Carrier recovery with a difference
 

Last weekend saw the recovery of a carrier hull that has been marooned on an island in a river for the best part of 50 years. The owner of the carrier told us of it whereabouts and informed us that it had been used as a logging tractor following the war and had been driven onto the island over a timber bridge that had since been washed away. Access to the island was only possible via boat.

The recovery operation commenced by cleaning out the hull of years of leaf litter. It was then dug out of the ground and winched by hand over a distance of about 80m to a suitable launching spot on the river’s edge.

The winching operation;

Carrier overlooking the river crossing; The embankment at the launching spot was a near vertical 4m drop.

How many barrels does it take to float a carrier hull? I calculated eleven but we were able to squeeze on fourteen so we had a bit of a safety buffer.

The carrier was winched down the embankment and then pulled across the river with a tow vehicle on the opposite bank. We were pleased to see the carrier actually float, it was a bit nose heavy but appeared very stable.

It made its way onto the beach on the opposite side of the river with an impressive bow wave. Two 4WD's were required to tow it from the waterline further onto the beach to a position suitable for loading.

The carrier ID is a bit of a mystery as the usual serial number location is difficult to read but I'm guessing it's LP2/2A No. 4056 built by Ford, based on the partially readable stamped serial number, the partial ARN painted on the front side armour (picture below) and a few manufacturing traits that seem to be consistent with Ford manufactured carriers.

I’ll attempt to load a video of the carrier river crossing on youtube and post a link shortly.

The carrier is now at its new home in Tumut and is planned for restoration, with some of the missing major components already sourced.

The floating brick
 

Well done guys 10 out of 10, good old Aussie know how we have been talking about this sort of thing on and off for a couple of years in this forum,with some of the guys overseas who have found carriers on remote islands,and they did not know how to float them, well you have done it,its not rocket science is it,I had made suggestions to them along those lines,well guys seeing is believing, get your fingers out and save those old carriers like Ian and his mates have, looking forward to watching your progress,
Wel ldone regards Ron

Floating Brick
 

Hi guys, I'll go one better than Ron, 15 out of 10. What a brilliant story and recovery. The images make it look easy but I bet there was a lot of blood, sweat and tears. I would have loved to have been on that recovery mission. WELL DONE!!

Bob

Well done :salute:
Great effort :thup2:

Thanks for the comments. There was quite a bit of prior planning which probably helped with the successful outcome.

Hopefully the carrier will be on the road again in a few years.

Well done Ian :thup2: I bet you were sick of rolling up straps and cables by the end of the recovery :cheers:

Fantastic! That recovery would have made a great little program on the Discovery channel :note:

well done mate, great recovery just goes to show what you can do with a little bit of common sense.

all the best

eddy

G'day All, Ian, it has all been said, but again fantastic effort by the group, looking forward to seeing a clip on utube cheers dennis :sheep: :cheers:

Top job Ian,
Look forward to seeing some progress.

Justin.

Great Job! I'd rather spend a holiday with you blokes doing something like that than sat on a beach somewhere. :cheers: err! how big are the crocks in that river? Ron

fantastico !

Strange to think that it was driven there under its own power.Where was it Ian or shouldn't I ask? Looks a lot like it was along the Murray somewhere.
David

... wonderful story. Now that I've seen those pics I think I should have postponed my flight back home, shouldn't I, Rusty?

How did you bring the carrier those 4m downhill?

I think that was a recovery in good old "bush mechanic tradition" style :kangaroo

Greetings
Chris

Thanks again for the comments. Yes it was somewhere along the Murray so fortunately no crocs (well I didn't see any).

It was lowered down the embankment with the hand winch. Unfortunately we didn't get any photos of it being lowered down the embankment as everyone was too busy with the operation. I have got some video of it though which I'm working on uploading.

Ian

????
 

"was a bit nose heavy "?

that's an understatement, like being a bit pregnant..

Ian good to see it all went to plan well done.

I thought rusty might have rode the carrier across the river in true Russel style.

Max

Hey Max,
If Rusty had rode the carrier across the river it would have needed another 3 drum for the extra weight and as you can see I not sure were you could fit another 3 drums.
Well done Ian and team.

What goes round
 

At least Euan I was there for the event in all my roundness, unlike one other who was not allowed a gernsy to play with the boys :yappy:

The whole move went better than could be expected, next time we are going to strap the outboard to the carrier and sail on over the other side.

Well Done All! I hope to see the same exercise at Corowa Swim-In in the future. Certainly evokes a few ideas for future events in Corowa.
As I said, Well Done!

Update
 

G'day Ian Patrick,

Just wondering how the restoration on this carrier is going since it has been a while since the carrier went for a little float across the river? Did you post up a YouTube link like you mentioned in another post?

Kind Regards
Lionel

Carrier ID
 

Hello Lionel,
A small amount of progress has been made on the carrier, mostly sourcing missing parts and refurbishing numerous bits and pieces.

The identity of the carrier has been comfirmed as serial number 3066 made by Victorian Railways.

The missing front armour has been sourced from another carrier wreck and is intended to be welded in place in the near future. I'll ask the owner for some current photographs and post them up (The photo of the carrier attached was shortly after it was recovered). The running gear has been sourced from another carrier (No. 3411 attached photo) that had been converted to a Worths Tractor so had all of its armour removed and was beyond restoration itself.

Regards,
Ian

Thank you
 

G'day Ian,

Thanks for the update on the floating carrier. Did the youtube clip get uploaded? All the best for 2012.

Kind Regards
Lionel