A bollox day...

It started bad...
A phone call from the company to say that they are giving me another weeks leave, but i'll be joining the oldest ship in the fleet (a effin rustbucket!!!) in nigeria. the ship has been attacked by pirates twice in the past month!!! the last time, the captain and chief engineer were held with Ak47s pointed at their head and made to empty the safe and stores. what joy.

secondly...
day before the mot i find that for some reason the landy has dumped all of the power steering fluid over the roadside. The seals where the drop arm comes out are shagged, with a big puddle underneath the drop arm. So £240 lighter, i should have a reconned steering box arriving tomorrow.

thirdly...
when i went to move it onto the drive, i couldn't as one of the front tires was punctured, and the nearside rear brake was seized on, jammed solid. WTF, how did that happen !?!.

off to bed before anything else happens!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Man thats a bad day... what sort of ship is it that gets attacked by pirates...

When something goes wrong with mine which it usually does, I just sit back and remind myself that I'm really really enjoying myself, this is what's called a good time.

PS. if you don't re-post, we will assume you died in your sleep.

PPS. To Mrs Tootle. Can I have the White Ninety please.

Mrs Tootle, can I have the 90, but can you put it through the MOT first

ahh true. i don't mind if it breaks as long as i break it. what wound me up is that its had 6 months to break before i have to mot it, why did it start falling apart sunday night.

what sort of ship??? oil rig standby and supply vessels mate.
we basically take drilling equipment, water food cement etc out to the rigs offshore. the pirates use speed boats, and board useing grappling hooks. we spend a lot of time anchored, or going slowly which makes them an easy target. they usually board over the back end, where its low.

anyway, problem solved. I resigned!!!!!!!!

Ah yes, offshore life!

Well now you can spend the time fixing the white 90... speaking of white 90's, I had one this morning, now its a "cow **** and earth brown" 90.

Probably not what you want to hear but that sounds a tad pricey for a recon PAS box. I know there is recon and 'recon' (a new bottom seal and a flash over with black paint) but that seems a little on the expensive side.
Being rebuilt it should make a nice difference to the steering though and of course be leak free for a few years (PAS is one of LR's Achilies heels).


I bought a brand-new Adwest PAS box for my 90 a year or two ago and although my old one was still servicable I figured that as everything else had recently been replaced I may as well change that as well. I am glad I did as I hadn't realised how worn the old one was and it certainly stiffened up the steering (it was extravigant but worth it).

i bought a box and new drop arm which came to £99.

i got it from paddocks so hopefully its been done properly. there was a £100 surchange, returnable when i send them the old one, ax well as thirty something quid of VAT.

The company refused my resignation, and transferred me to the tanker fleet. Excellent, much better than supply vessels!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Off to join a VLCC early august.

I had to drive to pick up some parts yesterday, and for the 200 mile round trip i had to stop every 20 miles to top up the steering box. i used 4 pints of fluid and can say that the underside of the landy is pretty thoroughly rust proofed, along with the trailer i was towing. am off to fit the new pas box now...