I’ll try again withweb site.

Adrees for 101 uses for a Fairmile B

www.woodlynpark.co.nz/bushnews.html

Tony Maxfield.

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

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

Tony

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