A leg out of bed

[Robin Craig]

I was doing the final part of a very long day that included the opening of the Canadian War museum. That day had seen two mishaps already but at 1130 at night and within 2 kilometers of home base I had no premonition of any other failures.

We had unloaded a CVRT Spartan from the low boy trailer and were about to set of to the ferry that closed at 12 midnight. I had a young lad of about 16 in the commanders hatch. God only knows why, but with my Sgt Safety (what my youngest calls me) mindset I guess it wasn't surprising that I had briefed the lad that in the event of a "major event" and an order to dismount the vehicle he was to await the vehicle rolling to a stop and get out and off the vehicle quick sharp and not under any circumstances to attempt to come back for me. I would take a few moments longer to ratchet on the handbrake and throw the battery master.

So off we set tooling up through the gears on a summers night when all of a sudden black smoke appeared from the engine louvres on my right in massive volumes accompanied by a horrible rattling in the engine bay. Being a gasoline ( aka petrol ) powered engine I got in the i/c and told the lad that we were in trouble and to abandon the vehicle.

Rapid downshifting and brakes brought the vehicle to a halt.

In perfect fashion the young lad was out of the hatch and down the deck stepping over my head in an easy stride and onto the road as I threw the master battery switch and put the handbrake on and also alighted in jack rabbit fashion.

After waiting for flames which never appeared I ventured back to the vehicle

Opening the engine decks and peering in with a flashlight revealed a massive puddle of oil around the base of the engine. Inspection in the shop subsequent to the late night recovery showed that it had thrown a rod and smashed the oil pan.

To this day that experience has tempered my enthusiasm of driving gasoline powered armoured vehiciles when sitting beside the engine. I have a very hard time driving our CVRT Sabre as it is not easy to get out of.

Recently while investigating a fuel problem with our CVRW Fox we found that the bodger who "restored" the vehicle, whose fine handy work and attention to detail I have been combating for a while now to get it sorted, had left one thread on a fuel line nut as the only attachment to a stripped thread on a fuel selector tap. That sent a shiver down my spine and is the reason that one is coming fully apart before it turns into a Ronson recreation and kills someone.

R