Lost my baby to the sea today

**Disco Muppet** · 30th April 2013, 07:53 PM

Originally Posted by sheerluck

Ah sorry, autocorrect on the iPad

You'se can poke fun at me all ya like, at least i can spell **** proper like.

Then again, I guess that's to be expected when you live inside a fat man called Jim.

**fonfe** · 30th April 2013, 08:19 PM

Well made a few calls and can get a low loader to pick her up tomorrow from the farm that belongs to the owner of the beach hut. The farmers going to tow it to his farm using his tractor for a slab of ****

(just hope he can get it there)
hope my manger lets me have the afternoon off tomorrow as the low loader won't go out there without me incase he can't find the place. So if I get her home tomorrow then itl only have been 3 days with water in her....not great but best I can do and hope for.
As far as looking for another one, I've looked but only ones any where near me are $3500+ and they still need work

got mine for $1300 and only needed a steering box, tyres and brakes. But hoping to find one that needs some bits that I just work on slowly and get into a good un again. As far as the car living on I live by the same rule that I have my previous cars when I replaced them with the same model....so long as you put a minimum of 1 part on the new car from the old car my belief is that the soul from the old one lives on!

**MAGICJOHNSON14** · 30th April 2013, 10:07 PM

Sorry for your loss old boy. Youve hit rock bottom/sea floor... the only way is up!

**fonfe** · 1st May 2013, 02:11 PM

Originally Posted by MAGICJOHNSON14

Sorry for your loss old boy. Youve hit rock bottom/sea floor... the only way is up!

Indeed mate indeed and I'm feeling a lot more positive today.
Manager let me have the afternoon off work as he's a very decent chap

Turned up at the farm early so I could give the farmer a hand pulling her back and bless him he'd already done it for me so she was sat ther on the road waiting for me to arrive.
She's home now, but need to go back to work. Shall see what I can do with her in a few hours once I'm home again.

**101RRS** · 1st May 2013, 02:37 PM

A shame you could not shove it into one of the farmers dams for a day or two.

Good luck with it.

Garry

**isuzurover** · 1st May 2013, 02:37 PM

Good to hear. Hose it down as soon as you can!!!

**manic** · 1st May 2013, 04:11 PM

having it back on your drive is a little victory.

If you were as crazy as I am, you would strip that old girl down to components.

Spanners, jetwasher, salt-x, waxoil, grinder with wire brush attachments, black chassis paint ... perhaps all you need.

Engine probably go for a replacement but the rest...
It might not take as long as you think if you went for an all out strip down , get the rangies guts all out on the lawn... best way to inspect, clean, paint/lube where needed.

It could be done, mostly saved....

but you gotta be nuts for it!

**slug_burner** · 1st May 2013, 07:55 PM

If you can get the salt and sand out of it before you have more than surface rust, you might just have saved the bulk of it. An interior could be swapped out from a wreck. There is a reason why even new cars are written off if flood damaged, there is no certainty that things are going to be ok for any length of time afterwards. Only an enthusiast would think he could bring a car back after it has spent a night in Neptune's garden. If your here it probably means you are an enthusiast.

Good luck.

**Basil135** · 1st May 2013, 09:30 PM

Most of that damage looks like it would buff right out...

Sorry to hear about it. Have come close to facing a similar fate with mine, but managed to save it in time... Just...

TimOz · 2nd May 2013, 05:41 AM

Fonfe,
I hope it works out for you in some way.

Just a note that may help in the future. I grew up on a Qld sand Island and spend a lot of time on and in sand in a variety of British vehicles including a 2-door Rangie. There is a technique that some may not be aware of as it seems many people think that without an attachment point like a tree, a winch is useless. Not so!

Always have a shovel and a winch - either a vehicle mounted or even a cable winch like a Trifors will work. The idea is to bury an anchor deep in the sand and attach the winch cable at an angle that will make the winch pull the anchor horizontally, not out of the hole. This can and should give enough power to pull the car out. Ideally there are land anchors that you can buy but a spare wheel buried deep works better than you would imagine.

In summary:
1. Run out the cable as far as possible.
2. If the beach is a steep slope, it may be better to pull across and up the beach rather that straight up the beach - requires less force.
3. Dig a BIG hole to get the entire spare wheel as deep as practical.
4. Dig a narrow trench from the wheel towards the vehicle so the cable pull is as horizontal as possible and the winch will not pull the wheel up and pop it out of the hole.
5. Dig out any built up sand in front of the wheels and if you can, put wood, carpets, grass, sticks in front of the wheels so that forward movement will raise the car. I have even jacked up each wheel and put the carpets under each wheel. You want the belly of the vehicle off the sand to reduce the drag.
6. DO NOT get in and try to drive with lots of revs as you will only dig yourself back down.
7. Winch the vehicle out.

I got into a similar situation near Robe in SA while by myself, just at sunset as the tide was coming in and bellied out in some of the strangest consistency sand I have seen. It was like magnetic custard mixed with talcum. I ended up saving the vehicle using this method but it took 2 winch runs and 2 big and deep holes and a Warn electric winch to get on firm enough sand to get mobile again. A cable winch would have also got me out, just slower.

If enough time has passed for you to laugh about it, remember this:
GPS Sends Stradbroke Island Tourists Astray

Thread: Lost my baby to the sea today

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