Identify This Boat

[Ben]

Can you identify what this boat used to be before it was a boat (without cheating and looking at the image location)?

[MillCreek]

I am wondering if this is a missile casing. Or perhaps a huge drop tank.

[Ben]

Ha! Bingo on the first reply, second guess. My first thought when I saw it was drop tank except for the size. One of the planes I used to fly in had drop tanks, but they were much, much smaller. I had no idea fighter drop tanks were that large. Apparently from the article, they are scattered all over SE Asia, and many of them are "repurposed" in this way.

http://inventorspot.com/articles/vietnamese-speedboats-made-salvaged-usaf-fighter-jet-fuel-tanks-

[MillCreek]

That was a fascinating story about how the tanks snapped together and were then secured by a cinched belt.  I never would have guessed that.  I recall that in WWII, experiments were done with drop tanks made out of wood and made out of treated paper/cardboard, as the resources were running low.

[Boomhauer]

The F-105 had a 600 gal drop tank commonly used. It was noted for being rather unpredictable once released, such as zooming upwards and through the formation.

[Jamisjockey]

Pegged it as a drop tank right away. Not that I don't see airplanes all day long 

[lee n. field]

Can you identify what this boat used to be before it was a boat (without cheating and looking at the image location)?

external fuel tank for something.

(composed in my head before I noted the url of the pic)

[Tallpine]

Sneeze, and that thing would roll right over in the water 

I guess that's what the flotation (wood floats) along the gunwale is for 

[230RN]

But... but... it's going backwards!

Recognized it right away since I've recently seen a "Globe Trekker" program on Southeast Asia, where they described this kind of repurposing.

Terry, 230RN

[geronimotwo]

awesome, i love when stuff is reused!  my disposable tax dollars at work!

[French G.]

I remember from reading "The Prize" that in the early days of gasoline SE asian customers were brand loyal, I think to Standard, not for the quality of the gas, but rather for the quality of the one gallon can it came in. Turned the cans into panels for roofing and all manner of other things.

[Tallpine]

I remember from reading "The Prize" that in the early days of gasoline SE asian customers were brand loyal, I think to Standard, not for the quality of the gas, but rather for the quality of the one gallon can it came in. Turned the cans into panels for roofing and all manner of other things.

I remember the days (1970s) when hydralic fluid and other lubricants came in these really nice five gallon metal cans.

I had a couple that I got from a guy that I worked for, and used them for saw mix for years until they finally rusted out.

[geronimotwo]

we had some of those when i was growing up too.  one was a red texaco can, and the other was green quaker state.  we kept gas in the red one, and fuel oil in the other.  they lasted for as long as we gave them use.  after they sat for a while they started rusting out.

[Tallpine]

we had some of those when i was growing up too.  one was a red texaco can, and the other was green quaker state.  we kept gas in the red one, and fuel oil in the other.  they lasted for as long as we gave them use.  after they sat for a while they started rusting out.

Yeah, I think my metal cans died when I started my own business and spent more time driving trucks and skidders and fixing things than I did cutting trees.  Was mixing only a gallon of fuel at a time.  I had an old truck with an in-cab gas tank and there was a section of rubber line underneath the cab.  The truck was so tall (and only a log bolster, no bed) that I could reach in behind the running board and yank off the hose (I left the clamp off) and fill an old anti-freeze jug with gas, and stab the line back together with minimal spill.   

By then when I started buying lots of oil they had gone to plastic.

BTW, I thought this thread was going to be one of those "can you see the boat in this picture?"       

[230RN]

I thought it was going to be about "Dazzle Camouflage," whose purpose was not to "hide" the boat, but to confuse attackers as to what it was, where it was headed, its range, and how big it was.



REF:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dazzle_camouflage

Rangefinders were based on the coincidence principle with an optical mechanism, operated by a human to compute the range. The operator adjusted the mechanism until two half-images of the target lined up in a complete picture. Dazzle was intended to make that hard because clashing patterns looked abnormal even when the two halves were aligned. This became more important when submarine periscopes included similar rangefinders. As an additional feature, the dazzle pattern usually included a false bow wave intended to make estimation of the ship's speed difficult.

[MechAg94]

Yes, pre radar paint schemes.

[Sergeant Bob]

Looks like it might be a tip tank from a BUFF.

[zahc]

How can that be stable?  They must have put a keel or something.