magnetman

I believe the BS scheme was fairly heavily influenced by explosions on petrol engined Boats probably mostly on the Thames. It does happen from time to time. Petrol vapours and battery connections are not a good combination. Just last summer a GRP in Bourne End marina on the Thames near Marlow went bang. The cabin separated from the hull. Two people went to hospital. Petrol vapour.

I had CO detectors long before the BS scheme mandated them. The reason for fuel type to be written is because quite often there will be a staff member at a boatyard who is not clued up. Some yards on the Thames sell petrol and Diesel. Without Diesel being written there is a chance of petrol ending up in your tank accidentally. That could prove to be a nasty situation. I always ask if I can do it myself but a lot of people would prefer the staff to do it.

I owned a near identical Boat for a shot time. 1884 motorised 'type 1 Bantock' with the original back end above waterline. Wooden top. It was quite flexible. I did manage the whole Oxford although got slightly wedged in the Napton flight in the lock half way down which has a footpath leading away at right angles. Also got to Stafford before coming back to my home area which is the River. It is the addition of a steel cabin, which I think is the most likely outcome if the whole hull is to be saved, which can cause width problems. It has happened before. It doesn't mean it is going to happen but there is a risk unless done very carefully of getting a wide Boat.

A lot of older Boats have had steel cabins added which caused beam problems. I actually said in my post 'quite a bit of sorting out' not that keeping it narrow wasn't feasible. Carefully chosen wording.

Am out on the Task Master right now for a little shopping trip.

Pretty heavy. Probably about 120kg ish. I can lift one end off the ground. Yes they are nice little launches these. The original nickname for the coaching launches was 'the task masters'. Some of the rowing coaches in their new catamaran launches do look at it with some intrigue. Its much older than the Podium. The Task Master has GRP hull and marine ply topsides the other one is all GRP. What I want for this one is a light 2 stroke something like a 15 or 20 that'd really make it move well. Electric is nice but very slow. Also there is something inherently satisfactory about the smoke from older outboards. The bubbles in the wake with clouds of lovely smelling oily smoke. Good memories. Tohatsu 9.8 2 stroke is a legendary unit with enormous power to weight ratio. I would not moan about having one of them on it.

It must be a bit of a nuisance having to routinely take the Boat out of the water. My launches are designed to be taken out into the shed (or in this case the nettles) but they have a load of fit young rowers to do it. I would have struggled. This was my Task Master launch last year when I saved it from being put in a skip. A bit of muscle I doubt it will be out of the water again in a hurry. The next time it sits on land will be on the bottom of the River

What about when it goes in the water? I don't know but it seems like it might change shape a bit once it is afloat. It depends what someone wants to do with it. Putting a steel cabin on would be a popular choice.