WWII DUKW
Amphibious Vehicle
aka: gigantic time and money sink . .

31' long, 14,000lbs, 6 wheel drive, 20,000 lb winch, on-the-move tire inflation system and more drive shafts, transfer cases, levers, and lubrication points than any reasonable vehicle should ever have.

Owner: Jim Mason / The Shipyard
Year Built: 1944?
Serial Number: DUKW 353 17644
Purchased: September, 2002
Rebuild Begins: June, 2003
Future: Unknown

Here is my DUKW project. I've only just started and fear what is to come. My goal is to restore to original condition, but with some minor modifications to make it a more reasonable long distance travel vehicle. A trip to the tip of Baja sounds nice- or maybe Signapore to Australia, with a heavy 6x6 expedition up the Kokoda trail in Papua New Guinea. Who knows at this point . . .

Anyways, I found this DUKW at a construction company in Richmond, California. It was the parts DUKW for another DUKW used in marine construction and maintenance on bridge pillars around San Francisco Bay. Fortunately, they took very little off of it in the end. All that was lost was the Higgins bilge pump and the engine manifolds.

The larger and more interesting damage was done by the owner before them who tried to turn it into an RV. All the side and windshield combing was cut off and the hood and hatches disappeared. Strange toilet holes, plumbing and tanks were installed. And the best addition is a welded 4" peace symbol on the outside behind the rear wheels. That is staying for sure . . . ;-)

Otherwise, all the critical running gear is still there and appears to be happy. Everything turns. All the levers move as they should. It rolls. We pulled it home from Richmond to Berkeley (about 15 miles) behind Snook's Deuce (checking constantly to make sure no turning parts were getting hot). The 270 GMC engine turns over, but i've yet to put the new manifolds on and try to start it. I'm sure the brakes are a mess, but haven't really investigated.

Now i'm finally beginning the process of dumping 100's of hours and 1000's of dollars into this guaranteed time and money sink of a project. Hopefully we won't drive it to the bottom of the bay on its first outing . . .