GU fuel tanks on wooden boats

[fittie]

I was wondering what were the fuel tanks like on the wooden GU boats and who would have made them?

 

[BEngo]

Harland and Wolff built a small number of wooden pairs, and must have had the fabrication ability for tanks,so presumably they made them for the motors they built.. 

 

'Walker's of Rickmansworth" gives no detail of the arrangements for metal work generally.  ISTR they had the smithing capacity for guard irons and stem bars and the like, so may well have been able to make up the tanks to a GUCC requirement. The Ricky construction dates mean they were most likely riveted.

 

 

N

[David Mack]

The iron and steel GU boats had welded steel fuel tanks. The broad shape was the same for Northwich and Woolwich boats, small and large, although the details varied. So I would have thought something similar would have been used for the wooden GU boats.

[magnetman]

Walkers certainly did make nice guard irons. I had a few lengths out back in the magneteering days outside Tesco. 

 

Don't know about the diesel tanks but presumably there are still some Ricky motors extant so it must be reasonably straightforward to find out this detail..

 

Seems likely it would have been specified by the company ordering the boats. 

 

 

 

 

[zenataomm]

No evidence, but I was told back in the 80s in The General Eliott by an old boy who had worked across the cut.  He said the Steel Barrel Co. had a hand in meeting FMC's requirements when it came to fuel tanks for wooden boats, maintenance and horse boat conversions.  Boats having Bolinder's fitted required a circular indent in the tank to allow removal of the flywheel.  He said that following the GUCCCo expansion order The Steel Barrel tendered to Walkers of Rickmansworth for the same thing.  They did it through a contractor.

Like I said, no evidence, at the time it didn't interest me enough to ask further and it was 40 years ago.

[magnetman]

Steel barrel company. Was this the contractor who built a few of the GU motor boats? I think there was a boat called George. Brentford or Uxbridge. 

 

Steel barrels certainly would make good diesel tanks. 

 

 

[Derek R.]

Both the GEORGE and the MARY were built by the Steel Barrel Co. of Uxbridge as prototypes of the Royalty Class in 1929. The remaining Royalty motors were built by Yarwoods and James Pollock and Sons of Faversham. I suspect barrels would not have been used for fuel tanks, as they would take up too much space. More likely (a look in GEORGE's engin'ole would confirm) they would have optimised the available space, and therefore resembled that which subsequent boats from Woolwich, Northwich and probably Rickmansworth etc. would have followed. Just a calculated guess though.

Edited September 7, 2023 by Derek R.

[fittie]

I think that the 'Royalty' boats fuel tanks were not the same as the rest of the GU boats. I know that HW built some wooden motors but I was thinking of the small Ricky motors. Did they build their own tanks or out sourced them and if so who?

 

[Rusty Rivet]

These photos of small Ricky, Merope, were taken in the dry storage facility of Ellesmere Port Museum. Assuming these are the original fuel tanks as fitted by Walkers, they look very similar to those fitted to small Woolwich motors.

[fittie]

Thanks for those, but who made them? They look a little like HW but is that possible?

[David Mack]

Interesting that the side ladders appear to be both attached to the gunwale lining plank and bolted to lugs welded to the top of the fuel tank. So does that mean removable floor plates weren't fitted above the tanks as on the Woolwich and Northwich boats (except to bridge the gap between the rear end of the tank and the back cabin bulkhead)?

[BWM]

1 hour ago, David Mack said:

Interesting that the side ladders appear to be both attached to the gunwale lining plank and bolted to lugs welded to the top of the fuel tank. So does that mean removable floor plates weren't fitted above the tanks as on the Woolwich and Northwich boats (except to bridge the gap between the rear end of the tank and the back cabin bulkhead)?

There is some form of flooring above the tank, it looks like a thick piece of timber. 

[spud]

8 hours ago, BWM said:

There is some form of flooring above the tank, it looks like a thick piece of timber. 

the floor plates above the tanks look like corroded diamond or checker plate to me

[Derek R.]

Diamond plate.