NEW SPEEDBOAT

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 980, 24 May 1930, Page 10

NEW SPEEDBOAT

FINE CRAFT BUILDING INTERESTING FEATURES The building- of a new runabout speedboat of particularly elegant and powerful design has Just been undertaken by Messrs. Ceilings and Bell, of St. Mary’s Bay, for Mr. Robert A. Raidlaw, managing director of the Farmers’ Trading Company. Constructed of mahogany planking and planned on smart lines, the new craft is expected to make 30 miles an hour under the drive of an eight-cylin-der Niagara engine developing 150 h.p. The runabout will be 28ft. long, or two feet longer than Mr. C. J. Collings’s well-known speedboat Fleetwing Junior. The beam will be 7ft. The neiv eraft is to have a V-bottom of twoskin mahogany construction, while the top sides will be one-skin. The deck planking is to be nicely finished in the same material. The hull will be highly polished. A feature is a roomy cockpit, comfortably upholstered and having two sprung seats, each accommodating three persons. In this cockpit, which is forward of the engine and amidships, will be located the wheel and controls. A glass windscreen will be another refinement. Starting will be done with an electric starter. On the forward deck will be fitted a searchlight and the navigating light),. Mr. Laidlaw intends to use the runabout on Lake Taupo, -where he has a residence, and a powerful light is necessary for navigation in the dark. Aft of the engine an open cockpit, also having room for six, is to be provided. For extended cruising a large tank holding GO gallons will be installed. The builders expect to deliver the craft early in November.