Gloucester Waterways Museum
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3.6  Motor Boat Oak

     Motor boat Oak was built by Charles Hill & Sons of Bristol in 1934 for the Severn & Canal Carrying Company. One of eight similar boats, all named after species of tree, Oak has many novel features for her time. Firstly, the engine is at the stern instead of being in front of the cabin. This arrangement takes up less space, allowing more cargo to be carried. As there is no propeller shaft underneath the cabin, the floor is lower than usual, giving more headroom for the crew. Nevertheless, there is still space under the floor to accommodate ballast tanks that can be filled with water when the boat is empty to ensure the propeller is kept well immersed. The sides of the boat are made of welded iron which gives more cargo space for a given draught than for the earlier wooden boats, and loads exceeding 30 tons could be carried. The unusual escape hatch in the cabin roof was provided in case of a fire in the engine room when the cargo hold was full. The cowl ventilator on the cabin is believed to derive from the builder's familiarity with larger ships. The stove pipe, engine exhaust and opening port lights also derive from seagoing vessels.

     The power unit is a 8-10 horse-power Petter 'S' type semi-diesel engine suitable for single unit operation. It is small compared with the 15 horse-power Bolinder engines used in earlier Severn & Canal motor boats which were intended to tow a butty. Reversing is accomplished by an epicyclic gearbox, although for long runs astern, the whole motor is capable of reversal, saving wear and tear on the gearbox. The main fuel tank is in the counter forming the skin of the boat.

     Oak worked between Gloucester and the Birmingham area carrying inland a wide variety of cargoes that had been brought to Gloucester by barge from Avonmouth and other lower Severn ports. For some trips, sacks of chocolate crumb were carried from Cadbury's factory at Frampton-on-Severn to their main works at Bournville. The unusual design was not popular with the boatmen because the steering position was noisy, being almost on top of the engine, and the steerer was very close to the exhaust chimney and separated from the accommodation. The cowl ventilators were not liked either and were soon replaced by more traditional narrow boat fittings.

     As inland carrying declined circa 1960, Oak became a maintenance boat on the Trent & Mersey Canal and then was left to become derelict. Oak was restored for the Museum in 1987-88 by the Warwickshire Flyboat Company of  Stockton - as far as possible to the condition when delivered from Bristol, except that the elm bottom planks were replaced by steel plates. Work on the engine has been hampered by the lack of any original spare parts.

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