MOTOR BOATS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 72, Issue 291, 7 December 1929, Page 12

MOTOR BOATS

At the Shipping, Engineering, and Machinery Exhibition now in progress at Olympia, there arc, of course, a large variety of exhibits having to do with the various affairs of commerce and 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 arc finding the roads too crowded, nerve-wracking, and dangerous and so arc looking for speed thrill.; on the water. Many firms have therefore turned their attention to the production of out-board motors, and very fine machines arc being turned out at prices on a par with motorcycles. 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 i* 10ft long by 2ft. din. wide when folded flat. It is made of three-sixteenth inch three-ply mahogany. It weighs 301 b. The cushions, grating, and other fittings weigh another 301 b, and the motor 201 b. When the 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 craft can be carried on a liglff car and put behind the kitchen door when not in use.

At the other end of the range are 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 at the price, of £1295. But. there are numbers of solid launches with saloons and cabins and plenty of comfort and with no pretensions of high speed. For instance, a well-known maker turns out a 40ft. cruiser, 18-h.p., speed 7 J miles per hour, at the price of 1295. Coming down the scale of prices there are speed boats 26ft by 6ft Sin., carrying eleven passengers, all mahogany," equipped with six-cylinder motor, 200-"h.p., and with a speed of 42 miles an hour. This costs £935. Speed machines such as these are plying for hire at the various watering places round Great 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 light-weight outboard 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. 6in 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 eightseater at £135. For a comfortable twoseater boat of moderate speed, with the out-board motor attached, one should not nped to pay more than £6O in this country.