Lot Ended
Description
Rare and interesting example of this revolutionary water jet-powered
speed boat; possible Donald Campbell connection; Ford Zephyr straight-six
engine; restored about 25 years ago; in need of recommissioning following a
period in storage; trailer included; one of only around 3,000 made; as used by
Patrick McGoohan in The Prisoner
The Dowty
Turbocraft was a revolutionary speed boat powered by a water jet rather than a
conventional propellor. Introduced in 1959, it was a licensed UK-built version
of the pioneering jet boat invented by New Zealander Sir William Hamilton who
had become frustrated with the damage caused by propellors in the shallow,
shingle-filled rivers of New Zealand – not just to the boats themselves but to
river life in general.
The boat was made by the
Dowty Group, a British engineering company famous for its aircraft landing gear
and hydraulic systems. Sir George Dowty licensed the water jet technology from
Sir William Hamilton and, with some key improvements (notably the reverse
bucket), began building and selling the boats under the name ‘Dowty Marine
Turbocraft’.
Key to the success of the project
was Donald Campbell, the famous land and water speed record holder, who was a
director of Dowty Marine and personally tested the prototypes and demonstrated
the boats on the water, his fame helping to bring water jet propulsion to a
global market.
His own personal Dowty Turbocraft
was called ‘Mr Whoppit’, a tribute to the famous teddy bear good luck charm that
Campbell carried with him on all his record attempts, both in his land-speed car
Bluebird and his water-speed hydroplane. Prince Charles was another famous Dowty
owner and Patrick McGoohan also famously used one to escape from the island he
was trapped on in the 1967 cult classic TV series, The Prisoner.
The Turbocraft was constructed with a fibreglass
hull, a relatively new and lightweight material at the time, well-suited for a
high-speed watercraft. The use of fibreglass allowed for mass production and
gave the boats a modern, sleek appearance compared to traditional wooden
boats.
The Dowty Turbocraft typically used a
marinised version of a common car engine, most often the Ford Zephyr 2.6
straight-six, a powerful and reliable choice that was easily sourced and
serviced.
The boat's unique propulsion came from
its Dowty-Hamilton water jet unit, not a conventional propeller. Water was
sucked in through a grille on the bottom of the hull and then forced out of a
nozzle at the stern at high pressure. This jet of water propelled the boat
forward.
Steering was accomplished by turning
the nozzle, and a movable ‘reverse bucket’ could be dropped over the jet stream
to provide reverse thrust or neutral, a key innovation by the Dowty team. This
allowed the boats to operate safely in very shallow water, as little as
a four inches deep, making them extremely versatile.
Dating from c.1960, this particular Dowty Turbocraft bears the name
of Donald Campbell’s own personal craft but whether it actually has any
connection to the great man himself is sadly not known.
We are told that this boat was restored in c.2000 and then used
regularly on the Thames before being put into dry storage in a barn on the bank
of the river in South Oxfordshire in c.2005. Last run several years ago, it
is being offered here at no reserve as a straightforward recommissioning
project.
It comes with its own trailer which has had new wheel
bearings recently fitted but the tyres are fairly old so it will need new ones
before it can be safely towed at any speed on the open road (it was delivered
from Oxfordshire to Brightwells on the back of a flat bed truck).
It is
believed that only around 3,000 Dowty Turbocraft boats were made in total, many
of which went to America, Australia and New Zealand, and it is thought that
only a few hundred still survive today so you are unlikley to see another one
for sale any time soon. The potential connection to Campbell would obviously
merit further investigation too.
To see a British Pathe newsreel of
Donald Campbell demonstrating the Dowty Turbocraft, copy and paste this link
into your browser:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5KURkoHSF4
And for another video
demonstrating the performance of the boat copy and paste this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UprErODQIL4
Consigned by James Dennison – 07970 309907 – james.dennison@brightwells.com