Thread: The Ultimate FC

I find the Boiling Vessel or BV is a interesting bit of kit.
You can boil water for a cuppa,cook food inside a can, or out of the can.
You can even fry food in it.
It will hold food hot for hours without beening turned on and gives off a low thermal signature.
Being able to boil water means if the water supply is a bit crook you have a chance to kill some of the bugs.
It is becoming standard fitment to most Nato vehicles now, and is very important to armoured vehicles where crews could be buttoned up for long periods.
If you are trying to live on Rat packs in cold weather being able to eat hot food , clean your self, shave with warm water etc makes all the difference under conditions where you are on the move or tacial where a kitchen or fire cannot be had.
The same company is still making a improved version of them for modern armies.

Great find, but it won't leave you much room in the nook for a fridge.

Unless of course you mount one outside like the Aussie M1A1 Abrams

I got things covered.
My stalwart is a later production one and has both batteries fitted fitted on the LHS of the cabin.
This frees up the RHS under the BV and 32 litre engal fridge will fit nicely.
The story of how the Abrams got the BV is interesting.
The Abrams was shown to the poms and they said it was a piece of sh## because it didnt have a BV, which was so important to british tank crews after having them fitted for years in the Centurians.
The Americans had to ask what a BV was.
Now every Abrams has a BV.
If Australia buys Man trucks we will most likely get them fitted with BVs on the cabin floor.

Originally Posted by 101 Ron

The story of how the Abrams got the BV is interesting.

There is no BV fitted to the Aussie M1A1s. Unless you count the exhaust grill, that gets pretty hot. Will bubble paint work on your car if you get close enough.

They are fitted with Aussie made 40lt Trailblazer fridges.

Regards Easo

May be the aussie digger misses out again.......but the fridge sounds OK
http://www.network54.com/Forum/47209...what+are+they-

http://www.militarysystems-tech.com/...-Crock-Pot.pdf


According to this the American Abrams do carry them ???
http://www.militarysystems-tech.com/...ing-vessel.pdf

Hey Ron,

Saw a Stalwart on TV this afternoon. The program Motor Mate on 7 Mate was about Extreme Offroad and had a short 5 minute segment on the Centurion Tank, its support vehicle the Stalwart and the Scammell recovery vehicle - some nice video and reflected well on the Stalwart.

Originally Posted by 101 Ron

Meet up with Lotz-A- Landies and bobslandies and took them for a spin.
The thing climbs OK off road, but is slow and noisey on road......still learning with this thing.
Ron

Are the engine transmission units hard bolted to the hull sans rubber isolation? I assume the wheel drive bevel boxes are also hard bolted.
I remember hiring a US military M151 Ford Jeep and driver to tour a mountainous region of Vietnam.They had their differentials etc hard bolted to the body/frame (independant susp), the noise and vibration was horrific, so after about 10km I'd had enough and got the driver to take us back to the village where we transferred to a much more civilised leaf sprung Russian UAZ 469 Jeep instead.
Bill.

Everything appears to be hard bolted.
The noise is from the bevel boxes and the fan roar.
I will expect the fan roar to be reduced when the floor plates are refitted at a much later stage.
The motor its self is very quiet and smooth.
Low gearing for on road use.....ie 3750 rpm = 40mph with the fans going full tilt is the problem.
The thing is gutless to drive on road, but every time I play with the motor I am getting more and more go out of it.( most likely I will get much more too)
Its off road speed appears good as does the gearing for off road work.
It is not a vehicle for long distance driving down the highway.
I suspect drive disconnects would lift on road performance too.( And improve steering feel)
The problem I see with this vehicle in the long term is not its mantainace, but getting it from one place to another over long distances.
The answer is a truck large enough to carry it or a extra higher gear ratio for the Stalwart.
Either answer is really beyond my means.
I still do not have much experience with the vehicle and while it is easy to drive in its basics, it is different in many ways.
Little things like steering.
Off road , if the front wheels lift and then settle while going around a corner, the steering is like if the Two steer wheel sets are turning on different arcs and on road with the detroit means small steering corrections with power on and off.......remembering the detroit is working on Three wheels per side.( steering valving is in the early days of twin steer power steering and the valve unit is operated via little differential in the steering shaft and tends to be like a little on and off affair)
The gear shift is long throw and the heavy fly wheel makes for slow gear changes.
The motor is very soft with a very wide spread of power, but needs to be driven hard with revs to get the best out of it and operation for too long at low revs fowls the platium non self cleaning plugs.(the motor being governed and appears designed so you can drive it flat out all day without hurting it)
From what I have seen of ferrets/saracen ect with a preselecter box which are driven hard anyway the stalwart needs a bit more adtension to the ways to get the best from the vehicle as a whole.
It all the years I have been around miltiary vehicles I have never seen a ferret or a Saracen driven in real hard off road conditions and suppect it is either the mind set of the type of people who own them or a lack of ability of the vehicles.
The stalwart appears at this point to have a excellent off road ability.........on road not so good.
Another thing to note , while the Rolls is only 220 hp on paper, compared to a 220hp truck diesel, it delivers that power over a far greater rev range and is why it pays to stick it into the motor a lot.