Alvis Stalwart Mk1 Pond Swimming Adventure !

[@philiprogers5772]

I can imagine it took a lot of courage to enter the water at that speed. You actually took off! Respect.

[@BenoCam]

It wasn’t that bad although I was a bit unsure what to expect of the slam inside as I don’t have a seatbelt on etc was a bit worried I might get knocked out but it wasn’t actually that bad

[@philco7044]

Balls the size of Jupiter ☄️☄️😂😂😂😂👍

[@davesport62]

That was a ridiculous send into the water. Excellent.

[@BenoCam]

Seemed like a good idea at the time 🤣

[@neilfoster814]

That high speed dive into the pond was epic! Never seen a Stally fly like that!

[@cornwall_in_Squares]

Love the leap into the water! it will swim well on a cleaner lake.

[@Jayneflakes]

That was wonderful. My Father drive these in Germany in the 80s, when I was still a kid. He took me out in one occasionally, but sadly we never went near water.

[@BenoCam]

I think all 3 of mine were based In Germany. This mk1 ended up being in un colours not sure where though. Most of them had the swim gear removed I had to track down the missing bits … took a while !

[@pauldashwood2897]

Great stuff ..I drove one off road many moons ago it was great fun …..keep well guys

[@daithiosioradain3380]

WhistlinDiesel approves this full send test 👍 Super restoration and lovely to see it put properly through it's paces with an infectious smile. Well done.

[@BenoCam]

😍👍👍

[@robleary3353]

Brill! Love seeing old bits of kit being given another go!.

[@BenoCam]

I have 2 more still to do up yet ! 😮

[@raymills6782]

a brilliant demonstration.

[@philipbellew9645]

Well done, that was a sink or swim moment at the end but clearly that machine is a serious bit of kit and your confidence in it and your repairs is a credit to you.

[@BenoCam]

Thankyou, it’s getting there .. took a while to build up that that big jump !

[@57northphoto32]

That was brilliant Ben, apart from the weed and hatches at least you found out it can fly. 👍🏻

[@BenoCam]

🤣👍

[@DanielPurvis-q7m]

Simply awesome and completely nuts at the same time 😂

[@BenoCam]

Haha cheers 😍

[@davefrench3608]

A Stolly is just the most ridiculous amazing vehicle. Schoolboy error to dive in the the roof hatches open Fabulous fun!!!!

[@BenoCam]

Up until that point it’s never got near the top of the windscreen even so I figured it was better to have them open incase it rolled over or something… more chance of being able to get out quick !

[@derekjones1659]

There’s a saying, look before you leap. Who cares when you’ve got a wet suit handy, total admiration for both the video and the work that you have done 😊

[@BenoCam]

Ha cheers 👍

[@Kernow80]

That looks such fun. The shock on your face when it nearly went to the bottom when you nose dived into the lake was hilarious 😂

[@cousinjack5100]

Great video ..misses liked it laughing her head off over your face cold and wet ..😂

[@BenoCam]

🤣 it was a warm day and the water was pretty cold so my brain needed a second or two to process what had happened 🤣 I did think for a second we were going to the bottom though

[@davedear929]

As a teenager I lived just up the road from the Alvis factory in Coventry.. it was always a thrill to hear and see all the 6 wheelers that the factory made..I even had a pal who worked on them I was so envious to see him riding in the cab on the main road. Good luck with yours. Dave from Coventry.

[@gjfreke]

Absolutely brilliant as always, love your content Ben !!

[@BenoCam]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@davenewman4596]

After watching the dive into the pond im definitely subscribing 😂

[@BenoCam]

😍👍👍

[@blowduke]

What a machine big boy toy that one

[@BenoCam]

😍👍

[@MrS00p]

Awesome stuff sir! The Stolly Mk1 weed hoover is a sight to behold... noice!

[@BenoCam]

🤣👍

[@richardwells4370]

Brilliant, I love Stalwarts , great bits of kit , I want one ,

[@markburton8303]

That was fantastic! You've done a great job of the restoration and it is looking brilliant. It's great to see it swimming.

[@BenoCam]

Cheers it’s taken a while but we are getting there !

[@wideyxyz2271]

Brilliant and that leap was awesome ❤ A proper leap of faith.

[@BenoCam]

Haha cheers , it was fun to do !

[@pjofurey6239]

Mobile bow wave maker , great fun , spent many happy hours in on and afloat in Mk2,s all,over England & Europe . Tidy job!

[@BenoCam]

I have a couple mk2s to do up at some point too, one is well underway

[@jonp8582]

Credit to you Ben, a fantastic restoration and fabulous to see you using it for its intended purpose, no feks given 😂

[@BenoCam]

Haha cheers

[@gunnerbob1855]

Best invest in a splash board 😊

[@freedomforever6718]

Great fun. An excellent machine. Well worth the time to refurbish it. Thanks for the show.

[@BenoCam]

Cheers glad you enjoyed

[@EG3HC]

That jump was epic!

[@BenoCam]

😍👍

[@kite7214]

Brilliant vid, Ben. Jo Hewes eat your heart out. Haha

[@BenoCam]

🤣👍

[@jasonbarton3883]

Fantastic work nice to see my late farther used to instruct on the stollys ship to shore replenish

[@BenoCam]

Could have done with a lesson or two from him 🤣

[@Fourwheeljive]

Smashing video! Lots of fun!

[@GlideYNRG]

Swamp thing... 😁 Awesome to see.

[@BenoCam]

🙂👍

[@glenharrison123]

What an epic adventure! Great content, hi from New Zealand mate!

[@BenoCam]

Cheers glad you enjoyed !

[@Rook1-72]

That’s a beauty pond entrance,,😂

[@Rook1-72]

The rest of the pond entrances were beauty’s 😂😂😂well done lad’s

[@twin40dave]

YES, Beno, that was so funny , especially the second time you launched it 😅😅😅😅 great video, though well done for giving it full send 😅

[@BenoCam]

Cheers glad you enjoyed, it was a lot of fun making this one !

[@ricktomlin5529]

Having driven one of this on German roads I don’t envy you. The almost full turn of the steering wheel before the steering actually does anything is quite challenging !

[@BenoCam]

Whaaaat they were like that from new ?! I just thought they were worn out now !

[@samfletcher4808]

That was amazing

[@stephen8468]

Love the channel mate, keep the videos coming!

[@BenoCam]

Ideal, cheers 🙂

[@inguzwulf]

I'm an ickle bitty jealous. She is a thing of beauty.❤ I've loved these things since I first saw them (but like wagon wheels, weren't they bigger back then?). And I swear Gerry Anderson modelled his Shado Mobiles after them (from UFO). Ah, bisto..er, I mean mammaries..er, memories...😇

[@ashleywebster2659]

Great vid! You may want to think about christening it the General Lee and fitting a Dixie horn if you're gonna be doing many more jumps like that... 😁

[@BenoCam]

🤣 re paint it bright orange 😍

[@bongofury3176]

I involuntarily shouted 'whahey' as you flew in. always wanted one of these...

[@BenoCam]

🤣👍👍

[@TABRO284]

Great stuff Ben.

[@BenoCam]

Cheers glad you enjoyed

[@jfro5867]

Jeez, you almost went under there!! You really are a nutter 🫣

[@BenoCam]

It looked worse than it was , but only because I closed my eyes

[@gregedmand9939]

You need a submarine "Dive! Dive! Dive" warning and one of those "Aooogah" horns! I thought you were headed straight for crush depth for a moment there... 😂

[@9erunionjack]

super job keep it up well worth the shower lol every days a learning day

[@BenoCam]

Cheers yeah it’s all taking a bit of working out 🤣

[@ai-d2121]

That was fun to watch and probably to actually do.

[@tom_123]

Oh my god, when the cab goes under!

[@BenoCam]

Haha I wasn’t expecting that

[@tom_123]

When she started to tilt over when you dropped in at an angle, I thought ‘oh no’!

[@BenoCam]

So did I ! I had no idea what the bottom of the pond was like or what angle etc so it took a bit of figuring out !

[@tom_123]

You were right to give it the beans when you felt it going over! You guys have some amazing adventures!

[@gsxrjeff]

can't believe you went "the full monty"

[@BenoCam]

Seemed a shame not too !

[@dog11222]

Newbie mistake, leaving the hatches open.... been there, done that, great vlog

[@BenoCam]

I had never even sat in one until I bought this one and restored it so I’m having to learn it all by myself… usually the hard way 🤣🤣

[@philipspencer1834]

Great work gang…. 🤣 Stalwarts don’t like too much pond weed…… 👍 Time to get the load bed covers back in. 😎 @Ben… didn’t the Stollys have a deflector plate under the windscreen for swimming?

[@BenoCam]

The floor is all ready to go back in I just need to wire up some bilge alarms so I can monitor what’s going on inside, it’s quite nice being able to poke your head in the back and have a look as it is. Yes I have a splash board but it’s an original and only thin wood. I would have trashed it that day but hopefully will still get it fitted one day.

[@rayscrase7919]

We had the later model in Germany with the little splash board on the front so ideally the water didn't go over the windscreen,"hopefully", as you've learnt always shut the hatches, load sheet with the ridge pole if possible, one thing I've noticed missing on all of these rebuilds , our motors all had a white line painted on the hub when we did a lot of off-road they could get axle "wind up"

[@BenoCam]

Yes I need to paint on the white lines on the hubs. I have a splash board was just worried I would damage it

[@nicolasansom2681]

Love it! ❤ 😂

[@BenoCam]

🙂👍

[@Deanoo7]

🤣🤣🤣 absolutely brilliant!!! 👍👍👍

[@BenoCam]

🙂

[@sidestickflyer]

Amazing Ben!

[@BenoCam]

Cheers 🙂

[@BadgerBadgerBadger28]

Stolly time yesss!!!!

[@BenoCam]

Taken me a while to upload this one but got there in the end 🙂

[@andyscud5842]

drove one of these a mk2 for years in the Artillery stunning vehicle, you havent got the wind up markers on the wheel hubs to let you know when you need to get rid of the twist on the drive shafts and as much as its good video. Using a HMLC correctly is a joy,,, How about going over a knife edge ridge next?

[@BenoCam]

Yep I will get the white lines done on the hubs… I also have a mk2 artillery limber I’m restoring and an Abbot SPG ! Vids of both on my channel 😊

[@markellis7819]

Brilliant video.

[@ruaraidhmcdonald-walker9524]

Excellent!!!! Time to get the bilge pumps working!

[@BenoCam]

Yeeep they were kept busy !

[@ATomRileyA]

Great video, that full send into the water was something else haha. I wonder if you could rig up some compressed air nozzles to blast the weeds out when on the move, might be useful although with that much weeds you would be stopping/blasting air all the time so might not be so useful. Or a big stick :)

[@BenoCam]

Yes that would work ! Probably not going to take it in weeded places too much though don’t want to jam up one of those thrusters 😬

[@Daniel-S1]

Great Video and the obvious vehicle that comes to mind that was missing from Operation Market Harborough.

[@BenoCam]

Haha quite a trek for me unfortunately but I would like to get up to that show one year. I was stuck at work this year and missed it

[@mgstu]

love it ! :) :) shes really getting there now ! not much you can do re the weed, which is a shame...

[@BenoCam]

Got there in the end, just a few things left to finish !

[@mgstu]

@@BenoCam i did notice she sits higher in water than any other ive seen.... wierd... still V cool mind !

[@terryh8421]

Pond life!

[@BenoCam]

It all had a shock that day 🤣

[@stevehill4615]

Stolly's always look so futuristic to me like they could've come out of Gerry Andersons Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet or UFO.

[@jasonlefley2117]

Great video. Be interesting to see how the turbo engine compares in the other stolly

[@BenoCam]

Yes I think it will be better. This one is slightly underpowered I think, I mean it’s fine empty but I don’t think it would do too well with 5 ton of cargo in the back !

[@jasonlefley2117]

@@BenoCam 6bt Cummins be great swap lol

[@chiggsmcfallen2711]

Been looking forward to this Ben

[@BenoCam]

Taken me a while to upload as I have been away straight after I filmed it with terrible Wi-Fi for uploading . Well that’s my excuse anyway.

[@DavidWhitehead-uh7yw]

My dad was in the army,and my dads REGIMENT organised a families weekend to see them while they were camped up. While there my dad let me have a go at driving his CHIEFTAIN tank.What a buzz that was. But also they took us and other kids of their dads out on the Soltau ranges in the back of a stalwart and what a laugh,they've go some power,but it's scary when you see the flames comming out the end of the exaust pipes...😅😅😅

[@BenoCam]

I want a Chieftain so bad ! Have a look at my other videos where in one we go look at one which is a big restoration project ! Sadly a little too much for me right now 😞

[@DavidWhitehead-uh7yw]

@BenoCam BEN WHY DON'T YOU TRY And Get hold of Mr HEWES. He might be able to help you get hold of a decent enough chieftain tank that only needs A bit of doing up.. Love the channel keep up the good work mate👍👍👍 I

[@mrspudly1]

Great fun I noticed your tiller board isn't fitted yet, once fitted and extended out for entering the water you won't get so much water splashing over the cab.

[@BenoCam]

Not fitted but I do have one. Figured it would be a shame to break it

[@lauriepocock3066]

My TR6 taught me to sit on a old Tesco plastic bag to prevent getting a wet bum

[@BenoCam]

I need to get the seat re sealed in material as the sponge from the seat soaks up all the water 🤣

[@johnedwards1685]

I thought they had a bilge pump. And I also vaguely remember an air compressor going as well. Mind you its been a while.

[@BenoCam]

Yes they do have both , but you need a couple inches of water before the pump kicks in as there’s no sump for it to sit in. Yes the air does the brakes !

[@swanseamale47]

Watched the staaly going in the second time. Starts humming Titanic theme song..... 😅

[@BenoCam]

🤣👍

[@onehunglow5978]

what great fun. would love to come and be a passenger 1 time.

[@gtd65]

The water plunge caused some exclamation from me! Muppet!

[@BenoCam]

😮

[@gtd65]

@@BenoCam 🤣🤣🤣 it was funny though

[@1961kickboxer]

She’s a beautiful old girl

[@saarekristi81]

I want to know how is it driving on water without sinking? What i can imagine is the way BTR80A works by having transmission from inside to straight outside of a tank and drives without sinking. And i was thinking, is this a 1960s oil in the transmission wall.?...

[@BenoCam]

Because the whole hull is waterproof. The drive shafts exit through the hull through oil filled bevel boxes so there’s no leaks . There’s just a few hull bungs to put in to make it ready although it is a strange feeling when you first go in !

[@generalstarcat9961]

Imagine taking this to the local garage

[@QALibrary]

9:35 I am sure this vehicle came with a splash board but that could have come on the MK2 version onwards

[@BenoCam]

It did and I have got one, but the army chopped the brackets off the cab and I haven’t re fabricated them yet. Also it restricts your view rather a lot plus it’s only a couple planks of wood I would have smashed it to bits or worse still split it and smashed it through the front windscreen !!

[@johnd7288]

That looked like great fun ! Should put the John Deere in the lake ? Great video !

[@BenoCam]

Not sure I would be allowed to borrow it again 🤣

[@jeremybentley820]

Rather change the mechanical seal. If a water pump's 'mechanical seal' dries out after being submerged (or used). It 'Will' fail.... the rubber gland that protects the bearing from getting wet becomes hard and no longer flexible, the result is that it will crack and tgat defeats the job of the protective grand. What a wonderful piece of military machinery.... Enjoy.

[@martingardener90]

Great video, I was wondering did you try to get back to shore by just using the wheels? It would have been very slow but drier! I'm also glad you had power steering when towing as I've had the pleasure of being towed in a dead Stolly - fairly puts muscles on you!

[@BenoCam]

I did try but that weed was so dense it wouldn’t power through it

[@darrenhawken9766]

Great vid , didn't they have a deflection board fitted just below the windscreen so they could enter the water at speed Thanks for sharing 👍💨💨

[@BenoCam]

Yes I have one for it but figured I would break it jumping it in like that. It’s only made of wood

[@darrenhawken9766]

@@BenoCam not Ben proof ..🤣🤣

[@ThePman113]

Great to see the progress! Does the Stalwart have a bilge pump or is the only way water come out is through the drain?

[@BenoCam]

Yes it had bilge pump pipes which run off the swim gear via Venturi style suction valves from the dive, also I wired in a 24v large boat bilge pump just as a backup but there’s no real sump in the hull so you need a couple inches of water before it will pump out

[@trampertravels]

I note that you did not have the wading board fitted to the front of the cab it reduces the bow wave.

[@Tom-gr6nx]

great video bet that was nice and cool lol.

[@BenoCam]

It was a lot colder than I thought it was going to be hence all the funny noises 🤣

[@oliverblacher4470]

Mint video Beno, always watch your mine videos. Big balls smashing that into the lake at speed. Like how Vin said Sunday drives not emmet c***s. Take care lads, PS how far down are you, past clay country?

[@BenoCam]

🤣 cheers, we are just outside of Falmouth. Will try and do a few more adventures with it when I get a chance

[@sendyarwindasetyawan9022]

Wow

[@BenoCam]

🙂

[@SiaVids]

Definitely speed and power is the way to go. 😁

[@BenoCam]

It was odd how the fast run in was actually a lot less scary 🤣

[@marknewell7355]

Awesome 👌 hows the diesel con version coming on

[@Alec-i5p]

Id say thats why it has roof hatches 😂😂

[@BenoCam]

My idea on leaving them open was that if it did start to turn over or something it would be quicker to get out !

[@iNireus]

Wonder how many people who drove these where trained up and still around.

[@BenoCam]

Plenty of people by the comments. Mostly telling me a splash board would be a good idea 🤣

[@darrenjones3681]

I’ve seen stollys do fast water entry but perhaps the swim board helps not porpoise so bsd

[@darren-dxn-106]

Really Great, I thought it was going under on the 2nd dive in,lol. Are you showing anything up the steam rally this weekend Ben?

[@BenoCam]

So did I ! Sadly I have been away at work and only just got back so I have nothing ready 😬 would bring the tank but the starter motor needs looking at 😞

[@givemespace2742]

I was going to ask if it had a bilge pump. Guess not😅

[@BenoCam]

It’s actually got 2, the first works off a Venturi type arrangement from the jet drives which only works when you are driving with the gear going and the second is electric as a backup but both do not sit in sumps so both need quite a lot of water inside the hull before they will actually do anything

[@Linkan83]

9:05 Dive! Dive! Dive! 😅

[@davidm9643]

Saw that one coming. How are the electrics

[@BenoCam]

All good, it’s almost like they designed them so that there was going to be water coming in the cab from time to time 🤔

[@craigpimlott204]

You’re missing the board under the windscreen that would of helped with the water coming over the front end …

[@BenoCam]

What about when it smashes to bits and goes through the front windscreen ? It’s only a couple planks of wood !

[@TheSussexpillbox]

It should still propel itself with wheels only

[@BadgerBadgerBadger28]

Missing the wash board it’s there for a reason lol

[@BenoCam]

🙈 I would have smashed it to bits in the first 10 minutes

[@BadgerBadgerBadger28]

@@BenoCam Slow and smooth lol But glad it’s running I’ve been waiting ages

[@Wrong-Way-Round]

@@BenoCam not meant to be driven in at speed off high ridges, totally idiotic . Get the splash/wash board fitted.