Name the inboard engine
- Thread starter Snowgoose-1
- Start date
capnsensible
Well-known member
Alan. 
jbweston
Well-known member
The engine is the Tri-Ang Lo-Key - a clockwork motor that was both quiet and low emission. Well ahead of its time.
These boats were built with all the tradtional care and skill handed down through generations of Rickmansworth boatbuilders, and extensively tested in the harsh conditions of Ruislip Lido before being RCD class X ( for eXciting) certified. It's a shame that the Rickmansworth Construction and Design certification process never gained the acceptance it deserved. Those guys in Brussels never had a Class X, did they.
Let's Make Britain Great Again!
These boats were built with all the tradtional care and skill handed down through generations of Rickmansworth boatbuilders, and extensively tested in the harsh conditions of Ruislip Lido before being RCD class X ( for eXciting) certified. It's a shame that the Rickmansworth Construction and Design certification process never gained the acceptance it deserved. Those guys in Brussels never had a Class X, did they.
Let's Make Britain Great Again!
Snowgoose-1
Well-known member
Where can I buy one to support British industry ?
Remember, " export or die " and the monthly "balance of payments" announcements.
Tranona
Well-known member
Suspect Watermota Shrimp. Basically a Villiers 2 stroke moped engine.
Not sure which is better - the "craftmanship" or health and safety!
Not sure which is better - the "craftmanship" or health and safety!
Minerva
Well-known member
look at that skill!! strength carefully computed and designed, materials accurately measured, resins carefully and precisely applied, the set out yard so clean it could almost be mistaken for a surgical theatre. Not like those flimsy modern Bavarias that will fall apart the second they see a wave!
Tranona
Well-known member
Just a reminder to those who value old boats "built like a brick outhouse" that what they were actually built IN a brick outhouse
Wansworth
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Found a mound of a dinghy just like that where I worked in Littlehampton…….its still active in a yacht club in Ría de Vigo…the dinghy I moulded
jbweston
Well-known member
Yes, in those days the Rickmansworth Health and Safety rules exempted real men from wearing masks and gloves when laying up fibreglass. The Woodbines they'd been smoking since they were at primary school provided a protecive coating to the lungs, and when they got home with their fingers glued together with resin their children thought it was fine entertainment to take a hammer and chisel to their dads' hands to free them up.
Wansworth
Well-known member
I knew people like that,chatting whilst laying up with roll up in the corner of his mouth…….
Keith 66
Well-known member
I remember seeing a bloke filling a bucket with acetone from a 45 gallon drum all the while with a fag in his mouth.
That was East coast motor launches, they had a yard across the road from Thames marine. The one thing that TM were really strict about was smoking, get caught smoking in the factory & it was instant dismissal.
That was East coast motor launches, they had a yard across the road from Thames marine. The one thing that TM were really strict about was smoking, get caught smoking in the factory & it was instant dismissal.
RivalRedwing
Well-known member
"Light as a feather " some feather if it needs two people to lift it from the cars roof rack
LittleSister
Well-known member
"Light as a feather " some feather if it needs two people to lift it from the cars roof rack
No, its worse than that. The narrator actually says 'Literally light as a feather'!
Obviously they don't make feathers like they used to, either.
Wansworth
Well-known member
Mine took fourNo, its worse than that. The narrator actually says 'Literally light as a feather'!
Obviously they don't make feathers like they used to, either.
oldharry
Well-known member
Ah that was the imperial whitworth non digital feather. Made in the days when Britian WAS still Great, under a railway arch in Birmingham!No, its worse than that. The narrator actually says 'Literally light as a feather'!
Obviously they don't make feathers like they used to, either.
LittleSister
Well-known member
Mine took four
That's nothing. I've mentioned before the ferro-cement dinghy that was built (by apprentices?) by Windboats of Wroxham (and now on display at The Museum of the Broads at Stalham) which, it is said, takes 6 to 8 people to lift it! Literally as light as two or three feathers, perhaps?
Curiously, that boat, like the one in the vid above, is also yellow. There are mysterious forces at play in the universe!
Wansworth
Well-known member
There’s that old maths riddle…which weight more a ton of feathers or a ton of grp
Snowgoose-1
Well-known member
It's the smallest boat I have seen using an inboard . I have seen smaller but that is on model boating lakes.
I was thinking that they chose Watermota instead of a Seagull is because they can still run under water. Then I noticed that the water filled boat has an engine box.
mjcoon
Well-known member
Although we parked next to that very museum a couple of years ago it was not open, so we missed out on that excitement...
LittleSister
Well-known member
I have been on that very steam launch in your picture. I can't remember its name, but I do remember it was built as a steam launch (circa 1900?) for a local gentleman. By WW2 the steam engine had been replaced at some point by a diesel, and the boat was requisitioned by the military for the duration. After the war it was used by boatyards as a workboat. A few years back it was rescued for restoration by some enthusiasts. They hunted high and low for a suitable second-hand steam engine, and eventually found one that had been in use as a stationary engine on a farm somewhere around the Broads. It turned out to be the original engine taken out of this very boat! They refurbished it, but had to make a new boiler. It is a sight to behold, with open crank etc. It has a lovely sound, and is so quiet/gentle and vibration free compared to a diesel. The boat requires two people to operate it, one to fuel and regulate the engine, and the other to steer the boat. Coming in to dock etc requires good coordination between the two of them!
