I’ll try again withweb site.
Printed From: BMPT Forum
Category: General Discussion
Forum Name: Where Are Those Boats Now
Forum Description: Tell everybody where those old boats are
URL: http://www.bmpt.co.uk/forum_posts.asp?TID=263
Printed Date: 26 March 2026 at 9:10pm
Topic: I’ll try again withweb site.
Posted By: tony
Subject: I’ll try again withweb site.
Date Posted: 17 January 2007 at 3:18am
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Adrees for 101 uses for a Fairmile B http://www.woodlynpark.co.nz/bushnews.html - www.woodlynpark.co.nz/ Tony Maxfield. ------------- tony |
Replies:
Posted By: Christian
Date Posted: 17 January 2007 at 8:26am
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G'Day Tony Many thanks for that, Billy Black was discussing ways to keep her in reasonable shape in case she should ever take to the water again, he seems to have her best interests high on his list of priorities. What a great place to spend a weekend! Cheers, Christian. |
Posted By: tony
Date Posted: 08 June 2007 at 10:08am
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ML 826, Islander 1, Rottnest Islander, Princess Royal....R.I.P. Hi Christian, Image of Islander, ML 826 early- mid 70's. Got this image from my uncle, dad gave it to him 30 odd yers ago. Dad is at the wheel, she still has her Hall Scott v12s in her. Tony ------------- tony |
Posted By: Christian
Date Posted: 08 June 2007 at 10:21am
| Thanks Tony, that looks to be going at a fair lick (15 or so kts?) it's amazing she had a passenger licence with the petrol engines! Less health and safety back then I suppose. What did she top out at? There was one used for smuggling in this part of the world with 2 Packards between the outer engines, she used to manage 30kts! |
Posted By: tony
Date Posted: 09 June 2007 at 7:57am
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Hi Christian, Dad tells me that they only ran the Hall Scotts at 1400rpm. Any faster and they used too much petrol and the comsumption of engine oil went up like a mountain slope. At 1400rpm she did about 14 - 15 knots. My Uncle Norm once got keen catching another ferry that had a huge head start going to Rottnest. The other ferry owner said that if the Islander caught the Katermariare he would refund the fairs of all of its passenegers. The Islander probobly would have caught the Kat anyway but Uncle Norm wanted to rub it in so he opened the Hall Scott's up to 17-1800 rpm. I was only a lad, but I can still remember the Islander surging through the ocean and the sing of those Hall Scotts, it was magic! The Hall Scott's were not new though they had been reconditioned, one was a bit sick. The Islander won he bet easily (even with a 15 minute handi-cap). After this jaunt the sick engine developed a problem on one of its cylinders much to my dad's disgust as he was the engineer and looked after his babies well. The engine was run for a while on 11 cylinders with the inlet valves jammed open. This made a whitish puff out of the exhaust. When the Katermariare owner learned what was going on he complained to the Harbour Dept and the engine had to be fixed or changed. This had given dad enough time to get another engine primed and ready. The rivalry was very fierce, the fastest boat to Rottnest always was the most popular. The reason they could use petrol in ferries in those days was basically because most small boats used petrol, also the Fremantle Port Authority had bought the (now) Challenger and she still had her Hall Scotts in her. She was a V.I.P. vessel (and used for other things as well) so it would have been hard to stop the Islander when their own vessel was taking VIPs (the Queen on one trip) with petrol engines. They ended up changing the Challenger to diesel, she was fitted with 2, 8 cylinder Dormans diesels(Straight 8 I think?). Uncle Norm bought all the engines and spares from the Challenger for a song. About 12 months later they gave the order that the Islander had to be changed to diesel. It was one of the Challengers spare engines that replaced the Islander's 11 cylinder engine. The Hall Scotts were replaced with 2 D343TA (Turbocharged and aftercooled) Caterpillar diesels of 460hp at 2000 RPM. I have begun writing a book about the Islander so that her story is not lost. Have about 50 pages done so far and am just scratching the surface. The chapter on the engine change over is a fovourite of mine as the Caterpillar engineers greatly under estimated the power and torque of the old Hall Scotts,resulting in the supply of new propellers fpr the Islander and other consessions. Uncle Norm was a pretty sharpe businessman. The image posted above was a promotion shot taken from the Perth Narrows Bridge. The image of the Islander that I will try to post today is taken from the same bridge again for promotional pursoses 10-15 years later after Islanders major refit. Hope you enjoy, Tony
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TonyPosted By: Christian
Date Posted: 09 June 2007 at 8:39am
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Refit was certainly major! Dad says these boats worked well with the original props, provided the correct reduction boxes were fitted. I think he said 2:1 for GM 6-71's, so I suppose about 1.5:1 for the Cats? What were they supplied with? |
Posted By: tony
Date Posted: 09 June 2007 at 10:28am
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Cats were supplied with 2:1 Twin Disc gearboxes. With the original HallScott, Fairmile propellers the Cats could only make 1700 RPM. The Cat dealers assured that the new "State of the art diesels" would run the old Hall Scotts into the turf. They ate their words, as an intrum measyre they paid to have 3 inches cut off the diameter of the props, and paid a significant part of the new design 4 bladers that the prop manufacturer recomended. The 4 bladers were perfect, dad still swears by them. I believe that engines of less HP were beter with 3:1 reduction with original props. Spoke to the Challenger owner by phone some time ago, she has from memory V8 92 series GMs in her with 2:1 gear ratio, the props (if they are original, which I believe they are or copies of) overload them and cannot be run at full power without much black smoke and the rpm below what should br expected. Told him of the 4 bladers pattern but it seemed a big expense on a vessel that was not raced or where more speed was necessary. If it were my boat and I could afford it I would want her to reach her potential. Tony ------------- tony |
Posted By: tramontana
Date Posted: 18 June 2007 at 2:46pm
| Generally if you change the engines to a "V" configuration a four bladed prop is required because of the firing order of a "V" engine to obtain it's best performance plus the size and pitch of the prop which is determined by the power train calculation table |
Posted By: tramontana
Date Posted: 18 June 2007 at 3:39pm
| Above should be 5 blade even better on "V" config diesel engine if you are going to invest in a new prop because of the firing order. |
Posted By: Barrack
Date Posted: 21 September 2014 at 8:18am
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Hello Tony,
Emmett Mcgann ( my father), Gerry McGann, Charles Manton, and Jim Wilderspin, were partners in the purchase at auction of ML 826 in November 1947, the purchase the following week of 4 Hall Scott engines, auxiliaries, light fittings, and all the necessary bits and pieces to put her back together again. She was moored near the Raffles in the Swan River for over 12 months while the reassembly occurred by the Partners and friends, and then went to Rottnest with the whole tribe to celebrate the rebirth.
The Ferry trade began in 1949 having had the licence for 285 passengers issued. We ran the engines at 1000 rpm in the river and 1200 rpm in the ocean, giving a 2 hr trip as opposed to the 3hr of the coal fired steam vessel "Zephyr".
The Hall Scott's performed well and the only spares we purchased from the USA were camshaft drive chains. In later years with added competition we often increased speeds in the ocean to 1400 rpm (14 knots).
After 10 years we put in the 2 spare engines and continued running them until 1964 when the vessel was sold.
Also until the mid 50's there was another failmile named "Maureen" AV 2769 ( no ML designation) which was part of the Army Transport Group and serviced the "Kingston Barracks" on Rottnest.
The Army regurally ran her Hall Scott's up to 1800 rpm on that trip. This vessel was sold the Fremantle Port Authority which converted her to their entertainment craft with new diesel engines and renamed her "Challenger". I have photos fro 1944 to 1960.
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Posted By: tony
Date Posted: 22 September 2014 at 3:23am
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Hello Emmett, Thank you very much for your e-mail. I am guessing that you saw the Islander photos that I posted. My dad is Mick Maxfield, he was Norm and Doug Hunts brother in law and came over from Tas to be engineer when the Hunts bought the Islander. Do you have a son Mike? I have met a Like McGann and he gave me some images of the Islander. Dad remembered Mike and I have heard him mention you in the past. Sadly the poor old girl is on the bottom now. Saw this in the Rottnest news paper. I still have her bridge telegraphs, a Hall Scott piston (brand new) and a few other bits. I have some photos of her that I can share. I told Mike that I was writing a book about the Islander so he gave me a power-point presentation. I promised that I would recognise what he had provided and also mention as much as I knew about the McGann era. I had completed 64 pages of the book with plans, general fairmile info etc. I had it on my data storage device. My son borrowed it and it went missing. I was gutted and have not started again yet though have it in my head pretty much word for word. Please reply, Tony Maxfield. Perth WA ------------- tony |
Posted By: Barrack
Date Posted: 16 October 2014 at 9:41am
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Hello Tony, Following my post of 21st Sept, the administrator has posted three of my photos of ML 826 on page 2 of the BMPT Forum. 'Fairmile B's Abroad' http://www.bmpt.co.uk/fairmile-bs-abroad_topic699_page2.html" rel="nofollow - Here The upper one is a shot of the owners and crew of the Islander at Rottnest in the early 1950's (myself at top right). The middle one is the celebration holiday at Rottnest in 1948 for owners and helpers after engines and all fittings reinstalled. The lower one is ML 826 in the Swan River being converted to a private vessel in early 1948. ------------- |
Posted By: tony
Date Posted: 13 April 2016 at 4:02am
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Hi everyone. my father, now 86 years old was recently interviewed and a story followed in the West Australian news paper in Perth. It has a fairmile and 104 foot US Army rescue boat at its centre. I hope people enjoy it. Tony Maxfield Western Australia. PS Below is the link to my Facebook page. If you click on the Fairmile image it will take you to the story. viewer_id=652737469 http://www.facebook.com/tony.maxfield.12?viewer_id=652737469" rel="nofollow - http://www.facebook.com/tony.maxfield.12?viewer_id=652737469 ------------- tony |