by Ian Devlin member of the Okanagan chapter

I am pleased to share some of my views about owning an historical antique boat and how I was able to learn some of the “secrets” that my old boat reluctantly gave up to allow me to understand what was happening. History lessons have always been one of my fascinations as I enjoyed/marveled at seeing the early innovations in boat building and the advances in mechanical engineering of the engine designs. I wanted to experience the feeling of turn of the century watercraft and was immediately interested in an old “grey hull” sitting out in the back field of Jimmy Potter’s boat yard in Manotick, Ontario, Canada.

Jimmy Potter was proudly showing me around his boatyard when I spotted a fascinating hull with beautiful lines that must have been a proud vessel in its day. The stern was particularly elegant demonstrating such a high degree of craftsmanship as the hull planks bent into the fan tail design. The space for a larger propeller was particularly of interest as I was thinking at that time about having a steam engine for propulsion, and the propellers would be much larger diameter.

September 2004 was the start of my education with building an antique boat and the decisions required to keep the hull historically accurate. I had a fixed wooden canopy installed as the gig for bending the oak boards for the deck forepeak were available to repeat the curve in the canopy. Also, I thought that the rigid canopy would be useful for the installation of the steam boiler equipment.

As the Inlet Belle was nearing completion in 2005, Jimmy found a complete 4 cylinder 20 Horse Power Kermath engine that was a perfect match for the restored hull. The decision was made to have a gasoline engine instead of steam power. This engine was subsequently determined to be a mid 1920’s vintage engine.

I am continuing with the search for historical documentation on the provenance of the “Inlet Belle/The Bargain” I have not yet found the company or boat builder. The last information is from the late 1920’s when Mr. Black was in Toronto and found the boat for sale. At this point the hull was probably considered as being an “old boat” but the age of the boat is currently not known.

3 Comments

  1. Kermath Engines
    https://uscrashboats.org/cpage.php?pt=30
    However, with exception of a slight tilt; yours looks like a Model T Ford to Me

    Hundested hot bulb;
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVOgWrhM67A
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9JR3Rnpg3I
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQPuA0ZP8l4
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJjeA38wQi8
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA2eLkH0_hM
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiGOglchf5E
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_GMg9FXWRI
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCkP56UFMiI
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUmc049twkE
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dWG8Vv5O8Q

    *This is the typical Boat I grew up with in Naniamo Canada;
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCpJF8QUf1Q
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHTy1fRiF9M <<<<—best example
    Except, I am use to seeing a large amount of water shoot out the exhaust
    with every fire!
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuOaNLF9-qw
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFuIUF0ruLk

    Gas not in a Boat;
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTiK2B88EJs
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9Qns51-XVA

    Natual Gas;
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or5aU0i4kKE

    Steamers;
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK-9LQb8Fy4
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDv_J1RXTB4
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muJVUAmo6is
    Late Four expansion cylinder steamer;
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIHsYr7LoZo

    I've seen a few of these boats on Lake Union in the same exact configuration Except,
    for very few wood, of course remakes, most are fiberglass or look and Electric.

    *IMHO; Best guess yours would have been a 30s to 40s of the last Century British Gas Powered Boat.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82eOjjo9LPY
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF9zRX7HUWg
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRJg93nnzaU

    Pretty Cool!

    • Phil,
      I’m very familiar with 4 cylinder Ford engines starting with the A in1909 through B, the last produced in ‘32. The spacing of the spark plugs in all of these flathead 4 bangers was equidistant unlike the Kermath pictured.

      Andy Seiller AN21253 Rocky Mountain Classics

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