Hi Auke,
I talked to a friend of mine who had a lot of experience repairing DUKWs in
service in the Australian Army. The Australian Army kept their DUKWs until
1971 and used them extensively in resupplying the Aust bases in Antarctica
before they were replaced by LARC Vs.
He remembers that they had a lot of problems getting the stern glands on
the propeller shafts to seal properly. He said that the propeller shafts
were easily damaged and bent and then the stern gland would then weep
continually. His memory is a little rusty now but he seemed to think that
was about the only place a well maintained DUKW would leak badly.
Incidentally, many of the Australian Army DUKWs operating in the Antarctic
would come back to Australia at the end of every season riddled with hole
and temporary patches in the hull due to ice damage. The hulls were a
little to thin for this kind of work. However the DUKW carried out resupply
mission in the Antarctic every summer from 1948 to 1971 with only one sunk
due to ice damage and a bilge pump failure.
Fortunately, when I joined the Army, I only had to work on the LARC V,
which didn't have the character of a DUKW but was certainly a lot safer.
Cheers
Rod Diery
Kulin Western Australia
Austin Champ owner and 'would be' restorer
ROD_DIERY@onaustralia.com.au