With the unbelievable amount of rain we have been experiencing, many of the venues we attend have been turned into mud baths. More than once we have had to enlist the assistance of large 4 wheel drive tractors to recover kit from quagmires that we have found ourselves in. We have just attended Crayke gala with our helter skelter and Victorian swing boats. The ground felt quite firm during the site inspection, but as soon as we pulled onto the cricket pitch we sunk. I wasn't too worried as we had just acquired a demountable winch for exactly this sort of situation. Fitting the winch to the front of our smaller Foden transport unit we discovered a flaw in our planning, we didn't have enough wire rope to reach the anchor point and double back to the winch with a snatch block (A pulley system used to double the power of the winch). I didn't think the winch would pull us uphill using only a single line pull, but we had no choice but to try.

Routing the control lead into the cab to allow me to drive and winch I pushed the button. To my surprise we began to move slowly forward up the hill. I was well impressed, right up until the point where the control cable caught the winch line and was dragged into the drum of the winch, being instantly crushed, causing an electrical short which promptly burnt the control solenoids out in a cloud of smoke! We ended up having to bring in a large 4 wheel drive tractor and be towed out. I now have the job of putting the winch to rights ready for a visit to Lincoln on Thursday where we may well need it again.

Dodgems For Hire For Any Event

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