Rovah Garage

[LaneRover]

OK, in recent years as I mentioned in my introduction I have gone from having little garage space to being quite blessed. This is as a result of hard work, luck, marrying right and having my first child.

I purchased my property in the late 90's here in Maine when I was living in San Diego. I came back to Maine quite a bit and I liked the idea of being able to write-off at least part of my trips by working on my rental property. The property had a 3 bedroom house and a cottage on it but NO garage. This didn't stop me from depositing some old derelict Land Rovers on the property of course . . .

The cottage should have been bulldozed but I learned A LOT re-building the cottage over the next 7 or 8 years (winters and summers when I could).

So fast forward to early 2014 and my wife suggest building a garage on the property Her (our) reasoning was 2 fold. A place to put the nicer (running) Rovers undercover and we weren't guaranteed a place to stay in Maine in the future as our parents aren't getting younger. So we decided to build a 2 story garage that is about 24x40. The thought was that at some point we would build an apartment on the 2nd floor.

Here is what we started with. Overall a pretty open space with a couple trees to remove and some stuff to get out of the way.

 

[LaneRover]

Since we were living in Florida at the time we had someone build it for us.

Found a guy who specializes in garages in Maine and parts of New Hampshire, once we did that I had to come up and get rid of a couple of trees and move a few things around so that they didn't get 'gently nudged' by a guy in a backhoe.

Luckily my buddy Yogi from UMO came down to help me - 2 chainsaws definitely make things go faster.

I know that this isn't an exciting 'garage pic' but that is the firewood we got our of the trees we took down.

 

[LaneRover]

So then the build started. The builder started a bit later than he thought (but I also told him I wanted to start a bit earlier than I needed too). Overall I wanted to make sure that it was done by the time we came up to Maine for our summer vacation. This is because one of the things we needed to do when we were up in Maine was put a Rover or two inside as well as move some stuff into it that I had at my family's place about a mile away.

These were the first 2 progress pics that the builder sent me.

 

[firecracker]

WOW what a great start, that looks a good sized place for you to work as well as park cars. Keep us up dated, love lots of pictures.

 

[Kevkx125]

How bout some pictures of the house and cottage.

 

[LaneRover]

Here is a link to the rebuild I did on the cottage - if I did the link right of course . . .

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.5996459102.11197.535599102&type=1&l=fc1947132c

It is tiny, just under 400 square feet with a loft that is good for sleeping or reading.

 

[LaneRover]

WOW what a great start, that looks a good sized place for you to work as well as park cars. Keep us up dated, love lots of pictures.

It is a good size. I can have a couple vehicles parked and still have an area to work on a truck or do other projects for the property.

I have A LOT of organizing to do. I am paying attention to a lot of other threads to get ideas.

 

[Todd.Brock]

Nice place. Any photos of da Rovah?

 

[LaneRover]

Nice place. Any photos of da Rovah?

Here are pics of my 2 long wheelbases when they were in California. The P-up has spent too much tim in the Northeast and needs A LOT of TLC that one is a 1969 ex military 109. The red wagon is my first and just got back to Maine in December, she is a 1965 109 Station Wagon it also needs a bit of a refurbish but in a few weeks will be back on the road, when there is less salt - and hopefully no more storms to re-salt the roads for!

 

[LaneRover]

Here is another view that the builder sent me.

The folks in the house reported that the guys were good workers and that the garage was going up quite quickly.

 

[LaneRover]

I just looked at my original join date for Garage Journal and realized that I found The Garage Journal when I was searching for ideas to build this garage. I then went off on a tangent because I found the Aero-1946 guys and the really cool stuff they were building over in Germany

 

[Todd.Brock]

Have you been to East Coast Rovers? I have a short list of lottery wishes. One of which is a blank check d110 from there. I love your red 65. Did you import it? Or was it already in the states?

 

[LaneRover]

Have you been to East Coast Rovers? Is that place as legit as their website seems? I have a short list of lottery wishes. One of which is a blank check d110 from there. I love your red 65. Did you import it? Or was it already in the states?

The last time I was at ECR was in 96 when my Rover was finished and I was about to drive across country. I actually drove north to Rockland from just south of Portland because I had purchased my roof rack from them and had to go and get it!

Overall they do great work - but you may need a blank check to have them do the work! for my finances they are out of my range - plus they only work on Defenders and not the Series trucks that I have.

My 1965 is an original Maine Rover. One of the ways I know this is that the dealer in Falmouth bought extra badges from Rover and mounted them on the wings (fenders). It was owned by a family that had a 100 acre estate on a 'high tide island' (if it weren't for the road it would be an island at High tide). So I am only the 2nd owner. I may attempt to search them out and bring the Rover back to the property. We knew the caretaker on the property and I acquired the Rover when I went out and worked with the care taker for a couple of days. Engine was seized and it needed a new frame - but it was mine!

 

[Todd.Brock]

Awesome story. I'm a rover fan , sans rover... The old ones are more reasonable than I thought. This may give pause to my DodGe Power Wagon....decisions, decisions...

 

[LaneRover]

Some people think Series Rovers are worth their weight in gold, others complain that they can't find a runner to fix up on the fly for $1,000. They are loud, slow, noisy yet cheerful little trucks. I got into Rovers for a few reasons but one of them is that I like to drive fast - and Rovers have a pace all their own and driving them has helped keep points off of my license!

I also like Dodge power wagons, Travelalls etc . . . . . . I just don't own any of those. For now I am keeping it to one make and model as it helps if the parts truck I buy will help all of my vehicles and not just 1!

 

[LaneRover]

Here's a pic of my Rover with a plow that is on the property . . .

If only this one ran . . .

I actually plan to switch the plow to another sort wheelbase Rover I have that does run. That one just needs springs to pass inspection and to replace the rear main seal on the engine.

 

[LaneRover]

Here it is with the 2nd floor up. The deal that the contractor has gives 6 windows. I used all of them on the 2nd floor. At the time I didn't think I would be living in Maine by the end of the year and was worried about nobody noticing someone had broken in for weeks on end.

I had a double window sitting around that I showed the contractor and he agreed to put it in for me for no additional charge which was nice.

 

[rob312555]

looks good keep up the updates. i live in the uk and have recently got into rovers myself or landies as we call them. I have a 77 series 3 swb myself and im currently working on an 81 series 3 swb (new chassis, brakes, bulkhead etc..) they are a lot more common and popular over here and as i understand parts are much cheaper as well over here.

Good luck all the best!

 

[LaneRover]

looks good keep up the updates. i live in the uk and have recently got into rovers myself or landies as we call them. I have a 77 series 3 swb myself and im currently working on an 81 series 3 swb (new chassis, brakes, bulkhead etc..) they are a lot more common and popular over here and as i understand parts are much cheaper as well over here.

Good luck all the best!

Yes parts are cheaper over there, many guys in the US will e-mail or call over to the UK for specialty parts or to ship a bunch at once. When they can wait a bit for them that is!

My newest is '73 88 (SWB)

Thanks for the encouragement. Even though I had someone build the garage the rest is up to me and I have A LOT to do.

 

[LaneRover]

So, here it is with siding and a roof. The doors are not on yet but they are insulated doors. At the moment the only insulated part of the entire place!

 

[madoc1]

looking good. hard to believe that young guy can work with no shirt on! also, very nice work on the cottage.

jim

 

[LaneRover]

looking good. hard to believe that young guy can work with no shirt on! also, very nice work on the cottage.

jim

Thank you for the cottage compliment!

If this were being built right now he would not be working with his shirt off - it'd be a bit cold . . .

 

[LaneRover]

When my wife, daughter and I arrived to see family last summer, this is what it looked like. Overall I was happy, the contractor did the insulated doors for no extra charge and put in a window for me that I already had. The only downside was that he didn't do pressure treated sheathing for the bottom 6 inches of the garage. He may put some grace ice shield around the bottom edges of the sheathing.

Any thoughts from others about whether I should bother?

 

[LaneRover]

Here is the upstairs interior. Though some storage will be up here the building will have to start paying for itself so we plan on putting an apartment up there.

This will be rented out - but also if need be potentially held in reserve if parents or inlaws need it as they get older.

For now I will put minimal lighting and a few outlets up there.

 

[LaneRover]

Here is my supervisor typing out a to-do list

 

[LaneRover]

But before the garage can see much use it first must be blessed!

So special incense was used . . .

Maybe a nice elixir or two also!

 

[LaneRover]

We moved to Maine in December and thats when a fair amount of stuff was moved into the garage. No where near full AND I want to keep it that way so that I have room to work.

The trucks against the back wall and the far side where moved in last summer. The Red Rover was brought up form Florida in December just before the rest of our stuff.

Over the next few months the plan is to put in electrical ( service is already there ) Once the electrical is in I will start to insulate and drywall.

Luckily nearly everything I have is on wheels which makes moving stuff out of the way to work easy.

 

[LaneRover]

Hopefully I will start posting again soon as we are letting my in-laws build an apartment upstairs to help them become 'Mortgage free'. The garage back at the house is slowly (very) being insulated with the insulation that has been pulled out of the house as we re-do the kitchen, take down walls, found area for a loft off the kitchen and re-did the bathrooms. Oy!

 

[LaneRover]

So, I found out that in order to put the apartment upstairs the ENTIRE garage needs to be cleaned out . . . not just the upstairs . . . so the temp storage pod has arrived.


Because of the snow and having to get the pod delivery contraption out the pod was at an angle so I had to move it over/straighten it. Which is super easy when the ground is frozen and you have a giant pry bar available.


But then you notice that it is moving the other end - when you don't want it to move the other end - but the ground is frozen so you can't easily pound in a stake or anything . . . so it was time to improvize a wee bit.


Now of course I need to fill it up so that work can start in about 2 weeks.

 

[LaneRover]

So the day the pod arrived it was a relatively balmy 42 degree day - those days aren't very common here in Maine in January and the garage has no insulation. I knew I had a semi operational propane construction heater around that I had bought cheap a number of years ago. It would run as long has you pressed the fuel button but then no more once you let go. So I figured that it had to be the thermostat switch thingy, time to take it apart!

Here's the heater -nice compact little unit.


Very easy to get down to the internals.


As I was trying to figure out exactly what needed to come apart to switch out the thermo switch I noticed a loose wire.


Reattached the wire, gave it a test and it works fine!
1) I wish all repairs were this easy
2) Shame on me for not looking into it sooner!
3) It's still a small little heater that may not do much but give moral support in a 24x40 uninsulated garage in Maine in the winter . . .

 

[ConCretin]

Welcome home. Don't mind the weather, it will warm up soon. We're all hoping summer falls on a weekend this year!

 

[LaneRover]

Welcome home. Don't mind the weather, it will warm up soon. We're all hoping summer falls on a weekend this year!

Thank you! And yes on summer!

Luckily this last fall was a very nice summer!

 

[LaneRover]

Reattached the wire, gave it a test and it works fine!
1) I wish all repairs were this easy

Update - of course that repair was not quite that easy . . .
Turns out everything works as it should when the cover is off, but not when the cover is on.

When the cover is on it pushes against a wire that controls the fuel cut-off valve. If I start it up and push the wire to the side the valve will open up to allow the heater to function.

My guess is that it is the wire and not the valve itself. At least for now I can use it.

 

[tuip]

W00t ... another Rover guy on the forums Here is part of my herd.

 

[Bunk]

W00t ... another Rover guy on the forums Here is part of my herd.

Awesome fleet you have there Tulip

 

[LaneRover]

W00t ... another Rover guy on the forums Here is part of my herd.

Very nice, all of mine are Series trucks - would like to have a classic Range Rover and just missed out on a 5 speed Disco.

 

[tuip]

I'll never get rid of the Classic. It is everything that I'd ever wanted as a kid and it still makes me feel like a lucky guy when I drive it. I'm in the process of doing a minor restoration on it and sorting a few things out. The D2 is for me right now basic transportation .. nothing special but the Series needs some work on the rear cross member. Never had the time to work on it but with the shop now ready I can actually take my time to take it apart.

 

[Dividing Creek]

Do you ever attend the "Winter Romp" in Waterville ?
http://www.winterromp.me/

We are going to skip it this year. Have 5 frame up restorations going all on galvanized chassis with galvanized bulkheads and cant make the time to go play in the snow.

 

[LaneRover]

I have not yet been to the Winter Romp. Would love to go, need to get the appropriate Rover going!

 

[LaneRover]

A few Rover pics.

Here is my '65 109 out in the snow.


I had to pull my '66 88 out and then also get my '69 109 ready to pull out. Since there was a bit of snow I dug out some snow chains.

They . . . almost fit . . . so I made them fit. I had a bit of extra chain and some small shackles. Since I wasn't going to go out on the road at all I didn't mind 'making it work'.



Here is the SW and the ex-mil P-up in place and ready to move out when needed.