"Bambi" often was featured in the scandal press. Wild parties aboard while on the moorings at Rottnest Island 12 miles of the coast from Perth and its sister port of Fremantle were legendary.

Following the demise of the original owner (He crashed is airplane) "Bambi" was purchased by a well-known supermarket chain proprietor who later to become lord Mayor of Perth. During this time more sedate functions were the order of the day and many distinguished visitors to Perth cruised the beautiful Swan River.

Following were a succession of owners, the last of whom enlarged the accommodations with the addition of an aft cabin achieved by raising the aft deck and building a coach house underneath. Over the subsequent 5 years she has languished in a Berth on the Mandurah Waterways situated an hour south of the state capital city of Perth with very little use due to a number of mechanical and steering problems. In May 2003 "Bambi" was purchased with the view to bringing her back to her former glory. (With some license allowing for the availability of modern materials and engines.)

Why Bother? Many of our friends pointed out that for the amount of money we were committing for a complete restoration we could go out and pick from a dozen brands of well built Australian or New Zealand boats and even a few imports. We would then have something new and modern. We paused for a bit, but committed to proceed because there was nothing on the market that had her classic lines. (Apologies to Riviera, Mariner, Genesis, Mustang and a dozen other brands) There is something about this boat that has the touch of class about her. In addition, Bambi was often mentioned in the scandal press with a number of high profile owners so her restoration has attracted a lot of attention here and several Australian boating publications.

First task was to get rid of the aft cabin, strip out the interior and to lift the floors, which revealed accumulated grease oil and grime. (What was found under the bunks will not be documented here.)

The contract to undertake the fit-out was let to a local boat yard and we waited for a still day so that we could maneuver her out of the residential canals and down to the marina using engines only for steerage. We are fortunate in that Mandurah is a working fishing port and harbour for a large lobster fleet so the new Marina is well set up with boat builders, Marine engineers, Metal fabricators and electronics shops. The heavy lift Tami set her up on the hard and a high-pressure gurney cleaned off the accumulated marine growth.

After a thorough inspection we were very pleased to find very few areas of osmosis which is amazing when you consider her age. We stripped the many layers of antifouling with a high-pressure soda blaster and set about opening up the few osmosis spots to dry out before treatment. Restoration followed the complete removal of the cabin top. The new diesel engines were swung in when the top was off.

The heavy old GM 653s installed during the 80's had no place in the restoration plans so they come out and after much research and consideration a decision was made to re-power Bambi with a handed pair of Iveco 370HP diesel's with electronic common rail fuel injection and ZF1.45 to 1 gearboxes spinning 29 inch 4 bladed props.

Iveco engines were designed and produced by a consortium of Cummins, New Holland, and Fiat. Iveco was the only diesel in that power range available with electronic fuel injection (Bosch). They are made in Turin, Italy and are a new generation of engines designed to meet new emission requirements.

Calculations indicate a top speed around 30 knots with excellent consumption rates at a comfortable cruising speed of between 15 and 18 knots at a very economical 1800 RPM.  We finished up with just over 1000 liters of fuel with the new tanks which is important because we plan to cruise up the west coast to Shark Bay (Monkey Mia) each winter and there are not a lot of fuelling ports along the way. Overall we gain a weight savings of over 400 Kg's over the old engines.

What remained of the interior timber flooring and bulkheads were stripped out. Some of the interior ply was put aside for future use but we made half a dozen trips to the local land fill to dump old fuel and water tanks, floorboards, headlining, toilets, furniture and a ton of oil soaked timber and ply. The steam cleaners moved in next and after several days of pressure cleaning and blasting we could at last see the original hull lay-up.

Our new layout plan differs from the original (apologies to the purists) in that we wanted more space in the fore cabin and as a concession to our wives separate toilet (to port) and shower (to starboard). Cabin hatches were added overhead, one between the heads facing forward and two smaller ones over the galley facing aft for more ventilation. We also created 3 watertight bulkheads the first one aft of an enlarged rope locker, the next aft of the saloon, then aft of the engines (each fitted with a Lovett bilge pump). We installed a poly hawse-pipe to bring the anchor chain down to a new chain locker set low in the forepeak and ran conduits for the electrical cabling. We next glassed in the new floor bearers and laid a new floor in Australian Marine grade ply well sealed by the writer who has been given the task of sealing and painting everything before the shipwrights close up. We were in luck with our choice of yards as the two shipwrights working on Bambi are both skilled with wood and fiberglass.

At around the half way mark with the rebuild we were about to either start spending our children's inheritance or sending our wives to find work… we labored on never the less. As the re-launch for Bambi approached we were giving consideration to changing her name. Bambi would never have been our first choice and it appears that the first owner named her after discussion with a group of his mates. The story goes that he was explaining that he had bought a boat in America, but told his mates that "It was a little dear" (meaning expensive). Someone asked "What are you going to call it?" One of the group suggested .... "Bambi was a little deer". My last powerboat was named "Bojangles" and I would kinda have liked to stay with "Bojangles II", but Bambi she remained!

Splashdown day was December 3rd, 2004. It was a great relief to see that she floats. The celebration party followed the next day. The initial test run was a great success. The four bladed props were right on the money, both engines at 2800 RPM gave us 28.5 Knots on the GPS. She did a little under 18 Knots at 2000 RPM which is the most economical RPM for these engines, that’s with 500 liters of petrol and 150 liters of water and six guys on board. We found the exhaust back pressure to be a bit elevated so we had to open up the exhaust outlets aft of the mufflers.

The installation of the flybridge and much interior work and varnishing were completed long after the launch. The aft cock pit was extensively reworked with teak accents and a teak platform. A new fiberglass windlass was installed on the bow which complimented the refinished teak toe rail. New windows were installed all the way around the pilothouse with tinted glass. The exterior retains the classic Chris Craft lines with an enhanced aft cockpit. The interior and mechanicals are entirely redone to modern nautical standards and to our preferences.

During the past two years our Commander 38 express Bambi has undergone a total refit. Total, to the extent that she was stripped back to bare hull and deck and totally rebuilt using the best available materials. This is the third and most demanding boat restoration project undertaken by my lifetime buddy Graeme Robertson and myself. First was the restoration of a retired river passenger ferry; next was a classic 1930s Gaff Rig Cutter and now our Commander 38. Our wives think we are certifiable and our children are wondering where their inheritance went.

That blue stuff you see in the background of the pictures is our famous clear summer sky...something you northern hemisphere folk often do not see this time of year. We are into our summer and enjoying great boating weather and are privileged to live on the most pristine continental coastline in the world.

We heard the terrible news about the Tsunami around midday Western Australian time (GMT +8) on boxing day, four hours after the undersea event but of course it was several hours before the full impact of the disaster was known. About 8,000 Australian’s were on holiday along the effected coast mainly in Thailand. The Australian air force had the first international relief aircraft into Sumatra and a military field hospital is already established.

We were out on Bambi in the late afternoon on Boxing day and experienced a most unusual tidal surge, nothing dangerous but when you live with the normal one tide a day with a rise and fall of only around 12 inches anything more that that is unusual. We had a number of surges during the late afternoon and early evening that was a direct result of the Tsunami. When you consider our distance from the epicenter you realise how fast the effect of these events can cross an ocean. Bambi is safe in her dock.  As I mentioned above we have a lot of the blue background stuff called sky down here. Y’all welcome to come on downunder to visit.

Warren Pateman

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