julezee001

Bored crew on Saturday evening at W & P!!

I don't know about sweat, but they always seem to be dripping some vital fluid or other! Jules

I think Simons Explorer has already tried that with a 3000 ton ship on the winch earlier in life. It only anchored it to the beach for repairs to be made in the holed hull, somewhere on the East Coast. Sadly I haven't seen the photos, although I believe it was in the local papers? Jules

Wow!! What a lovely houseboat that would make!! With enough space for a built in garage/workshop for all my toys! Just the tricky questions of where to "park" it, how to display it at W & P, and when to tell the wife about the change of lifestyle? Jules

There's a petrol one local to me in East Sussex that has been sitting around for several years. It has the four cylinder air cooled petrol engine. I did some work on it about 8 years ago for a friend who owned it, but he lost interest, and it has sat in various places since. It only had 400km on the clock when he bought it, and I think only has 2000 on the clock now?? I'll try to locate it and let you know more. Jules

I've been in the shed at Bordon many times whilst on various courses at Prince Phillips Barracks (a good place to spend lunchtime). There are so many vehicles sitting decaying there it's sad to see. The armoured vehicles apparently have no chance of any attention, owing to lack of spares, cost of running etc. I have no idea what a proper solution would be to the current state of affairs? Unfortunately people still bequest vehicles to the Museum with the idea that it is a good home for them? I'm surprised Lord Atlee hasn't had more influence on what happens, as he clearly has more than a passing interest in both the REME and their vehicles. I've never been to Arborfield, although I've seen photos of the Museum there. As with so many Museums it appears to be only static displays, which in many ways seems wrong when vehicles are involved. Hence the Bordon side was/is good as they do occasionally run the vehicles out for a wider audience to see. Indeed their displays at W & P in the past were great, with some excellent examples of classic recovery trucks and others. I guess the budget was blown building the static end, job done etc..... Jules

Having been REME (TA) for 16 years (but now finished), I tried to volunteer to help out at the Bordon shed, as it's the kind of thing that floats my boat, and I kind of ok with. Reply is not a chance!! All down to health and safety, and insurance. There is also no funding for it by all reports, with everything begged, borrowed etc. If the staff want to take a vehicle to a show, I 've been told they have to pay for the fuel?? What is the state of the armed forces when the largest Corps in the British Army runs its Museum like this? Jules

Great! We're camping too, where's the fun in Hotels? It sounds like it should be a good year, with the show back in Bethune. Look forward to seeing you there. Jules

Just a quickie to ask if any other HMVF folk are on the run out to Bethune this year? We'll be there with the Militant, an Explorer, and at least 2 fridges for cold beers!! Jules

Glad I wasn't the only one to bend something! Great owner of the Martian, who I met briefly on Sunday, about to drive back to Liverpool ?(assuming it's the same one). Probably not an annual trip at 3MPG?? Jules

Thanks for the suggestion about the palm couplings, I'll have a look in the morning and get back to you about it. It hadn't happened since running for it's M.O.T. test before last in Feb 2008! Thanks again, Jules

No major harm done in the mud hole, just a bent mudguard bracket, and a lot of cleaning to do! All went well for the journey home with the 3 Explorers and the Militant, apart from the lasts brakes locking on, making it rather slow off a roundabout! Solved by draining the air tank, and re-charging the air (an occasional recurring fault!). Great to put some faces to names at the show. Jules

Not only environmentally sound but also good for the health of motorcyclists! An excellent bodge! 10/10

For those into Explorers and who would like to see them at play, there should be several having a go at the War and Peace show on Thursday and Friday evening. It's the heavy vehicle trial set up by the Twickenham Off-roaders, which last year was exclusively an Explorer event! This year a few different vehicles will try to take the title??? Starts at about 18.00 on the off road course in the America's field.

Sneaky people around! Clearly a relatively recent photo of Gritineyes Explorer, with the non standard air horns fitted!

Whilst I would suspect that with careful examination of a fuel system they might find residue from red diesel, if the tanks only have white in them I think the burden would be on HM Customs to prove that you used red diesel on the road. I don't know how they view the use of red diesel at shows. I've heard "rumours "of test dipping of tractors and other vehicles at shows, with the idea that they are no longer used for agriculture and should run on white. I have to say that personally I have never seen it happen, and as long as the vehicle doesn't run on the road, I think you are safe using red. One of our Scammells was registered as a mobile crane until shortly before we bought it, and was still running on red as an Historic Vehicle. As this was almost certainly wrong, it has run on white ever since, although I am currently considering changing mine to Agricultural as part of my business, which would let me run it on red. Ever thought of mounting 3 point linkage???

If the cracking is deep enough to see the inner structure of the tyre, in the same way as having a cut or a chunk torn out revealing the canvas or webbing it will fail, and should be changed asap anyway.

12,701 kg max lift on centre hook, with max total payload just under 14,000kg Sea King maximum take off weight 9750kg. Impressive recovery, shown as a brief clip on a news program yesterday.

I noticed in the threads for W & P 2007 that an HMVF data sheet was designed to put on or by vehicles. Is the design still available, or has someone done anything similar for this year? My truck's going to be one of the big greenuns along from the NLBA!!!

In my limited experience of "Plod" dealing with vehicle regulations related vehicles of any sort on the side of the road, they rarely know more than the general public. The reasons for getting it right when you are on the road, is for when something goes seriously wrong, thats when the experts get involved and ask for the correct paperwork etc. Obviously downrating a vehicle is nearly always to fit within a persons licence constraints, and as far as I understand is largely a paperwork excercise changing the gross vehicle weight, as described in various threads already, and has no effect on the unladen weight. As said also in the previous thread it is all a can of worms as there are so many permutations of licence (depends when you first passed a test?), vehicle weights, vehicle types, vehicle age, registration class, M.O.T. requirements etc. It would be helpful if someone could provide a definitive guide for military vehicle owners of all types of vehicles...... A very brave and very bored someone. Finally very briefly on the subject of driving licences, there was a time when people who passed their test before "1 Jan 97 " (I think?)had to be careful to check their entitlements if changing to a photocard one, as the DVLA were good at leaving off many of them, including bike for many unfortunate people.

The bullets and rubber insulators were still available through Lucas a couple of years ago, so I ordered 100 on my account. Luckily I was phoned when they came in, and asked if I really wanted them, at £3.50 each! No thankyou. Since then I've saved and re-used all mine for re-wiring the Explorers.

The first run out for my Scammell (other than a couple of runs on a straight bar as a shell), along with the stand in spare wheel carrier (the Landrover on the a frame). Not ideal as I had to unbolt the rear of the roof to get the wheel in! As to A frames, the ones the AA etc. use are presumably EU approved, and they seem to be suprisingly flimsy compared to older models. The one in the photo was used for over ten years by my regiment to recover dead Landrovers from all over the UK, with not problems. It was retired when the Defenders came in as there is no clearance behind the bumper to fit it. As with all such items it is good to check them over on occasion for faults, just to be as safe as possible. I can only think that the reasoning behind banning them is that there is generally no provision for braking the towed vehicle when the vehicle is non HGV. Hence it is deemed unsafe as the brakes on a similar sized lead vehicle are efficient enough for the combined weight of both machines?

Blimey! I thought some of my Landrovers were rough! Good thing the scrap price is high at the moment, particularly as they're not on alloys!

Indeed the same truck, previously owned and restored by John Bird, still with its "Q" plate, before being changed to PSY 974. John bought it from a member of the NLBA, whose name I can't remember, who in turn had it from the dealer on the east coast. He also had some good tales of the jobs both he and the dealer had used it for, including securing a 3000 ton ship with a holed hull, which I believe was in the local paper.

The engine is a Roll Royce Eagle diesel 220, which to my knowledge has been in there well over 20 years. I believe it was fitted by a firm dealing in recovery trucks on the East coast. To make the space for the engine it has an extra 4" welded on the front of the chassis rails, 4" in the bonnet, and radiator stabilising bars. The front axle has been moved forward 2", with the front mount on the crossmember moved back 2". All very well done, so only people who really know Explorers would notice. It all seemed a lot of work, so in fitting the same engine in my Explorer, I decided I could squeeze it in without the extensions (I have seen it in others too). It is tight, but a lot less work.