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Author Topic: Coleman Fuel can as crash cushion  (Read 350 times)

Stoker

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Coleman Fuel can as crash cushion
« on: November 01, 2022, 10:18:52 am »
As originally referenced in this thread that Jim started:

https://www.officeofsteamforum.com/general-discussion-scale-model-gas-engines-hit-miss-throttle-governed-non-compression-etc/calling-all-gas-(petrol)-heads/msg53900/?topicseen#msg53900

"On an off note, I would say from experience, that a gallon can of Coleman fuel can be used as a crush space cushion to a certain degree, though I am more than certain that is not a manufacturers' recommended usage!!!"


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These photos being taken in Sept. 2010, just before I was to leave the Post River for the last time and a bit over three years after the can got crushed in 2007, and still no sign of leakage. Don't know if anybody has been back up there and made any use of this fuel, but it was still a full can last I saw it and suspect that it would still work just fine, though it might be a little more awkward to pour than were it in pre-crushed condition!?!?

Oh yeah, and here is a photo of when the Coleman can was used as an impromtu cushion:

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Sometimes you just get lucky ..... even in the middle of some really bad luck!!!

Suppose I should add that the plane had a cargo belly pod, which is where the Coleman fuel can was stowed when the crash occurred. Had the can split a seam, I probably wouldn't be writing this today!
"Information is not knowledge, Knowledge is not wisdom, Wisdom is not truth, Truth is not beauty, Beauty is not love, Love is not music: Music is THE BEST...   
Wisdom is the domain of the Wis (which is extinct). Beauty is a French phonetic corruption of a short cloth neck ornament currently in resurgence..."
F. Zappa ... by way of Mary, the girl from the bus.

Jim

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Re: Coleman Fuel can as crash cushion
« Reply #1 on: November 01, 2022, 05:23:29 pm »
You were very very lucky that day Daniel!
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Jim

My YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/user/Blue123Heeler/videos


Stoker

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Re: Coleman Fuel can as crash cushion
« Reply #2 on: November 01, 2022, 08:41:57 pm »
You were very very lucky that day Daniel!

Well yes ... but not entirely.

You'll note that the right door of the airplane is hanging at an angle commensurate with it being broken open, and it was my body that did that breaking as my weight, along with the pilot's pretty well blew the door open breaking latch and hinge mountings. I'd been in a few car wrecks so knew after crawling out of this wreck, that the next morning I'd feel like I'd been tackled by an entire pro football team, and I did. However, that same next day I climbed into a helicopter to complete the journey into the Post River claims as was supposed to have happened in the airplane, later in the day of the crash. I slept the night rather well considering, but was quite uncomfortable on my right side, and the next day did reveal massive bruises all up and down that side ... but it gets better (read: worse)!

After getting unloaded at the Post River claims, and while hauling my gear up to the cabin, I started noticing that I couldn't take a full deep breath, and as it happened this problem worsened over the next several days to the point where I couldn't even roll over in my sleep without intense pain in my right chest. Broken ribs to be sure, most likely crushed in by my elbow as my arm, shoulder, hip, leg and ankle broke open the airplane's door.

So, there I was, all alone in extreme deep wilderness, having spent half a year making the arrangements to get me there so I could cruise the mountains field mapping the geology and sampling the mineralization, but I could hardly get a few hours' sleep, nor take anywhere near a deep breath, and to cough felt like dying while my right arm was mostly too sore to use and I was limping badly on my right leg/knee/ankle. Carrying a pack was definitely a painful challenge, even a light one, but I was there to collect samples that tended to be quite heavy due to the type of massive sulfide mineralization that needed sampling there in that exceedingly rugged country. All I could do was start low and slow and build up to it as best I could, such that by the scheduled time to fly back out after six weeks, I was hauling hundred-pound packs of samples down to the airstrip from my upper basin camp and cache and roaming the mountains at will.

So lucky, yes certainly, as is evidenced by my still being here, but I absolutely didn't get away scot-free, without paying some rather heavy dues!!!
"Information is not knowledge, Knowledge is not wisdom, Wisdom is not truth, Truth is not beauty, Beauty is not love, Love is not music: Music is THE BEST...   
Wisdom is the domain of the Wis (which is extinct). Beauty is a French phonetic corruption of a short cloth neck ornament currently in resurgence..."
F. Zappa ... by way of Mary, the girl from the bus.

St Paul Steam

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Re: Coleman Fuel can as crash cushion
« Reply #3 on: November 01, 2022, 09:49:29 pm »
Daaaang Daniel, you are a man's Man. You could do a Dos Equis beer commercial as the most interesting man in the world.😀
Bruce, St. Paul Indiana, USA
"Originality thrives in seclusion free of outside influences beating upon us to cripple the creative mind."
  Nikola Tesla

Stoker

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Re: Coleman Fuel can as crash cushion
« Reply #4 on: November 01, 2022, 10:49:27 pm »
Daaaang Daniel, you are a man's Man. You could do a Dos Equis beer commercial as the most interesting man in the world.😀

Surrounded by beautiful babes!?!?

Nah, somehow, I just don't see that gig working out, given my butt-ugly mug!!!


But in reality, I have lived a life full of experiences far outside the bounds of most ordinary lives, and definitely have plenty of tales to tell should anyone be interested.
"Information is not knowledge, Knowledge is not wisdom, Wisdom is not truth, Truth is not beauty, Beauty is not love, Love is not music: Music is THE BEST...   
Wisdom is the domain of the Wis (which is extinct). Beauty is a French phonetic corruption of a short cloth neck ornament currently in resurgence..."
F. Zappa ... by way of Mary, the girl from the bus.

Jim

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Re: Coleman Fuel can as crash cushion
« Reply #5 on: November 02, 2022, 04:58:39 pm »
Thanks for the anecdote, good read and glad you're here to recount it.
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Jim

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Tadfafty

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Re: Coleman Fuel can as crash cushion
« Reply #6 on: November 02, 2022, 06:20:41 pm »
Not ideal, but better than nothing.
If I had the storage space... And the money... I'd have a few more engines.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY8ELrOezIftrQ6MKCoHyfQ

Stoker

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Re: Coleman Fuel can as crash cushion
« Reply #7 on: November 02, 2022, 08:39:35 pm »
I also had another Coleman fuel can in that belly pod, along with backpacks, sleeping bags and three plastic 5-gallon buckets full of foodstuffs. The other Coleman fuel can was barely dented, while one of the food buckets was badly deformed, you might say mangled, another was punctured and dented, but still useable  as a food container, but wouldn't hold water, and the third was wholly unscathed. My only real loss was one can of soup that had its lid seal violated by being scrunched too far out of shape.

So there were a few other impromptu crash cushions that came into play as well. 
"Information is not knowledge, Knowledge is not wisdom, Wisdom is not truth, Truth is not beauty, Beauty is not love, Love is not music: Music is THE BEST...   
Wisdom is the domain of the Wis (which is extinct). Beauty is a French phonetic corruption of a short cloth neck ornament currently in resurgence..."
F. Zappa ... by way of Mary, the girl from the bus.

RedRyder

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Re: Coleman Fuel can as crash cushion
« Reply #8 on: January 26, 2023, 11:35:18 am »
I just found this thread.

Quite an adventure to say the least.

Glad you're still here Daniel...!!!

Gil

Stoker

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Re: Coleman Fuel can as crash cushion
« Reply #9 on: January 26, 2023, 04:34:59 pm »
I just found this thread.

Quite an adventure to say the least.

Glad you're still here Daniel...!!!

Gil

Thanks Gil  .......   glad to still be here for sure!

But in truth, I wouldn't trade a minute of my adventures, or misadventures, for anything to this very day. I have lived a very unusual life, or rather lives, because so many different times have been so different from all the others, most all far outside the mainstream modern world that most people experience.

Not so long ago I posted a bit of melancholy nostalgia on the Forum .... here:

https://www.officeofsteamforum.com/off-topic/my-heart-goes-back/

"Information is not knowledge, Knowledge is not wisdom, Wisdom is not truth, Truth is not beauty, Beauty is not love, Love is not music: Music is THE BEST...   
Wisdom is the domain of the Wis (which is extinct). Beauty is a French phonetic corruption of a short cloth neck ornament currently in resurgence..."
F. Zappa ... by way of Mary, the girl from the bus.