JET-PROPELLED BOAT
CHRISTCHURCH MAN’S SECOND CRAFT
Mr C. W. F. Hamilton, of Christchurch, who developed what is believed to be New Zealand’s first jetpropelled boat, has fitted a jet driving mechanism to a new boat which was completed at the end of last year. On the Ohahu, Waitaki, Waimakariri and Rakaia rivers during the holidays the new craft proved to be faster than the earlier model. It can be used in slightly shallower water, a distinct advantage in negotiating the shallow swift flowing waters of the upper reaches of South Island rivers.
The new boat, which is about 16ft long and has a much wider beam than its predecessor, has a speed of about 26 miles an hour in calm water and can easily carry three people. It is now planned to fit the new boat with a collapsible hood so that it can be used to sleep in in the course of expeditions to the remote upper reaches of rivers. On one of its earliest runs the new boat travelled 50 miles downstream from Lake Ohau on the Ohau and Waitaki rivers, and then it returned to the lake. The upper reaches of the Ohau are a real test for any craft. The waters are extremely turbulent, with a succession of rapids and a rock-strewn bed.
The new boat, like the earlier craft, is highly manoeuvrable, so that obstacles in its path can be readily, avoided. In the Rakaia gorge this manoeuvrability was strikingly demonstrated to the occupants of two motorcars who stopped on the bridge to watch the boat pass underneath. Mr Hamilton bewildered the spectators by swiftly reversing the boat under the bridge and heading back the way he had come as the watchers waited for the boat to emerge on their side. The jet unit is fitted at the rear of the boat. A motor sucks water through a grill under the stern and then ejects it at force into the air behind. The steering is conveniently combined with the system of propulsion. On the jet is a fixing which can divert the jet stream to either side or deflect it back under -the boat. This arrangement gives extreme manoeuvrability. '
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27563, 21 January 1955, Page 9
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364JET-PROPELLED BOAT Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27563, 21 January 1955, Page 9
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