Water, water everywhere

In the OBA 71 Cob Smith writes about Paul Dempsey’s water cooled head Triumph motor. Well, I have done a bit of research into this subject. About 1970 here in Australia this craze was taking off in NSW, Victoria and SA. These little boats were nine foot long, made from bond wood or marine ply, like a little skiff, the rider sat or knelt in the back of the boat and had tiller like control to steer the boat, fitted with a twist grip throttle, engines were direct drive to the prop. The motor sat in front of the driver. I have been told they raced up Dubbo way, NSW, Lake Eppolock, Victoria, Goolwa and The Patawalunga at Glenelg, SA. These places have shallow bottoms, so it was easy to retrieve the boat if they sank. I have two Jawa motors with the gearboxes cut off, one fitted with a water cooled head, both have been in boats here. I have owned a 650 Triumph motor with water cooled head and barrel, which had also been in boats here in SA. I know here of ES2 Norton, BSA single, and Tiger 100 Triumph motors used as well. The Tiger motor holds an Aussie Speed record of 83mph set at Goolwa. There were 12 boats of this type used for racing here, but the craze didn’t last long using bike engines. As they destroyed themselves, the drivers went to racing outboard motors. I have included a photo (below) of a boat fitted with a Briggs and Stratton motor. Originally it had 250 Jawa motor fitted. Paul Wilkins South Australia