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Page 1 of 5 Introduction
If you own a Land Rover Freelander (or any other compact SUV) and have your own diving cylinders, you will know that securing them safely swallows most of your available boot (or U.S. trunk) space. While ranting about this when packing my car the other day, my dad pointed out that they would fit very snugly vertically in the alcoves at the rear of the boot.
The only problem with this is that there was no way to safely hold them upright. There are a few flimsy turn-buckle fasteners (see acknowledgements), but these certainly would not hold a 15 litre steel diving cylinder in the event of an accident!
After several hours of thought, iterations, bleeding hands and nasty words I finally came up with a safe, reliable and convenient solution. On this page you will find step-by-step instructions on how to install these anchor points in your Freelander.
In short, it consists of two eye-bolts mounted to your chassis and a spring-clip/bungee cord combo that loops around the front of your cylinder and the neck to securely hold it in place.
Disclaimer
This was a really fun and rewarding project, but it involves power tools and cutting holes in your interior trim, so I obviously waive all responsibility regarding what you do to yourself or your car. Language is British english and measurements are metric. I accept no liability whatsoever for misunderstandings or wrongful measurements.
Tools
- 20 mm hole drill
- T50 Torx socket and wrench
- T20 Torx screw driver/bit
- Misc screwdrivers/spanners
- Small hands
Parts
- 5×75 mm eye bolts (x4)
- 5 mm nuts
- 5 mm spring washers
- 5 mm dia, 32 mm wide washers (x6)
- 5 mm dia, 20 mm wide washers (x2)
- 500 mm bungee cord (x2)
- Spring clip (x2)
Estimated Time
The first one I did (left hand side) took me a whole week of afternoons planning and finding the right tools and parts for the job, as well as most of a saturday. The right hand one took me only 2.5 hours, including taking the photos. I would allow 3 hours for your first one and 2.5 hours for your second. Your mileage may vary, of course.
Instructions
General points to consider
- Remember, what comes off, must go back on! When taking things apart, pay careful attention to what goes where, because you’ll have to do the reverse at some point.
- There are lots of little screws and clips and what-not that will be floating around while you’re working. You’d be well advised to keep these in a very safe place, and again, take note of where they come from!
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