Puffer celebrates 40 years of cruising
PUFFER steamboat Vic 32 restarted her popular holiday cruises at the end of April, welcoming her first passengers for two years.
Along with the excitement of cruising again, she received her last delivery of conventional coal. During this year, the crew will be trialling biofuel, with the aim of fully transitioning once the necessary adjustments to the puffer’s steam engine have been made.
Vic 32 is a genuine Puffer steam ship, built in 1943 by Dunston’s of Thorne in Yorkshire. At the time, the Clyde shipyards were busy supporting the war effort and the Admiralty urgently needed 50 victualling boats, commissioning vessels from yards in England.
In 1975 the ship was bought by Nick and Rachel Walker and sailed to London in 1976 where she was converted for passenger carrying. Sailing her back up north, Nick and Rachel based themselves at Crinan and offered week-long liveaboard holiday cruises around Scotland’s west coast, islands and along the Crinan and Caledonian Canals.
In 2002 Nick and Rachel gave the vessel to a newly created charity, the Puffer Preservation Trust, with the aim of continuing Vic 32’ s cruises around Scotland.
Vic 32 remains based at Crinan, steaming around the Highlands and islands. She usually visits Glasgow during the year, for chartered day trips and Puffer Suppers from a mooring at Yorkhill Quay closed to the Riverside Transport Museum.
If you’re planning a trip to Inverness in September, Vic 32 will be moored at Muirtown canal basin on the weekend of September 3- 4 for guided tours. Find out about Vic 32, holidays, open days and short cruises at savethepuffer.co.uk