Helping boaties solve their problems

By ROBIN BAILEY

Len Gilbert, aged 77, is a legend. And the Gilbert legend has been built up in less than half his busy lifetime. For nearly 20 years his "Diesel Diary" has appeared in Boating New Zealand and the specialist marine magazines that preceded it. In what is essentially an agony column for launch-owners, Gilbert dispenses wisdom and experience, challenges conventions and solves a host of problems.

His special talent is being able to use his knowledge of engines, power and propellers to get to the nub of essentially technical subjects in words the average boater can understand. Not for him a bland description of the theory of hull speed. Trying to exceed your theoretical hull speed results in "a most impressive bow wave and a hole behind the boat you could throw a cow in."

The son of a Presbyterian minister, Gilbert spent most of the first 40 years of his life in Hamilton, with time out for overseas service in the Second World War. He joined the Air Force in 1943 and trained as a gunner, but when the Empire Training School collapsed that same year for lack of aircraft and an oversupply of aircrew he was voluntarily transferred to the Army. After service in Egypt and Italy he was posted to Japan before returning to Hamilton and a job at Ruakura Animal Research Station.

He joined the Waikato Aero Club and quickly gained his private pilot's licence. That in turn led to a job with James Aviation, one of the pioneer aerial topdressing companies. Then came a stint designing and installing diesel irrigation systems, and owning and operating an 3000-bird chicken farm while flying occasional charters and playing three nights a week in a dance band.

About this time the yen for motor racing kicked in, which led to a firm friendship with the young race driver Bruce McLaren and doing the New Zealand and Australian circuits in 1962 and 1963 as a mechanic with the McLaren team. Gilbert's own motor-racing career peaked with a 250F Maserati (once described by Stirling Moss as the fastest in captivity).

It was during the 60s that Gilbert's interest in boating began through water-skiing. He owned several swift ski boats before moving to Auckland in 1996 to take up an executive job with Clyde Engineering, then the importers and distributors of Detroit engines.

His first big boat was the launch Valium, the third Jim Young Vindex off the mould. Powered by a 6V53 Detroit engine, it did extensive search and rescue work with the Coastguard and won both the performance and economy sections of the 1972 powerboat rally. That experience led to his second launch, Valium II, his personal tribute to the popular tranquilliser of that time. Valium II simultaneously won the speed and economy sections of the Atlantic 100 Rally.

Through that period his interest in engine efficiency, performance and fuel usage grew. He calls it the combination of engines, propellers, gearboxes and the nut on the throttle.

His first test system involved two 20-litre plastic buckets, a set of scales and a stopwatch that allowed him to give launch-owners accurate figures about fuel consumption.

He then discovered American computerised equipment which enabled him to do away with the buckets. He is now on his third set of that gear and has a database built up of more than 1100 vessels. After retiring from Clyde Engineering 17 years ago he did some chartering and skippered commercial boats before setting up Dieselcraft Evaluations to take his performance experience to a wider market. The business prospered and in 1986 John Menzies, a like-minded seeker after optimum performance, came aboard to share the workload.

Gilbert has worked for the Fishing Industry Board and designed and implemented a testing programme for fishing boats and commercial craft. He is also the disputes adjudicator for the Boating Industries Association, and says most parties have accepted his advice that the worst place they could end up is in court.

The last word to John Menzies: "Len is a character who is always fun to work with. The philosophy that keeps him going is 'use it or lose it' - though he now admits his mind sometimes makes appointments that his body can't keep."