Interesting Old Equipment, Projects & Work Places

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Originally Posted by Old Farang

I don't think the age of them had anything to do with it. They would have been well maintained, excessively in fact, but what made the ones imported by Archie Marshall so marketable was the fact that they ALL had such low mileage on them. Most of them under 10k miles. I used to help service one that a local farmer had and the vehicle could only be described as immaculate. I also met Archie Marshall at his sale yard and looked at the hundreds that he had in stock, albeit a rapid turn over. The only problem that I recall was dried out oil seals and some rubber parts.

I have no idea how the Australian Army units were disposed of, as at that time they were all in the Eastern States and local dealers would have had first refusal. I believe that some of them were sent back to the UK.

As far as I am aware ALL the ex military units sold in WA were imported by Archie Marshall. Mine was a civilian model and I have no idea how or when it came to WA.

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There were a lot imported to Australia both east and west coasts also to New Zealand

The mileage can be deceptive as they reset the Speedo each time the vehicle went through a heavy maintenance. They were then put out in storage before being issued as replacement for the next vehicle to come in to be worked on.

The British SAS used the Champ with their own specialised modifications. Some of these were painted black

The civilian model was sold in Australia via Austin car dealers. These did not have the Rolls Royce engine. There used to be a civilian one in a paddock not far from Brisbane. They are fairly rare as not many were sold and even less seem to have survived

Japan to Darwin by small boat continued

Sea trials were carried out next to verify that everything was operating correctly. I cannot recall the type of material that the diesel fuels tanks were constructed with, maybe stainless steel but probably just plain sheet metal. The fresh water tanks were constructed with GRP and for weeks after there was a continuous flow of small fibers working their way through the system causing blockages.

One remarkable thing that immediately came to my notice was being able to see the sea water passing along the outside of the hull from inside the engine room! The GRP was thick but evidently what passed for the gel coat was partly transparent.

All must have checked out ok on sea trials, but as we loaded up ready to depart a small Typhon passed through which delayed us for a few days. When we eventually did sail it was out into a sea that was still stirred up from the Typhon.

We supposedly had sufficient fuel for the 3,000 odd mile run to Darwin, but at this stage I did not have an accurate daily fuel consumption figure, so I insisted on running the shaft generator until such time as I could figure out the fuel consumption. Doing this meant that once set the engine speed could not be changed despite the sea conditions.

The Captain was not perturbed with this arrangement,but the owner's son that travelled with us tried to argue about. He was overruled and after a day or so the weather settled down and it was no longer an issue. I cannot recall just how long it took for the voyage, but I think around 14 days.

After about 4 or 5 days out the bloody stern gland started leaking and no amount of coaching OR threats, improved it. The result was that I had to pump the engine room bilges every 4 hours around the clock. The accommodation was comfortable enough, but only 4 hours sleep at a time became a drag after a few days. Apart from that there were no other major problems. We stopped somewhere to change the engine oil and filter, and I leave it to you to imagine where the used oil went.

I cannot recall exactly where our course took us, except for a bit of concern in, I think, the Celebes Sea, when a small boat a long way off appeared to be chasing us. At that time there were known to be pirates around and we were unarmed. The boat could not catch up to us, if in fact they were even trying to, and eventually disappeared. The only other thing that sticks in my mind is that I had a can of Coke planted away in the refrigerator to celebrate crossing the equator. When the time came and I went to get it, it was gone! It turned out the owner's son had taken it!


Somewhere north of Darwin we established HF radio contact with Darwin, and I recall that hearing an Aussie voice reply to us was most welcome! Upon berthing in Darwin, we had to pass Customs etc. They were most interested in the ship's stores, as we had a couple of Japanese oyster technicians with us. It turned out that there were some cans of horsemeat amongst the dry stores, which they confiscated! I also had to make a declaration about remaining fuel on board, as evidently import tax had to be paid on it.


I guess that I can say that I enjoyed the trip, and that it was an experience not too many young blokes would have had the chance to do. Probably my only regret is not taking the owners up on their offer of a permanent job, but that is another story!

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up on their offer of a permanent job, but that is another story!

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And a story I hope you will enthrall us with as well. You'd think that Pasp's son with all their money could have afforded to buy his own Coke.[biggrin]
Thanks OF.

A note of interest that your yarn reminded me of.

When Australia's Coastal Radio commenced operations after it's opening yonks ago, one of the first transmissions they had from Adelaide was with a Merchant Ship off the coast of Japan. Of course it was a more powerful Wireless & sophisticated Antenna setup.

http://www.coastradio.info/adelaide.html


I recall the Adelaide Rosewater Station, now gone of course.

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Originally Posted by Old Farang

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One remarkable thing that immediately came to my notice was being able to see the sea water passing along the outside of the hull from inside the engine room! The GRP was thick but evidently what passed for the gel coat was partly transparent.............

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A good friend of mine has an ex-WA cray boat (42 foot Randall) in Vic, built probably in the early 1980's or late 70's.

I've done a lot of the fibreglass work on it since 1989 and one thing about it that I've never seen on any other GRP boat is the lack of any gelcoat below the waterline.

The owner was very concerned at first when it was on the slip for antifoul, but it was pretty logical that the gelcoat had been left off so you could keep an eye on any osmosis.

This boat would have been built back in the day before Vinyl-ester and cheap epoxy resins which are totally waterproof, as opposed to polyester which is slightly porous.

Interesting observation you made and the link to WA boatbuilding practice in GRP may have originated in Japan or the other way around.

DL

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Originally Posted by 350RRC

A good friend of mine has an ex-WA cray boat (42 foot Randall) in Vic, built probably in the early 1980's or late 70's.

I've done a lot of the fibreglass work on it since 1989 and one thing about it that I've never seen on any other GRP boat is the lack of any gelcoat below the waterline.

The owner was very concerned at first when it was on the slip for antifoul, but it was pretty logical that the gelcoat had been left off so you could keep an eye on any osmosis.

This boat would have been built back in the day before Vinyl-ester and cheap epoxy resins which are totally waterproof, as opposed to polyester which is slightly porous.

Interesting observation you made and the link to WA boatbuilding practice in GRP may have originated in Japan or the other way around.

DL

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TBH I cannot recall whether or not it had Gelcoat below the water line. I only remember seeing the waves when the boat was underway.

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Originally Posted by Old Farang

TBH I cannot recall whether or not it had Gelcoat below the water line. I only remember seeing the waves when the boat was underway.

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The builders may have left it off on the whole inside for the same reason.

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Originally Posted by 350RRC

The builders may have left it off on the whole inside for the same reason.

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Yes, very possible. What I do vaguely recall was being asked to witness some testing on GRP samples that I assume were taken from the structure.
If I recall correctly the tests were some form of "impact" testing, but there may of been other tests.

Another thing that I overlooked in my previous posts was the Japanese "tea ceremony". Each morning when we arrived at the shipyard, we all had to sit around while the tea (green I think), was prepared and served in a ritual way. I think it included some strange nibbles as well! There was no way out of this and we were assured by those in the know that it would of been an insult of the highest order not to partake!

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Originally Posted by 4bee

When Australia's Coastal Radio commenced operations after it's opening yonks ago, one of the first transmissions they had from Adelaide was with a Merchant Ship off the coast of Japan. Of course it was a more powerful Wireless & sophisticated Antenna setup.

I recall the Adelaide Rosewater Station, now gone of course.

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I once visited Adelaide Radio (VIA) in 1970 when I worked at OTC Ceduna and it was at McLaren Vale. VIA was part of Overseas Telecommunications Commission (Australia) - aka OTC(A) - as were all the Coast Radio Stations after 1946 when OTC was formed. The blokes at VIA would ship wine from the region to various OTC sites around Australia - through the company Stores (Supply) system so we recipients didn't pay the freight. :)

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Originally Posted by 4bee

I've not tried Molasses but have had excellent success with the PVC Drum, Washing Soda & Battery Charger method.

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Re molasses, see my site: Getting Rid of Rust

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Originally Posted by p38arover

Re molasses, see my site: Getting Rid of Rust

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Hmm:

PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL MEETINGS AND CLUB RUNS ARE CANCELLED DUE TO THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
26 Jul 2020


There have been a couple of Hillmans in my family over they years. I have a photo somewhere of one of them. Cheers