07/10/2024
Every now and then you come across a great tradie and Mitch from Hydraulink in Bunbury is no exception.
We got him to fix a few old hydraulic hoses before they blew which was pretty easy and straight forward but what wasn’t was the main steering line we found the next day that needed looking at as well.
Of course Jason found it and found damage on it where no one else would think to look and when we showed Mitch he said it didn’t look the best, although it wasn’t going to let us down soon but did concede it wasn’t going to get any better.
We are big on reliability but this hydraulic hose was in the worst spot imaginable and really difficult to sort. It went through the fish room, and through the cabin to the main steering wheel the problem was you couldn’t really see it or take it out or even fit a new one in.
We knew the task was difficult and so did Mitch but it was deemed that the boat is barely in Bunbury anymore and it’s probably a good idea to get it done. So we all proceeded.
Jason doesn’t mind giving tradies on the boat a hand when they do work and him and Mitch got onto the task of sorting it. Very quickly a few hours passed and not much progress had been made.
Mitch runs a very busy business so to even have him there on short notice was extremely lucky and appreciated but to undertake such a tough job with such enthusiasm is something we highly respect.
There was no easy way to sort this hose and it was figured out early on that we would have to run the hose and then put the fittings on each end as opposed to take the old hose out, make a new one then fit it complete as it was. There just wasn’t enough room in the places we needed to work to be dealing with fittings on each end of the hose.
Also on top of it all some of the places you had to work you basically had to be a contortionist and go up ladders, into cupboards and down into the fish room about 100 times.
Main steering lines are very important and when they blow it’s always at the wrong time or when you’re at the most far away place so that’s what pushed us to undertake such a task.
3 or 4 hours quickly passed and still not much progress although Mitch had a bit of a breakthrough when he cut each end off the old hose, run a snake through the middle of it and then pulled the new hose which was skinnier than the old hose right through the middle of it.
Every other attempt before that failed, fittings kept getting caught, the snake wouldn’t go through or some other issues. Mitch then hanging upside down connected the fittings to each end of the hose and the job was complete.
Running the system up after that was a bit tricky as air had got into the lines and the steering didn’t feel quite right but by this stage it was nightfall, 6pm and both Mitch and Jason were filthy dirty and felt like they had just done 3 rounds with Mike Tyson.
The job was ticked off as a success albeit a very difficult one. The crazy thing was as Mitch was packing up his tools at 6.30pm he said:
“I better get home everyone will be wondering where I am it’s my Birthday today and the family would have dinner ready.”
What an amazing effort!
Sorry for ruining you Birthday Mitch but we really appreciate what you did for us, there aren’t many tradies left like you!
Remember Hydraulink Bunbury, we highly recommend them… 👏
Hydraulink Bunbury are your local Hydraulink supplier and hydraulic servicing and repairs specialist for Bunbury and the surrounding area.
