It's all going wrong . . .

Friday and Saturday were both spent all day doing "real work"!! That's not how I planned it!!

Somehow the welding man is not keeping up with the timetable he set himself (and unfortunately I quoted the customer). This time there are a lot more coolers which need minor leaks fixing and even two tubes - which has never happened before.

Sunday however was spent doing a couple of hundred kilometres out on the bush tracks around the local dam "Mundaring Weir".

There is a walking track which starts around here and finally ends up about 960km away in Albany. It is an old Aboriginal migratory pathway and is only allowed to be walked. No cars, bikes etc. There are however many unsealed roads which are near to it and in many places the track and the road are together.

Along the track there are several camping shelters. Three sided rooms with a table and some bunks built as part of the structure. People stay overnight in these shelters while walking from one end to the other. I visited several of these during the day looking for some geocaches (which I think I have mentioned somewhere else).

Normally you bump into a couple or group of people who are on their way from one place or another to the next rest spot. Often people do the walk over a long period, getting driven to one spot and then being picked up again later further along the track and then starting from that spot next time. Generally they are pleasant ordinary people. This time however I met two somewhat strange men. Each at a different location some 40 km apart and not connected with each other, but two in the one day.

The first guy was innocuous enough. However, he professed to have come from New Zealand some little while ago (that was the first vague bit) and was working in the North as a truck driver on a two week on / one week off / fly in schedule. The odd part was that he did not have anywhere to stay when he came back to Perth. He professed to staying in the huts along the track. He would move around a bit so that he was not too conspicuous and had apparently been doing this for some time. His gear was quite good and reasonably comprehensive. It looked like he was carrying about a weeks provisions.

It occurred to me that if it wasn't in some ways a little similar to what I intend doing with the truck when I travel I would think him quite odd!

The second guy was just weird! He seemed to have no gear and was wearing sandals (the only thing I saw that he said was his was a bottle of shampoo sitting on the table). In addition he didn't want anything disturbed as "there were too many people doing too much damage on the track". Just a bit toooo weird so I didn't stay to talk!

Monday . .

Finish off the last little bits on the oil coolers and get them off for zinc plating. Today is the last day they are accepting work prior to the holidays so the remainder wont get delivered until next year. Hope the customer isn't going to be too upset.

On the way back I decided to call in at Major Motors (local Isuzu dealer) again to check on something that had been suggested to me. I was going to fit a separate air compressor to the truck for various uses when it was suggested that I just plug into the air-brake circuit. After all the truck already has a compressor on board. This sounded like a good idea but I didn't want to interfere with the brake reservoir so I wanted to check if I could fit a couple more brake tanks and use them for air tools, tyre pump etc.

I think I nearly blew it . . .

Mindlessly going through the formalities of the holiday season I said :

"Hi Singh. How's it going? Looking forward to the Xmas holidays?"

"Hello. I am looking forward to the holiday."

Hmmm. Not the normal reception. He didn't seem too put out and it may not be Xmas to him but it is for an awful lot of other people.

Anyway it appears like the idea is used quite a lot. So back to my normal approach;

"You know that truck I got the two fuel tanks from? Did you pull the air tanks off that as well".

"There was one tank out the back but come with me to spare parts. What you really want is one of these!"


















"these" are the flash new aluminium style brake tanks off the new series trucks. Of course they are $600+ each.

"So how much for both of them?"

"How about $100 each?"

"Done!"

Of course it will require another trip to Couplers where the young girls can tell me what connectors, plugs, valves and other nonsense I will need but that's OK I'll get that organised when they are fitted up.

They will go in alongside the old auxiliary brake tank which has a side mounting but seeing there will now be three tanks alongside each other I will need to make a rack.


















So. Out with the old one.


















It's rather annoying actually. I drilled some holes in the chassis a while ago in a place I didn't want to really because that tank mounting was in the way. If I had done it in the reverse order it would have been much better. Oh well.

So tomorrow I can make up the rack and fit the tanks, get the fittings etc and . . .
wait a minute - I forgot that last customer job I was going to finish today - and I haven't done a thing on it - and I remember now my washing machine gave up last night - and my clothes are all full of washing powder - and I don't want to buy a new machine even though the old one is over 10 years old because the new one wont go in the truck - and - and it's all going horribly wrong . . . .