Owning Winterised / Wading Defenders

Owning one of these vehicles is pleasure and pain all in one. They are mainly used by the Royal Marines, but other units run them as well. These vehicles in their winterised state roam around Norway or other cold regions carrying out RM type tasks. With the wading kit fitted, they can land direct onto a beach from a landing craft and carry out a beach assault. This makes them a very versatile vehicle, but they have their down sides.

Firstly the wading side. The wading preparations take a lot of man hours to complete, so they are prepared in 2 stages. The ‘A’ Stage is an initial preparation and takes the form of waterproofing as much kit as possible without affecting the normal running/maintenance of the vehicle, such as the fitting of the snorkel, which involves moving the heater intake to the outside of the wing as opposed to its normal position on the wing top which is where the snorkel is mounted. The vehicle also has lots of the internals placed in waterproof boxes using plug couplers for electrical connectors.

Waterproofed Instrument Cluster

                  Plug Coupler

All switches, relays and fuses are in boxes which are waterproof or can be made waterproof by clipping a cover over, or zip tying a rubber cover over. Owning one of these kits has proved fascinating for me, as I’ve spent hours figuring out which bit goes where.

A lot, but not all, of the vehicles have wind down windows and a metal type ‘sunroof’, which is actually an escape hatch if a beach landing is miscalculated. Breathers are fitted from the fuel pump and the servo unit to the snorkel and any electrical connections are treated with a rubberised paint to protect them from water. If the vehicle is Fitted For Radio (FFR), a Radio Bag is fitted over the framing, which when zipped up can be inflated to keep the radios dry. Even in this state, the vehicle can be waded without detriment to its working.  This stage takes 10 persons about 40 hours.

When all the ‘A’ work has been completed, a sticker with blue background and white A in the centre is put on the offside wing front. It also has a white B on a red background under it. More about this stage is below as it is covered over with black tape at this stage.

However, to prepare the vehicle for deep wading, several more things are done. This is called Stage ‘B’.  This involves fitting the rubber covers over indicator & wiper stalks, putting clear covers on the instruments, fitting rubber covers to items like clutch and brake reservoirs, disconnecting lots of non essential electrical items like the alternator and fitting non return valves to breathers etc. The air filter is removed and the snorkel is connected directly to the intake manifold. If fitted (and most are), the Webasto Water heater is disconnected and removed. At this stage the vehicle is ready to deep wade. The ‘B’ is uncovered to show the stage has been completed. This stage takes about 2 hours with a crew of 3.

Once the vehicle has been prepared like this, the engine has a limited life as the air filter has been removed and the battery is the only power for the engine. Once the vehicle is ready to move off the landing craft, the crew enter the vehicle and start it up. This normally involves entering via the escape hatch as the doors cannot be opened due to the proximity of the boat sides, or other vehicles. Hence, most Waders have plenty of dents in the roof. As the ignition switch is now covered by a steel plate, the keys should have been left in place as a rubber cover is covering them. I believe embarrassment has been caused when it’s been discovered they have not been left in place. Low ratio difflock is selected and the vehicle should be driven in first gear keeping a constant speed through the water until reaching the beach.  On reaching the beach, the vehicle should now be returned to it’s Stage ‘A’ as soon as possible. Firstly the alternator should be reconnected to allow the battery to be charged and the non return valves on the breathers are removed. The vehicle can now be driven for about 25 miles. This is called Stage ‘C’, but doesn’t involve any markings on the vehicle. The final stage is called Stage ‘D’ and involves flushing the vehicle thoroughly with fresh water and removing all the waterproofing kit as far as Stage ‘A’ and refitting all the items that were removed. Once this is done, the Stage ‘B’ marking is blanked out again and the vehicle can be driven normally.

That covers the wading bit. Now onto the differences of the winterised side of the vehicle. As has been previously mentioned, the vehicle is fitted with a Webasto Heater. This is a diesel powered heater which warms up the coolant, thus ensuring the engine block is protected while the engine is off.

The vehicle also features radiators in the rear load space and in the battery box, these ensure a warm, toasty feeling for the operators on cold Norwegian nights.

Radiators under the seats

  Snow blind is fitted above windscreen

It drops down to cover the screen

These can also be kept warm by the Webasto when the engine is off. All the metal surfaces are covered in an insulating material to retain heat and keep out the cold, preventing frost burns from touching exposed metal. The vehicle also has a full headlining as well. To prevent snow or frost affecting the windows, PVC type material blinds are clipped and velcroed across the glass. Finally, if the vehicle suffers battery problems, there is an intervehicle start socket on the passenger side.

Intervehicle start socket.

That just about concludes the article. However, how do these vehicles compare to normal military Land Rovers? Well, I have heard a lot about them suffering chassis rot from constant immersions in sea water. I’ve never found any on my chassis, and it’s the original I think, judging by the number stamped on it. I’ve not heard of this from other owners either, as unless the vehicle has been beached in combat conditions, the flushing operations in Stage ‘D’ were extremely thorough. I use my 90 daily and have not really found any problems. If you want to add bits and bobs to it that involve electrics, finding the right wire to splice into can prove difficult though, as can tracing electrical faults. However, I find the electrical plug couplers a boon in some fault finding cases as they can be undone and tested without delving into boxes to find the component, thus isolating faults more quickly. The wading gear fitted makes it easy to wade without too much preparation, although I don’t keep the snorkel permanently attached as the vehicles height is about 7’ 6” with it fitted, thus ruling out its ability to limbo under car park height bars.

That’s it then, if ever you are offered one for sale and it looks in good nick, buy it, you’ll never regret it.