When Monsters Tried to Takeover The Dakar
The Rise and Fall of the DAF TurboTwin

Rally Driver Jan de Rooy stands in front of the DAF 95 X1 TurboTwin with the DAF TurboTwin II in the background.

Introduction

Like some of you I’m sure, I stumbled upon the video of the TurboTwin passing the Peugeot 405 T16 the other day, it's the thumbnail for this post and also shown below. It put me down the rabbit hole. You can find pretty much anything online these days, which surprised me because the amount of content on the TurboTwin and driver Jan de Rooy is somewhat of a commodity, quite particularly in English.

Oh, it was a good puzzle this one! I found mistakes galore, incomplete vehicle rosters, miscategorized information and some pretty dope 100bhp/L late 80’s diesel engine copypasta. A good one to sort through and make sense of these great vehicles. I wanted to include a greater human element for a more cohesive explanation.

We love weird and wonderful vehicles.
So why not learn about the rise and fall of the mighty DAF TurboTwin?

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The Race

The Dakar Rally officially marked its first event on December 26, 1978 from Paris, France traveling south across France, The Mediterranean Sea, Algeria, turning West at Niger, Mali and ending in Dakar, Senegal. The event started off as a ragtag mostly privateer rally raid starting with 182 competitors with motorcycles, cars and large trucks.

A true test of man and machine through various countries of the world. The route would constantly change through Africa in subsequent running’s though it was typically started in Paris and ended in Dakar until 1995 and typically referred to as "The Paris-Dakar". It would still run through Africa with various different courses until 2007. Due to the ever-increasing volatility in Africa, it was not run in 2008. Between 2009 and 2019 it was held in South America despite keeping the Dakar namesake and since 2020 it’s been held in Saudi Arabia.

Since its inception in 1979, 76 people have passed due to the rally, including 31 Competitors. Countless amounts of competitors have failed to finish and innumerable racing machines destroyed in this time period as well.

Our particular timeline will be in the Dakar Rallies held from 1982 – 1988, so from rather early in the Dakar but marks the impervious change of when competition ramped up with factory teams. With even a modicum of history knowledge, you’ll recognise this marks the time period when Rally Competitions went from mild to wild.

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The Man

Our focal point will be of one Jan de Rooy. Born February 1943 in Eindhoven Netherlands. In his early 20’s Mr. de Rooy inherited a shipping company from his father which over time expanded to one of the largest transportation companies in The Netherlands.

Driver and Team Leader: Jan de Rooy

Jan had competed as a teen in Motocross, and in 1969 he took up Rallycross Racing. Between 1970 and 1982 he would win and or place 5th or above at 10 different Dutch and FIA European Rallycross Championships. At the end of 1982 he would retire Rallycross and focus his attention on racing trucks at the Paris-Dakar Rally after successfully completing the 1982 Dakar earlier that year.

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The Machines

The truck of choice would be his countries DAF.

Herbert van Doorne originally got his start by fixing the car of the managing director of a brewery A. H. Huenges, who invested in him and allowed him to set up a workshop at the brewery. In 1932 van Doorne and his brother would name his company Van Doorne's Aanhangwagen Fabriek (Van Doorne's Trailer Factory), abbreviated to DAF.

During the second world war DAF would do conversions on truck drives. After the war in 1949, DAF would begin production of large vehicles like Trucks and Buses as well as trailers. In 1958 they would sell their first car.

Jan would start his Dakar adventures in 1982 with a DAF F241 NTT2800, mostly as a feasibility shakedown to judge if competing was a viable endeavour. A tractor of the 2800 series DAF as opposed to a cabover design. Below we will focus on progression and madness of Jan and the DAF trucks he races the Dakar in the 80’s. As you will see, once he was hooked Jan de Rooy had one ultimate dream in mind: Beat the cars with a truck at the Paris-Dakar. He was given the nickname "L'ours" (Eng. "The Bear”).

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The Dakar Endeavour

1982 Dakar: DAF NTT2800 “De Neus” #381

“The Nose”
Co-Driver: Gérard STRAETMANS

3rd Within Trucks
67th Place Overall

A 1982 DAF NTT2800 modified for the Paris-Dakar Rally. With the tractor cab it is referenced as “De Neus” or “The Nose” when translated into English. It featured DAF’s 1160 11.6L Inline-6 Turbocharged Intercooled Diesel Engine kept to a mostly factory specification with some 240hp.

De Rooy ended up finishing the race 3rd in the Truck Class and 67th Overall, however this placement meant that he simply wanted more. His closest competitors were all in 4x4 trucks, those being 3 Mercedes Unimog and an ACMAT.

1983 Dakar: DAF FA3300 4x4 "De Koffer" #342

“The Suitcase”
Co-Driver: Joop ROGGEBAND
Mechanic: Yvo GEUSENS

3rd Within Trucks
34th Place Overall

De Rooy would return for the second time to the Dakar with a mechanic, more sponsors, and prepared 4x4 Truck based on the Cabover DAF FA3300. It is nicknamed “De Koffer” or “The Suitcase” when translated to English due to its rectangular dimensions and box livery depicting a travel trunk.

With improvements based on the design of the truck and a more powerful engine well north of 300hp he would again place 3rd within the trucks but was also quicker overall improving to 34th. De Rooy would decide to build a prototype truck to compete next year. He realised that there would be a limit to the available power and reliability to complete the Dakar from the DAF 11.6L Turbo Intercooled Diesel Engine.

1984 Dakar: DAF F3300 4x4 “Tweekoppige Monster” #521

“Two Headed Monster”
Co-Driver: Joop ROGGEBAND
Mechanic: Yvo GEUSENS

DNF

De Rooy and his team would returned again to the Dakar for 1984, this time with heavily customized DAF F3300 in which a front half of another F3300 truck including the cab, engine, and necessary ancillaries had been installed on the back of the chassis.

Nicknamed the “Tweekoppige Monster” or “Two Headed Monster” in English, the truck featured two 400hp Engines each driving their own opposite and respective axles for a total of 800hp. Only one end featured the controls and steering. De Rooy would unfortunately not finish the 1984 Dakar due to a broken front axle.

This would be the first of twin engine-ed trucks Jan would deploy to the Dakar, but definitely not the last.

1985 Dakar: DAF F3300 4x4 "The Bull" #621

“The Bull”
Co-Driver: Thierry DE SAULIEU
Mechanic: Martinus KETELAARS

2nd Within Trucks

De Rooy would show up again in a new purposely designed twin-engine 4x4 DAF F3300 Truck for the Dakar with the “Two Headed Monster” as support. With the box now a unique sloping shape for aerodynamics it was nicknamed “The Bull”. Carrying on the design of last year but with also slightly more power than the Two Headed Monster. A slight bump in power with 450hp supplied to the rear axle and 420hp supplied to the front axle for a combined 870hp.

The Bull ended up finishing 1st for the trucks, but a prohibited repair due to a flat tire on the last stage caused the rally to give him a 15-hour penalty, dropping him to 2nd.

1986 Dakar: DAF FAV3600 4x4 TurboTwin #601

Co-Driver: Thierry DE SAULIEU
Mechanic: Yvo GEUSENS

DNF: Stage 15

The Dakar Rally had begun to heat up in the mid 80’s as the race captured the attention of manufactures. This year De Rooy would be under the factory support of DAF and carrying on more evolutions of the two engine trucks. The DAF TurboTwin would debut in the tricolour Red, White and Blue of the Netherlands.

Based on the DAF FAV3600 with a lighter cab structure and a steel tube monocoque behind reducing the weight of the truck over 1 ton from last year. Again, engine power supplied by the midship mounted twin turbocharged diesel engines increased, this time around 475hp a piece for a combined output of approximately 950hp.

The TurboTwin was properly quick, staying in the Top 10 with the Cars throughout the race. With only 3 stages to go De Rooy again suffered a broken front axle and had to withdraw from the race.

1987 Dakar: DAF FAV3600 4x4 TurboTwin II #600

Co-Driver: Theo van de Rijt
Mechanic: Yvo GEUSENS

1st Place in Class
11th Overall

Obviously disappointed in last year’s failure to finish DAF and De Rooy made serious modification to the TurboTwin design to improve it. This included extensive use of aluminium which were used for the tubular monocoque and wheels further reduction the weight. Engine power was 495hp for a combined 990hp. There were also modifications to streamline the body to further improve the aerodynamics of the truck.

De Rooy and the TurboTwin II would win the Truck Class by 11 hours over the next competitor and finish the 1987 Dakar 11th Overall. First in class was good, however Jan would set his sights with the help of DAF to attempt to win overall.

1988 Dakar: DAF 95 TurboTwin X1 and X2

X1 #600 [Red Back Top]
Co-Driver: Hugo Duisters
Mechanic: Yvo GEUSENS

X2 #601 [Blue Back Top]
Driver: Theo van de Rijt
Co-Driver: Kees van Loewezijn
Mechanic: Chris Ross

DAF would show up to the 1988 Dakar loaded for bear. More revisions for the TurboTwin included the switch the DAF 95 Cab with revised aerodynamics. Further, they were running two TurboTwin Trucks.

#600 95 TurboTwin X1 was driven by De Rooy and it’s engines had again been boosted, this time with a 3rd Variable Geometry Turbocharger to compound up to 600hp a piece. This brought his truck to 1200hp combined and would be enough power for the big 10-ton truck to reach 0-100km/h [0-62mph] in 8.5 seconds and hit a top speed of 220km/h [136mph]. It would be able to carry some serious speed over the adverse terrain of the Dakar Rally. To complement the increase in power the fuel capacity of the truck was increased to 940L [248 US Gal].

#601 95 TurboTwin X2 was a smaller evolution of last year’s TurboTwin II and driven by Theo van de Rijt who was Co-Driver to De Rooy last year in the TurboTwin II. The X2 would feature the same engine set up as last year with 495hp for a combined output of 990hp.

De Rooy’s X1 was very quick, keeping pace with the cars on many stages. Here is the infamous helicopter video of him passing Ari Vatanen driving the Peugeot 405 T16 at some 200km/h. The lore being that Vatanen banged his fists on the steering wheel when the pass happened.

Tragedy for DAF

January 9, 1988. During Stage 8 Djabo-Adadez of the Dakar Rally, Theo van de Rijt would experience an accident with the X2 Truck at 180km/h just 20km from the start of the stage. The accident was caused by a subsequent washboard of dunes that upset the balance of the truck at speed. This instability caused a loss of control and culminated in rolling over 6 times. Driver Theo van de Rijt and Mechanic Chris Ross are battered about inside the cab of the truck and sustain severe injuries but are transported to local hospital and then medivac-ed back to the Netherlands and make recoveries. Sadly, the navigator Kees van Loewezijn is ejected from the truck 80 meters and passes away instantly.

The fatal accident of the DAF 95 X2 TurboTwin

Immediately following this tragedy, DAF and Jan de Rooy who was 5th in the standings pull the X1 out of the Rally, with a pending accident investigation and review. DAF then shortly deciding to suspend all racing efforts and selling the factory equipment to de Rooy. However, de Rooy does not participate in a Dakar event for over a decade, only returning in 2002.

Jan de Rooy at the wheel of the DAF 95 X2 TurboTwin before the accident

DAF and the external reviews concluded that the vehicle was compliant and that the accident was not the fault of driver van de Rijt but of a tragic racing accident. Despite the findings clearing of any fault and his own experience, Theo van de Rijt expresses deep remorse for the accident and the loss of van Loewezijn. In a documentary, Jan de Rooy has expressed that he originally did not want van de Rijt to drive the second TurboTwin at the 1988 Dakar Rally.

The Dakar would then ban the T4 Class of Modified Trucks from competing in 1989 and subsequent years until their return in 1998.

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After the TurboTwin

As mentioned before Jan de Rooy would return to the Dakar in 2002 with his son Gerard and mechanic Yvo Geusens driving a DAF FAV CF85 4×4, in 2004 he would switch to a DAF FAV CF75 4×4, for 2007 a GINAF X 2222. In 2009 he would switch to the Africa Eco Race.

Jan and son Gerard

A few of the Dakar Machines competing machines are on display. The lead photo shows the 95 X1 and TurboTwin II. "The Bull" is also on display. Earlier this year the Two Headed Monster received a rebuild at the De Rooy workshop. As of October 2021, it is now in drivable condition.

Recently announced is that Team De Rooy will field 4 Trucks at the 2022 Dakar Rally.

The Two Headed Monster is overhauled https://www.dakar-derooy.com/news/

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Information

https://second.wiki/wiki/jan_de_rooy Jan de Rooy Biography

https://www.dakar-derooy.com/ Team De Rooy website

http://motorsportmemorial.org/focus.php?db=ct&n=5001 Kees van Loevezijn online memorial

https://matraxlubricants.com/3260-2/ Basis Piece

https://www.dakardantan.com/ Dakar 1982-1985 Results

https://www.automobilsport.com/race-categories--24,15802,8th-1986-PARIS---ALGIERS---DAKAR-1986-History,news.htm Dakar 1986-1988 Results

There’s a bunch of scattered information I grabbed from random places on google searches, pictures, and YouTube for the .gif

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Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed reading and looking at this unique piece of history of The Dakar and Mr. de Rooy’s life. It’s more complete than what I’ve found in other places and I’m hoping that it’s accuracy is acceptable.

Adventures in Engineering: Pic Dump

June 25 is “The Day of the Seafarer” because every day must be of something these days.

https://www.imo.org/en/About/Events/Pages/Day-of-the-Seafarer.aspx

25 June of each year is the "Day of the Seafarer", recognizing the invaluable contribution seafarers make to international trade and the world economy, often at great personal cost to themselves and their families.

Governments, shipping organizations, companies, shipowners and all other parties concerned are invited to promote and celebrate the Day in an appropriate and meaningful manner.

The Day of the Seafarer was first celebrated in 2011, following its establishment by a resolution adopted by the Conference of Parties to the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW), 1978, held in Manila, Philippines, in June 2010, which adopted major revisions to the STCW Convention and Code.

The Day of the Seafarer has now been included in the annual list of United Nations Observances.

I present to you my eclectic but ordered pictures from being a student and working the first half of past decade onboard various vessels and in various places.

If you’d like to know what I’d do, then you must read my time onboard “The Kat” https://opposite-lock.com/topic/6916/the-kat-long-read?_=1624577868027

I will provide a little descriptor for the pictures.
Enjoy

Marine School 2010-2014

Wärtsilä Re & Re Shop
Yes that’s a piston crown that takes up the whole pallet and some bearing caps.

Floating Drydock
Check out some barge in for repairs

Cummins N14
14L/855CID Diesel Engine stripped nearly all the way down (just block, crank, flywheel and mains) and then re-built.

Nuytco Research Ltd. Submersibles
Trip to the Sub Shop

Aviation School
Learn about Gas Turbines

RCI 2011-2012, Apprentice 135 days, 12 hour day work.

Anchored and Tendering Bora Bora

I raise your Machu Picchu with Radio Bora Bora

Sydney Australia
The boys in Brisbane thought I was Irish…

Wärtsilä 16V38B Head Replacement
862L V16: 11,600kW/15,556bhp

Lakes Steamship 2012, Apprentice 45 days, 4 hour watches X2/day.

Docking at Thunder Bay around Christmas

MA Stan (not real name) at the wheels for the steam turbine.

1960’s John Inglis Steam Turbine 9000shp

2013-2015 Different Company Lakes and Arctic, 4th and 3rd Engineer. Various Vessels, Various Watches

Coming downstairs to the MAK 7M43C 6300kW/8450bhp

Montreal near the Cote Ste Catherine Lock upbound I believe

Snow at Salluit Quebec sometime around mid July.

DC "Frankenstein" Switchboard of the “The Kat”

Adventures in Engineering: The Kat

Well, I suppose as I have all the courses done for upgrading, I can share my “Best job I ever had,” to quote the movie Fury. I have only a few pictures so this will be type heavy.

Quick background on myself. I’m a Marine Engineer, acquired my license in 2013. Currently I hold around 20 Canadian marine licenses, certificates and endorsements recognised by the IMO (so I can not only sail on vessels anywhere in Canada or North America, but anywhere in the world if I want). As of now, I hold all certification to apply for a Senior Watchkeeping Licence. This includes advanced certificates in Passenger, Oil Tanker, and LNG Vessels.
The most relatable reference is Scotty from Star Trek. He is stereotypically based on Chief Marine Engineers of vessels in the 60’s (even down to many of them being Scotsman), many of his problems on the show are based on malfunctions engineers have encountered on vessels.

Everything you’re about to read is from my recollection. It is not 2nd hand, exaggerated or embellished for the sake of storytelling.
The company, and all names have been changed or withheld for the sake of liability.

60 Days on The Kat

The Summer of 2014 I spent up in the Arctic onboard a vessel (which was an interesting contract in its own right). The contract was roughly 70 days and I departed in mid-October. I was called a few weeks later by the company to serve on a vessel I’ll refer to as “The Kat”. While I wasn’t too happy not having more time off, I accepted as I needed money to pay off school.

The Kat was built in the early 60’s. A tradition bulk carrier about 400’ft long and with 8000 tonnes of displacement. It had a 5 cylinder 2-Stroke Slow Speed Diesel with about 3800shp and was engine room control (with the old Titanic like telegraph system). 3 naturally aspirated diesel Generators with about 300bhp a pop, and they were actual generators as The Kat was completely DC electric off a 480V main switchboard (as opposed to every commercial ship past 1970 that is Alternator and 3-phase AC).

The Kat electrical switchboard. Yeah, real Frankenstein shit...

I joined The Kat early November, as she was passing through Montreal on the way to a port near St. John’s Newfoundland. It raised my eyebrows when they told me this, it’s not typical to take something over 50 years old out of the St. Lawrence River Seaway and the Great Lakes. Apparently, there was some grandfathering bullshit scheming that had taken place.

I think the 2nd day I was woken up 2h before my watch to clean the sewage treatment unit. To be fair it wasn’t the worst. I got bundled up in disposable coveralls, wore a respirator and googles, popped the lid off and let it have it with a fire hose. Apparently, it was some new engineer ritual they had; I was more pissed that I didn’t get all my sleep than the actual work.

As we left the river is started to get rough, typical late fall storm for the North East. The new oiler on the 3rd Engineers watch before me on the 4-8 couldn’t hack it. He spent his time hugging the garbage can the entire 4h. 12h later we were in the thick of it, my watch handover with the 3rd was and I quote “If she lists over really hard, grab the life jackets over there and head topside. Don’t bother with the bilge pumps trying to save the ship.”

We eventually reached the port to discharge cargo without sinking. I learned the wonders of the DC electrics and incandescent lights. They told me to remove the fuses for the lines I was working on, naturally I tried to cheat and didn’t. I tried to remove a shattered bulb underneath the scavenge box (engine intake manifold). It shorted which resulted in a big bright flash and then all the section lights were out. Now I’d have to find and replace the fuse I’d blown.

About a week after joining, I came down on watch to find the 3rd Engineer replacing a head on one of the generator engines. There was a hairline crack internally from the valve seat. He told me that the guy I had relieved had been the 3rd engineer and the Chief had kicked him and his oiler off after 2 weeks because they had left rags in the Generator engine oil sump after completing an oil change. Notice how rags is plural, yeah that confused me too. Why the negligence? I’ll never know. He also mentioned that he was getting off soon and doing all the maintenance as to make it easier for me as I would be bumped up to 3rd.

The 3rd left a week later at the Welland Canal while we steamed to Ohio and load. I spent 6h dealing with the telegraph and at the controls of the main engine as we went through the locks. The 2nd Engineer and I would be doing 12h days to help the new 4th Andy get familiarized with The Kat. Andy graduated the same school as myself, but 2 years ahead. We’re the same age, and today he’s my best friend. Andy also tried to short cut The Kats electricals one day trying to replace a halogen on deck. He thought he had the right fuse but didn’t meter the light for power. Threw in the new halogen with the plastic wrapper which lit up and caught fire, then attempting to put it out almost caught his rag on fire.

The next few weeks didn’t have too many calamities. We got extremely behind with the discharge and loading at ports though with their equipment failures. Something like 17 days behind. At some point the oilers with the 2nd and Andy cleaned the scavenge space (inlet manifold) of the main engine without me. The problems began after we left Wisconsin mid-December for another trip to St. Johns.

The Descent into Chaos

On Lake Erie the bridge lost Autopilot for the steering. So, we rigged up a bunch of industrial portable fans to blow on the motor and receivers. If they lost it again, it usually meant a circuit fuse for one of the fans had gone or a goof had turned it off.

One of the worst things about being on the vessels at this time is the Christmas rumours. It’s almost always started by a deckhand or mate about how the vessel might cancel a trip be tied up before Christmas. Typically, the Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway begin to freeze up at the end of December stopping the sailing season for the Lakes. Talk like this drive people nuts because it changes every day and they’re always wrong. On top of this, shit was about to get REAL.

Christmas on The Kat

We had to receive diesel fuel due to low level with our subsequent delays. It was so low the Chief was forced to take it in the Welland Canal as we passed through back to load cargo at Montreal for St. John’s. While maneuvering at the lock to get alongside the Capt. backed into the lock wall HARD. We took the fuel and went on our merry way. In Canada we don’t really do fuel quality checks. We sort of expect that the fuel is good… Not this time.

We do a fuel transfer for about an hour a day, it’s done through a centrifugal fuel purifier from a very large storage tank where we receive the fuel to a smaller day tank which supplies the boiler and generators. It was after the transfer the next day the problems hit. First was the boiler; flame out, would not re-fire around 6pm. Plugged fuel filters at the burner about 1/2 way through maintenance schedule. With the filters replace it fired… For an hour. It did this all night. I changed boiler filters 4 or 5 times. We had a diesel bucket to try and wash out the sediment accumulation from the pleats as we didn’t have an infinite supply of new filters.

Naturally the 2nd Engineer suspected we got shit fuel, so he began draining the receiving diesel fuel tank. He had something like 27 5gal buckets of straight water, so 500L of water when I came down. The real problem was the sediment though, it was our real nemesis at the moment. The centrifugal fuel purifier from the 60’s was useless and couldn’t deal with it. It was basically down to the local equipment filters. When we exited Lake Ontario into the Seaway a few days later I believe the boiler filters were being changed daily (usual was every 2mo) and my generators would last 100h running (or 4 days) or they fuel starved (I almost blacked out the boat when I forgot it was time and the lights started to dim). The chief ordered something like 120 fuel filter cartridges from NAPA Auto Parts.

My oiler got off in Montreal just before Christmas as we waited until the 27th to emergency load. He was from the Philippines and spoke almost no English. He was replaced by a guy from Senegal… He spoke NO English; zero, zip. In fact, the only one in the engine room staff that spoke French was the Chief. There I was, a 25yo punk on a dying 50yo ship teaching the oiler his job via Charades. And it got worse, MUCH worse.

We then lost the boiler feed water pumps (what fills the boiler with water). Apparently, the boiler upgrades had run both pumps through a single contactor (essentially a large relay) for the water level control and turning them both on, and having them start and run at the same time smoked it. The temporary solution was to draw 240V from the sewage unit with a power cable and the oilers would have to watch the water level and manually start and stop one of the feed pumps. I still remember bringing Andy down and we both laughed at the ridiculousness of some jank draped power cable to power a pump. Shutting down the boiler is not an option as we burned heavy fuel oil (basically just above tar) underway and need the fuel system hot or else the fuel solidifies in the tanks.

We left again for St. Johns and would arrive there just before the New Year, still dealing with fuel contamination and the boiler pump problem. We were lucky that it was still relatively warm as we travelled down the river. We hit another storm off the cape that was even worse than the first one. There were a couple times the chair and I went sliding a good 15ft across the deck (and then back another 20ft usually) from the console.

I noticed that one of my generator engines was losing oil pressure after about an hour of running. I did the rudimentary viscosity test and it was better than the others but still opted to see if I could bring it above alarm with fresh oil and new oil filters. The oiler and I found some more rags in the sump, the mix of rage and disgust when I told the Chief this was notable. Neither the rags nor the oil was the problem, nor was the oil pump as we replaced it the next day. Even with the rockers and covers off I could not find any abnormal oil seepage from the top end head galleries for the rockers or mid covers for cam bushings. The engine was just really, really worn.

I did some work on the main air compressor but screwed up on the copper head seal, so we were down a compressor for a little bit while I sorted out a “used but good” seal. The previous 3rd had told me not to touch it, but I was a young idiot.

New Year partying would have the cook get plastered in downtown St. John’s and call the Capt. at 2am because he didn’t know how to get back to the ship. That didn’t go over too well as you might imagine. An electrician came and looked at what had happened to the boiler contactor and fixed it for us so that went back to automatic water level control. We would leave a few days later, back into the shit weather. I remember we tried to make anchor during my watch and having to re-fire and find another shelter because we were dragging.

Old Man Winter Wakes Up

Heading back to Quebec though would have temperatures snap and plunge well below freezing at the start of the year. I woke up to the sound of Andy outside my cabin on deck. The deck officer’s crapper pipe from the 2nd deck (which for some reason ran outside the superstructure) had frozen at -9C /16F and he was trying to heat the pipe with the tiger torch to no avail.

The 2nd warned me going from the salty gulf into the fresh water river that we might lose the cooling on the generators due to ice slush accumulation in the sea chest filters blocking flow. I would have about 5min to swap the cooling system from the normal seawater flow to a loop from the aft peak water ballast tank. 14h later it did come into alarm. I managed to get the suction from the aft peak tank but I had traced the wrong valves for the discharge to loop it, so it went overboard instead of re-circulation. The water ran out of the aft peak right as the 2nd engineer relieved me at midnight. He sorted it out but that was 100% my bad, I really thought I had it lined up right.

Winter is where the deck crew becomes envious us with the warmer engine room, a curse in the summer but a blessing in the winter. It got even colder and The Kat had basically no accommodation heat. It did, it just wasn’t at all effective. I was sleeping in a winter hoodie (with the hood up and tied) 3 pairs of socks and all the clothing I had on top of my blankets. Getting changed was a brisk 10s affair. I believe it was now about -15C/5F and there was ice traveling down the St. Lawrence as we were trying to make Montreal. We we’re lucky in that the fuel sediment issues were now mostly resolved.

Andy closed the engine room air inlets one day at 2am because the cold night winter air was freezing the pressure line from the boiler to the pressure sensor and causing false alarms. While this solved the boiler issue it caused the fire detection system to go off due to all the exhaust leaks in the engine room and the alarm rang for the whole ship.

Freeze! Stop Right There!

I would wake up one morning to both the 2nd Engineer and Andy downstairs when I started my watch. We were having main engine cooling issues this time, which seems counter intuitive when the outside temperature is getting near 0F. We were still underway so I took the console for engine control and asked them what they were up to. They wanted to switch flow to the other strainer and pop open the current sea strainer and check for ice and blockage, despite the sea water pump pressure being good. I figured it wasn’t the problem but clearly there was no flow. Strainer was clear so the block was down the line. Next suspect was the sea water overboard valve or water discharge port had iced up as we continued into fresher water up river. They went at it with the tiger torch and sledge hammers. The chief came down at this point. At I think we had to shut down and anchor in the river as the oil temperature climbed.

Time got really weird at this point at the end of the first week of January. We gave up the 4h watches and I think I was downstairs for 16h straight. Andy and the 2nd Engineer were putting in similar times. The Chief was down for hours too. Only the oilers were doing their 4h watches. The ice had built up around us so with myself at the controls and the chief beside we tried to dislodge but we still had little to no main engine sea water cooling flow. The bridge would ring down full ahead, I would match. 25% rack, start air ahead for 5-6s, the big engine would catch, jump straight to 50% rack, and then slowly wheel up to 70% redline as the turbo would need time to spool and we wouldn’t “roll coal” too much, the blowers could handle 50% hence the jump. The RPM would stay low as the vessel could not power out and the oil temperature would rapidly climb over the course of just a few minutes. It would take us about an hour for the oil temperature come down and to try again. We tried 3 times during the day with no success in breaking through.

We called for tug assist at this point to keep us on station and I stayed down during the night as the other 2 had been up longer than me. I remember noticing the tug around 10pm. It had a vibration and noise that I could hear and feel through the hull. I don’t remember the hour when I was relieved, sometime in the early am.

I would wake up and come down to the vessel still stuck. We were still a good 4h sail away from Quebec City, let alone Montreal. The Chief came down shortly. Round 2… I’m not sure what they did (if anything the temperature outside may have slightly warmed) but the main seawater cooling flow had been restored. The Chief and the Capt. talked for a bit on the phone and we gave it another try. Exact same as before alternating between ahead and astern spins but not having to wait for oil temperature. Still no breakthrough. The chief gets another phone call and heads upstairs.

The Cost of Freedom is Always High

I’ll go back a few years to what one of our instructors said to us “One day, each one of you will have to run an engine to destruction to get out a situation”. The Kat had a tired engine, it already had a minor cylinder liner crack was leaking cylinder oil into the cooling water. The oilers would have to skim a little bit of oil off the top of the coolant tank each day. Redline (like an actually drawn red line) was 70% rack. The chief came down the stairs some 10min later.
Chief: “I talked to the Superintendent. We have to get out of the ice at all costs”
Me: “We’re going over 70% rack?” I asked that knowing it could be rhetorical.
As such, he didn’t verbalise yes. His look was enough for me to know.

There’s that scene in Star Trek where they have to eject and light off the dilithium core to escape a black hole… While not as dramatic as that external combustion, we would in essence be doing an engine sacrifice to escape.

I remember sitting there in those minutes waiting for the telegraph to move from engine standby to full ahead. Knowing that the Chief and I with near certainty were about to condemn the ship to scrap. It’s a hard feeling to explain; sitting at the front of huge lumps of iron that achieved the size of an urban two-story single unit town home, knowing that with a few movements of my arms and hands I would begin the injection of its death sentence.

Engine Room Telegraph of The Kat

The telegraph bell tolls and the needle swings to full ahead. I look over at the chief, he nods. Full Ahead. Match Telegraph in Acknowledge. 25% rack, start air ahead for 5-6s, the engine catches, jump straight to 50% rack, and then slowly wheel up to 70% redline. We’re still not making any advance. I look again at the chief. Non-verbally; Your rack chief, your honours. He nods again and begins to wheel up past the redline. At 85% the aft of ship where we are started to bounce up and down. He stopped at 95% and over the course of maybe 20s we began to see the RPM climb which meant the vessel was starting to make headway. Another 20s and he wheels back down to 70%. We begin the few hours journey to Quebec City. We found that while the main engine cooling was now okay, the main engine charge air cooler now had a seawater flow issue. I was trying to balance the inlet temperature by pulling back a bit and this annoyed the Capt. I was relieved about 1.5h from docking in Quebec City.

I woke up the next day with a huge amount of relief. The last day on the boat. Get the paperwork signed, eat something, and be off on the jet in the afternoon back home that night. The 2nd was carrying on tasks for winter layup and asked Andy and I to do some. I did them but really didn’t see much point other than busy work considering the vessel was finished. One of the cooks found me and said there was “a huge steam leak in the crew mess bathroom”. Really the hot water line for the sink had cracked so it was simply a matter of turning off the water valve inside the impromptu sauna. Andy told me that instead of a skim there was about 4” of oil sitting on top of the cooling water when he went down in the morning. We had definitely destroyed the liner. With this being the last engine of the type in the world and no spares: le fin.

Around 1:30pm Andy and I left The Kat and took a cab to the Airport. We had a couple hours to kill. I had some 30 app updates to power through on the free WiFi and we had a couple rightly deserved beers for the last few weeks of tribulation. Like tired soldiers we now reminisced at the whole surrealist nature of the various and very serious situations. “Hey, remember when I showed you that janky cord from the sewage unit to the feed water pump the 2nd rigged up?” We started to laugh. “Yeah but dude, your oiler didn’t speak a word of English! Like how did that even work?” “Oh BTW, the 2nd Mate always told me that the lifeboat engine was good so we never started it weekly. Probably a good thing nothing bad happened…” We both broke out in hysterical laughter at a small table in Quebec City Jean Lesage International Airport.

That was indeed the last of The Kat. It was sold and scrapped within 2 years. The salvage company that bought it found my resume online (geee, wonder why I left…) and expressed a cheerful interest if I would be willing to sail it across the Atlantic. I declined politely but my head went something like “They’re going to sail it? Lord help them, that thing should be towed”. I told Andy and he thought we should do it, until I reminded him of all the shit you just read. A month or so passed and Andy actually knew someone that took the contract and they sent him some tidbits and a video. Underway, one of the main air compressors grenade-ed and the generator engine that had low oil pressure had seized. They were unable to run the bilge system oily water separator (with us, only the 2nd knew the tricks). The video Andy got and sent to me was the flywheel of the great engine churning up and slinging the water-oil emulsion accumulating on the tank top (floor) of the engine room as they were unable to separate the oil and pump clean water overboard. I believe I made a good call to skip that one.

That Oppo is the story of 60 days on “The Kat”.

@suzuka-blue-2000

The Meme is Alive!

This really sweet JL Wrangler Willys.

And this really sweet dog!

Yes, @CarsOfFortLangley and I had a few brews and many laughs. Targa was better behaved than me. Super excited to see more of this rig, especially in the wild and post ‘rona.

Life is an adventure and while there’s gullies there’s also peaks.

COFL Post: https://opposite-lock.com/topic/25390/cofl-offroad-stawamus-indian-iii-oppo-meet?_=1633313437083

Here is my version of the Stawamus meet,

My day started off around 05:15, nice and dark outside. @CarsOfFortLangley had sent me a text the day before that he wanted to leave at 07:00 so I figured it being Saturday morning Vancouver traffic would be actually acceptable for a 06:00 departure with time to spare.

By the time we left at 07:00 traffic had picked up, which included a fart can Genesis Coupe which did a rather dangerous lane change between two semi with trailers lucking out that the Civic in the far left lane wasn’t changing to where he cut through. Confession: I don’t really drive or ride around Greater Vancouver that much and rightly so because people are driving even worse than I remember. We would funnily enough see a different fart can Genesis at the Cassiar Tunnel, drowning up and down stuck behind a CR-V taking the McGill St Exit.

We would arrive rather early at Squamish so COFL opted to go grab some more coffee and the apt Squambucks. Normally in the summertime on a weekend it’s rather swapped with riders even in the morning but being a damp start to October there was no one around. We would then go to the meetup spot and let Targa out for a bit before @gmctavish and @spasoje arrived.

gmctavish would arrive first in the quintessential PNW demanding Toyota 4Runner SR5. It’s really a wonderful looking rig and with some of the worn components about to be replaced it’s going to get even better.

spasoje would arrive only minutes later with the Black Ram 1500 4x4. It’s a badass looking pickup and COFL and I agree, it looks the business in the rainforest despite being in a street-based configuration.

COFL would hand out the radios and we would be at the trailhead for Stawamus just before 09:00 our journey getting on some 40km of what we assumed was hard pack gravel. COFL and gmctavish opted to air down and we took some pictures before setting off. COFL in the lead with spasoje middle and gmctavish would follow. Shortly into the journey COFL and I spotted hidden behind some vans a Mitsubishi Fuso overland rig which not 4 seconds later was also pointed out by gmctavish via the radio.

COFL was a tad quicker than spasoje through the trail so we tended to do trail recon, photo spot, and point of interest searching. Things were going quite well despite Targa wanting out every time we wandered more than 10m from the Jeep. Some 10km we would go down a moderately steep incline covered with loose rocks. “This is the most technical part of the trail” exclaimed COFL to me.

Unbeknownst to us just after the 12km marker COFL would stop the Jeep. “Uhhhhhhh, that wasn’t here before…” both of us looking through the Jeep’s windshield at an obstacle. A culvert drainage pipe under the trial had been completely overwhelmed by water at some point and so the water had simply washed a significant part of the hard packed trail away. It left a significant dip in the trail with loose rocks flanked by gravel build up. Neither of us were too worried about the Jeep or the 4Runner but we realized this could be a problem for the longer wheelbase Ram.

COFL slowly made his way across hugging the trail to the right and we stopped just off the trail. It looked way worse from inside the Jeep than out but we still believed it would be necessary to spot spasoje through and keep the Ram as far to the right as possible. We did manage to get the Ram across so we pressed on. Not without encountering more overwhelmed culverts, that weren’t as big of an obstacle as the first.

Around the 16km marker we did find another seriously washed-out culvert which we once again stopped the Jeep to assist. spasoje would ground out the rear of his driver sidestep this time but cleared otherwise. This would be the last of the major obstacles. COFL feeling remorseful for underplaying the trails technicality which had changed since the last time he had visited.

We would take pictures at a mostly destroyed abandoned building before carrying on the end which is the base of Indian Arm and having lunch. Although by this time it was about 14:30 and all of us except Targa were famished.

We were running a bit slower than anticipated so COFL scoot the Jeep ahead to the 16km culvert obstacle. A Crew Cab Tacoma going the opposite way asked us how this one was for him. We told him it was okay if he kept right. It would have been if he didn’t have his hitch which did a solid 30cm long dig on the departure angle. Unfortunately, spasoje had just got the front bumper of the Ram into one of the smaller washed culverts only a few hundred meters from where we were. COFL felt extremely bad. COFL, gmctavish and myself all spotted the Ram through the obstacle to limit any more damage if we could. With the Ram through without a problem we once again scooted up to the 12km obstacle.

Again, all of us would have an inspect of culvert and make a game plan. This time we opted to put some wood under where the rear passenger tire would be the lowest in the dip. I would guide spasoje as far to the left as possible through the obstacle and COFL would take the other side. Despite getting him to put exactly where I wanted the truck his front bumper again came close to the ground. COFL’s high blood pressure could be heard through his yelp, but another couple cm forward and we were in fact golden in the first half. The pieces of wood also saving anymore damage on the exit.

The hard bits done we back tracked through the easier parts of the trail and took a few photos of a smaller not so damaging or demanding water crossing. We encounter more traffic as we began to get close to the trail exit. At a larger clearing I suggested this might be a better spot for us to pull over and COFL and gmctavish to air up their tires. It was near enough 18:00 when we finally reached pavement, all of us surprised at the encountered technicalities and amount of time for completion.

Thanks to COFL for setting this up and gmctavish it’s always great to see you, especially on a day that I had off so I could join. Special thanks to spasoje for wheeling the Ram through some knarly obstacles. Good to see you made that plate ship shape!

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed the pictures.
[Planned Repost for Tomorrow Afternoon Weekday Crew]

Picture Album: https://imgur.com/a/SfBfWGn
Nikon D3500, DX AF-S Nikkor 35mm 1:1.8G, Polarizer Filter
: RAW Adobe Lightroom Edit

Yes, I put @CarsOfFortLangley babysitting skills to the test on this one!

We did a day in the Jeep with some fun trails now that we're able to escape 'Raccoon City' legally. This would be my first time off-roading since Test Drive Off-Road 3 on the PS1. Boy what a day to do it, during the record breaking heatwave that is the current scourge of the North American West Coast at the moment. The Jeep registering 39C/102F on our way back. Oh Canada?

Cool places visited, sun rider deployed, interesting off-roaders met, awesome sandwiches were had, a couple beers crushed and reclaimed, lots of water, and many laughs.

All in all a solid day (12h door to door for me) and do recommend!

Naturally I deployed the Nikon D3500 for some photos and I hope you enjoy them!

The Abandon Motel

Air Down

When I could hold the camera steady

The Fire Lookout and Trail Maintenance Group

What a View

What another View

What another another View

The Waterfall that Cooled Us

Idiots that didn't use Google Maps [Thanks Google Maps!]

@ita97

I like this one

@skyfire77

Someone's getting shitcanned.

@aestheticsinmotion
PS

If you had Gordon Ramsey for an evening:
What would you have him cook?

@carsoffortlangley

My dad was saying that his work is now mandating vaccines for all employees and it's meant that some people that have decided to not get the vaccine are now going on leave and some are outright retiring.

I know Transport Canada Marine has mandated vaccines but enforce-ability right now is non-existent. Unless it now becomes part of our medical certification (every 2 years), then nothing will be done.

They and the government also eluded to our company that they would like us to also mandate vaccines. They had some BS questionnaire probably to find out how many employees have shots and where, I got more important shit to do at work though. We naturally operate in areas with less vaccine adoption and also the terminals don't come under Transport Canada. As a "Privately Held Company" we don't come under the Government Mandates either.

I haven't heard anything about what would happen if they did mandate it. I kind of doubt we'd mass strike because most of the company is vaccinated, particularly on the larger routes here to the south and those that serve onboard vessels or deal with passengers.

@classicdatsundebate said in My new umbrella is designed for a GWAR concert, apparently:

disclaimer: a GWAR concert

@forsweden

@darkbrador said in When Monsters Tried to Takeover The Dakar [Long Read]:

@exage03040 There was also the helicopter crash killing the creator & organizer of the Dakar (Thierry Sabine) as well as a couple other passengers, but that's not technically a race accident.

That's correct, in 1986.

The Dakar '88 on it's own came under a lot of scrutiny at the time. It marked the deaths of 4 spectators which included a 10 year old girl. In addition to the passing of Kees van Loevezijn, Jean-Claude Huger on a BMW motorcycle and Patrick Canado Co-Driver of a Range Rover also passed away due to vehicle accidents.

It also marked the bizarre event in which '88 Dakar leader Ari Vatanen had his Peugeot 405 T16 (the same one in the .gif) stolen in Bamako, Mali and held for ransom at the sum of 25 million Francs. They didn't pay and found the car in a field but too late to start the next stage and were thus disqualified from the event.

https://www.dakar.com/en/news/2018/1988-the-desperate-peugeot-search-28-40

@benn454 said in When Monsters Tried to Takeover The Dakar [Long Read]:

@long_voyager94 Oh, no. Exage, what have you done...

I'm fully aware that I excel at being a bad influence.

@turbineguy-nom-de-zoom

Time to dust off this PS from R&T again

@whoistheleader

It kind of makes you wonder; what if that accident didn't happen?

I think it may have been inevitable, the parallel to Group B. The truck would have shaved more weight and dial in more boost.

Kees van Loewezijn was the first competitor to pass away running the Dakar in a 4 wheeled vehicle during the race. It's also the only fatal truck crash due to race speed.

The other two other fatal incidents involving trucks

• 1991 Dakar: Charles Cabannes was shot dead by rebels in Mali
• 1996 Dakar: Laurent Gueguen was 400m off the race path and hit a land mine in Morocco

@jarrett

Canadians in general need to be forced with PSAs that Winter Tires begin to outperform All Seasons at 7C and below, not just in the damn snow and below freezing.

I think by mid November the whole country should be on winter rated tires until the start of March.

@ibrad

FUCK THIS AND THESE PEOPLE