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PT Boats of WWII
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PT Boats - General
Post a reply to: PT5 MGB 86 ELCO 375
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[StartQuote] Ref: PTC 5 MGB86, I owned this beautiful vessel many years ago, from memory this would have been around 1975/6. I purchased it from a gentleman who lived in Bexleyheath Kent UK, again I recall he was an ex naval officer. The vessel was in a good state of repair and the orignal engines had been removed and replaced with two Hudson Invader airplane engines, they were of a straight 12 configuration with twin plugs. The starting method was by black shotgun cartridges placed into a round magazine and then the firing pin released, in essence this would have been rather than a compressed air starter system. At the time of purchase only one of the engines had been marinised, the other was just fitted in the bed. The other difference was that propulsion was via a Hotchkiss system, this meant she had two tunnels made from cast metal that took water in and then a small propeller was inserted in the tunnel which effectively pressurised the water and it exited again under the boat and then four large rudders directed the jet. The information from the previous owner was that he had visited the boat show in London and seen this new type of propulsion fitted on a speed boat and commissioned the inventor to manufacture it to be used on the MGB. The vessel was taken to Clifton Slipways at Gravesend to have her bottom cleaned (copper bottom sheathing) and the Hotchkiss system fitted. The remarkable thing with the vessel was the originality of it, even down to tins of food being still on board. These were all a gold colour tins of Corned beef, coffee, condensed milk plus more and all stamped USN in a simple dot pattern on the lids, I also recall some chocolate bars. In the engine room was a small generator which I guess must have been an addition by the UK navy as it was a BSA engined unit. In the wheelhouse it still had switches marked up as things like BATTLE LIGHTS and a few bullet holes here and there. My memory of the little sweetie was before I purchased it was that everyone said it was a Dulux test boat (Dulux being a UK paint company) this would have come from the fact that the previous owner would been painting it on a regular basis, and mainly in white not grey, as such people thought that as it was always gleaming white, it was a test vessel for Dulux the paint company, it never was!! Even though all this was many many years ago, MGB 86 is still fresh in my mind, the layout, the equipment and information. My father who was a great lover of shipping, was a member of the Ship Recognition Corp in Gravesend and did some work for the PLA was also a great painter, he presented me with a painting he did of MGB 86 for a birthday present one year when it was in active service, this I still have, it also has a photograph of her where she was kept in the canal basin at Gravesend stuck on the rear of the painting. If anyone out there has any more information about her prior to me I would be exceptionally interested to here from you, by the same token I am happy to give you more information after she was last known by me on a daily basis as she seemed to stay in touch with me through various means day to day. I do not know where she lays as of today, and I am not sure if she has been ruined by someone by making it into a houseboat I really want to see her, but hopefully she still exists out there older and a little wiser perhaps. My email address is info@mercuryarv.com and would welcome information either way. Simon[EndQuote]
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