Blast from the past

[whatcharterboat]

Mick Only just missed you.

Owe you an apology. Only just saw these responses now. Had some trouble with expo a month or so back. About the time I had to repost the plastic interior thread. Haven't been able to access any old threads in that forum. Only the current one . Until now. Wierd. You must have thought I was snobbing ya.

Anyway you said

Where do you get the Canon Uni Solar PVL's? I am just up the road a bit from you and I'd like too look into them a bit more.

We buy them from a wholesaler in West Oz. Email me if you need to know more. The frieght's not much cause if we buy 3 or 4 say for a vehicle, they just roll them up into a 400mm cube box and they hardly weigh anything. They are ideal for a boat cause there's no frame to corrode and the have a cool textured surface that you can walk on. At first I thought it was actually a non-skid surface but I later found out that it has a prismatic effect and helps to catch and magnify the energy at low sun angles. Like I said the only drawback is the wierd size available here. I know you can get a bigger range in Europe. I'll never use a rigid solar panel in a frame on a truck or boat again.

And

we use a similar product on the boats we build called Sea Board. It looks like the Star Board is available in a few different varieties. I might have to check out a few of the different ones.

Yeah I've heard of SeaBoard before. When I was the electrician at Noosa Cat.
Same stuff, different supplier. That caravan was a one off. All our furniture is molded now but I thought the "Plastic Interior" Thread might give some of these guys who are building campers at the moment some different options to what they are used too. I got a ton of pics on flat panel composite construction to post in the mog forum soon. Mainly for Iandraz cause he was asking questions.

Piglet.Was that the Scat that they built for Roothy to use at Tuff Truck?? If it was, somewhere in all this mess I'm sitting in is a DVD on the build. You've probably seen it ???.

Anyway. Saw this on my way to work to today definetly belongs in this thread. It’s another Leoplard. Maybe mid ’70 model. Mine had ( as did this one ) airbag suspension. So when the air leaked out after a little while of being stopped it was almost on the ground. Way ahead of its’ time . LOL

As for this. Well it’s too cool for school. A Scooby Doo Mystery Machine. Very trick running gear and setup for camping inside too.

 

[whatcharterboat]

Doh

[/IMG]

 

[whatcharterboat]

Doh. DOH.

[/IMG]

 

[whatcharterboat]

Ah stuff it.

Just click on the link. Don't know what's going on there. Hope I don't end up in the "group that can't post pics".

 

[Mickldo]

Owe you an apology. Only just saw these responses now. Had some trouble with expo a month or so back. About the time I had to repost the plastic interior thread. Haven't been able to access any old threads in that forum. Only the current one . Until now. Wierd. You must have thought I was snobbing ya.

Anyway you said



We buy them from a wholesaler in West Oz. Email me if you need to know more. The frieght's not much cause if we buy 3 or 4 say for a vehicle, they just roll them up into a 400mm cube box and they hardly weigh anything. They are ideal for a boat cause there's no frame to corrode and the have a cool textured surface that you can walk on. At first I thought it was actually a non-skid surface but I later found out that it has a prismatic effect and helps to catch and magnify the energy at low sun angles. Like I said the only drawback is the wierd size available here. I know you can get a bigger range in Europe. I'll never use a rigid solar panel in a frame on a truck or boat again.

And



Yeah I've heard of SeaBoard before. When I was the electrician at Noosa Cat.
Same stuff, different supplier. That caravan was a one off. All our furniture is molded now but I thought the "Plastic Interior" Thread might give some of these guys who are building campers at the moment some different options to what they are used too. I got a ton of pics on flat panel composite construction to post in the mog forum soon. Mainly for Iandraz cause he was asking questions.

Piglet.Was that the Scat that they built for Roothy to use at Tuff Truck?? If it was, somewhere in all this mess I'm sitting in is a DVD on the build. You've probably seen it ???.

Anyway. Saw this on my way to work to today definetly belongs in this thread. It’s another Leoplard. Maybe mid ’70 model. Mine had ( as did this one ) airbag suspension. So when the air leaked out after a little while of being stopped it was almost on the ground. Way ahead of its’ time . LOL

As for this. Well it’s too cool for school. A Scooby Doo Mystery Machine. Very trick running gear and setup for camping inside too.

I'll chat to you about the solar panels and starboard on the weekend.

Where did you get a pic of that Kombi?

I have worked on that Kombi. When I worked as a mechanic at a 4x4 hire place in Hervey Bay the owners came into hire a Land Rover to take to Fraser Island. When they came back they realised we did mechanical repairs too. They got us to fix the horn and the sliding door lock. I remember this because they were four VERY hot young blonde female European backpackers and while we worked on the Kombi they sat in the back in their very short skirts. The job took a little bit longer than we expected Two of us worked on the job and luckily I got to fix the sliding door.

The funny thing about it all was they didn't speak a word of English and to ask us to fix the horn there was lots of "horn/horny" charades and "honk, honk" sounds in their cool accent.

 

[Mickldo]

Oh, I got distracted there. Forgot to reply about the Scat.

No it isn't Roothies Scat. I think by the time Roothy built that Scat Piglet had rolled his and had grafted on a Feroza body instead. I prefer the old Scat body though.

 

[Mickldo]

Just click on the link. Don't know what's going on there. Hope I don't end up in the "group that can't post pics".

How's that?

 

[Mickldo]

How's that?

Nah, I can't post that one either. Hmmm.....

 

[whatcharterboat]

Hi Mick

Oh how this thread has disintegrated. If we aren't careful the moderators are going to change the name of this thread "2 Aussies talking !@#$ all day" Hahaha.

The kombi pic was taken 100 metres from my back fence. It's a real vehicle mod heaven here. Why don't you move down? Serious.

Anyway I'd like to keep this thread going. Why not go through all those old mags and see what we can dig up? Not just "offroad" but more like "expedition" and "heavy vehicle stuff". My wife runs a book store. They had a book in the other day about a guy who did a round the world trip in the 1920's. Had some of the most unbelievable expedition style pics ever. I just flick through them and give 'em back. Never thought of scanning a few pics and posting them. Is that even legal?

It's cool to see how basic these guys traveled back then. We've definitely become too dependant on technology somewhere along the way. Remember when doing something like a Simpson Desert crossing was mega. Now with EPIRB's, Sat Comms, fridges, flying doctors, Google Earth, GPS's, Air-con, bla bla. It seems too, I dunno "safe". You know what I mean.

I shudder at the things we got away with when I was a teenager just in 2wd cars and kombies. I did the track from Norseman to Hyden in an XW Falcon with my girlfriend in '82. Saw 2 wheel tracks heading off through a gap in the fenceline. Thought "Aw Yeah, That must be the track". Maybe 300 klms of soft sand, desert and salt flats later we came across a geologist from Kalgoolie in a cruiser collecting samples. He nearly fell over. Said "Aw yeah, Your going the right way. Another 200 klms to go". Crazy stuff ( all in search of waves). They would have never found us if we got lost. Didn't even have any food cause we had to declare all our fresh fruit and stuff at the WA border crossing back then. The XW was even on retreads. Can you believe that?

That's it in the fore ground next to a mates blue pop top kombie. The white one. In fact look at the other cars in the pic. Not one 4by amongst them.

Dig up those old pics.

 

[Mickldo]

Oh how this thread has disintegrated. If we aren't careful the moderators are going to change the name of this thread "2 Aussies talking !@#$ all day" Hahaha.

The kombi pic was taken 100 metres from my back fence. It's a real vehicle mod heaven here. Why don't you move down? Serious.

Anyway I'd like to keep this thread going. Why not go through all those old mags and see what we can dig up? Not just "offroad" but more like "expedition" and "heavy vehicle stuff". My wife runs a book store. They had a book in the other day about a guy who did a round the world trip in the 1920's. Had some of the most unbelievable expedition style pics ever. I just flick through them and give 'em back. Never thought of scanning a few pics and posting them. Is that even legal?

It's cool to see how basic these guys traveled back then. We've definitely become too dependant on technology somewhere along the way. Remember when doing something like a Simpson Desert crossing was mega. Now with EPIRB's, Sat Comms, fridges, flying doctors, Google Earth, GPS's, Air-con, bla bla. It seems too, I dunno "safe". You know what I mean.

I shudder at the things we got away with when I was a teenager just in 2wd cars and kombies. I did the track from Norseman to Hyden in an XW Falcon with my girlfriend in '82. Saw 2 wheel tracks heading off through a gap in the fenceline. Thought "Aw Yeah, That must be the track". Maybe 300 klms of soft sand, desert and salt flats later we came across a geologist from Kalgoolie in a cruiser collecting samples. He nearly fell over. Said "Aw yeah, Your going the right way. Another 200 klms to go". Crazy stuff ( all in search of waves). They would have never found us if we got lost. Didn't even have any food cause we had to declare all our fresh fruit and stuff at the WA border crossing back then. The XW was even on retreads. Can you believe that?

That's it in the fore ground next to a mates blue pop top kombie. The white one. In fact look at the other cars in the pic. Not one 4by amongst them.

Dig up those old pics.

I agree lets dig up more old pics.

When we toured around OZ in the old Coaster we took all the old "4wd only" tracks. We helped out a few broken down 4wds on the trip and they were suprised we were doing it in an old bus. One of the couples we met were in an old Land Rover towing a caravan. They had snapped the drawbar on the caravan. We pulled up and Dad grabbed the drill and grinder out to start to help them repair it. They laughed at us and asked which tree we were going to plug them into. Dad just pulled the Honda generator (which I own now) out, fired it up and and made a strengthening piece to repair the drawbar. They ended up travelling with us for the rest of the trip and we are still friends today.

 

[whatcharterboat]

Mick

Best 2 bush repairs I can remember, Both on the same vehicle. A '65 VW micro bus which was the first vehicle we did serious surf travel in:

First one. Heading up to DI on the the beach. Nos dived into a huge washout. Stopped us dead. The roofrack with all the boards flew off and landed about 20 metres away. The old 6volt battery had exposed lead bridges between the cells. It broke free and shorted out on the body. Blew a big gap across the bridge. What do we do? Tides coming in fast. We see a fisherman half a kay up the beach in the surf. Paul runs up and bums some lead sinkers, I rip a hubcap off and light a fire, Tony cuts a Coke can up for a mold with some scissors from the first aid kit. We melt down the lead in the hubcap over the fire and pour it into the mold across the bridge. No worries. Battery back in and off we go with water washing up around the wheels.

Next one was down near the Vic border. Another car was with us. Trying to get up this big hill and the coming starts slipping. Us thinking the obvious go "Aw Yeah It's the clutch". Drop the motor out onto a skateboard and what do you know. Clutch is good. Put it back in (In out in less than an hour) Still no go. Turned out it had stripped a spline on the left brake drum. Cut along story short of how we all (8 of us plus a big dog) fitted into the FB to go 3 hours back to a rusty old VW wreck we had spotted in the bush the day before. We arrive and start pulling the hub off . Really stuck. Wish I had a pic. 3 of us standing a long bar. Anyway this aboriginal dude comes out of the bush and goes "Hey mat,Wat ya duin ta ma ka". Had to give him all our beer and he was stoked.

 

[Mickldo]

Best 2 bush repairs I can remember, Both on the same vehicle. A '65 VW micro bus which was the first vehicle we did serious surf travel in:

First one. Heading up to DI on the the beach. Nos dived into a huge washout. Stopped us dead. The roofrack with all the boards flew off and landed about 20 metres away. The old 6volt battery had exposed lead bridges between the cells. It broke free and shorted out on the body. Blew a big gap across the bridge. What do we do? Tides coming in fast. We see a fisherman half a kay up the beach in the surf. Paul runs up and bums some lead sinkers, I rip a hubcap off and light a fire, Tony cuts a Coke can up for a mold with some scissors from the first aid kit. We melt down the lead in the hubcap over the fire and pour it into the mold across the bridge. No worries. Battery back in and off we go with water washing up around the wheels.

Next one was down near the Vic border. Another car was with us. Trying to get up this big hill and the coming starts slipping. Us thinking the obvious go "Aw Yeah It's the clutch". Drop the motor out onto a skateboard and what do you know. Clutch is good. Put it back in (In out in less than an hour) Still no go. Turned out it had stripped a spline on the left brake drum. Cut along story short of how we all (8 of us plus a big dog) fitted into the FB to go 3 hours back to a rusty old VW wreck we had spotted in the bush the day before. We arrive and start pulling the hub off . Really stuck. Wish I had a pic. 3 of us standing a long bar. Anyway this aboriginal dude comes out of the bush and goes "Hey mat,Wat ya duin ta ma ka". Had to give him all our beer and he was stoked.

LOL

Gotta love the ol Kombis. I am currently restoring two for my Father-in-Law. A '76 dual cab ute and a '77 camper. I used to borrow the '77 camper and take it up to Inskip Point back before they bitumened it. Pulled up on the beach in the pouring rain sitting in the back with the sliding door open and the fishing rods out the side.

Most of my bush mechanic stories are from working over on Fraser Island doing recoveries. One time there was two recoveries to do on the same day so the detailer and I went over. They were both old Series III ex army Land Rovers. The one the detailer had to drive back had snapped a front axle so was in two wheel drive. The one I had the gearbox was stuck in third gear. I had start off in low range and then double shuffle it into high range. Which if you have ever driven a Landy you will know pops it back into 2wd when you shift so you have to shift back into 4wd at the same time otherwise you get bogged again straight away. We were headed back to the barge when we came across a brand new Land Rover Discovery (series 2 at the time - no centre diff lock but traction control) who was stuck at the base of a sand hill. We pulled him out using the 2wd one, let his tyres down and watched him have another go at the hill. He only made it about halfway up the hill before the traction control wouldn't let him go any further. We pulled him out again but by know we were running late for the barge so we drove around him and up the hill. We both made it up the hill first go even with the skinny 7.50R16 bar treads at full pressure. We ended up missing that barge and had to wait for the next one. The Disco guy eventually turned up after somebody else towed him to the top of the hill and came over and chatted with us. He was ****ed off that a couple of broken down old Landies had made it and his whiz-bang new one couldn't. He reckoned he was going to sell it as soon as he got home and buy a Defender instead.

 

[whatcharterboat]

Kombies and Landies

Mick.Dad used to be a VW dealer so we always had 'em around. Only ones I've ever had was a '71 single cab with Webers on 15's. Never saw another one on 15's before this, so I got heaps of questions. A '73 single cab and a mint '75 dualcab. Never owned a normal one but dad and my brother always had em. If only you had a crystal ball cause of the money they bring now.

When I lived in North West Tasmania we found a really old one (really old like a '50 model) in the long grass behind the house. When I described it to a VW guy a couple of years ago he said he thought there was only ever one in the country. That one sold unrestored recently for $75. He was like "where is it? Where is it?"

Don't get me started on Landies. Lost a wheel in the Barrington Tops in a Series III by myself. Never found it. Probably ended up in a ravine. When the wheel came off, the truck came down hard on the brake drum and shattered it. So I had to vise grip the brake line and drive with one front brake. Maybe this is OK on flat ground but parts of that Range are STEEP. Scary.

 

[whatcharterboat]

That one sold unrestored recently for $75.

Of course that should have read $75,000. If you weren't wise to it already

 

[Mickldo]

Mick.Dad used to be a VW dealer so we always had 'em around. Only ones I've ever had was a '71 single cab with Webers on 15's. Never saw another one on 15's before this, so I got heaps of questions. A '73 single cab and a mint '75 dualcab. Never owned a normal one but dad and my brother always had em. If only you had a crystal ball cause of the money they bring now.

When I lived in North West Tasmania we found a really old one (really old like a '50 model) in the long grass behind the house. When I described it to a VW guy a couple of years ago he said he thought there was only ever one in the country. That one sold unrestored recently for $75. He was like "where is it? Where is it?"

Don't get me started on Landies. Lost a wheel in the Barrington Tops in a Series III by myself. Never found it. Probably ended up in a ravine. When the wheel came off, the truck came down hard on the brake drum and shattered it. So I had to vise grip the brake line and drive with one front brake. Maybe this is OK on flat ground but parts of that Range are STEEP. Scary.

Found a couple of young guys in a Nissan MQ SWB minus a wheel on a trip home from Land Cruiser Mountain Park one time. They had borrowed their brothers bling alloy rims and 35" muddies for the weekend off his Land Cruiser. Of course the LC and MQ wheel studs are different threads so they used the cone MQ nuts on the alloy rims which of course got flogged out by the end of the weekend. The rim ended up down the bottom of the gorge but most of the brakes were missing as were the wheel nuts. We did the same trick with the vise grips but he reckoned the brakes were heaps better now than they had ever been so he took off down the range at breakneck speed. I was flatout keeping up in the 80. His brakes must've been way out of adjustment.