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Winch & Recovery Rugged Guide Winch 'n' Wade Blanket Published: 15th Aug 2009 Original article: http://www.difflock.com/magazine/recovery/Rugged_Guide_Winch_n_Wade_Blanket.shtml

Rugged Guide  www.ruggedguide.com  Price: £38

Another product filed under the heading 'neat'. We love simple and effective stuff that has more than one use and this is definitely one of those. A simple PVC blanket that is easy to fit, very affordable, durable and has at least 4 different uses.

Designed and sold by the same guys who brought you the Rugged Guide DVD box set we reviewed recently.

Essentially its a blanket that fits to the front of a Defender and acts as both a wading blanket (keeps the mud and other detritus off your grille, radiator and intercooler) and a grille muff in cold climates (reduces airflow and allows the radiator and engine to heat up faster).

The blanket is easily removable and can also be used as a winchline sail and even a 'component catcher'. Just put it on the floor under the enginebay to catch the sockets, nuts, bolts and other parts you always seem to drop while working on your motor.

Available in different colours (including G4 orange) but we like the plain black version.

Attaches to the four screws on top of the front panel

Velcro securing strip doesn't look obtrusive if you wish to keep it fitted year-round.

The securing strip can be neatly tucked behind the front grille.

In black, when unrolled its not much to look at but it blends in neatly too (same cannot be said of the orange version!)

When rolled up the blanket can either remain in place on top of the grille or removed and tucked away inside the vehicle until needed (uses velcro so is very easy to detach and reattach)