MOTOR BOATS

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 108, 2 November 1929, Page 28

MOTOR BOATS

EXHIBITION AT OLYMPIA

COST OF XEW SPORT

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 20th September.At the Shipping, Engineering, and Machinery Exhibition now in progress at Olympia, there are, of course, a large variety of exhibits having to do with the various affairs of commerce ana travel.. But never before- probably has there been such a great number of motor-boats at any exhibition. Motoring over the water is certainly becoming a very popular pleasure and sport. Perhaps people are finding the roads too crowded, nerve-wracking, and dangerous, and so are looking for speed thrills on the water. Many firms have therefore turned their attention to the production of out-board motors, and very fine machines are being turned- out at prices on/a par with- motor-cycles. These, with the boats or launches, do not make the outlay for this form of pleasure a very heavy one. The smallest, motor craft on view is 10ft long by 2ft 6in wide, when folded flat. It is made of three-sixteenth inch three-ply mahogany. It weighs '301b. The. cushions, grating, and other fittings weigh another 301b, and the motor 201b. When .tie boat is open it is 9ft 7in long by 3ft average beam, and it costs 25 guineas complete. The little outboard motor is fixed to the side, and the propeller rod slopes down into the water,at the side of the boat and gives a speed of six miles an hour. A spring on the rudder counteracts the thrust of 'the propeller. This little crafty can be carried on a light car and put behind the kitchen door when not in use. At the other cad of the range of launches with saloons and cabins and with 135-h.p. engine and a speed of 33 miles an hour. This is priced at £.1250. Another speed boat 30ft long with 15 seats is said to move at 45 miles per hour, and costs £1140. But there are numbers of solid launches with saloons and cabins and plenty of comfort and with no pretensions of high speed. !Por instance, a well-known maker turns out a 40ft

cruiser, IS-h.p., speed 7-1 miles per hour, at the price of £1295.

Coming down the settle of prices there are speed boats 2Gft by 6ft Sin, carrying eleven passengers, all mahogany, equipped with six-cylinder motor, 200-h.p., aiul with a speed of 42 miles an horn-. This costs £935. Speed machines such as these arc plying for hire at the various watering places round Groat Britain. OUT-BOARD MOTORS. For the private owner there are many delightful flat-bottomed speed craft with out-board motors. For a high-speed out-board motor £65 is asked, and this is said to propel a craft holding eight persons thirty miles an hour. A lightweight out-board speed motor costs about £35 to £47. There are others with a smaller power and capable of propelling a boat at> a more normal speed, which range from £25. As for the prices of boats and motors complete, there is a sea skiff at £62 10s; a 16ft Gin 30-h.p. four-seater, at £345, with a speed of 25 miles per hour; a 14ft four-seater with a speed of 22 miles per hour at £198; and an eight-seater at £135; For :i comfortable two-seater boat of moderate speed, with the out-board motor attached, one should not need to pay morn than £60 in this country. The Hon. Mrs. Victor Bruce last week

completed a twenty-four hours' record endurance test for British speed boats, having covered a total of 691 nautical milos at an average speed of 28.79 miles an hour. Including this preliminary mn of nearly three hours, Mrs.' Bruce was at the wheel for twenty-seven hours. Interviewed on landing, sho said: "Honestly, I feel quite well after it all. The boat behaved wonderfully, and I should like to pay a tribute to the splendid work of the British builders." The Hawkes Bay Automobile- Asso-' ciation, at its annual meeting, elected the following officers:—President, Mr. J. H. Edinundson; vice-presidents, Mr. I A. E. Turner-Williams1 and Dr. W. D. KtzGerald; committee, Messrs. E. J. Duncan, B. Chambers, J. Fairclough, •W. Forsyth, J. J. Keating, T. M. Laing, j

A. E. Kcnouf, F. S. Seamon, E. A. Williams, E, M'Lcan, D. Fraser, F. C, Cray, H. Gascoync, J. T. Fcnwick, N. P. Green, G. W. M'Cormiek, R. J. Kobertson, and T. Parker; auditors, Messrs. Harvey, Fulton, and Hill; hon. treasurer, Mr. H. V. Hoadley. A dense cloud of small flies descended upon the main Napier-Hastings road in the vicinity of Mangaterctere, recontly, and caused a considerable annoyance to motorists, forming a. dense illm on windscreens and obscuring the vision. A motor-cyclist who hit the swarm while travelling at high speed had a narrow escape from accident, as ho became temporarily blinded, and nearly lost control of his machine.