driving down to Villa San Giovanni rather than getting a long ferry.
The southern part of Italy is really beautiful even going along the motorways and it would be a shame to come all this way and miss out on it!
Some of the best scenery on the whole trip was between Salerno and Villa San Giovanni... and I'm talking epic scenery

[Anton]

I can understand your thinking but I think that any decent engine conversion is going to be uneconomical unless you do a lot of miles. I would be interested to hear how many MPG Ladaman gets, a Jimny is a fair bit more aerodynamic and has a more modern drivetrain, I would have thought that 30mpg may be closer although gearing and driving style would make a big difference.

Not sure the drivetrain is *that* different, the diffs are almost identical, the gearbox in an M15 swap would be a Jimny M13 gearbox (i.e. identical) - the only thing different would be the t-case runs gear to gear rather than using a chain.

Although you have a very good point about aerodynamics.

Everyone needs to quit moaning about the fuel costs and suck it up!!!
It's worth it for the adventure any day of the week. I am tempted to drive back at some point with no trailer just for the fun of it!!!

Stop moaning about us moaning!

I think it's sensible to make sure you can afford the trip before seriously considering the trip. Also, reducing costs with a sensible engine swap is a sensible thing to consider. So I'd say we were being sensible, not moaning.

So stop moaning about us moaning!

Personally I would recommend driving down to Villa San Giovanni rather than getting a long ferry.

No arguments here, the whole point is to drive, so this gets my vote. My gf lived in Italy for many years, so I'm sure she'd love to see Italy again, and she can help with translating if needs be.

She speaks French too, so whichever way this goes, she's got us covered (unless we end up in a German speaking part of Switzerland, as my German was never great, and has gone so far down hill I couldn't order a sandwich at this point).

Ich nict sprechen sie deutch.

I'd suggest everyone puts "glympse" on their phones too, as we're all likely to wander off sightseeing at some point, and having a way to find each other easily is probably a good idea.

[twiss]

Something else I would suggest is that at least 1 person had a phone on 3!!!
They currently have deals going on in France and Italy (not Malta though) where you can use your call and data packages as if you are at home, with no additional charges.
Was very very useful! That way if you really need to convey a message in Italian you can just stick it in Google translate!!!
When my clutch went and I had to abandon the rig in a bus stop overnight I wrote a note in Italian and stuck it in the windscreen
It was quite funny as it was in an area with lots of whores on street corners!
(if anyone is interested I can send you the co-ordinates )
I thought about asking them to keep an eye on my truck haha

[ScottieJ]

I'm on 3. rough route, if we get a ferry to caen, There's about 40miles difference on the europe side from Calais

https://goo.gl/maps/sQN7e