Once again thanks to the eagle eyed CMBA web searchers I have another project. With the Penn Craft now gone to a very good home I have room in the garage - and also, because its only 9ft long, room to move around !

Early history unknown, it was on Windermere in the mid 1950's when it was bought by the previous owner (who was aged 16 at the time) who used it at Carr Hill on and off before it went into dry storage 20 years ago.It was fitted with an Anzani Racing engine and was by all accounts very fast. The engine, sadly, was stolen from the storage unit may years ago.

It's in very sound condition, but it's early days and lots of paint to remove..

A couple of photos to whet the appetite and also a vintage shot of its siblings on Oulton Broad (with thanks to Mike Ward)

If you'd like to build one from scratch, here are the original plans and instructions from 1935.
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=PfM ... 35&f=false

My first puzzle- any suggestions?
The transom has a portion that seems designed to be removed , why?

To raise the motor & run it higher??

I'm with alacrity on that suggestion.....a good way to adjust height without blocking up. Potentially even enough to put long shaft on if owner had a good motor

Thank you both-that makes perfect sense.
I'm cracking on removing the paint now- tedious but satisfying.
And i know that boats are meant to be used but over the renovation period the steering wheel that will be fitted- another eBay triumph- will be a proudly displayed as piece of art in our living room!

Most of the paint is off now. I found screwfix paint stripper pretty good, it needed 2 coats and an hour sitting with each but it worked well.
The hydroplane has been well, and heavily, built. It's mahogany planks on a spuce frame and its all in very solid condition.
I did think about a total deconstruction-recontruction type renovation but after much consideration and reference to the excellent West System wooden boat renovation guide I have decided that gentle reinforcement and replacement is the plan.
Started this weekend by removing the screws from the hull planks at the bow. They were all covered with white filler and many were tricky to extract being so deep. I then replaced them with new silicon bronze screws. After experimenting it worked best by increasing the score sizes one step so 1/2 inch ones were replaced with 3/4inch and they each had a small amount of epoxy to strengthen the joint.
Many hundreds more to do...

Another dull photo but it has taken a while to get here and I feel like posting again to celebrate. The frame is really quite sound but with the phrase "50 year old glue" ( I'm sure I read that on this forum..) rattling around my head and every intention of getting the hydro flying once more I needed to do something. I have decided to add some modern technology in the form of epoxy squeezed into any obvious loose joints and some marine grade bolts at key locations. The alternative of dismantling the frame isn't really feasible without a lot of breakage and I figure technology moves on and so should be used. Renovation not restoration with this one! Coming soon..exciting engine news..

With the help of the odd radiator I got the garage up to epoxy temperatures and have started re-assembly. The bottom planks are now firmly bedded down and I've had an incredibly dusty weekend sanding.

Quick steering wheel question
This is the original wheel - does anyone know what or where it's from? A 30's car maybe? It has a frigate emblem embossed on.