C p weinberger
Active member
External ladder....
My wife and I were once attacked in Windhoek, Namibia, we were sitting in the front seats of our Land Rover series 111 expedition camper, parked in front of the post office in central downtown trying to desipher a fax we had just received when 4 guys jumped us, one at each front door and 2 guys used my rear ladder to scurry onto the roof to steal the stuff up there, luckily it was all secured very well for the bad roads and they were delayed freeing, anything, meanwhile, inside..
One of the downsides of the series 3 is that it only locks with the key from the outside, so I had to hold the door handle on the inside while the guys trying to jerk it open on the outside. My wife’s door was locked already so she only had to hold the window slider shut. So I’m holding the door latch with my right hand, I got a guys arm Reaching through the sliding window grabbing at me and I am reaching across to try to start the car with my left hand, the key switch was on the right side of the column as it was right hand drive vehicle. We succeeded in Reversing straight into oncoming traffic and the guys jumped off the roof. Safe but shaken.
Now, the lesson learned here is that while they could’ve also just jumped onto the hood to get onto the roof, if you have a taller vehicle and you can make it harder to get up there, its better. My plan is to build a permanent ladder along the rear of the vehicle, the ladder will be thinner metal tubing which will fold flat against the side and lock closed, When you want to use it you unlock it, open/ unfold it and use the locking mechanism to secure it open. An additional benefit is that tree branches won’t get caught between the step and risers if it’s a permanent/ open ladder.
Telescoping ladders are great and would probably work better for most domestic travel. I use a telescoping ladder daily in my work, they are great but a good one is not cheap and the bouncing/ dust on the corrugated roads I plan to travel would kill one very quickly.
My wife and I were once attacked in Windhoek, Namibia, we were sitting in the front seats of our Land Rover series 111 expedition camper, parked in front of the post office in central downtown trying to desipher a fax we had just received when 4 guys jumped us, one at each front door and 2 guys used my rear ladder to scurry onto the roof to steal the stuff up there, luckily it was all secured very well for the bad roads and they were delayed freeing, anything, meanwhile, inside..
One of the downsides of the series 3 is that it only locks with the key from the outside, so I had to hold the door handle on the inside while the guys trying to jerk it open on the outside. My wife’s door was locked already so she only had to hold the window slider shut. So I’m holding the door latch with my right hand, I got a guys arm Reaching through the sliding window grabbing at me and I am reaching across to try to start the car with my left hand, the key switch was on the right side of the column as it was right hand drive vehicle. We succeeded in Reversing straight into oncoming traffic and the guys jumped off the roof. Safe but shaken.
Now, the lesson learned here is that while they could’ve also just jumped onto the hood to get onto the roof, if you have a taller vehicle and you can make it harder to get up there, its better. My plan is to build a permanent ladder along the rear of the vehicle, the ladder will be thinner metal tubing which will fold flat against the side and lock closed, When you want to use it you unlock it, open/ unfold it and use the locking mechanism to secure it open. An additional benefit is that tree branches won’t get caught between the step and risers if it’s a permanent/ open ladder.
Telescoping ladders are great and would probably work better for most domestic travel. I use a telescoping ladder daily in my work, they are great but a good one is not cheap and the bouncing/ dust on the corrugated roads I plan to travel would kill one very quickly.
