Is this the first boat in this section?
It's 52" long, and 16" wide at the widest point.
Note the I can't believe it's not butter tub holding the radio gear
A bit of history first of all, my dad built this from scratch following plans printed in a magazine, not 100% sure but I think around late seventies, early eighties. I remember once it was built we took it to the local lake for a test run, I was only a kid then so it was very cool
Then it stopped being used, not sure why but proabably due to my dad being busy with work, he worked for Land-Rover for 30+ years as an engineer.Then about seven years ago my dad and I decided to get it going again, we bought some more modern radio gear, got the engine running and then took it down to Devon at Ladram Bay holiday park where we used to have a static caravan. We waited for a calm sea and then took it down the beach, started her up and put it in the sea.
It went really well, very fast, it planes like a real boat! It then went a bit wrong when the throttle jammed open
I hit the rock :-[circled in red below, bounced off it and drove it straight on to the beach so it did not have time to sink, I had to rip the plug lead of the motor to stop it.
Close up of the repair
After this we took it back home, my dad fixed the hole as can be seen in the piccie and then it got put away again, until now that is ;D
The original engine was a 34CC, 0.625 horsepower J.A.P single cylinder two stroke engine, produced in the sixties. It went very well with this engine and it looked period with the rest of the boat. It is currently hidden in the shed and I will drag it out ASAP as I need to see if the engine mounting can be modified, why you ask? Well this is Retro-Rides and putting modern engines in old things is considered a good thing
Which is why I am going to be using this engine instead.
Like the older engine this is also a 34CC single cylinder two stroke engine, but this one develops 2HP!!!! Which is over three times more powerful
It was fast before, now it will be stupidly fast Tech specs of the new engine are [url=http://tinyurl.com/38sfvc
]here[/url] max power is at 7000RPM and I am pretty sure it weighs less than the old engine. I need to weigh the boat to work out the power to weight ratio but I think it will be pretty impressive.
The new engine was sitting in the garage as my dad was going to use it in a project he was working on, he passed away a few years ago
before it got used (never even been started) so I thought I may as well use it in the boat.I made a start today by removing the radio gear, exhaust pipe and other bits and bobs, then I gave the inside a coat of white paint, I will be doing another coat as well.
I am going to make a trailer/ test stand for it soon, I just need to get the engine mounted and plumbed in, looking forward to hearing it run
As it will be running a Kawasaki motor, I am going to repaint the hull with Kwak green, maybe with a racing livery like above. It's not really a racing styled boat, but hey it will look cool
I was thinking of putting the number as my dad's year of birth as a tribute.
The picture below is the best I can find via googling, showing what it looked like.
